Now that's local!!

Pictures of the apple and pear trees in my neighbor's backyard. They've agreed to let me have what I want from them.

To repay them I pick up all the ones that have fallen on the ground and aren't edible so they won't fall when they are walking around the yard. They're elderly and they don't have any business being out there doing that kind of stuff.

So far it's great! I've made two batches of applesauce/pear sauce and the trees have hardly had any fruit ready yet.

My mother in law just brought me a Victorio strainer so I'm ready for some saucing action!

FGLB

Misc information share

I have a few links that I wanted to share with anyone who wants to read them

Here are a couple of links about our dear President. Click here and here.
(Thanks for the links Donut Guy)

Contrary to your possible belief, I am not expressly anti-Bush in my leanings. I am anti-lying, anti-stupid decision, anti-strong arm tactics and anti-deception in politics. Unfortunately Bush uses all of those tactics in spades, and worst of all, he doesn't change his path or thoughts when presented with facts that his path is wrong. That's unconscionable in my book when you are supposed to be a leader.

It's unfortunate because during his original Presidential campaign I think he had a lot of good ideas. Somewhere along the way he got off track and hasn't been able to stop the train since. (Or hasn't cared to stop the train since)

This group is a left leaning group, but it's still a good comparison of then vs. now.

My only hope for the future is that we will end up with Congress and the White House controlled by different parties so that they will be locked in a stalemate and can't force things through like we have experienced for the past 6 years. Hopefully then things won't get worse.

Another link about Cuba and their food after their Peak Oil experience.

A link discussing a "Revolution" that I bet we all wish had never happened. And more here.
(Thanks for the links Ka-bar)

Enjoy!

FGLB

Investing update

I thought I would update this story based on some recent revelations I had while riding my bike. (It always seems to work out that I do my best thinking when riding.) Thanks to all of you who commented on that posting by the way. I decided to break this down into a two part posting. If you aren't interested in reading all this I promise I won't be offended, it is quite long.

How do I invest my assets leading up to Peak Oil and it's aftermath, in the short term?
My general assumption is that after Peak Oil most of America's financial community will be on an overall downward trend. It may not always be down year after year, but overall the trend should lead to lesser financial returns. As Americans we have become accustom to nothing but growth in our financial markets.

Most of the decline we will experience will stem from the broad application of conservation of our remaining resources (I would hope) and less focus on continual expansion of everything around us. I would also expect that the world will experience a population decrease over time and this would lead to less need for these products, compared to now. This will obviously lead to less "growth" each year which could take on inflationary or deflationary trends, depending on how consumers and the Federal Reserve react to the situation. I think one way to be successful with this type of investing is to focus on what people must have to live, find companies that have operations around the world and focus on a strategy of conservation of your financial assets over continual growth of your assets..

I think if you break down what people will need to survive in a Post Peak Oil world it breaks down fairly simply. Food and Shelter. Additional minor pieces would be Transportation, Financial Services, Energy of some sort for heating and cooking, Personal Goods and Clothing.

Food
Shelter
Transportation
Financial Services
Energy
Personal Goods
Clothing

But even before we discuss investing for the future we should take care of some general housekeeping. Moving into a period of possibly unstable monetary policy by the government, potential for debt defaults by scores of individuals, companies and governments and a period of time that might just generally be unstable it is important to put your personal financial house in order, in my opinion. By this I mean, you need to own your house and have an extremely low level of debt. When you are thinking about how to plan for Peak Oil these two things should be your primary goals. Now I know, a mortgage is "good debt" (if you want to believe that I have some land in Florida I'll sell you) but the sooner you pay it off the sooner you will quit giving the interest to the bank and start making the interest yourself. The interest you pay and the tax savings from the interest will never equal out. On top of that, if things really get bad I would want to hold title to my house free and clear so that I'm not dependent on anyone else in any way and can be assured of having a place to live that couldn't be taken away from me very easily.

Having a low debt level is also important because you can't guarantee that you'll have a job through this period and the lower your monthly living needs are the more likely you are to make it through the rough period unscathed. Think about your life currently. Are you basically living to payoff the debt you've accumulated? The house, the car, the computer, the braces, etc. It's enough of a struggle now let alone if or when the future is uncertain. Especially if you may have a household income that is dramatically reduced. Something to think about.

Paying off your debt is living by the old theory of paying yourself first. Everytime you pay more principal you are shifting value into your positive asset column and removing it from your negative column. Most of the debt you have will be in the 6% or greater APR range. I think it would be difficult to generate a return higher than that (after tax) for the forseeable future. For every dollar you pay down you are generating a tax free 6% investment return. Which would be roughly 9% before taxes. After we hit Peak (if we haven't already) I think it will be hard to generate returns in excess of 9% due to the instability, high oil prices, interest rate swings and other general factors of a world without access to cheap oil.

Now that we have that out of the way let's talk about what sectors to put your assets in after you've done all these things.

Food and Shelter
These are the two most difficult of this group to become personally invested in. Obviously you have the choice to invest in yourself and attempt to raise more of your own food goods, which I imagine all of us will be doing, and really that is one of the best returns available even in today's markets. Today you could easily invest in Food and Shelter by picking any of the publicly traded grocery stores, or Wal-Mart/Target. And there are a plethora of public home builders to choose from. But as I think about what logically should happen in an environment of conservation and slower growth (or no growth) these don't seem like good choices.

It would seem that with reduced oil resources for Grocers to transport goods to their stores that the large retail stores we are accustom to should either contract/disappear, be divested or take on a decidly local flavor where they would almost be local stores selling local products but sending the profits back to corporate. It doesn't seem likely that these companies will change their method of operation to reflect the higher transportation costs so I would think that they would just close stores one at a time as they became less profitable each year. This is what Wall Street expects and most managers walk lockstep with how the Street expects them to act. This obviously leads to short term thinking, but could benefit local companies. The grocery void would be filled by local entrepeneurs who will bring back the local general type of stores and farmer's selling direct to consumers. I can also see that some local private grocers might be able to withstand this time period because they won't need to answer to Wall Street and can make the necessary changes to their stores to reflect the new world we will live in.

