One of my first post on this blog pointed out that the Canadian Geese were on the move and fall was on the way. Well, today I saw the Geese flying again, this time northbound. They picked a beautiful 70 degree sunny day to fly over and they were just beautiful.

I think everyone in the USA is looking forward to spring this year after all the snow, ice and storms of one kind or another. We are certainly ready for our normal warm spring weather in Central Alabama. It is near. I’ve been seeing robins and red-winged blackbirds already.

We are ready in other ways as well. Our gardens are tilled and we’re waiting for the last frost to come and go in order to set out the plants and plant the seeds. We have one garden just for corn and the other for all our other favorite vegetables. Last year the birds really helped out by enjoying the bugs and other insects on the plants. It seemed the change was welcomed from the winter’s seeds at the birdfeeders. This helped us as we did not have to use chemicals to rid the plants of the insects. Hopefully, the birds will be here this spring and summer as well. This type of help we can handle!

Spring also is a special time as it comes not long after the New Year when many people

made their resolutions to work toward during the year. By spring, many of us have already forgotten or dropped the efforts to keep our resolutions. Spring helps us revisit the newness of the year as we watch nature bud out and bloom all around us. We again set goals and begin working toward meeting them. Albeit, these goals usually have to do with getting outside, shaping up the flower beds, tidying up after winter or just enjoying the sunshine.

I have two goals for the spring. One is to successfully raise the twenty-four baby chicks I received last week from my brother for my birthday. That will keep me very busy, at least according to my Raising Chickens book. It has already been lots of fun just watching them adjust to the wonder of new life.

One of my other goals for the spring is to set out new shrubs that will outline my backyard. The birds seem to sometimes need more cover from our dogs as well as the weather. Before buying I will search my issues of Birds and Blooms to make sure I purchase shrubs that have berries and that will attract the most birds as well as offer the needed cover. There will be more goals to complete as well but these will be the big ones, so I’ll take it as it comes after completing these two.

Another good reminder that spring brings with it is Easter; a time when Christians celebrate the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Of course this symbolizes new life, not just in nature but for all those who believe. It is a time when it seems that the whole earth including, humans, animals, and plants take time out to acknowledge this miracle in their own colorful way.

It just takes one look toward the sky to see the Geese, or the budding daffodils, new leaves on the trees, the sweet smells in the air, to experience this very special time of the year. To me it’s even better than Christmas.

So go ahead and make some spring goals and plans. It’s the best time for us green people to get our hands in the dirt. How fun is that? Spring is in the air!

Red-Bellied Woodpecker

We had a great weekend for the annual backyard bird count from February 12th – 15th. The GBBC is a project that regular citizens participate by counting the birds at the feeders for four days. The report includes where the birds were counted, when, for how long, the specifics about the weather and of course the largest number of every species that were counted at any one time.

On February 12, 2010 it was snowing in Central Alabama. That ended up being a good thing because there was enough snow on the ground that the birds were very visible and easier to count. Also, the cold weather brought more birds out to get an easy meal at the feeders. The number of birds on that snowy day was probably twice what I usually see each day. Too tempting for a Sharp-shinned Hawk who decided to drop into the ‘feeder’ tree and stay for awhile, no doubt waiting on his easy meal. Luckily all the little birds quickly got out of his way. We let him sit in the tree for a few minutes (for pictures) then went out and scared him away. The little birds were back in no time.

I counted 27 species throughout the weekend and took many pictures to help me verify my count.  My results included the following:

Canada Geese   15

Mourning Dove  22

Sharp-Shinned Hawk  1

Red-Bellied Woodpecker  2

Northern Flicker  3

Blue Jay  8

American Crow  6

Carolina Chickadee  5

Tufted Titmice  6

Carolina Wren 1

Eastern Bluebird  3

American Robin 6

Northern Mockingbird   3

Brown Thrasher   1

Eastern Towhee   2

Chipping Sparrow  4

Fox Sparrow  2

Song Sparrow  3

White-Throated Sparrow  5

Dark Eyed Junco  11

Northern Cardinal   20

Purple Finch   8

House Finch   7

American Goldfinch 47

Turkey Vulture   3

Common Crackle   350

Pine Warbler  1

American Goldfinch

Ten Northern Cardinals and Three American Goldfinches. Can you find them all?

The Great Backyard Bird Count is a part of the Cornell Lab of Ornithology Citizen Science Program. The National Audubon Society also helps to sponsor the GBBC. Birdwatchers from all over the country send in their reports. In 2008 there were 85,700 reports collected according to Cornell. The data collected from this weekend helps the scientists learn things about the well-being of birds and any major changes that have taken place. It helps to keep them informed of significant changes in the population either up or down of common birds across the country. It also helps to find out about birds in the country that are not ordinarily in our area. They learn all kinds of trends and other important facts from this one weekend.

