New House Update

     The new house is coming along. What you see here is the rainwater cistern. We will be using rain and snowmelt to flush the toilets. Drainage from the lot will be directed into the cistern, where there is a pump that will direct the water, through a filter and then to the service lines for the toilets. You can't see it, but the cistern is about 3 meters deep, which means quite a bit of water capacity.

     Not a big money saver, but it's a water saver. Reducing how much water we buy from the city was important to us. Utilizing rainwater helps reduce our impact on the environment and make our house a more sustainable domicile. 

     We will also use rain barrels at strategic downspouts around the house so we will be able to water the garden and plant beds.  The cistern and rain barrels will only save us pennies in terms of what we save from buying water from the city (which we still do for showers, sinks, etc.) but it helps save water resources going forward. We are just redirecting rainwater for our use. We will use less of the city's supply, which makes more available for others. The rain barrels will allow us to water where its needed without it flowing onto the street or other impervious surfaces where it can't soak in. 

     There are other sustainable things we have planned, so stay tuned and I will show them to you as we progress! Have a great weekend. 

Ted Cruz: Modern Day Galileo

     Ted Cruz compared himself to Galileo the other day.
     Hahahahahahahahaha...hahahahhahahahaha!(Sorry about that.)

     Like the famous physicist, engineer, astronomer, philosopher, and mathematician *yes, Galileo Gallili was all of those things) back in Florence during the Renaissance, Cruz is the modern day equivalent.

     Hahahahahahahahahahahahahaha! (Again, sorry. Let me wipe these tears away.)

     Cruz compared today's modern scientists with the people who believed the Earth was flat in Galileo's time, with Climate Change being what today's best scientific minds have got wrong.

     But Senator Cruz has it all figured out because he is a lawyer. Which means he knows more about scientific theory than modern day scientists. You just have to ask him, he'll tell you. Actually, you don't even have to ask him. He will tell you anyway. He's so much smarter than everyone else that he likens himself to being the modern day Galileo. There are some similarities, I have to admit. Galileo was place under house arrest by the Catholic Church for promoting his theory that the Earth revolved around Sun, a theory since proved correct. Cruz sent thousands of federal workers home with no pay for a 16 days a few years ago in an attempt to defund Obamacare. So you see, Galileo and Ted Cruz are practically the same.

     Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha...(breath)...hahahahahahahahahaha!

Milk Bones for People?

     My dog Mona is more than a handful. If she were a bra, she would be size EEE. Seriously. We found poor Mona at the Anne Arundel ASPCA in December of 2013 on Christmas Eve. A pure bred, chocolate lab with the shiniest coat I have ever seen, of course we jumped at the chance to own her. The angels above sent us a dog with very little discipline and no training, so to say she has been a pain in the ass is an understatement. But, like most rescues, she has been well worth it.

     While Mona is difficult, she is also very trainable. It did not take us long to get her on a schedule, nor did it take long to teach her to sit, lay, shake, speak and stay (sometimes). What has been the real mother is breaking her of her old habits. She has incredible focus. But when she attempts to charge down the street and tackle some kid on a bike while out for a walk because she thinks thats how you are supposed to play with kids, that focus is a monster. Getting her to train that focus on me or my wife has been a struggle, but it has been paying dividends. Small, incremental dividends. At a snail's pace. An excruciatingly painful and slow snail's pace. Like if the snail was frozen and crawling across the surface of Pluto...in the winter...at night...billions of years from now after the Sun has burned all of its fuel and disappeared from the sky. And the Universe has grown cold and quiet.

     With progress there are growing pains. Mona knows

Funny Because It's True

Funny