The Shinn Digs

Gas prices are getting ridiculous. Garth and I have both resorted to hypermiling. Garth is obsessive about it. When he leaves for work in the morning, he now puts his car in neutral, gives it a little push so it begins to roll down the slightly sloped driveway, and then turns on the engine as he’s rolling out. Probably saves us a $1.50 a year or so. But it helps. Ok … I’ve been doing it too. Actually, as I’ve been practicing my hypermiling techniques, I’m pretty amazed at the simple concept of inertia. You can get a lot of extra mileage on your car by just taking advantage of inertia. My Vibe weighs about 3200 pounds. When I get that much weight moving 30 mph, when I see a light up ahead turn yellow, I simply shift to neutral and can coast for a surprisingly long distance, sometimes even stretching the time such that the light turns green by the time I get there (which is a hypermiler’s goal). But, even at it’s best performance, I’m only getting about 32-35 mpg out of the Vibe …By my scooter … 60-70 mpg! And of course my bike is free. So I’m trying to opt for these more economical modes of transportation for as many errands as possible. Saturday morning I had a couple of stops to make … the post office to drop off and pick up mail, Home Depot to purchase a towel bar and a garden hose reel, and Island Feed and Seed to purchase some organic pest control for the garden (so that little bugger that’s eating things in our first box will STOP!) I knew going into this trip it was going to be adventurous for the scooter, but I’ve seen pictures like this one of people hauling some ridiculous loads (usually in India or Asia), so I thought I’d give it a try. Well, I admit, I was a little nervous as I started strapping the hose reel on the back in the Home Depot parking lot. Two different men walked by and asked me how far I had to go, and if I wanted a ride. I smiled and assured them I’d be just fine (not quite sure myself). But I was able to strap it very securely, and proceeded on to Island Feed and Seed to purchase my pest control. I was pretty much out of room, but was able to hook it on the bag hook (just under the handle bars in the picture) and made it home safe and sound. So now I’m in the process of convincing Garth we can be a two scooter, 1 car family. Don’t you think he’d look great driving my scooter, and I’d look super cute driving this bad boy! This is a 2007 Aprilia Mojito … SWEET with the chrome drop handle bars and mini-Harley look. I love it! He’s not quite convinced … maybe we should poll the readers! What do you think??

This time I was certain I had a fool proof homemade wood floor cleaner. Vinegar, water, and bat poop. Yes. I was skeptical too … OK … I’m totally kidding. You think I’d put bat poop on my floors?? Probably … but I didn’t.

No … this is a different kind of casualty. In trying to drive less and bike more, I planned my day to combine my trip to the post office (to mail 100 letters as well as pick up what is sure to be a full box of mail) and a work out. I planned to bike. It’s a relatively quick trip, though I forgot to eat lunch and the head wind was about 50 mph, so at some points I was actually going backwards, which was frustrating. But I made the five mile trek in a bit over 20 minutes, which isn’t that much longer than it would have taken me to get there in the car, hit all the lights, etc. Plus, as I reasoned to myself several times when gale force winds blew me backwards, at least I’m also getting my workout in. These days I’m lucky if I get 3 workouts a week.

When I arrived at the post office I was quite happy to see the nice lady I know … her daughter plays basketball for Westmont, so I see her regularly at games. I waited patiently, a little curious why there was only one worker, but I was tired from fighting the 50 mph headwinds, so I took advantage of the rest time to carbo load and hydrate for the return trip, as I was certain the wind would shift and I’d have to fight the wind back as well. Drat … the not-so-nice man that I always seem to get stuck with came back from his break. I tried to calculate my chances of ending up with the nice lady, assuming every customer would require an equal amount of time and every other person in line would go to her, I was going to be OK. But as luck would have it, I got him. Now, I’ve been doing my FCA mailing at this branch for years. And as I mention, I almost always get this man. So I felt sure when I told him I had forgotten my box key as I handed him my license for identification purposes, he’d smile and run and grab my mail (which the nice lady has done several times for me). You see, the box key is on my key chain, which I didn’t need cause I was being green and biking the 20+ minutes in the 50 mph headwinds so future generations can actually still survive on the planet.