The home builders make their profits by continually building new houses on new land in the suburbs, or possible mixed use projects in the city. These don't seem like very good options just for the simple fact that I don't imagine that a lot of people will be buying new houses, and I would foresee interest rates being quite high which would make borrowing money quite expensive, for anyone. It would seem more likely that people would buy older houses in the city and remodel them if they needed housing. Unfortunately I don't know of any remodeling firms that are public that someone could get involved with. I am going to lay off home builders just because I can't see anything very clearly with their future.

Another aspect of shelter would be REITs. REITs are an asset class that could experience some serious discomfort during this period. REITs rely on financing to acquire properties, and to keep the properties they have. Financing will be difficult to obtain or expensive if you can obtain it. REITs also work because they lease either apartments or office/industrial buildings to individuals or companies. If the economy is in a downward trend and we are experiencing a population decrease I would expect that REITs will experience significant vacancies in their properties as time progresses. These vacancies will lead to lesser valuation of the properties (commericial real estate is valued based on the income it generates. Less renters = less income) which could lead to massive losses in their portfolios. I think this sector could possibly be a valuable addition to a portfolio once the situation stabilizes, but I'm unsure when this might be, but it also encompassess a lot of risk because it is really hit or miss on which companies, propeties and areas of the country will experience the most sudden downturn.

Transportation
This grouping could be broken down into automotive/trucking, trains, boats and planes. I'm going to skip automotive/trucking and planes because I don't see those being a potentially lucrative area and want to focus on other areas. If you think of how things were shipped in the pre-oil days it was by wagon, train or boat. Well, trains still exist today and are easy to get involved with. It stands to reason that trains could be converted back to running on coal (or even better, electification. Electrification is much more efficient than any other method of transportation. By the way, if I read this on your site let me know and I'll give you credit. I can't remember where I read this now.) and trains can be used for the majority of our transportation again. Actually, it would seem that this is something that really should happen and should have already happened. Trains can carry a large amount of goods per load vs. a truck which really carries the same amount of goods as one railway car. To me this smacks of an obvious situation where trains should return to our country's primary means of goods transportation, however, don't forget that we would be living in a time of decreased consumption so I wouldn't expect any growth. I would expect that it would mostly be a means of maintaining the funds you have put into this group. In order for trains to handle more cargo (and possibly passengers) the rail system will need to be upgraded and expanded.

Another method of transport that could be discussed is by boat. While I imagine there will be new companies started up over time that will use the waterways more to transport goods, we have done a very good job of damming up our rivers and these dams may limit the rivers that could be used for navigation. Additionally, the rivers now are much more channelized because of flood protection. I'm not sure how this would affect their ability to transport goods, but it might be something to think about. I'm not currently aware of any boating companies that specialize in transport of goods by river. If you spend any time on the Missouri or Mississippi rivers you will see plenty of barges moving around, but I can't figure out who owns them. Perhaps train companies? I don't know. Either way, this seems like something that will be worth keeping an eye on in the future as there could be potential to get in on the ground floor of some new businesses this way.

Stay tuned for part 2 where I will discuss Financial Services, Energy, Personal Goods and Clothing and hopefully wrap it all up.

FGLB

I hate it when...

I ride to work and forget my towel.

Air drying after a shower is not much fun.

Grrr.

Aug 29
10 miles (commute)

Local meal week 10

This week's local meal was fairly simple.

We enjoyed a grilled T-bone steak.

Fried potatoes with red onions, salt and pepper.

Sliced apples and pears.

All ingrediants local except olive oil, salt and pepper and the steak seasoning spice rub.
I decided to stop feeling bad about us eating so much beef (especially steak) because even when we eat it we eat way less than most people. This one T-bone was enough for the whole family and there was enough leftover for my lunch tomorrow. My impression of most Americans is that they would have eaten the whole thing themselves, or at least most of them would have. And besides, all the beef we eat is grass fed which is way healthy compared to a lot of meat products, even fish.

Want more info about eating grass fed products? Click here and search around the site, including info about providers near you.

FGLB

Book review

I'm going to start doing book reviews of books of books I've read that I think have some general relevancy to the public. With the cold weather approaching I'll be able to pick up my reading so this is something you should see more often going forward, although it will taper off when the weather is nice outside.

I recently finished reading a book called Garbageland by Elizabeth Royte. I picked this book up to read after seeing it recommended on the Hen Waller website. I found it to be quite interesting. The author decides that she wants to track her garbage and see what kind of impact her family is having on the environment. This leads to her starting to monitor and weigh her family's trash (yes, really) and to her studying the future home of her trash. She visits landfills around her house, recycling centers and sewage treatment facilities. She begins composting her organic refuse, albeit not completely successfully, and she spends a lot of time talking to environmentalists about the impact our disposable lifestyle is having on the world around us. She spends some time riding with some NYC sanitation workers learning about trash and recycling habits of people, and she traveled to Berkeley to learn about their extremely successful sanitation program.

Two things from the book that really stuck with me
Only 2% of the trash generated today is municipal garbage, meaning garbage generated from residences. The rest is generated by industry and commercial groups. This is mind blowing to me. Think about how much trash is generated by households and it's only 2% of the trash generated each year? Wow. For us to reduce our trash generation as a country the key is to reduce trash generation for the 98%, not the 2% where we currently are trying to focus all our efforts.

Currently most types of plastic can only be recycled one time. Once. Then it has to be throw away. (I figured plastic could be recycled over and over.) In a perfect world plastic could be recycled over and over, but for that to happen you have to maintain the purity of each type of plastic to a certain integrity, which won't happen because too many people commingle their recycled materials. Makes me think about buying more products wrapped in cardboard (extremely easy to recycle and can be done many times) or glass which can be reused by me over and over. (Glass has no recycle value because it is cheaper to buy glass made from scratch than recycled glass in our current world, and according to this book, a lot of the glass we put in our recycle bins is just broken up and dumped in the trash at the recycling centers.)

