Yesterday, I painted and mounted this cross on our barn. I don’t let the fact that I have next to no artistic talent stop me from attempting to make beautiful things with paint. This cross was originally made last year as a temporary marker for Ressom Asfaha’s grave. Memory eternal! Our priests had been [...]
Monthly Archives: August 2008
“How Green Was My Valley”?
About 40.5 million acres of land are used for lawns in the United Sates. About 300 million acres of land are used for harvested crops each year in the United States. American homeowners spent about $2.1 billion in 2001 for over 30,000 tons of herbicides (i.e., Roundup), insecticides, fungicides, etc., for their lawns. Lawn care [...]
Rosalie, Pete, Jerome & Pops
Rosalie was born about two weeks before me in 1955. We’re both partially of Irish descent. We grew up at the same time in different parts of the same country in two very different worlds. I first met Rosalie in 1985 when she was an inmate in the Women’s Detention Facility at the Philadelphia House [...]
Are Lawns Green?
From the time I was six until I was twenty, we lived in Golden Valley, Minnesota. Golden Valley is a suburb of Minneapolis. In the 1960′s and 1970′s, it was home to General Mills, Honeywell’s MIRV control plant (making it the #16 strategic nuclear target for the Russians), Carl Sandburg Junior High (right across the [...]
Screens and Circling the Square
As promised, I made and installed the screen on Saturday. I found a helpful person at Home Depot who actually listened to my description of what I wanted for a track for the screens and knew where the channel aluminum was. I say I made the screen, but I should add, it isn’t pretty. It [...]
Installed my first Window Sash Replacement Kit
The sash kit came in two boxes. I had failed to specify low-E, argon glass, and I didn’t order it exterior primed, but it came with all of those options. I am not complaining. The instructions were thorough, with the exception of trimming the excess off the foam strips. I had to move both the [...]
Posted in "If You Can Read ...", Green Tagged energy conservation, home improvement, renovation, windows 1 Comment
“If you can read, you can cook.”
My mom was a great cook. When anyone would compliment her cooking, especially one of her new, more adventurous dishes, she would reply, “If you can read, you can cook.” Both of my parents taught the four of us kids that if we could read, we could do just about anything we set our minds [...]
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The Transfiguration of Christ
August 6th Troparion (Tone 7) When Thou wast transfigured on the mountain, O Christ our God, Thou didst show Thy glory to Thy disciples as far as they could bear it. Let Thy everlasting light illumine also us sinners through the intercessions of the Mother of God. Giver of Light, glory to Thee. Like at His [...]
Posted in Green, Saints Leave a comment
How to Throw a Wedding Without Breaking the Bank
I have four daughters and very little, make that no money. When two of them decided to get married exactly three months apart, several years ago, we had to be creative to send them on their way with memorable celebrations without breaking the bank. This wasn’t the first time we were involved in this. Our [...]
Automatic Dishwasher (and Car) Detergent
The recipe for a cheap, environmentally safe, effective automatic dishwashing soap is really simple. Mix equal measures of Borax (Twenty Mule Team or not) and Washing Soda (most likely Arm and Hammer) together. Label your container. It is environmentally friendly. That doesn’t mean that you want to eat it. Use two tablespoons per load in [...]
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