American Green: The Obsessive Quest for the Perfect Lawn: This book has a bit of an axe to grind but it is an enlightening portrayal of the costs of the perfect lawn.
Fun facts: Blue dye is put in the ponds of Augusta golf course to make the waters look better when the golf tournament is televised. Clover used to be encouraged for lawns - it has a healthy symbiotic relationship with grass - until the first herbicide Scott's discovered killed clover, then Scott's marketed the herbicide and additional fertilizer - to make up for the clover you killed with the first product.
Bone House Very well-written, though tending towards maudlin at the end. Descriptions are wonderful. Here's how it starts:
"Her death has made us numb. Dora, the great-bellied woman, lies frozen in the ground."
Paws and Effect: Being a new dog owner I am vulnerable to uplifting books about dogs. This is one. :) (Did you know that they're working on teaching dogs to sniff cancer? Apparently we don't really know how good their noses are, we only know they're worlds better than ours.)
Monday, September 29, 2008
Friday, September 19, 2008
It Should Be a Crime
Since becoming a homeowner I've been compiling a list in my head of things that really ought to be illegal.
1. Buying pink tile in large quantities. Make that any flashy color in large quantities. Please, stop and think! It may be fashionable now but in twenty years when the house is sold you'll be sticking someone else with a pink bathroom that won't be in vogue for another ten years.
2. Putting in white or beige carpet. Only a saint can keep white carpet clean. Probably not even a saint.
3. Putting carpet down over hardwood floors.
4. Putting carpet down over hardwood floors and slathering carpet glue over the whole floor.
As you can probably guess, this last one is our current problem. There's a wonderful hardwood floor buried somewhere underneath the hardened black sludge, and it will take a lot of money or elbow grease to get it up. Guess which one we have more of? :)
Also, I should not that the glue is hardly sticky anymore, so not only will getting it off the floor be a pain, it wasn't even holding the carpet in place.
Picture of the scene of the crime:
1. Buying pink tile in large quantities. Make that any flashy color in large quantities. Please, stop and think! It may be fashionable now but in twenty years when the house is sold you'll be sticking someone else with a pink bathroom that won't be in vogue for another ten years.
2. Putting in white or beige carpet. Only a saint can keep white carpet clean. Probably not even a saint.
3. Putting carpet down over hardwood floors.
4. Putting carpet down over hardwood floors and slathering carpet glue over the whole floor.
As you can probably guess, this last one is our current problem. There's a wonderful hardwood floor buried somewhere underneath the hardened black sludge, and it will take a lot of money or elbow grease to get it up. Guess which one we have more of? :)
Also, I should not that the glue is hardly sticky anymore, so not only will getting it off the floor be a pain, it wasn't even holding the carpet in place.
Picture of the scene of the crime:
Tuesday, September 16, 2008
S. 3325, the Enforcement of Intellectual Property Rights Act of 2008
Emailed to Senator Coleman and Klobuchar.
Dear Senator -
I am writing to echo the concerns of the Public Knowledge and the American Library Association, among others, about S. 3325, the Enforcement of Intellectual Property Rights Act of 2008.
While I understand the need to protect intellectual property in order to preserve an incentive to create, I believe this bill would place copyright law more out of balance than it is currently.
Certainly, companies should be able to assert their property rights. However, the government should not be trying cases on behalf of the media companies. Not only would this grant copyright owners unneeded resources it would give them an unfair advantage, it would strip defendants of certain advantages without justification.
The provisions on forfeiture and impounding are also troubling.
The purpose of intellectual property law is two-fold, to protect the rights of property owners and to allow for the reasonable reuse of material. Ultimately, what is most important is that intellectual property law benefits society as a whole. Concentrating on punishment and penalties ignores this. Please oppose these provisions, in favor of balanced intellectual property law.
Sincerely,
Megan Carney
Dear Senator -
I am writing to echo the concerns of the Public Knowledge and the American Library Association, among others, about S. 3325, the Enforcement of Intellectual Property Rights Act of 2008.
While I understand the need to protect intellectual property in order to preserve an incentive to create, I believe this bill would place copyright law more out of balance than it is currently.
Certainly, companies should be able to assert their property rights. However, the government should not be trying cases on behalf of the media companies. Not only would this grant copyright owners unneeded resources it would give them an unfair advantage, it would strip defendants of certain advantages without justification.
The provisions on forfeiture and impounding are also troubling.
The purpose of intellectual property law is two-fold, to protect the rights of property owners and to allow for the reasonable reuse of material. Ultimately, what is most important is that intellectual property law benefits society as a whole. Concentrating on punishment and penalties ignores this. Please oppose these provisions, in favor of balanced intellectual property law.
Sincerely,
Megan Carney
Sunday, September 14, 2008
The Tomato Invasion
It seems that even a bad year is a good year for tomatoes. And if you have more than one tomato plant, I can practically guarantee you don't have enough friends to give away tomatoes too.
For the past three weeks, I've been either drying or canning tomatoes. In a couple months I'm sure I'll be grateful to have summer in a can. . .
Anyway, here are some pictures of the invasion. Drying tomatoes in the oven is a great easy way to preserve the smaller cherry varieties. There are recipes for canning them, but skinning the small ones is time-consuming. The small ones take about 6 hours in the oven at 170 fahrenheit. Make to oil and pan well or use something parchment paper. You can sprinkle them with most any herbs, but I just used salt.
Some harvest pictures:
Drying tomatoes:
Canned tomatoes:
For the past three weeks, I've been either drying or canning tomatoes. In a couple months I'm sure I'll be grateful to have summer in a can. . .
Anyway, here are some pictures of the invasion. Drying tomatoes in the oven is a great easy way to preserve the smaller cherry varieties. There are recipes for canning them, but skinning the small ones is time-consuming. The small ones take about 6 hours in the oven at 170 fahrenheit. Make to oil and pan well or use something parchment paper. You can sprinkle them with most any herbs, but I just used salt.
Some harvest pictures:
Drying tomatoes:
Canned tomatoes:
Thursday, September 4, 2008
BWCA 2008
Album here.
It looked like I wasn't going to make it up to the Boundary Waters this year, but a lucky opportunity came up.
As always, it was beautiful up there. There were loons, eagles, beavers. . .no moose sightings this year. I finally did get to see an eagle catching a fish right out of the water, I didn't bother to try and get a photo with my little camera.
But enjoy the photos - and dream of loon calls.
It looked like I wasn't going to make it up to the Boundary Waters this year, but a lucky opportunity came up.
As always, it was beautiful up there. There were loons, eagles, beavers. . .no moose sightings this year. I finally did get to see an eagle catching a fish right out of the water, I didn't bother to try and get a photo with my little camera.
But enjoy the photos - and dream of loon calls.
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