I would recommend this book to everyone, but only if you have no interest in continuing the American consumerism lifestyle. Once you read this book and see how much trash people generate while maintaining their current lifestyles you will definitely feel differently about how you live. Especially those of you who live in areas that don't even recycle their trash at all, or even compost your organic materials.

Enjoy

FGLB

Market differences

As I said yesterday I was down in KC this past weekend. I attended the Farmer's Market Saturday morning in Overland Park, KS, which is the town I use to live in when I live in KC. I thought I would discuss the differences as I saw them from Saturday.

The market in OP was in downtown OP and was really integrated into the area and part of an event. Not only were there produce vendors but also some people selling baked goods, honey and homemade pasta. The market here in CR is much more removed. It isn't downtown and it's basically just a building (especially for this purpose) that is full of people selling their products. There is no attempt at making it an event. It is mostly akin to just a normal store visit. (We do have a downtown market once a month this summer which was very similar to this one. Maybe it will happen more next year. It was more of an event.)

I noticed that the market in OP was selling produce from all over the country, not just locally produced produce. And in fact, because of the disgusting sprawl in KC even the locally produced items came from quite a long way a way. I did see some people selling things from their neighbor's farms too. In CR everything is required to be locally produced and must come from that person's farm. You can't sell your neighbor's produce (this rule seems rather harsh. Why have two people drive the same distance if one can?) and in my experience I've never seen any produce at the CR market from more than 50 miles away, let alone Colorado, Texas or Minnesota. I think this might have to do with differences in the soil to grow crops and also with the reduced sprawl around CR. (The whole state of IA has less people than just KC does)

I also noticed a difference in the size and appearance of the produce. All of the produce in CR is bigger, cheaper and from the few I tasted, more flavorful. I guess this might relate to the soil differences again? Or possibly the distance traveled by the produce to the market? I'm not sure. I was excited that they had a farmer's market there at all. They do a poor job (as does CR) of promoting the market though. I lived there for 4 years and heard nothing about it. I was more familiar with the market in downtown KC, which was about a 30 minute drive from our house in OP.

The last major difference I found between CR and OP was that at the market in OP there was no meat or eggs being sold. I did see some honey but it was mostly produce for sale. Perhaps there are some state laws in place that I'm not aware of but it's something to mention. I also thought the range of choices is larger in CR, but perhaps that is because of climate differences. It was noticeably hotter down there then up here.

Overall, I liked the festive event type atmosphere of the market in OP, but I liked the choices, prices and taste of the market in CR. If you really compare the reason you go to a farmer's market, which is to purchase food, the market in CR is a better market. It's just a lot less fun.

FGLB

Not just frowned upon

I went to KC this weekend for some personal business and my car was acting up on the way. The temperature gauge was pegged past the H. I was slightly worried, but still drove it for the next 3 hours or so to get to KC and get it fixed. (It never did overheat and have steam come out of it) Hey, I had to get there.

When I first noticed the problem I figured that it might just need some radiator fluid. No biggie. I stopped a gas station and picked some up. But I encountered some problems.

Problem 1--The hood on the car is wedged shut from an accident that I was in last year (it was a bad year for me accident wise) and instead of fixing the car I replaced my water heater at my house and paid some other bills. Fair trade, but now it takes two people to open the hood because of the dents. Being the ingeniusly crafty person I am I found a Home Depot pencil in the car and shoved it in the hood to hold the tension tight as I pulled up the hood release. Hood popped. Problem solved. Didn't have to bother any of the bikers parked outside. Sweet.

Problem 2--Engine was very hot, thus I shouldn't open the radiator cap with my bare hands. I dug around in the car and found an old pair of baby jeans to use to turn the cap. (This is where the fun starts) I had always heard that you weren't supposed to remove the cap when the engine was hot, yadda yadda yadda. But I figured, what's the worst thing that can happen? I know it's hot and some steam will come out, so I'll just crank it and then turn away.

So I cranked it and the freaking cap shot into the air like Mount St. Helens had just blown it's cap again. I did wisely turn away, but I turned back to watch the shower of fluid spurting all over the engine bay. It was like a volcano erupting and like the Bellagio fountain going at the same time. It was quite cool. (I felt really bad about all the fluid all over the ground though, and I wasn't sure what to do with it. I told the workers inside but I think they did not care at all.) I thought all that would come out would be steam not actual spurts of the actual fluid.

So, I guess it's not just frowned upon to take the cap off like that, it's just kind of stupid. I did fill the car up and it didn't seem to help at all.

Problem 3--I took the car to a place by my friend's house and the shop must be run by some kind of crazy communist. He seemed to not have any concern that I was in town for one day, that my car was overheating and I needed to have it looked at and I wanted him to look it over. He said he would look at it and he didn't really seem to care to fix it (as the owner it would give him more profit so where is the entrepreneurship??) but I left it there with the understanding that he would look at it on Saturday and let me know what was up. Finally 90 minutes before the shop closes (not open on Sundays) I stop in and harass him and he was just starting to look it over. He finally determines that it's most likely some thermostat thing. 10 minutes later he orders the $10 part and starts fixing it. It didn't cause any problems on the way home so he was right. I couldn't believe this guy would bo so cavalier about it when he knew I was under a time contraint and I could easily have taken it to a different store that WAS open on Sundays so they could look it over. If he wasn't interested in looking at it he should have told me that on Friday when I called and asked him if he could look at it and I would have gone somewhere else.

I'm not sure what the moral of the story is, I'm just writing about it. Cars suck by the way.

FGLB

Local meal week 9

This week we had a beef and vegetable stir fry. I followed a recipe that did not have anywhere near enough veggies. Next time I'll use about 3x as many veggies and about half as much meat.

Dessert was some local apples from an orchard trip my wife and kids made.

Non local ingredients.

Soy Sauce
Corn starch
Garlic powder (why didn't I use fresh garlic? I don't know. I just blindly followed the recipe.)

Local ingredients
Round steak, carrots, celery, onions, zucchini, apples.

