earth hour

Tonight is earth hour. We're asked to turn off our electricity for an hour tonight from 8-9pm local time. My son's first reaction "no way. I want to watch a movie tonight" and to be honest I'm not sure I'll pull it off. It's kind of ironic because I spent years growing up without electricity. I remember when I first started spending lots of time in electrically illuminated homes it seemed like people were addicted to electricity, to the ability to be very active at night, when it should be dark and calm. Now I take my addiction to illumination for granted and only feel the hold it has on me when I'm asked to give it up...for an hour.

edit- can't get the link to work...try this www.earthhourus.org.

solar hot tub

Hurray, our solar water heater is heating up a lot these days and making hot water for the hot tub. The way it works is that there is a panel on the roof and water is pumped up there. When it reaches 104 degrees the water flows into the tub and new water goes up. By late afternoon the water is quite hot and we only have to use the heater for a short time in the evening to heat it more. I love hearing it gurgle through the pipes. This summer I want to make a solar fountain to listen to and look at while in the tub.

a few things

A few things I've been up to instead of blogging (but want to blog about sometime):

Had a great weekend with my sisters in Lakehead....near the world-famous Basshole!

Learned how to design a circuit at the amazing art place the Crucible.

ummmmm and this weekend my son is playing in the Norcal ice hockey playoffs. go Bears!

snow

Last night I dreamed of mountains and snow. In the dream it had snowed and I saw high mountains outside my window covered in white but when I looked on the ground instead of snow there was a pile of styrofoam pieces with small pellets drifting in a gentle breeze.

ps I just found the image above...the artist is named Tara Donovan and those are cups.