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Sunday, April 13, 2008
Of Birdhouses and Birdfeeders
Back -- again -- after having my Marine Corps disability (and LIFE) sideline me for awhile. LOL, can you say "I love pain? I love pain?" That's the old Marine Corps mantra they taught us in boot camp -- something to think about -- tho' I prefer an old girl friend's sage advice: "Pain builds character" -- and when we met during my 30th High School reunion this last year, she (and others) all said I was "quite a character". So I reckon that must be true, eh?
Enuff about ME, lets move on to the TOPIC of this tardy posting: Birdhouses and Bird feeders. While a continuation of the post below (recycling for the Birds), this post also takes a look at making a bird feeder out of plastic jars, plus some ideas for bird nesting sites for your yard -- including a raptor nest / roost!
Here's a picture of what I think were baby Wrens I took -- which I found in a VERY odd nest -- a garbage bag full of old air filter media I had stuck down in the barn!
The babies waking up when I come to the nest . . .  
.......and then demanding food from whatever disturbs them (good thing I'm not a CAT!)Later as they grew into semi-fledglings (I was very careful NOT to disturb them unnecessarily!) -- were a little bit more -- protective? BUT just as HUNGRY! While putting on his (her?) "fierce face", this young wren was waiting for food . . . while momma scolded me from the rafters of my 2 story barn.
That just goes to show: birds WILL nest in, on, or around anything you provide, provided its THERE, LOL!
Below is a photo of a "bird house" which I made from some 'firewood' we had obtained when a neighbor cut down their centuries old (and dead) hickory tree. It had some hollow limbs which I cut into shorter sections. Note the commercially available Bat House on the pole behind the log bird house; it is about 24 ft up, facing the South since bats like heat. There is a 40 foot squarish pond about 200 feet away since bats (GREAT Mosquito catchers!) require a nearby water source. This bathouse (my mom's gift) has yet to harbor Bats tho' it has been up there for almost 2 years now. (Bats are notoriously slow about colonizing new homes.)
Here are two new bat houses I put on up nearer to the pond. Since bats here in the South often spend their days in hollow logs and under loose bark on the pines, I figure bats may find this bat house a more natural "home", and hope to get a colony of insect eating "monsters" going on my land before long! (and no, bats WON'T get into your hair IF you stop waving your arms around, which confuses their sonar!)
 
Below is a tree with two "log houses" and a raptor roost. The tree has 2 "log houses", which are sections of hollow log that have had a "back" nailed on them (I used metal flashing, but heavy screen would do, too.), and then I drove a BIG nail into the trees and set the logs over the nails (with the nail going through the hollow). Note the strange "thing" waayyy up there in the tree. Here's a closer look: This is a "raptor roost", or nesting area for LARGE birds like thelocal hawk family which has been displaced by the nearby neighborhood developments. It was made from an old electric fan's grill -- I nailed some nails in the crotch of the tree, and wired the fan grill to the nails to secure it. As you can see, it's already inuse. By something. The thing to remember here is: it is a RECYCLED piece of what most folks would think of as landfill material -- but being plastic, it will last forever. I figure some animal benefiting from it would be better than it getting buried in a landfill -- and it doesn't look half bad!BIRDFEEDERS:Here's something you can do with old plastic jars which will save THEM from becoming landfill waste -- while helping out your feathered friends:
This is what I call my "Folger's Birdhouse Feeder" - built by cutting the bottom of old Folger's jars off (this was when I didn't have time for REAL coffee, BTW!) - and then nesting one jar into the lidless top of another. Leave the bottom ON one jar -- you'll need that jar for the "bottom" of the feeder! I used short self-tapping metal screws to fasten the jars together, and then wrapped the joint with weatherproof electrical "fusion" tape to seal the joints. I could of used silicone adhesive sealent (like caulk, only better) to seal the joints, too.    I used those HUGE nails you can buy to make the "perches", once again sealing them to the jars with tape or silicone. To make the bottom openings, slit the bottom jar two or three times with an upside down "T", then fold the 'flaps' back to help keep birdseed from flowing out too freely. In my case I took a piece of aluminim can, and made a little "hood" that sticks into the opening. The top is an old duct adapter which I had which fit the lid perfectly; it give me a good wide handled grip and serves as a top "tray" for fruit -- or in this case, seeds.