FGLB

Compost

Prior to my recent adventures in gardening I hadn't really given composting much thought in my life, and really, why would I have? I didn't like gardening or yardwork. (And still don't really, but I do like growing my own food. Why grow flowers when you can grow food?) I wanted to grow my food organically. This necessitates that I learn to compost. So I got busy reading about composting and what to do and how to do it. That was this past winter. The first thing I wanted to do was figure out how to start composting my kitchen scraps, even though it was the dead of winter. My research lead me to worm composting which is what I wanted to talk about today.

Basically, worm composting is using red worms to compost materials. (click link for a Wikipedia definition) It is most commonly used in areas where a compost bin can't be placed or to compost small amounts of materials. I was using it to compost my kitchen scraps because I figured that a normal compost pile wouldn't really be active in the winter around here. (Apparently compost piles are still active in the winter but they need to be built up before winter then so they can generate their own heat through the winter) Anyway, I used an online guide to build my own worm bin and populated it with some worms I bought from a local vermicomposting place.

The results have been really fantastic. Just recently I dumped the contents of the bin and the worms into the big compost pile to give them more food to eat and so that I only have to take scraps outside instead of maintaining two places. These worms went through a lot of material and they made a lot of good hummus (worm poo) which is actually twice as strong as compost, from what I read. When winter comes I'll transfer some worms I catch back into my bin and put it back in my basement for them to eat away at my scraps through the winter. Then in the spring they go back in the pile. And we repeat the cycle over and over. It's a great way to start composting on a small scale. Kids love it. My boys loved to "feed" the worms. You should give it a try.

If you are already buying compost to use you can at least start doing this and start saving yourself some cash. The biggest complaint I hear is that people don't like the way the piles look. Well, if that's the case get yourself a premanufactured compost bin. Yeah they are expensive but in the long run you'll save money over buying compost all the time.

And if you do buy compost at least find a nursery or greenhouse locally that you can cut down on the plastic packaging and support a local business. Why buy the stuff from a plastic bag from the National Home Center? So many places locally make it too and it's great stuff with a lot of diverse inputs. That's what I use in my garden and I've noticed it works better than the other stuff.

Check out this link if you want to read some real information about composting and see links to other resources.
Composting Link on Groovy Green

FGLB

Consciousness of thoughts

As I've gotten more and more into Peak Oil, living sustainably, cycling, eating local and other types of associated activities I've gotten more and more contemptful (is that a word??) of how other people around me are living.

When I see people buying all their produce at the Mega-Mart when the farmer's markets here are loaded with goodies it makes me sick. Not only veggies and fruit, but eggs, pork, chicken and beef are all available there too.

When I walk down the parking lot at work and can count the economical cars being driven (let's just say over 30MPG, hwy) on one hand I feel even more sick.

When people tell me that they don't have time to go to farmer's markets or it's just too hard to go there and shop, it makes me sick. Even worse when they tell me they don't want to buy from the market because they don't know where the stuff comes from. Huh? Do they actually think the store owns the farms that it gets it's produce from?

When I see people driving their cars to work when they live less than a mile away I almost throw up on their shoes.

When I hear people raving about the good deal they got when they bought a plasma TV on sale for $3500 I want to shake them from their stupor and ask them what they are doing with their life. (It was no payments no interest for a whole year!!) Why are they not out living it? Why would would they rather be spoon-fed these fake dreams over the cable lines? You only get one life folks. What you do now matters because you don't get a second chance.

When I talk to people in other towns and they tell me that their farmer's markets don't restrict what is sold there so anyone who buys a box of produce from anywhere can pawn off their produce as local just by answering the questions a certain way, I feel even more sick.

I've got to figure out how to get a handle on my contemptfulness. It hasn't impacted my everyday life yet, but I wonder when or if it will. How long before I snap and just fly off the handle when someone says one of these asinine things?

All my readings lately seem to show that more and more is being made in the mainstream media about eating locally and sustainably (and also Peak Oil), but I can't be certain if the information is going mainstream or if I'm just hearing more about it because I'm immersing myself in it more. You know how it is. You aren't looking for something and you don't notice it, but as soon as you need it you start seeing relevant things all the time. I didn't notice how many bikes were sale at yard sales or just in front yards until I bought one that way and then I'm like "Wow, bikes are being sold all over the place!"

Gotta figure out how to handle it.

FGLB

Crunch!!

I visited the crunch today (you might remember this post where I discussed the crunch) and I'm feeling great. My legs haven't felt this good for at least a year, possibly two.

I would definately recommend seeing one if you are having any strange problems that no one else can figure out what is wrong. And especially before you were to have surgery for something.

We walked up to the park last night so the boys could play on the play equipment. Child #1 wanted to ride his bike up there so I let him, on the sidewalk. (He's only 4, still a little too young for the street, even if I am there). I was surprised how much fun he was having riding his bike. Especially when we got to the park and he could rip around on it on the playground. Our driveway is only about 10 ft long so he doesn't get much room usually to stretch his legs out. He was really having a great time hammering down on the pedals.

Child #2 also wanted to ride his "bike" to the park. Unfortunately his bike is a big wheel, and he refuses to pedal it, so he makes do by Fred Flinstoning it around. Needless to say it took forever to get to the park. We were smart enough to bring the wagon for tired kids, which was good because Child #2 was really dragging on the way home, and finally had to park the bike and ride.

The first of many I'm sure.

Aug 21
10 miles (commute)

Aug 22
10 miles (commute)

FGLB

Born to be wild

Yesterday when I left work from the bike parking area of the buildings I noticed I had a free rider. There was a little grasshopper sitting on my brake hood. He (to ease the writing I'm making it a he although I DID NOT check) kind of sat there looking up at me while I was pedaling down the parking lot. I imagine he was wondering where this large yellow blob came from.

We were content to share our space together just riding along. Eventually he must have tired of getting the wind up his tailpipe because he turned around and was facing forward. He looked a lot like a dog with it's head out the window. His little antennae were plastered back to his head. I imagine he was humming a little Born to be Wild while we motored down the road.

"Get your motor running...get out on the highway...lookin' for adventure...and whatever comes my way..."

He was the Dennis Hopper to my Henry Fonda.

