Please Step Over the Sleeping Dog

by Mary Lynn Tipton

for "Mike"

Please step over the sleeping dog,
His tired bones are old and sore,
Please step over the sleeping dog,
He's earned his place on the kitchen floor.

He served his master through rain and sun,
He worked his heart out all his life,
And when his master went to town
He worked as hard for his master's wife.

His hearing's gone, his eyes are dim,
His legs are weak, he's grown quite thin,
You really shouldn't bother him,
He needs his rest today.

But his ears stand up and his tail wag, wags
When he spies a bitch with her tail a'flag,
And he still drops down to a stylish crouch
When e're there's lambs and ewes about.

His kingdom is a humble farm,
His subjects sheep, their home a barn,
His barking rings a sharp alarm
When strangers come too near.

The other dogs respect his place,
They yield to him with grumbling grace,
Ewes tell their lambs about his power,
With sadness watch his final hours.

When he was young he ran for miles,
He took command, he worked with style,
But now he needs to rest awhile,
Don't push him off the couch.

The younger dogs now do his chores,
He doesn't want to work no more,
He likes a walk, a truck ride too,
But most of all, a pet from you.

Garden Guilt

I have committed a crime, a gardener's crime, for which any gardener's jury, (and I have no doubt such juries, though informal, do exist) would surely find me guilty. I admit it. I did not plant any lettuce this year.

I have faithfully planted lettuce, usually a leaf lettuce variety, every year for eons. And, also every year, I have pulled about 95% of it up and fed it to my sheep. I have observed all my gardening friends' lettuce plots, most large enough to provide salads for daily meals in a Homeless shelter, and wondered how any family could begin to consume the large quantities they plant considering one of two facts. Leaf lettuces bolt, that means they mature quickly, become less palatable, working their way to make seed. Head lettuces (Iceberg, Romaine) all mature at once. What family can deal with 50+ heads of lettuce all ready to eat at the same time?

I looked up the nutritional value of lettuce, found a web site (nutrition-and-you.com, health benefits of lettuce) and discovered a couple of things. Lettuce, especially the darker green lettuce, is really good for you, but I sorta knew that. There's a bit of a catch to that statement though. Most statistics for the value of lettuce are dependant upon a 100 gram serving. Couldn't help but be a bit curious as to what quantity of lettuce makes up 100 grams so out came my kitchen weigh scale. Wow! 100 grams is quite a lot, about 3 cups. Only 15 calories though, until you dress it. But who would want to eat 3 cups of lettuce naked?

I sorta like lettuce, on a burger, in a sandwich, but I'm not much of a salad fan, nor is my husband. I recently discovered a really good method of keeping leaf or Romaine lettuce fresh in the fridge - root end in about an inch of water in a pitcher, covered lightly with a plastic bag - and one pack of organic Romaine hearts last me for weeks.

So this year, yes I admit it, this year my usual one foot square of lettuce did not get planted. Instead I'm keeping that square open for my second planting of spinach, because for me a spinach salad with strawberries and a bit of sweet dressing is yummy. Yes, spinach also bolts, but it is preservable. When it gets away on you and begins to flower you can freeze or can it. Cooked spinach is also good for you. Hey just look at Popeye! Spinach in lasagna too, yum. And nutritional value, way up there. Besides, if I really want local fresh garden lettuce badly enough, I can think of quite a few gardeners who have over-planted and would just love to give some away.

Suncatchers

                                                    Erecting the Suniva panels last summer


Right around the time the power bills arrive in the mail I can almost hear a collective groan floating on the wind. Electricity is getting kinda pricey these days and heaven knows we are all hooked. It's not a luxury, it's a necessity, at least in the world we live in. Just look how inconvenient, and sometimes, like in the dead of winter, how life threatening a power outage can be. The grid is holding people ransom. But it doesn't have to, especially now. Here's my eclectic electric story.

When we first moved to rural Alberta from British Columbia in 1974 we were young, energetic, had a 6 week old baby boy, and were fairly broke. We had already lived without the "essential" conveniences for two years - running water, electricity, bathroom - and continued to do so for the next ten. For us it was an adventure, a learning process, a time for gradual improvements - and then there was that money thing. But in 1984 we decided to put an 18' X 18' addition onto our 25' X 25' log home and "go modern", so we checked into the possibility of getting power into our place. The closest commercial power lines were 2 miles away. We were expected to buy the poles and clear the land to get it in, at a cost of about $14,000, a fair sized sum in those days. We had always been interested in alternative energy, and this chunk of cash caused us to take a harder look at solar electricity, Comparatively, it was looking pretty good, both in the cash outlay and the ease of installation.

