puppy, again

I just got this week’s picture of the litter.  Here they are at 4 weeks old.

I’m pretty sure his name will be Jake.  Clark is still in the running, but I’m leaning toward Jake.  I’ve been reading all my old German Shepherd reference books.  The crate is being shipped along with a divider panel.  That way we can control how much space he has in there.  That helps with house training.  We have a kong ball, a thin nylon lead, and a leather lead.  I just need to pick up a puppy collar this weekend.

Kim

guess what!

Guess what I am getting for my birthday, Christmas, anniversary, and maybe even my next birthday!  That’s right, a German Shepherd Dog.

getting low with electricity

In the bathrooms:  We have one CFL bulb in each bathroom.  Each bathroom also has a skylight for daytime lighting.  We don’t use hair dryers or curling irons.  That means that typically we only use a light bulb for early morning and late evening bathroom visits.

In the bedrooms:  Each bedroom has one CFL bulb.  HM has an LED battery light that she uses to read and an oil lantern for general lighting.  MA and HM each have battery operated personal DVD players for fun.  They are always unplugged when not in use or charging.  CK and I have our laptops.  I try to keep it unplugged when not in use, but sometimes I leave mine on all day.  I also use a treadmill and personal DVD player for an hour each day.  I like to watch a movie while I get my exercise! Each bedroom also has a fan for summer cooling.

In the laundry room:  Our laundry room is also the utility room.  We have an energy star front loading washing machine (man, what a mouthful!).  I run 1-2 loads per day.  We keep the hot water heater off except right before someone showers.  This room also has a CFL bulb.  We don’t own a clothes dryer and we don’t use our air conditioner or furnace at all anymore.

In the pantry room:  No electricity used here at all.  No lights, no fans, no nothing!  I use the camping lantern (battery) to find my way around.

In the living room:  We have one CFL bulb in this room and one regular bulb.  I found that sitting under a CFL bulb to read was aggravating my migraines.  So when I read, I use the regular bulb.  The lights are normally off unless we are in the room and it is dark.  Our wireless router in in this room.  I have gotten better about unplugging it when it isn’t in use.  The TV and DVD are on a power strip and always turned off unless in use.   I have a ceiling farn in here that I use to help circulate the heat from the wood stove or to help cool us in the summer.  I have two hanging oil lanterns (on order) and a regular table oil lantern in this room as well.  Those are quite handy during power outages.

In the kitchen: Our kitchen has one CFL bulb and one hanging oil lantern.  Our range/oven is turned off at the circuit breaker unless we’re using it.  We use it for baking bread, making granola, warming up lunch, and making dinner.  The refrigerator is set as warm as it will go.   We don’t keep much in there anyway.  I am considering buying a freezer and trading my large refrigerator for a dorm-sized one next spring.  We have a toaster oven that gets used nearly every morning, an electric tea kettle that is used daily, and a wheat grinder that is used every third day.  We have a Country Living grain mill, but so far our electric one is still running.  It is sounding worse and worse, but it just keeps going. During the harvest season our water bath canner, pressure canner, and dehydrator run almost every day.

If I had to guess, I’d say that 85% of our electric usage is in the kitchen, 10% for the hot water heater, and 5% for lighting, computers, entertainment, exercise, and laundry.   I’d like to get the kitchen usage lower.  That will naturally happen as the harvest ends and we begin to use the wood stove to warm up our water, warm up lunch, and soak beans.

Yesterday we used 6 kwh (about 1.5 kwh after applying our green energy credit).  Today we’ll probably use 12 kwh since we have a weekends worth of laundry to do, bread to bake and granola to make.

Kim

overheard at feed store

Man on cell phone:  I’m goin’ huntin’ in the morning.

Pause (woman on other end)

Man:  Well that’s what we country boys do in the morning.  We go huntin’, while you city girls stay in bed late.