The bottom is just a round piece of anything which has a screen attached to it (I used lattice with screen over it), and then screwed to the bottom of the bottom jar. To help contain the seed, I used a strip of metal flashing around the bottom "tray" (think: old garbage can lid? Old 5 gallon paint bucket lid? Many things make great trays for this!).
The wire cage around the feeder is an option if you have mean squirrels -- which I have seen snatch birds up by their breast feathers and beat the CRAP outta the birds! -- and which I "tame" with my pellet gun (way too many squirrels -- cuz' we've killed all their predators!). This allows MOST birds to enter (but not the greedy woodpecker or crows) while keeping the bullies OUT. You choose the screen: fine 1 inch chicken wire for little birdies; bigger for bigger birds -- but get TOO big, and the squirrels will grab the wire with their little hands, force the openings even BIGGER and squeeze THEIR fat and greedy butts in! (I like squirrels and their antics -- but NOT in my bird feeders! Too aggressive, too greedy, and they WILL chew a feeder UP to get in it!)
Anyway, once again, I hope I managed to put a few bugs in your ear (not literally, of course!) about ways you can modify things in YOUR environment to help keep this so-called "trash" out of the landfill -- and UP in the trees where it can do some good, LOL!!!
And remember: THINK before you toss that "thing" out. So much of OUR trash is another animal's "treasure". A treasured home place for THEM!
Well, my wife has been stalking outside my office door muttering about my saying I would put some more shelving down in the shop for our "junk" (things left over from her old fleamarket which I am supposed to be auctioning -- one day!). I reckon it'll be another one of those "character building" experiences of which I seem so fond (think: splinters and smashed thumbs!). But (sigh) a 'commitment' is a commitment -- AND who knows? Maybe I'll finally get some room opened UP down there so I can actually "work" once again in that perilously cramped small space! LOL!! Wish me luck -- and some bandaids!
Until later . . .
mhogue3909 at 10:11:01 AM EDT
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Tuesday, April 8, 2008
Recycling Birds
"Recycling Birds", LOL, just a partial Topic. The whole topic is "Recycling FOR the Birds". But the idea of recycling birds -- I have some dried dove wings and tails that I obtained from a nearby hunter which are to be used to make decorative "shadow box" type wall hangings. So there: you CAN recycle birds, I reckon!
This posting, however, is to help give you some creative ideas that you can use to make bird houses, bird nesting places, and bird feeders for your feathered friends.
Now you can always buy a "pre-made" birdhouse, such as one of the ones below:
   
Or you can buy a premade birdhouse and if you have a tad (just a TAD) of talent and some paint, you can paint them to suit your fancy.
  
While these birdhouses keep the Chinese workers employed (and some of ours), they expend resources. After all, a factory or person has to run electricity, maybe produce plastics for things like the plastic gourd birdhouses I repainted", plus somewhere is a smoke belching smelter to produce the nails, staples, and other "things" it took to make the birdhouses pictured above. And not ALL paint factories are "environmentally friendly", either! (Usually they are QUITE the opposite!)
So the further you can get away from BUYING stuff to make bird houses and feeders, and the closer you can get to MAKING bird houses and feeders out of "junk", the closer you get to being a "Greenie". After all: why buy when you can creatively recycle existing "trash" -- saving factories from producing the items (which involves chemicals and resource use), trucks which use fuel and contribute to traffic congestion and global warming to ship you (or Walmart, or wherever) the items (for which YOU must in turn fire up YOUR pollution belching automobile to go and pick UP -- and put in your petroleum based shopping bag along with the tree-eating and pulp paper mill producing chemical nightmare that made your receipt.)