In 1985 our first solar system consisted of a small inverter, a set of 8 deep cycle golf cart batteries, two kinds of wiring, AC and DC outlets, 8 used 32 watt Arco solar panels, and an old John Deer crank up combine generator for back-up. Nearly all our lighting was, and still is, DC. Electrical appliances, which in 1985 consisted of a toaster, an iron, and an 8" AC/DC colour TV, ran off the inverter. Our largest electrical draw was the well pump which we operated manually to save power, i.e. we had two - 100 gallon water tanks upstairs, plugged the well pump in when they needed filling, and had a 12 volt RV water pump to provide water pressure when we turned on the taps. Our toilet functioned on gravity flow and was so slow to refill that many a guest approached me and whispered quietly in my ear, "I think there's something wrong with your toilet, it doesn't seem to be refilling." We used this system for water up until 2001 when we decided our then improved solar system could handle the more frequent electrical draw required to operate a pressure tank, the standard county way of pressurizing water from a well.

That first  generator was a prehistoric machine with a magneto and a radiator that leaked. Starting it in winter was more than a chore, it was a task created to test the mettle of a man. Sometimes it took over half an hour of cranking, cursing, and sweating in sub-zero temperatures to get it going.  Needless to say the first improvement we made to our electrical system was a new gas generator which we soon converted to propane.

In 1992 we purchased 8 new 48 watt Siemens solar panels and a Honda EX5D silent diesel generator. In 1999 we purchased 4 -120 watt Kyocera panels. We also traded our original inverter for farm labour, bought a Trace 4024 true sine wave inverter and changed the system from 12 to 24 volts. In 2003 we bought 4 huge (about 300 lbs each) - 6 volt batteries. In 2012 these were replaced with 12 - 2 volt batteries giving us a 1350 hour battery bank. In 2013 we traded the original Arco panels for labour to erect 3 new 265 watt Suniva solar panels. Our original silent diesel has been replaced as well.

We have changed slowly (over 30 years!) from just enough for lights and water to a fully modern home with all the electric appliances I ever want, big screen satellite TV, microwave, Internet, front load washer, small kitchen appliances, pressurized water from our well, and we have a fully serviced farm shop and lights in the barn. The entire system, with the exception of annual generator maintenance and oil changes, is automatic and mainly maintenance free. We have been changing the angle of the solar panels twice yearly, but since the 265 watt panels went up we get so much power coming in during summer that we are considering leaving the panels permanently in the winter position, which in our northern location is pretty straight up to catch the sun sliding along the southern horizon. This position also aids in snow elimination but, because our panels are on our roof, we do sometimes have to take a snow rake to them. Our generator runs every 2 or 3 days in the dark of winter. It has run only 5 times since the first of February, and we don't expect that it will need to run at all from now (May 1) until about late October.

Solar electric systems have changed drastically since our first installation, and the price per watt has come down a lot. Those original, used, Arco 32 watt panels were $400 each. Our new 265 watt panels were also $400 each. From $12.50 per watt to $1.50 per watt - quite a change! Newer inverters are reasonably priced, simple to install and easy to understand. There are all kinds of safety measures in place. The weakest link in a solar electric system is the batteries. Battery technology hasn't changed much for a very long time. People supplementing grid power with solar do not require a battery bank.

Solar electric does have some self imposed good sense limitations. Any large often used appliance that heats should be a gas appliance, not electric. Electric stoves, hot water heaters, clothes dryers, electric heaters and yes, even fridges use copious quantities of electricity. I use a solar dryer (clothes line) in warmer seasons, and room humidifier (clothes drying rack) in winter. We use a combination of wood and propane gas for heat, have a full size propane fridge, propane cook stove and a propane tankless hot water heater. (Natural gas is not available where we live.) Our second fridge, which keeps our beer cold enough to turn the beer can mountains blue but never freezes, is a dumbwaiter into our cellar. We purchased a highly efficient and super insulated freezer from Denmark and keep it in the shop where it is always cool. These "concessions" to solar living do not cause us any inconvenience. On the contrary, when the power goes out in our neighborhood we just smile. Ours is always on.

If you are building a new home where electricity is not easily available; if you already have electricity and want to lower your electric bill; if you want secure power during power outages, brown-outs; if you are thinking of the environment; if you are tired of being held at ransom by the power companies - solar suncatchers (panels) may be just the thing for you. I think it's the "new" modern.

Isn't it too early for breakfast?

April Showers

Do April snow showers bring May flowers? Or make us sour. I've put in my order for sunshine and warmth. Snow is moisture. So, even though it's a bit of a downer when snow shows up in April, we know summer will come eventually. I do remember another April, April 20th to be exact. My husband was gone, staying with his mom who had had an operation, and my son and I were handling the lambing. We had a much larger flock then, about 150 ewes, all crammed into the shed barn, and overnight the thermometer dropped to -20, the wind kicked up and snow was blowing in. Snow showers that melt quickly? I'll take them any time.

 

Bummed Out Over the 4R's

Out of the frying pan and into the fire. We've left Iraq to the Iraqis, but it seems as though it's still a mess. We've left Afghanistan to the Afghanis, but it seems as though it's still a mess. And now Russia and the US are rattling sabres over Crimea, both sides strutting armed forces around its borders, threatening dire consequences.