Now, you need a visual of this guy. He’s a combination (in both looks and demeanor) of the store manager in the movie, Serendipty, and the Soup Nazi in Seinfeld. I’ve seen not-so-nice man operate. He’s a rule follower to the letter. In fact, just before I walked up to the counter, a lady with about $35 worth of what appeared to be $.42 cent stamps stuck to a box, slipped up to the counter without waiting in line and asked if she could just put the box in the collection box out front. He said, “You’ll have to go to the end of the line. I’ll need to process that.” She said, “But I have the correct amount of postage on the box.” “I’m sorry. You’ll need to go to the end of the line so I can put a sticker on it.” My hunch is the sticker said something like, “No stamps for you.”

Anyway, when I explained to not-so-nice man that I had forgotten my key and asked if he could just grab my mail, he said (in a “please don’t cross the line” kind of voice like the Serendipity store manager), “Oh no. The boss said we cannot do that anymore. You must have a key to access your box.” For fear of getting immediately ejected from the store, Seinfeld Soup Nazi style, I asked to purchase 200 stamps, moved away from the line to finish stamping my letters, aware that not-so-nice man would not care that I had just biked to the post office instead of driving, so his grandchildren would still have clean air to breathe and oil to power their lives. I had biked to the post office fighting the 50 mph headwinds, taking a total of 50 minutes out of my day to try to save the planet … and he couldn’t just give me my mail?

Thankfully, the winds didn’t shift and I enjoyed a nice tailwind on the way home, though it seemed to have slowed to about 7 mph at that point. My bike trip was a casualty in that I didn’t get to retrieve my mail, which I’m certain has a lot of Camp paperwork that I need to process, so I’ll need to return within the next 24 hours. I’ll probably succumb and just drive my gas-guzzling car, with little thought to not-so-nice man’s grandchildren. The extra trip will be just another casualty as I fumble along in the attempt to make some green changes in life.

Admittedly I haven’t done much research on this … just watched this video. You should too. It is a worthy question to ask ourselves … how will we take a stand in making changes? Will we go to this extreme? Probably not … but are there changes we will make? Many think we won’t have a choice … we will have to make some changes. I’ve got go … the goat is chasing Zak and Kins has her hand stuck in the new hand cranked clothes wringer.

Ok … this is therapeutic blogging at it’s best. For some of my readers, I know this will provide therapeutic laughter, so all in all, we’re saving thousands of dollars here. [Also part of my therapy in this particular situation is a small glass of red wine that I’m sipping.]

Going green … it ain’t easy, but as some of you know, we’re making an attempt here at the Shinn household on some small scales. Yes, this is my new kick. Slowly I’ve been educating myself, making some small changes and doing a few experiments along the way. Today, our house guests, Matt & Amber, offered to cook dinner, so I took the opportunity to do some extra cleaning. Having done some internet research on some homemade cleaning products that are more environmentally friendly and cost effective, I’ve been doing quite a bit of cleaning with simply a vinegar and water solution, which has worked really well. I have searched for a homemade wood floor cleaner, as what I’ve been using is expensive, and we go through quite a bit since most of our living space is wood floor. MANY web sites have suggested what I’m about to tell you, so cut me just a little bit of slack before you pee your pants laughing! The most often suggested concoction to clean wood floors is 1/2 cup vinegar and 1/2 cup … vegetable oil. OK … when I first read it I too thought it was nuts, but having found the suggestion on multiple sites from multiple sources, I thought there must certainly be some sort of safe chemical reaction between the vinegar and vegetable oil that would leave my floors to be clean, shiny and the envy of all of Santa Barbara. [Yes … I do realize vegetable oil is simply a nice way of saying “grease,” which is often the main thing I’m working so hard to remove from the kitchen floors, cabinets, and pendant lights, but again, my green web friends had not failed me to this point.]

So, off I went, polishing with my “almost a salad dressing” concoction. The floors looked shiny, the dirt was coming up easily, so I continued on … 1000 square feet or whatever it is we have. I finished all the floors and stood back with admiration … beautiful and very green, though slightly smelling of a deep frier. I then moved back to the end of the house I started in … and almost slipped as if stepping on a banana peel. What was that? I reached down to feel the floor and was (surprisingly) shocked at how utterly slick the floor was! Shiny, yes, but dangerously slick. I warned the kids to stay in the blue room (where there is safe, oil-free carpet), and quickly made some of my new staple concoction - vinegar and water. I went back over the whole floor with this mixture, sure the vinegar would do it’s grease-cutting magic. Once again, I finished all the flooring and went back for a closer examination of the starting point. Nope. Still law-suit level slickness. And Garth pulled into the driveway right about then.