Eventually we ran into traffic and he must have tired of the slow pace of our ride. He flew away. I wished I could fly away at that moment too. Traffic sucks

"Yeah Darlin' go make it happen...Take the world in a love embrace...Fire all of your guns at once and explode into space..."

This morning as I was almost at work I came upon an accident. (for lack of a better term I used accident but it had to be someone's fault) It looked like one car turned in front of the other. I have no idea who was at fault as it was just two officers, me and a tow truck driver. But both car owners were gone, perhaps in an ambulance? The cars appeared to be completely totaled. Just flat out destroyed I can't imagine how they got that much damage in that area. It's a 35 MPH speed zone. I wouldn't have thought you would get that much damage from a crash at that speed.

As I was waiting for the light to change I was scanning the road for skid marks and didn't see any. Perhaps both parties were speeding and were otherwise occupied and weren't attentive enough to even hit the brakes before they collided? I don't know. I didn't see any news cameras or ambulance chasers so perhaps it wasn't that bad after all. Cars suck. Check that, inattentive people driving 4000 lb killing machines suck.

Strange 24 hour period. The joys of life and the vulgarities of life intersect in less than 24 hours and almost in the exact same spots.

FGLB

Mother knows best

For the past 6 months I've been experiencing a lot of pain and stiffness in my right knee and ankle. All the Drs. I've been to see haven't been about to detect any problems, except a little arthritis in my knee. It's quite debilitating. When I wake up in the morning I hobble around like I don't even have an ankle. It's like my leg and foot are fused into one big unit. Not to mention the pain (I was eating 6 ibuprofen a day) and overall discomfort when doing anything physical. Even if I sat around for a while and then got up they would be locked up and didn't want to work.

But not anymore.

I went to see the Chiropractor, hereafter referred to as the crunch. I was skeptical because well, my experience with them hasn't been that great in the past. My mom has been going to them for 20 years and she never seems to get better. They just fix the problem for a while. I've been in the past and it's always a line of "I need to see you 4 times this week and 76 times next month and I'll take your first born as a down payment on the cost blah blah blah", which turns me off. I expect the problem to be fixed if I come to see you. I go to the Dr with a problem. She gives me a solution. Dentist, same thing. I expect that with the crunch. They haven't normally been like that.

But this one I found is a little different. He adjusted me and told me to come back when I was feeling poorly again. This is really the same thing as the other people, but I really have the power to determine how often I go in and it's determined by my body not by some generic formula he has in his mind to fix my problem. Not to mention, his adjustment fixed my problem.

Anyway, when he was examing me he mentioned that my right leg was 3/4 of an inch shorter than my left leg. (I'm like yadda yadda yadda. This is one of your hooks to get people to use your service. blah blah blah) But then he adjusted my right hip (my family has a history of bad right hips) and then when I was standing up I felt like I was going to fall over to my left. He explained that was because I was really leaning over to the right when I was standing "straight" (because of the height difference) and when he made my legs equal lengths my body took a few minutes to shift it's balance back to where it should be, so I felt disoriented. Not to mention as soon as he adjusted it I immediately felt pressure leave my whole right leg. It was the wierdest feeling. And my problem is mostly fixed. I still have some discomfort in the ankle but it is way, way less and the whole ankle feels a lot more fluid. I have thought it was strange that when I was riding my bike that my right leg had soooo much trouble pedaling the bike. I couldn't reach the pedal for the whole stroke and my foot was always on it's tip toe at the bottom of the stroke and jerking in a circle. The left was never like that. Now I know why. They weren't the same length. This morning on my ride in my right foot stayed firmly planted on the pedal the whole time. (He also recommended I start taking glucosomine sulfate to lubricate my joints and that might be helping too) Now I'm wondering what caused the hip problem. I wonder if it's my Costanza wallet...

Then he mentioned that my right shoulder was about an inch and quarter lower than the left one, showing compression on the right side of my body. This seemed to make sense to me too because whenever I sit I fall or lean over to the right side. I just figured that's the way it was. But he smashed on my back and ribs and my shoulders got more even and my ribs opened up and I could breathe better. I feel like I have more energy now and I can breathe deeper when I'm pedaling and sleeping, meaning less tiredness for me. I'm surprised how much of a difference it has made in just a few days.

I've been having migraines too and he adjusted my neck but I haven't noticed a difference there with the pressure in my head. So I don't think that was the cause of the migraines. But we'll see if that gets better over time.

I'm pumped that I'm feeling better after these fixes. I'm going back on Wednesday to have him check to make sure the hip stayed in place (I don't feel like it's moved) and we'll keep assessing it week by week. My only regret? I should have listened to my mom months ago when she told me go there. Kids, listen to your mothers.

FGLB

Short delivery

It sure makes me feel good that the only truck my son's tomato was in before he ate it was the one he used to drive it up to his mouth

Local meal--week 8 (I think)

My picture didn't turn out very well, but here is a pic of this week's meal. I had some 8-ball squash (or buttercup depending on who is telling you what they are) that my friend gave me that her father grew. And I knew of a recipe that stuffed a squash. So there it is.

The quick run down if you want to see the ingrediants:

1 pound local pork sausage
1/4 cup finely chopped celery (market)
1/4 cup chopped red onion (market)
2 eggs (market)
2 cups coarsely chopped cauliflower (market)
1/2 cup diced yellow squash (market)
1/2 cup grated Parmesan (not local)
1 tablespoon chopped parsley leaves (store, farm in Grinnel, IA)
3 tablespoons chopped fresh sage leaves (store, farm in Grinnel, IA)
3 tablespoons chopped fresh thyme leaves (store, farm in Grinnel, IA)
1 tablespoon minced garlic (market)
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon fresh ground black pepper
After this was all mixed together I put it in the squash bowls and put it in the oven at 300 degrees for about 30 more minutes just to heat up and solidify the stuffing. (You cook the squash first) And it was done.

We also had some muskmelon.

Every ingrediant was local except the Parmesan Cheese, salt and pepper.