So . . . gee whiz -- look at ALL those pollution sources it take just to get ONE birdhouse from the store! Very few people consider all the sources of pollution that are generated by getting just ONE simple product -- in this case a birdhouse!
Given that, what's a soul to do?
Recycle.
By recycling existing items which would otherwise be committed to the landfills (where chemicals can leach out, polluting groundwater and soil, among other "nasty" effects), you keep the landfills open for 'other' trash (true trash -- if there IS such a thing!) - while giving you something creative to do to benefit YOUR local environment!
In my case, I've recycled a LOT of various items into OTHER various items in an effort to control my "pollution footprint" on the world. I just wish MORE people would join the effort! Here are some examples of "recycling for the birds".
This is a birdhouse made out of an old plastic jar. Any reasonably size jar works. Just cut a round hole in the bottom, attach the lid to a tree, building, or fence with a screw -- and screw the 'birdhouse' on. Just be sure to poke a few rain-drain holes in the "bottom" of the birdhouse after you've got it up so the chickies don't get soaked, and you can do like I did: add a roof from some old waterproof sheet material (this one has part of an old plaque), and a screw in the front under the hole for the momma bird to perch on. Easy to clean, too! Just unscrew the jar at the end of the season, rescue any "old" unhatched eggs for your "bird egg" collection, dump out the rest, and put it back up on the tree. Or fence. Or whatever. And it'll be good to go for nest year! (and YES, that was an intentional typo!)
And for those with kids, here's one way to recycle an old broken toy into a bird nesting spot. Recognize it??
Yup -- its an old Mr. Potato Head, sans arms, legs, and eyes. I wish I'd of had the arms -- they'd of made some cute and nifty perches! Again, a screw through the back, a tree -- and tada! A "recycled birdhouse".
For you gardeners, you can take this one step further. Do you have some old pots or hanging basket containers that have seen better days? Here's a trick to turn them into some NICE looking bird nesting spots!
First, cut your containers in half (or not -- birds WILL nest in a whole container -- after all, in the wild, birds usually do NOT put a "roof" over their nests. In foul weather, the mother (or papa) bird is the "roof", sheltering the chicks from the rain with their wings. Then you attach the container halves to a building or other flat surface. Below you will see a string of half-pots I hung on my shop -- and the birds were nesting in them within a week.
 
Not too bad looking for a bunch of "junk" that was originally destined for the landfill! Plus they are self draining. And as far as cleaning them out each year?? Birds are remarkably useful items for that - a bird will typically toss out what they don't want, and add what they DO want! Use a bit of cheap angle or a piece of "plumber's tape" (a rolled metal band with holes in it you can clip pieces off of) to attach the 'bird nests' to your favorite location. Make sure the back is flush to the mounting surface so the little chickies don't fall out!
You may also notice a "ledge" above the nests. That was made of scrap pieces of siding attached to the undersides of the rafters to allow more nesting spots, or a place for the mommas (or dads) to escape from the constant demands of their "children" in the nests below. Again: recycling "garbage" meant for the landfill into something which will benefit the environment instead of hurting it!
I hope you will take the time to ponder and consider when you go to throw something away - COULD it be used to benefit the world instead of harming it? And think before you rush out to buy something -- after all, as you read in the first part of this post, there are sources of pollution behind the sources of pollution behind the sources of pollution -- mines must be dug to produce the metals; trucks drive the ore to the smelters, which in turn put out toxic smoke and chemicals. Oil is used for plastics, and oil means wells in the Artic wetlands and tundras, and then again the "cracking" process used to produce fuels, oils, and plastics generate more damage and pollution. Its an inescapable fact: humans pollute. WE pollute. Even your computer is polluting RIGHT NOW by forcing the electrical plant to produce more electricity to meet your demand. Just like I am.
With that in mind, I'm shutting down for the moment to go do something else -- and hopefully something greener!
mhogue3909 at 8:04:50 AM EDT
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Friday, April 4, 2008
Of Birds and the Bees & Recycling
  
| Okay -- admit it -- it was the "Birds and the bees" statement in that piqued your interest, LOL! And yes, we ARE going to discuss "the Birds and the Bees"!
