Juice Suck

Many consumption problems would be lessened if one just pulled the plug. If, for example, you decided to live in a solar-powered house, you would probably not have a large tv or computer monitor, or be able to leave your stuff plugged in all day long (I'm thinking, for example, of two power strips currently sucking juice for no good reason at home: Ipod dock, printer, dvd player, two computers, etc.). You would probably not run the laundry at night. You would most likely become more in sync with circadian rhythms, and go to bed earlier. Your kids would not be able to zone out with video games (so easily). I kind of like these rules. They appeal to the Scottish puritan in me.

I'm of course locating this idea in a rural context. We will be living in the woods someday, where there is no easy broadband, or cable, and some neighbors are easier to get to on foot than by car. It is very quiet there, except when the chainsaws are running.

Our neighbors down the road in Santa Cruz built a totally solar house. He's an acupuncturist/Chinese medicine guy who's called (really) "Doc Mitchell." He's about ten years older than us, no kids. I like him and his wife a lot, and look forward to being their neighbors in a few years. Their house is large, airy, and extremely quiet. It's more like a temple than a place where people store the things they can't keep from buying.

And then there are the people across the road from us, who live in a series of connected...domes.

This is Northern California, after all.

On another note, I made my new sanity guide today.

On yet another, the day after I noticed that our young olive tree seems to be thinking about producing fruit for the first time, I found an old 2-gallon pickle jar at a thrift store. Check back in October, when I hope to cure my first batch in a direct imitation of the picholines at Whole Foods. I will have to consult my friend Lauren, the culinary sage, beforehand.

A friend of the family gave my mother two young staghorn ferns, which she then gave to me. One didn't look like it would make it, so I sent it across the street for rehab at Mary's. The other I attached with the requisite moss, to the outside of a wire basket. After placing a few banana peels (internet tip) over the corms, it perked way up. Now I have to deal with a very one-side-heavy wire basket which is right now upside down on my porch. Hmm.

This is the kind of problem I don't mind having. Happy deep spring!