And in the midst of all this rhetoric the world is in turmoil - civil wars, religious wars, territorial wars, ethnic wars, drought, starvation, weather disasters, nuclear meltdowns, over-population, unemployment. Many people are unable to obtain the basic necessities of life - food, shelter, clothing, potable water. And then there's global warming....

This is an overwhelming picture in which to remain hopeful and positive about the future of our planet.

We hear about the tipping point, the point of no return, the point in time at which we are essentially doomed. We must act now say the pundits of global warming, before it's too late! On the other side of the coin there are an astonishing number of people in the world who deny the science. Global warming is not real, they say, or if it is real it's just a natural cycle and humankind has no culpability.

There are those who are doing everything they can on a personal level in order to lessen their environmental footprint. There are responsible industries attempting to clean-up their act. There are new technologies being developed that help to lessen emissions and reduce our dependance on oil. Great. But there are millions, perhaps billions, who are doing nothing at all. And then there is the institution of war.

Humankind has always been at war and we've gotten very good at it. We have all the usual weapons of war - planes, ships, guns, bombs, IED's, soldiers - add to this list missiles, drones, satellite imagery, sophisticated secret services and spy networks, the internet.... Will the human race ever realize that nothing is solved by war? Or do we even care about solving anything? Do we choose sides in a conflicts for ideology or for economy?

Why is this titled "Bummed Out About the 4R's"? Here's just a few bits of info from a web site I happened upon called Environmentalists against War - Stop the war against the planet and all it's peoples.  If you're interested in the site, though it's a bit of a reality check and a downer, you can find it at http://www.envirosagainstwar.org/index.php.

GPM — Gallons per Mile. Because the military’s tanks, planes and ships burn fuel at such intense rates, it becomes impractical to talk about consumption in "miles per gallon." Military fuel use is, instead, tabulated in "gallons-per-mile," "gallons-per-minute," and "barrels-per-hour."

A B-52 bomber gulps down 86 barrels per hour. F-4 Phantom fighter/bombers devour 40 barrels per hour. At peak thrust, F-15 fighters burn 25 gallons per minute. An F-16 jet on a training mission ignites more fuel in a single hour than the average car owner consumes in two years.

The biggest gas-hogs in the Pentagon’s arsenal are the Navy’s non-nuclear aircraft carriers that burn 134 barrels per hour and battleships which consume 68 barrels per hour. At its top speed of 25 knots, the USS Independence (a 1070-foot-long aircraft carrier with 4.1 acres of flight deck and a crew of 2300) consumes 150,000 gallons of fuel a day ... Simply "'standing by' in the Gulf, the carrier must still consume oil at a voracious pace in order to purify 380,000 gallons of fresh water daily and produce enough electricity to power the equivalent of a city of 40,000 people.

Under standard conditions the Army’s M-1 Abrams tank gets eight gallons per mile. In the heat of battle, however, the M-1 Abrams tank can eat up seven barrels — 252 gallons (based on 36 British Imperial gallons per barrel) — per hour.


As long as we continue to have wars, how can we hope to make even a dent in the process of cleaning up our environment, of slowing global warming rather than accelerating it?

And here I am - faithfully recycling, reusing, reducing, rethinking. How can such small gestures begin to address such a huge problem? No wonder I feel bummed out.

Jill of All Trades

Jill of all Trades

I got married a long time ago and soon realized the white picket fence and two and a half kids was not likely to be my route in life. But, never in all of my thoughts of a possible future, never did I even conceive of the idea that one of my wifely duties would include fly sucking!

Having moved from Vancouver to a homestead in central Alberta, I learned to do a myriad of tasks I had never done before - things like hauling water, gardening, canning, chopping wood, butchering rabbits, even picking maggots from a wounded ewe. And I took these new life lessons more or less in stride as each surfaced into my sphere of existence. But fly sucking! Nope, not taking that in stride at all.

I just plain hate flies. In the fall of every year they slither into the house and make their home in every crack and cranny, then decorate all the windows with copious quantities of fly snot. Now I would never have thought of flies as the slithering type, but how else could you describe a critter that can apparently flatten itself paper thin and crawl around both screen and window frames seeking the household's interior warmth? I swear there are at least 100 of them buzzing away on every window each and every time I get out my fly sucking machine (known to most folks as a vacuum cleaner). Sometimes as often as three times a day I drag out my weapon of choice and suck away one window at a time till they're gone, at least for awhile. Then, like black magic, they reappear, buzzing, gliding, crapping! Filthy little beasts! Arrrggggh!

So ladies, beware of what your future may bring? If you live in the country, especially if your barnyard is close by and your house is not super air-tight, you had best be prepared to go on the attack every fall until freeze-up and every time the thermometer rises above freezing all winter long.

Maybe when the kids are out of school and you decide to go out to work to help out with their college fees, well, along with all the other skills you've acquired over the years, fly elimination technician may complete the education portion of your résumé! No doubt about it, you are most definitely a "Jill of all Trades"!