Spring is here, and the birds and the bees are in the air. kinda THICK around here with my trees in bloom | 
Which results in what I like to call "Southern Snow" -- fallen Flower petals.
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The petals end up covering the ground like a sheet of pink and white before long, and the bees love them (so do I! The whole yard smells GREAT!) But I don't rake the petals up because the bees (to my surprise!) still find nectar in the fallen flowers.
 Bee Feeding From Fallen Flower Blossom
Birds are migrating in from the South, coming to breed, having
overwintered anywhere from Argentina to Cuba, and even a few from Africa. And with the new developments, a lot of them are going to come back and find their Woodland Habitat has been paved over, and houses built on them. And a LOT of the birds are too shy or too leery of people to nest in Residential area neighborhoods. So many of these poor animals are going to find themselves displaced and looking for not only new HOMES, but new FOOD resources -- places to eat. And some will not succeed.
The effect on the 'neighborhood' diversity is going to go down for awhile, and take awhile LONGER to recover -- though it will NEVER recover the diversification which was here before. Everything is taking a hit -- except the squirrels, sparrows, rats and ants.
So I provide as best I can a habitat as rich in resources as I can for these displaced critters (but NOT the squirrels!). I have over 50 birdhouses scattered about, and at least 5 or more bird feeders. There's a LOT of benefit to this: I don't have to use pesticides and the "bug man" doesn't have to spray his - the birds eat all the bugs up -- and my Roses, which used to be plagued by Japanese Beetles, haven't seen a Beetle in the past few years. Plus I have a variety of bird life that you just don't see anywhere else around here -Hawks and Finches (including my favorite, the Goldfinch!) , Sparrows and Blue Jay; Mockingbirds and Chickadees, Orioles and Cardinals, Woodpeckers and Owls. More than what I can count or identify.
Both have taken some pretty big hits over the past decade (more, actually -- you won't see any dodos or passenger pigeons, for instance!) -- and honey bees have all but disappeared. Yes, DISAPPEARED. Scientists have joked that aliens came down and "bee-napped" them, for their numbers dropped by approximately 40% in the past few years, and in the 70's and 80's they suffered from an imported mite disease which almost decimated their population -- and now crows are down by 40%, and raptors, (owls, hawks, eagles) have dropped dramatically in some areas due to the avian flu (Avian influenza , known to scientists as H5N1 - an Asian import.) And WE, us humans, can catch avian flu as well from the "common disease vector" (a vector is what carries the disease) -- the common female Mosquito.
mhogue3909 at 3:32:46 PM EDT
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Monday, March 31, 2008
Compost Piles, Lime, and Gardening
A wild iris(?) that grows in my yard. Wife says its a weed. I say: its BEAUTIFUL.
After reading about a composting problem someone was having -- and a question about using lime -- I figured I should go ahead an post my reply to that person so that folks can know a little about what I know about composting, lime, and applying lime to your garden.
All compost piles need air and moisture to turn into the beautiful black dirt
that yours will make once it starts breaking down.
The simplest method is to simply turn the pile "over" every few days -- at
least once a week. An innovative engineer I know made a "drum" out of fine mesh
wire cloth over a simple metal frame and he "turns" his pile by kicking the drum
around every few days -- all the while swearing he's going to harness a small
windmill to the drum to do the turning for him.
Lime should be mixed in thoroughly with your manure and such -- its usually
easier to mix it in as you add composting material to your pile. That way its
sorta "pre-mixed" and you don't have to deal with turning over and raking it
through the whole pile (quite a chore with manure, as manure is usually very
heavy and clingy!)
Most limes are best applied in the late fall so that they have
time to 'sweeten' the soil for spring planting, but you can apply lime as you
are planting in the spring -- I know I have done that many a time! Just be
careful to use just a LITTLE lime, and don't let the lime-treated soil come in
direct contact with the root balls of the plants you are planting.