For future reference, the cauliflower wasn't cook and I wasn't sure I really liked it in there anyway. I think perhaps a little actual stuffing would make this go a long, long way. We also thought broccoli, carrots and zucchinni would be a good addition. You can tell the recipe was developed with ground turkey in mind because all those spices and the sausage were almost too much flavor. But it was darn tasty.

Enjoy!

FGLB

Peak Oil movies

Trailer for end of suburbia

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qHr8OzaloLM

Also, in case you haven't heard, Cuba went through a sort of Peak Oil situation back in the early 90s when the Soviet Union wasn't able to subsidize their oil. There is a documentary that details that situation and how they dealt with that over the past 15 years or so. The link to that site is here.

http://www.communitysolution.org/cuba.html

I'm going to try to get my library to buy these documentaries but if that doesn't happen I might just buy them to see what they have to say. Either way, once I get my hands on them I'll get a review up here for you all to enjoy.

FGLB

Stunt biking video

Video

What?

Lunch time ride today. Only 5 miles, but it was crazy hilly. I had to walk twice. I'm not too proud to admit it. I'm not sure if I would have made it up those hills with low gears even. But before I walked I pushed myself to the limit I'm proud to say.

Aug 16
5 miles (lunchtime ride)

FGLB

Warning labels

They should put warning labels on bikes.

CAUTION: Use of this product may produce shit eating grins and increase your bug consumption. Please exercise caution.

Bugs. Yum. I need to remember this. Ate two moths on the way home today. They taste like chicken.

Aug 15
10 miles (commute)

FGLB

Lots of helpers

I've noticed a change in my normal group of contacts over the past few months. As I keep having small discussions with people and make small changes to my life moving it towards living sustainably they have, more or less, been dragged along with me and are also making these changes without thinking about it. And they are all helping me meet my needs to move towards that type of lifestyle.

My kids like to help in the garden (I don't know any boys who don't like to get dirty) and also to help "process" the food once it is procured. I think a lot of this has to do with them still being young, but I also hope it is something that they find somewhat enjoyable too. I know I do as it's fun to sit with them and shell peas and snap beans and talk with them about what they are thinking.

My wife has also started to help more. She is watching the boys a lot (she's always watched them more than I have), which is a tremendous help to allow me to do all these different things, but she is also helping me prepare the food more, and helping pick some things (I think the tomatoes being ready helped here) and she is taking an interest in eating more local and organic foods, without even realizing it, I think. She's also taking a bigger role in backing up my thoughts on what we should do as a family to move towards these future goals. It's great having a united front on this subject, and such a great partner for our future.

My friends have started to get in on it too. I have one friend who has been sharing with me the bounty from her father's garden. (I'm not sure how he feels about this but I appreciate it) I appreciate the potatoes and squash she has shared and also the great discussion with her about cooking different foods from what grows in a garden. I have another friend who has been great help setting up my compost pile.

My in-laws have been great sharing their truck with me so I can transport a lot of compost, and just this weekend they shared peaches fresh off their peach tree with us. (I've decided that canned peaches suck. Fresh peaches rule.) They are always ready with a bag of veggie scraps and such for my compost (they need to start their own though. Stop paying for it).

My parents have been a big help too. Answering questions about growing your own food, how to cook things we've grown, providing books and most importantly this weekend, how to locate the wheat moths we were invaded by (they were in the leftover corn we burn in our corn stove) have been a tremendous help.

Bloggers have been a great source of information too. Reading about their trials and tribulations, their recipes, their interactions and their information about growing food has helped me to become more aware of what is happening and how to prepare for it, and how to make a bigger impact on my life by growing my own food. Reading about other people who ride their bicycles for their basic transportation needs makes it more reassuring to make that step. Reading about other bloggers making changes to their lives has made it a lot easier to feel less alone in this journey.

I guess what I'm trying to say is thanks to everyone. I guess a community of helpers still operates in America today, it just looks a little different than it did 150 years ago.

FGLB

Financial link

This is a great financial post about our country's financial house.

FGLB

KIDS!!!

Kids can be so annoying and exhausting and stressful and time consuming. And then they smile at you, or tell you a funny joke and you forget about all of that.

Well, not the exhaustion.


Our oldest is the blond one here who built the building. It was his version of a skyscraper apartment building. It looks like a building that Dr. Seuss would have drawn.



This is a picture of our youngest one playing with his Thomas train. He's building a new set of tracks to drive it on. He loves to have his picture taken. The dog is supervising things back there in the back.


Group hug!

FGLB

Local meal--week 7

This week's meal is:

Top Sirloin from our locally purchased cow quarter.

Steamed corn on the cob.

Grilled zucchinni (one of my new favs)

Canteloupe or Muscatine Melon (whatever you want to call it)

You probably all think we eat a lot of beef, but right now beef is the only local meat option I have. I don't have room in my freezer yet for any pork or chicken (although there are plenty available to buy which I buy for immediate use but haven't worked out for this challenge for the most part) because the beef, and what was already in the freezer, have filled it up. Not to mention all the vegetables that are going into it at a fast rate too. So rest assured that I know we need to not eat as much beef and we are working in it.

Our little one helped his mom shuck the corn. We teach 'em young how to handle corn here in Iowa. He's just over 2.

FGLB

RAGBRAI pic

No comment is necessary.

LINK

FGLB

Investing for the future?

Lately something has been plaguing me and I can't get it out of my mind.

How do I invest and plan for the future when all I see in the future is the turmoil caused by Peak Oil and our unsustainable lifestyle?

You see, I do all the financial planning for my little familia. I assist my parents with their 401K choices. I help my friends with their choices. I make all my own personal stock, bond and mutual funds choices too, not to mention checking, savings, cds, etc. I'm not in any way a licensed financial planner, but I have received plenty of college training on these subjects and they are of interest to me so I spend some time reading about them and keeping up on things during my little spare time.

Frankly, I think I stack up better than most "advisors" who are nothing more than trained sales people pushing stocks the company tells them to push. Which is why I never got into that field. I can't stomach doing that with people's hard earned money. I've seen how bad advice has big consequences to the individual but not the person giving the advice. Sorry about that...where were we...oh yeah. How do I continue to do that with all these big ideas swirling around in my head?

