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Chat about Ways to Save Money & Energy with #EnergizeDE

One of our biggest $$ savers: DIY clothesline

Delawareans can save energy and money and at the same time boost the state’s economy. DNREC Secretary Collin O’Mara and Twitter can help.

Delaware’s #EnergizeDE Twitter Chat, hosted by DNREC Secretary Collin O’Mara, will take place Wednesday July 13th from 7:00- 8:00pm. Secretary O’Mara will be tweeting from the @YourDNREC account (love the bio: Explore beyond the door with an adventure enthusiast and natural resource advocate at DNREC), answering questions and providing information about energy efficiency solutions offered through the state’s nonprofit Energize Delaware and the Delaware Energy Office.

How it works

To join the discussion, Delawareans just need to use their Twitter account & follow the discussion through the #EnergizeDE hashtag. (If you’re a complete newbie, you’ll need to open an account on Twitter and then enter #EnergizeDE into the search box, periodically refreshing the page for updates.)
Questions can be tweeted @YourDNREC before or during the one-hour online conversation.

To keep the conversation focused, the hour-long chat will be divided into three 20-minute segments devoted to common energy challenges:

First 20 minutes: How much is your monthly energy bill? Tweet your average monthly bill and let’s see what the range is and how it compares to the national average. The highest tweet (with verification) will receive a free energy audit.

Second 20 minutes: Share your most frustrating comfort issues. Tweet about thermostat fights. Tweet about hot and cold guest bedrooms above the garage. Why is one level so much hotter than the other and what can be done? Does your business use a lot of lighting, refrigeration, or other energy-intensive equipment? Possible solutions will be discussed.

Third 20 minutes: Have you had a home energy makeover? Share your experiences and advice and Secretary O’Mara will tweet links to useful resources.

I don’t live in Delaware anymore (although I’m literally in stone’s throw distance) but I’ll still keep an eye on the Twitter stream. Delaware takes government-supported energy efficiency and sustainability in general fairly seriously, and I’m interested to see not only what info gets put out there, but who shows up and what level of eco-responsibility they represent. Of course, when you’re talking Twitter you’re already out of the realm of “typical homeowner,” but frankly I have no clue how one would go about having this sort of real-time engaged conversation about local energy for the masses.

Anyway. Recap:

Wednesday July 13th from 7:00- 8:00pm, on Twitter, tweet your questions to @YourDNREC and follow with hashtag #EnergizeDE.

Here’s a list of ways we save money and energy… looks like I need to update with more recent changes.

Have you taken steps towards energy efficiency? For the earth’s sake, for your wallet’s sake, or both?

Let me know the best money-saving or obscure practice you’ve found.

July 12, 2011
Read. Share. Give: Recycle Your Kids’ Books & Make a Difference
As a nation…
- Two-thirds of 4th graders are below reading proficiency and 83% of low-income 4th graders are below proficient (National Assessment of Educational Progress)
- Some 42 percent of American children (31MM) lack the income to cover basic needs including child care and access to books (National Assessment of Educational Progress)
- In some of the lowest-income neighborhoods in the country there is only one book available for every 300 children (University of Nevada Study)
- 44 million adults in the U.S. can’t read well enough to read a simple story to a child (National Adult Literacy Survey)
If you’re anything like me, you’ve got shelves and shelves full of books your kids have outgrown.

If you’re anything like me, the thought of one book for every 300 children makes you want to cry inside.

Books were my childhood companion. They were an escape, an inspiration, a guide and a comfort. It’s no great stretch for me to say that I was shaped by reading, and it kills me that there are children deprived of that experience and opportunity for self-education.

Read. Share. Give is a national book sharing program that launched in Atlanta on June 30th with a stated goal of “one million story times” this summer.