There is also a type oflime other than hydrated (powdery) lime that you
can buy -- it's granulated, and looks like tiny little balls. This type of lime
breaks down slower than the quick acting lime (hence it's old tradename,
"quicklime"), and is far less likely to harm your plants. Farmers use it around
here on their crops after the crops have come up -- I've seen them using it in
the dead of summer -- when they know their soil needs remediation.
Finally there is limestone -- truely the slowest of the slow acting limes.
It comes in chips and you can mix it deeply into your soil to gradually adjust
your soil's pH range. I don't like doing this one because I don't like rocks in
my garden -- even if they ARE a pretty white!
How much lime to use?? That's always a question that comes up with this
sort of soil treatment. The answer is that it varies from region t region, and
from one end or a garden to another. A lot of factors go into making "good"
soil, and depending upon the types of humus, compost, soil grains and
composition, it can be hard to know whether to add a teaspoon full -- or a
bucket of it. And then there is the question: what does the plant want? Acid
soil? Neutral? (most grasses like this.) Or alkaline (which a lot of clay
soils are.)
The best solution is to first determine what your plant needs in terms of
soil pH, and then after contacting your local County Extension Office, find out
what they need you to do to submit a soil sample for pH testing. Usually they
do this service for FREE, or a very minimal cost -- and they can also tell you
whether you need to add nitrogen, phosphorus, or any one of the other elements
you need to grow a fine and healthy garden.
On an end note: some garden outlets (both online and in stores) sell a
premade drum which you can load up with your compost for "turning" -- its quick
and easy, but they usually aren't cheap, and do require you to get out there and
turn the crank handle halfway around every day or so. Alternatively, if you
have a husband or handy kids, or know a handy neighbor, or can contact a local
sheet metal shop, they can build one for you. Poke around online and I'm sure
you'll find what you need -- or what you can adapt to meet your needs. After
all, manure IS a heavy, heavy compost -- and you may want to mix some grass
clippings and leaves in it to help loosen it up.
oh, and PS: you know if your compost is composting by the temperature in
the middle of the pile. If it's not hot and steaming in cool weather -- at
least 90-110 degrees -- you aren't composting. And if it gets too dry, water it
a bit (but not TOO much!) to help aid the bacteria in their job (otherwise they
go dormant). Plus -- that heat helps to kill any pests and weed seeds which may
of gotten in there!
mhogue3909 at 11:40:25 AM EDT
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A Digital Mishap
Okay, we ALL know that electronics and water don't mix. And despite an electrical engineer I used to work with reassuring me that "hey, you can drop your keyboard in the dishwasher to clean it" and him using the Q.A. Lab's dishwasher to clean electronic circuit boards -- and COMPUTERS, too, I still am very very cautious about mixing electrical components and water. The Engineer told me it was FINE -- as long as you waited for everything to THOROUGHLY dry before applying "the juice" or sticking a battery in something -- but even still and despite having taken his suggestions several times on the subject, I am still leery of the whole concept -- tho' I must admit, thus far he has been proven right again and again! (But even still ... it creeps me out to plug up some motor or device which has been 'washed' with soap and water -- even IF it has dried out for days on end!)
Anyway, the day always comes when accidents happen, and I had one of mine with my digital camera while photographing the flood waters that used to plague my house (I say "used to" because as a factory designer I applied my knowledge to the problem and SEEM to of come up with a rather elegant and environmentally SOUND solution -- we'll tackle THAT subject LATER sometime!)
While I was taking my nifty little photos with my nifty (and NEW) digital camera, I would stick the camera in my shirt pocket while I was roaming around my yard looking for what else I could do. And wouldn't you know it! I leaned over to look at something in the flood waters -- and my camera fell out and went "kerplop!" right into the muddy water.
"OHH NOOoooo!" I thought as I hastily grabbed at the silvery box shimmering underneath the rapidly rising water, "ITS RUINED!"
Or so I thought.
I immediately wiped the camera down with my now treacherous shirt, went inside, and remembering the advice of that sage old electrical engineer, yanked out the battery, left the battery door open, and placed the camera in the window sill to dry out -- meanwhile crossing my fingers and rolling my eyeballs skyward in a prayer for . . . proper functioning later on.