I don't know. It's hard to do. As oil gets more expensive all products will become more expensive. This leads to inflation, which is bad. But, will it force some companies to just shut down? Possibly. What happens as people start figuring out what is happening and they start staying home and quit eating out or buying so much food from a long way away or driving less or buying smaller homes? While I want those things to happen morally, financially I can't figure out how to plan for them or use these ideas to my advantage to maintain or grow my wealth for my future generations. Even if I'm not invested in those industries directly, my mutual funds probably are, and if things start to teeter than it would seem feasible that even companies with little direct impact from the changes would be affected, at least in the markets, as the country enters a pretty deep recession, or possibly even a depression. But the difference here is that it won't be temporary like the depression of the 30s. This will be a permanent change. Without cheap oil nothing will be as easy as it had been, which means less leisure time for people, less available disposable income for people, smaller markets for products and less overall financial wealth. (We will ignore personal/spiritual wealth for now) While there could be a boom as maufacturing is shifted back to America from other countries and it becomes more local the entire economy will be a fraction of what it currently is. How does someone plan for a future like that when so far all we've ever known is growth, growth, growth? How did people save money 100 years ago before so many people were invested in the market? Just by putting it in a savings account? This is something I'm struggling with all the time.

As I've continued to invest I have drawn some moral lines in the sand where I personally have forsaken potential profits because I morally disagree with what is going on in those businesses. I can't own a cigarette company or an oil company directly (I obviously don't control what my mutual funds purchase) because of my moral standards about those businesses. (This is in direct violation of my financial training but that's OK) This choice has caused me to pass up a lot of profits in the past, and probably a lot more in the future. But now there are a lot of companies running up against what I believe, even ones I own. I thought for fun I'd run through my portfolio and detail out every stock and the problem I have with it.

Sprint (S)--(Full disclosure, I use to work there and that's how I got most of the stock) While telecommunications is an essential part of our life's is it sustainable? On the surface I say yes, but the biggest part of their business is mobile phones which contribute to car accidents and encourage our wastefulness when we throw away a phone every 2-3 years, especially with all the manufacturing that went into everything revolving around phone calls with the components, shipping products all over the world and especially the batteries on phones.

Embarq (EQ)--This was spun off from Sprint recently. It is Sprint's old local phone division. I don't have much too say here. It seems to be relatively straightforward. Other than the use of resources wiring up the phone lines I can't see much to complain about here.

Entertainment Properties Trust (EPR)--This is a real estate trust that owns movie theaters that it than leases to movie companies. It would seem that this would contribute to our countries sprawl as they mostly are built in new shopping centers that keep being built on the outskirts of towns. Additionally, I'm concerned that as our world keeps changing we will have less available cash to attend movies so that could cause problems here.

Investors Real Estate Trust (IRET)--This is a real estate trust that owns apartment buildings and commercial buildings in the upper midwest. See EPR for concerns.

Lions Gate Films (LGF)--This is an independent movie producer that makes movies that are then sold or distributed by the large movie companies. I'm concerned about the resources they waste making movies and disposable cash in the future.

Berkshire Hathaway (BRK.B)--This company has tons of different companies under it's umbrella, but one of the largest is GEICO. What happens when or if people stop buying cars? How does that affect this company? There are also plenty of other companies here that are concerns to me but I could spend 50 pages talking about them all.

But even after my little piece of the world I'm running into companies like automotive companies, fast food companies, food conglomerates, construction companies, banks, manufacturers, real estate companies and defense companies that I'm having a hard time justifying, even if they are compelling values. How do I find suitable choices? I can't. That's my problem. Everywhere I turn it's waste, waste, waste. Even the company I work at now contributes to these concerns.

I'm having a hard time figuring out how to do all this and plan for the future. Anyone have any ideas?

Early morning grumpiness

On the way to work this morning I had an interesting experience. All the more interesting as I had just read this post yesterday...

I was riding to work plugging along trying to catch my breath a little after climbing a hill, and I get passed by one of those guys with the shaved legs, aero bars, fancy road bike, the whole 9 yards, but he says nothing to me as he passes me. Not even an "on your left" or anything. I don't say anything because I don't usually talk unless I'm spoken too, and honestly, I was checking out his ride mostly as he went by. But after watching him fade away a little and thinking about Jim's post I decided to see if I could catch him and talk to him.

I was surprised, but it didn't take long. (I never really catch anyone who is riding) It's usually kids who just had their training wheels removed and old people on cruisers (and sometimes the old people pass me too) that I can catch and pass, but for some reason I was burning up the road catching this guy, and then the road went uphill...and I caught him even more quickly. I was really shocked about that. I didn't even stand up and he was standing on his pedals. (I noticed I was churning my legs about twice as fast as he was while going up the hill) At this point my messenger bag flopped over around my shoulder and fell between my legs. Now, I'm not accustom to a bag that big between my legs and when that happened I almost ate the pavement but I was able to get it under control and flip it back onto my back while cruising up to him.

When I finally caught him we hit a red light and I said to him "I haven't seen you out here before. Do you ride along here a lot?" (In retrospect, this seems a lot like a pickup line...) All I got back was a stare and he turned back around. So I kept on going. "I notice you have aero bars, are you training for a triathlon?" Still nothing. So at this point I decided to lose the Midwestern niceness. "Hey, (I think he's ignoring me at this point) I notice you have a pretty nice bike. It's kind of sad, don't you think, that I caught you on my $200 bike even though it only has one gear and I'm grossly overweight?" Pause. "Maybe you should be training a little harder." (serious riders hate to be challenged about their speed) At this point he is pulling away as the light is green, and he is moving quickly now. So I just amble down the road to work.

Good way to start the day.

8/8/06
10 miles
Commute

FGLB

Tri-athlete team

This guy has a nice post about a tri-athlete father and son team.

Check it out.

FGLB

Back in the saddle again

I'm back to commuting to work again. I've gotten over my laziness for now and climbed aboard the fixie to commute into work.