This summer KinderCare invites you to read and share a book so that you can give a book to those in need.
- Pick a children’s book to read with your family
- Visit kindercare.com/read to download and print out a book label. Enter the book’s code found on that label, and start following your book’s journey.
- Place the label into the inside front cover of the book and pass it on to family and friends. Ask them to pay it forward.
- The more people who participate, the more books KinderCare will donate to Reach Out and Read.
I’m thinking that we might donate a lot of our favorite books to our YMCA childcare and preschool center library. Hoping that we’ll be able to track our books moving from family to family. We have somewhat eclectic taste in children’s books and knowing that they are getting used again and being read, that we are helping those authors be exposed to new families, is nearly as satisfying as knowing that more books will be made available to kids who need them.

Click here for more info and to get started. 🙂

** KinderCare sent me a paperback copy of Dan Freeman’s Corduroy to get our book journey started. I’ll pay that forward by sending it to the first person to send me their name & mailing address at simplegreenorganichappy {at} gmail {dot} com. I just ask that you pay it forward as well: log the book’s tracking number when you receive it, and pass it on to someone else who might enjoy it. **
July 11, 2011
I Can Haz Saint Bernard Puppy?

from Falling in Love is Like Owning a Dog

…On cold winter nights, love is warm.
It lies between you and lives and breathes
and makes funny noises.
Love wakes you up all hours of the night with its needs.
It needs to be fed so it will grow and stay healthy.

Love doesn’t like being left alone for long.
But come home and love is always happy to see you.
It may break a few things accidentally in its passion for life,
but you can never be mad at love for long.

Is love good all the time? No! No!
Love can be bad. Bad, love, bad! Very bad love.

Love makes messes.
Love leaves you little surprises here and there.
Love needs lots of cleaning up after.
Sometimes you just want to get love fixed.
Sometimes you want to roll up a piece of newspaper
and swat love on the nose,
not so much to cause pain,
just to let love know Don’t you ever do that again!…

-Taylor Mali

We have a new family member.

Allow me to introduce…

Karma Casino Elton.

“Good Karma!”

“Bad Karma!”

“Come here Karma!”

Casino for luck, and because the boys and I just watched the original Rat Pack Ocean’s Eleven, followed by the George Clooney version. Also, it just sort of rolls off the tongue.

Karma was named Athena when she came to us. She was one of a litter of seven… and she was born a full 36 hours after the other six.

A miracle baby. She also has six toes on one of her hind feet.

Talk about long odds.

“The Saint Bernard probably has its roots in the Roman Molossian dogs, but it wasn’t until between 1660 and 1670 that the breed developed into the magnificent dog responsible for saving so many lives. Around this time, the first of these large dogs arrived at the St. Bernard Hospice, a refuge for travelers crossing between Switzerland and Italy. The Saint Bernards originally came to help pull carts and turn spits and may have also functioned as watchdogs or companions, but the monks soon found them invaluable pathfinders through the deep snow. The dogs were adept at locating lost travelers. When a dog found a person, it would lick the person’s face and lie beside him, thus reviving and warming the person. The dogs continued to serve in this invaluable role for three centuries, saving over 2,000 lives.”

-from Animal Planet

The name “Saint Bernard” wasn’t in widespread use for this breed until mid-19th century. Before then, they were “Saint Dogs”, “Noble Steeds”, “Alpenmastiff”, or “Barry Dogs.”

Barry was the most famous rescue dog at the St. Bernard Hospice. He reportedly saved somewhere between 40 and 100 lives. There’s a monument to Barry in the Cimetière des Chiens, and his body was preserved in the Natural History Museum in Berne.

Saint St. Bernard, by the way, was the first Cistercian monk placed on the calendar of saints. Pope Pius VIII gave him the title “Doctor of the Church.”

Some concerned citizens were wondering how The Dogness took to the puppy. Jimmy, like me, likes his personal space and doesn’t like when things get overexcited or unruly. He’s been known to steal and hide the ball when he thinks a game of soccer has got out of hand.

Well, OK. It wasn’t love at first sight.

Look at the disdain on that face.

The puppy is pretty low-key as puppies go, and Jimmy has decided she’s not too horrible.

He’s permitted a few kisses on the cheek, but I don’t think he’s up for sharing his doggy bed yet.

And… that’s what I did today.

Now tell me something completely crazy that you’ve done lately 🙂

You cannot resist the cuteness.

July 9, 2011