The next day I looked it over (still crossing my fingers and rolling my eyeballs skyward) and it looked pretty dry. Maybe things weren't so bad after all. Maybe the thing had survived it's dunking.
So I took it out back to a field which was covered in little bluebells, preacher's pulpits, and other assorted wildflowers. It made SUCH a pretty sight -- the whole field looked like a shimmering lake of blue and green -- and I had been wanting to photograph it since I had first noticed the phenomena the previous year. NOW was the time, I decided, to take a few pretty pictures of the field and its flowers -- and see if my camera still worked.
I had stuck the camera back into my shirt pocket (okay, about SOME things I, alas, seem to NEVER learn), and proceeded to take my pictures.
I soon noticed that on the LCD display on the back of the camera things were looking .... fuzzy?? Faded out? I didn't know, but I did notice after turning the camera over that there were small water droplets forming on the INSIDE of the lens.
I immediately deduced that my body heat, warming the camera up in my pocket, was 'evaporating' the water STILL left inside of the lens mechanism, and that it was condensing on the cooler part of the lens.
"OHHHH, Nooo!" I thought, rapidly making my way through the streams of beautiful flowers andheading up the hill back to the house, where I went through the proceedure from the day before -- yanking the battery and placing the camera on the window sill.
A few days later I decided now was the time to see if I'd permanently ruined the camera -- or if the old engineer I had talked to was right.
Slipping the battery in, I hooked the thing up to my computer and began downloading the files.
This is what I found:  
mhogue3909 at 11:01:38 AM EDT
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Planting For Drought & Water Conservation
Being as it is Spring and folks like myself are busily starting to think about (or starting to) plant their Gardens AND being as one of the subjects below deals with Water conservation, I thought this would make a timely topic.
The following is a method a partner and I came up with back in the mid-1980's to plant your plants to survive a Drought (we were in the middle of 15 year drought around then) -- plus cutting down on your watering tasks, reducing the amount of Fertilizer required to maintain healthy growth. Its not "new" -- its something that many smart growers do -- and if you are into planting garden plants, trees or bushes, its a smart way of providing your foliage with a nutrious food source, earthworms a fun place to play, and a water absorbing 'Sponge' that beats those gelatinious nodules you buy at the Garden shop to hold water in your soil.
The most important thing regarding this common method of planting for drought conditions is to make sure the layer of Mulch in the bottom of the hole is thick enough to hold several days of water. Your plant's roots will 'chase' the water into the spongy layer as the soil dries. Since a new plant takes some time to develop it's root system, you CAN use "green" mulch; that is, fresh leaf clippings, lawn mower clippings, etc. My buddy and I would just gather leaves and mosses from the local area and throw them down into the hole where they would decompose over time, providing the plant with much needed nutrients as well - so this method not only gives your plants a nice source of water, but food as well!
Be sure to know your plant's needs. Acid loving plants do fine with this sort of thing -- the decomposition process (especially with woody mulch)can cause Soil acidification; in the case of pH neutral or Alkaline loving plants, add a little hydrated lime to speed the Decomposition process and Neutralize the acids produced by the decomposition process. And don't forget the heavy top layer of mulch! It keeps the soil from drying out prematurely by shading the soil and causing evaporating water to Condense in the bottom layer of the mulch, producing a gentle Subterranean 'rain' which seeps back down into the plant's root system. You can also add a Perforated layer of plastic UNDER the mulch (so its hidden from view) which works quite well at holding moisture in the soil, but be sure that water can percolate through the plastic and down into the hole.