I really need to name her. Yes, she's a she. Maybe that's unmanly. I don't know. I do know that if she did have a name it would probably be Jessica because Jessica is the first name of 60% of the people that would be on my list, if I had a list. You know the list. The list of 5 people that a committed man or woman can sleep with with no repercussions because the person is the best the planet has to offer. That list.

I'm going to start riding again every day for the rest of the summer and then my wife and I will start switching off and on days so that some days she can ride and the other days I'll ride.

That's pretty nice.

Anyway, I'm going to add a quick feature to the entries sort of like Pete's (see bottom of his post) that detail the date and the length I rode that day. Pete will admit he stole it from Jill Up in Alaska originally, but it works so I'm going to do it too. On days I don't ride to work I'll probably ride over lunch (corporate bureaucracy mandates I take an hour lunch) so something will happen. And I don't have a bike computer so my distances are mostly estimates or something I got from Gmap.

August 7
18 miles (commuting and lunch miles)

FGLB

Oil fields are depleted?

The Moral Equivalanet of War blog has some interesting things to say about Peak Oil. Check out his recent posts from Sat Aug 5 and Thursday Aug 3.

It would be interesting how fast our world would change if it became public knowledge that the Saudi fields were depleted.

I've often thought it was strange that the Saudi's keep saying they have excess capacity even when oil is around $70 a barrel. That's billions of dollars they are just letting sit out there if they really do have excess capacity. Doesn't seem right that anyone could pass up that kind of money.

FGLB

How to cook an overweight cyclist

When you've decided that you want to cook your overweight cyclist the first thing you need to do is build a good base of low level exhaustion. You can do this by having your overweight cyclist play some softball, swim for a few hours, do yardwork for a few hours and play basketball in the days leading up to the day that you want to cook your cyclist. Also, make sure he gets up numerous times each night to assist with children having nightmares about bugs and smoke detectors and other nonsensical scary things.

Good, now that you have a nice base established let's get started.

1.) On the day you want to cook your cyclist have him get up early and ride his fixie to the market, load up his messenger bag with about 12 pounds of goodies, strap it on his back, and then pedal back home (uphill home you know, the market is along the river...he he...) to stock up the fridge.

2.) Allow your cyclist to rest for about 30 minutes.

3.) Then put your cyclist out in the sun for about 3-4 hours while he works on scrapping paint around windows at his apartment building. Then allow him to rest for about 30-60 minutes, but no sleeping. It is suggested that you add some food and water to him at this time to assist with the cooking process.

4.) At this point your cyclist might realize that he has free time in his afternoon and rather than taking a nap he'll load up and go to ride the mountain bike trails for 2 hours. It's important that you allow him to do this on his own so that he can contribute to his cooking and thus, will be more thoroughly cooked when completed, and you hopefully won't hear any complaining because it was his decision to ride in the afternoon.

5.) When your overweight cyclist gets home from riding his bike pick him up with a quick blast of cool water in the shower. And then take him outside to play baseball with his kids.

6.) At this point your cyclist should be pretty darn tender and very moist from the extreme amounts of water he'll be drinking. If further cooking is needed you can play cards with him for a couple of hours.

7.) Now your cyclist should be very well cooked. He should be like putty in your hands at this point. The best thing to do now is to place him in a car for 30 minutes so he can get some rest.

If you think you're cyclist needs more cooking prior to step 6 or 7 repeat steps 2, 3 or 4, but not all of them. You run the risk of seriously overcooking your cyclist and then he will be very bitter and crabby.

CAUTION: When your cyclist is completely cooked you run the risk that he will be prone to serious overeating when presented with food. You must monitor his food intake unless you want to deal with the aftereffects of the massive food intake. Side effects may be: lots of groaning, drowsiness, irritability and shortness of breath. Cyclist may also be prone to complaining when in this position and suffer from an enlarged stomach.

When your cyclist is completely cooked make sure to enjoy promptly as the leftovers the next day are not very pleasant.

FGLB

Local meal--week 6

It was unbearably hot this week and I didn't feel like cooking so this is what we had.

Simple grilled zucchinni, squash and potatoes tossed with some salt, basil and olive oil.

Mashed potatoes (I have wwwwaaayyy too many taters), watermelon and canteloupe.

Simple, easy, local and not too hot in the kitchen.

FGLB

Fixie debut

Got the fixie back last night and took it out for a little cruise. I thought I would share a couple of observations.

You don't know how much you coast until you have a fixed gear bike. When I was approaching the end of the driveway, approaching a stop sign, moving my hands on the handlebar, signaling a turn, slowing down, drinking water are all times I would normally coast but I can't anymore. I didn't really think I coasted that much. It's interesting having to relearn how to do these things while still pedaling and not make a spectacular show hitting the pavement.

I LOVE the simplicity of the bike and how quiet it is. I was churning away down the road last night and I couldn't hear anything but the wind in my ears. That is a really nice feeling, and it's totally intoxicating. Way better than hearing a noisy derallier (sp??).

The hills will be a little challenging but not as hard as I expected. I ended up with a 40-16 ratio on the bike and I think it was about right for my legs, terrain and total bike weight (including fatty). I haven't tried any really killer hills yet, and I expect I won't be able to climb some for quite a while, but for my commute I think I picked the right gears.

Braking with the pedals is much more difficult than I expected. Those pedals just do not want to stop. I'm glad I left both sets of brakes on. Right now it's easiest to use both brakes to slow down while I also lightly push back on the pedals. Hopefully I'll get better at this so I can use less braking but for now that's what works.

If you don't have one you should get one. It is like a totally new biking experience.

FGLB

Answer to zucchinni problem

I've found an answer to my zucchinni problem. It appears to be squash borers. A Google search yields this kind of information.

It turns out these things are pretty darn hard to control. Mother Earth News has some hints about how to protect yourself.

What this all boils down to is that I most likely won't plant them again if they are this much work. Or at least I'll make sure to plant each single plant away from each other plant to make it harder for the borer to move around and get them all.

Good thing I wasn't relying on this garden to actually feed me. I haven't gotten much food out of it yet. :-)

FGLB