Once again I thought quickly, grabbed the faithful dish soap and a bucket of hot water and went over the floor now a third time. As I write this, I’ve not yet examined the results. I needed therapy first.

So, as a good, green scientist, I must admit that failures simply provide an opportunity to learn. Here’s what I’ve learned:

1. Oil is intended to make things slick. That property doesn’t really change with the addition of vinegar.
2. The advertised green living concoction of oil and vinegar to clean wood floors would only be valuable if our kids were training for Olympic speed skating (they are not … at least not yet, though I may time them around the pool table later tonight to see if either of them have potential).
3. There are limits to how green we can be. Sometimes it’s just easier to grab the Orange-Glo and take 20 minutes to clean, rather than spend 3 1/2 hours.

It didn’t seem fair of me to not share this seemingly disastrous event. Besides … I wouldn’t want you to make the same mistake. Please … let the comments flow. (I’m sorry if caused anyone to wet their pants in a coffee shop or other public place.)

Here it is … what you’ve all been waiting for … a new post! Both my parents and Garth’s have commented to us that they miss reading what’s happening at the Shinn household, and really … two months is long enough to not have anything to say. I hope this doesn’t disappoint (and someone - please comment that you wish Garth would blog … he has a password, username, and everything!)

If you drive by our house you may notice a light shade of green emanating from the property. I’ve found that once I gain a bit of knowledge about something, it’s difficult to ignore complacancy or injustice in that area. So, as I’ve done a bit of reading, enjoyed conversations with friends, and done some web research, I’ve found there really are (and probably should be) some small changes we can make to be more aware of our choices and the impact it makes on God’s creation.

Some small (and in some cases minute) changes that we’ve attempted to make are:

• using cloth/canvas grocery bags
• carrying our own coffee mugs (some former FCA Huddle Leaders - you know who you are - are still adjusting to this concept, though others we’ve converted very quickly!)
• not using bottled water (we’ve not yet graduated to the stainless or aluminum bottles, but maybe those will be in our future)
• walking to the grocery and Lane Farms
• composting (this experiment is still in it’s evaluation period)
• Garth is driving slower and tailgating big rigs in an effort to get better gas mileage
• I’m biking to campus as much as possible
• Planning errands to coordinate with kids’ after school activities to be more gas conscious
• Line drying clothes (this makes me feel like Laura Ingalls a bit, and I’ve now got some statistics that show this only saves $.14/load, so I don’t know this is something we’ll keep doing … imagine my disappointment!)
• Replacing light bulbs with compact fluorescent bulbs (thanks to someone’s vision of installing our entire house with recessed lighting, we have A LOT of bulbs, and therefore must do this gradually … yes - I’m the guilty party!)
• And lastly, our latest experiment … our “garden”

I put this in quotes, because I don’t know that you can yet consider what we have a going an actual garden (it’s a puny comparison to what my Dad & Mom and several of our friends have). But, if you’ve been to our house, you know there is VERY LITTLE free space to put a garden. The swimming pool in the back yard (and the concrete that fills the ENTIRE back yard) render that area not optional. We did have a few thoughts of taking out our front lawn and making a garden, but we opted for a smaller scale experiment.

After a bit of research, we decided to do what Mel says … Mel Bartholomew is the author of All New Square Foot Gardening and we are now disciples. This gardening method uses small spaces to gain the most productivity and variety possible (as opposed to the typical row gardening method). So, we built our garden in a space in our driveway that is basically dead space. We built three 4′x4′x6″ boxes and placed them two feet apart. In square foot gardening, you square off each box (we used string to do this) to form 1′x1′ squares. So there are 16 spaces in each box. You plant a different crop (or flower) in each square. We have mixed in some seeds, and some starter plants, along with some flowers. We figured since it’s right in the front of our house, it would be nice if this was somewhat aesthetic! It’s been a long time since I’ve gardened, unless you count the bumper crop of tomatoes from last year! We don’t really have any idea how much our garden will produce. Just this morning I spotted our first sprouts of broccoli, cauliflower, and cabbage. We’re looking forward to seeing how it goes. We have future expansion possibilities in mind … another available space on our property would be a roof top garden on our carport! I’ve added a new category (gardening), and we’ll update as things grow! Here are the very first pictures on Day 1 of the garden. The cardboard squares are supposed to keep the little seedlings from baking in the sun, but as of today I’ve removed them as (mainly because May Gray has officially set in and there is no sun!) Here’s to the possibility of some locally grown food in our future!