Have a wonderful day, enjoy your gardening efforts (even if they AREN'T successful!), and conserve wisely.
mhogue3909 at 9:13:35 AM EDT
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Sunday, March 30, 2008
Something Pretty To Look At Before You Scroll Down
Okay . . . STARE into the FLOWER. . . STARE into the FLOWER . . . MEMORIZE IT . . . because you are going to want to bear this picture in mind BEFORE you scroll down and read my professional (and easy!) professional engineering modification for saving water every time you FLUSH. (O'tay, so NOW you know what it is you are going to be looking at, so STARE REAL HARD into the flower. FIX this picture FIRMLY into your mind . . . and TAKING a deep breath, begin to scroll down.
LOL, and have fun, too!
mhogue3909 at 2:18:28 PM EDT
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How To Save Water With Every Flush and NO BRICK
As promised in the beginning of this Journal, I want try to let folks know how to protect their environment, recycle materials, and conserve resources. This posting is to meet one of those promises -- because I do NOT make promises lightly (just ask my daughter, she would tell you: I've made about 3 promises to her in her lifetime. Because of my moral base, I believe a promise made MUST be kept -- so I make promises VERY rarely!)
Toilets. NEVER a POPULAR subject -- but one which which we 'use' all the time. Just be glad you don't have to use one of THESE:
The above toilets DO save WATER -- since you can't flush the durn things!!!
In Europe I had to use one of THESE -- and the
one in the Italian Supermarket when I had Mussolini's Revenge wasn't
NEAR as clean as THIS one -- but the peeling wallpaper turned out to be
good for something, LOL!!! (and no, it wasn't for looking at, either!)
They not only SAVE on water -- they help build STRONG thighs (and arms,
for the ones that have the side-rails for you to grip while you
squat). See Health Benefits of the Natural Squatting Position, LOL!!!!
Speaking of Europe -- the Europeans are MUCH more practical than we Prudish Americans are-- you RARELY have a problem finding an "outlet" (excuse the pun!) over there! But you MAY have to give up a little privacy to USE them! The situation you see below is NOT an uncommon one, so prepare yourself for this sort of thing before you take that European Vacation (looking at lots of Playboys and Playgirl magazines may help immunize your mind to such a sight -- or is it "site"?)
A portable urinal in the Netherlands.
<fontface="Comic sans="" ms="" size="4"> Maybe its just due to their history. It wasn't until I started my research on toilets for this article that I realize just how complacent our Ancestors where about this all too normal body function. But when I stumbled across this photo of a painting, I could imagine ... just how BAD some of our ancestors SMELLED ... but it may of been in self-defense against this very sort of thing:
</fontface="Comic>
La Toilette from Hogarth's Marriage a la Mode series, 1743. A young countess receives her lover, tradesmen, hangers-on, and an Italian tenor as she finishes her toilette [12]
However, we live in America -- Land of the Free, Home of the Embarassed. (Or is it "un-bare-assed?"). And HERE we use aPRIVATE toilet -- and most of us prefer to use our own, at home, in the bathroom, behind closed doors. (Which is the way God meant us to use 'it' -- why else plant all those wonderful screening bushes in the woods???) And MOST of us prefer to use a toilet like the following one:
However, this is real life, and MY toilet being 30 some odd years old, it isn't nearly as pretty as the one above. As a matter of fact, with grandkids and a lazy daughter, it tends to be a bit more . . . gross (and NO, I don't mean the German word for "big" -- which is 'gross', BTW!)
The photos below are NOT pretty pictures this time; they are of a TOILET and it's innards -- along with an old design engineer's modifications which help save YOU water -- a critical issue in many places (including here in the so-called drought stricken South -- tho' looking at all the rain outside today, you wouldn't know it!)
   I will attempt to explain as we go along through these photos the what's, wherefore, and caveats of the changes YOU can make -- and NO, you don't need any special skills or a plumber to do this.
FIRST, take the lid off the Toilet's TANK. Inside you will see a 'nozzle' connected to a hose that connects to the "float valve" -- that thing which turns the water on and off whenever the tank's water level drops. It may not look EXACTLY like this (especially since YOUR toilet probably isn't 30 years old with silt residue from ... well, I don' t know WHAT it is from, but it sure has worn out a lot of toilet float valves and faucet washers around here -- "they" (the city) tells me it comes from "breaking" the city water lines whenever they hook up a new house to the City's water system. Oh well -- that's my problem; I know how to fix it, but it requires some major plumbing work to install a filter, and then there's the filter maintenance that goes on forever . . .)
I digress. Lets get on with this modification which will save you hundreds, if not thousands of gallons of water each year every time you flush.
Here's the picture of the standard "down tube" which sends a jet of water DOWN through the white tube INTO the toilet bowl every time you flush:
 
The PURPOSE of this "down tube" is to send a nifty little jet of water down through the toilet's innards, which exits the innards out from under the Toilet's rim, producing that nice little swirl of water that you always see when you flush. THIS thing is supposed to help 'rinse' down the inner side walls of the toilet's bowl, aiding in the 'flushing' action. Which it does. Usually. However, it ALSO sends a LOT of water down the drain which does NOT need to be used (usually) in order to keep the toilet flushed and clean. So what to do about this wastage of water??
Answer: MOVE the down tube so that it now points INTO the TANK, NOT down the little pipe that runs down into the toilet bowl. NOW the water that normally would of been 'wasted' "cleaning" the toilet goes directly into the tank, filling your toilet's tank MUCH more rapidly -- AND saving WATER!!!
Here's another photo of how it goes to save water in this drought and resource conscious age:
Soooo . . . what is the EFFECT of this water saving modification? Here's a photo of what you will see -- a LOWER water level in the toilet's bowl:
IF you suspect that for some reason you may need more water than this, just lightly press down on the toilet's flush handle -- not enough to FLUSH it, but enough to allow the "flapper" valve located in the BOTTOM of the tank to lift slightly -- allowing more water to go into the bowl prior to "doing your thing". And IF, after flushing, you find "things" did not go down quite as much as you would like, you can "refill" the bowl to it's maximum level by doing the same thing: using the flush lever to raise the flapper up a bit, allowing MORE water to go into the bowl, and then flush again to finish up the job.
Around my house, we have found that MOST of the time, there is no need to mess with the flapper or the flush lever - MOST of the time things work just as expected -- and desired -- while cutting our water bill and helping to save the environment just a little bit more . . . flush by flush . . . plus reducing the sewage load down at our local sewage treatment plant!
Give it a shot. If for some reason you find it just doesn't work for you (for instance, you are into 'making' bricks??), you can always go back to the old standard: drop a brick in the toilet and be done with it. But even THAT won't save you as much water as THIS idea -- especially IF you combine it WITH a brick or jug of water down in your toilet's tank!
mhogue3909 at 1:36:26 PM EDT
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Saturday, March 29, 2008
The Story of Little Koi Pond that Was
Sad
Here are some pictures of the little Koi Pond I made from a secondary hazardous waste containment container. These are from last summer, prior to the contractors scalping, paving, and building homes across the road from my formerly 'country' location. I don't begrudge them building the houses; however, I DO blame
Bluewaterengineering Services, the outfit which 'designed' the storm water runoff control plans (which, as an engineering designer with 15+ years experience I noticed STOPPED across the road and did NOT take into account anything DOWNSTREAM of their so-called 'plans' ... lazy ass engineers!).
And I ALSO blame the Georgia.gov - City of Grovetown's City council, who are more interested in generating more tax revenue than they are preserving the environment. (More on THAT later! or "earlier", as 'blogs' go, LOL!!!)
Anywhooo .... here's the little pond. Fish are DEAD now -- too much silt -- after growing them for years and years from little fingerlings to great big ol' "pan fish". And NO, I can't afford to sue the City, contractors, or engineers -- even though one of the City council members stated that "yeah, it might be our fault . . . but we aren't going to DO anything to remedy the situation....". So much for public officials serving the public, eh??
And here's a closeup of the fountain when it was running. (All the silt RUINED 2 pumps -- chewing up their guts with it's powdery abrasive qualities -- the same qualities that make it an EXCELLENT drilling lubricant for oil drilling, BTW!!!)
mhogue3909 at 9:07:21 PM EDT
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