If you did not participate this past weekend, plan on it for next February. Cornell also sponsors a Feederwatch Program during the winter months. Those participating in this program pick two days to watch their feeders each week and report the results. This program is also very important for the reasons mentioned and gives more long term data to study. Both the GBBC and the Feederwatch programs are great ways to get your kids and grand-kids involved in nature as you feed and count the birds together. They will love it.

There is much to enjoy and learn from the Cornell Lab of Ornithology web site.  If you have never visited the site, it is time, especially if you are beginning the hobby of bird watching. The web URL is http://www.birds.cornell.edu/NetCommunity/membership.

Enjoy their web site and Happy Birding to you all.

I read several articles on the “Great Pacific Garbage Patch” which went into more detail about how the effects of tons of garbage in the Pacific Ocean is poisoning or killing the wildlife. The really sad thing is that there seems to be no quick feasible way to clean it up because it involves several countries, is very far from land and just gets complicated. This will take a lot of concentrated effort on everyone’s part including governments, advocacy groups, scientists and engineers to name a few, not to mention the money involved. But the chemicals leaking into the ocean from this garbage eventually makes its way into some of the fish/seafood we eat which makes its way into our bodies.  Some pregnant women have been warned in the past not to eat certain fish because of the levels of certain chemicals. The ole food chain quandary sometimes gets really complicated. You’ll find several articles on this subject on http://www.treehugger.com and http://planetgreen.discovey.com.  One program in particular that is taking a proactive stance in research and is taking positive actions to help clean up and prevent future ocean littering is Project Kaisei. Read about their good work at http://www.projectKaisei.org. Their work gives me hope that there is a solution. They are researching how to use this garbage to recycle into fuel of some kind. Through them we all can help with the research and clean up by helping fund the effort.

The websites noted above present much information about the chemicals that make their way into our bodies, not just through the ocean garbage dump but in our own homes, in every day living. Over this last decade, discussions, research and concerns have continued to rise about the harmful affects of certain plastics, or the chemical compounds making up certain plastics. These are the ones we are in contact with the most and which this blog will concentrate.

Questions began to arise about the chemical compounds of some plastics back in the 1980’s and continued into the new decade and century. Finally, recently after many studies, disagreements between agencies, researchers, scientists, industry personnel, advocacy groups, and others that had invested interest on one side or the other, the FDA made an announcement which denounced their previous finding earlier in the decade about bisphenol A (BPA). The FDA agency does now find ‘reason for concern’ about bisphenol A. However, the FDA took no further action. The statement itself was good and encouraging that more research will take place. But even so, bisphenol A or BPA is still in hundreds of products we use in everyday life.

That’s not to say that all plastics are harmful. Some plastics are safe and certainly useful. From my reading, one type of plastic used in many products proves to be non toxic in our daily use of it. It is named polypropylene. It is one of the few plastics that have no harmful occupational or health hazards during the manufacturing process as well (which is rare). Since the packaging of plastic products are not required to name the type of chemical compounds used in the product, how can we know what products we buy are made of this safe plastic? You will not know in the store. But you can either take down the phone number or website and contact the company and ask. Or you can buy the product and call before you unwrap or use the product to find out what it is made of, which is what I did last week. My bowls and tops had gotten so misplaced, borrowed or whatever that I needed to replace them so that I could send my husband to work with lunch that had a sealed top and could be warmed in the microwave. Having read that heating plastics is suspected to be one of the ways that BPA is leaked into our food and bodies, I called before I used. I purchased Glad Ware Containers with their “most interlocking lids ever.” The package said they were microwave, dishwasher and freezer safe. When I called, the Glad representative stated the lids were made from polypropylene and the containers were made from Terephthalate which is another plastic compound that meets the FDA regulations for food containers and storage.  (Regulations. U.S. FDA (1998) approved the use of PET as components of polyethylene phthalate polymers intended for use in contact with food in accordance with the conditions prescribed in 21 CFR part 177.1630.)  Glad has on its website a declaration of safety and non use of BPA in their products including sandwich bags, plastic wraps, trash bags as well as the food containers.

After reading some of the literature regarding concerns about the leakage of potentially harmful plastic compounds the most widely known one, bisphenol A, there is still reason for everyone to be concerned until it is proven without a doubt non-harmful to animals and humans.

BPA is used in all kinds of everyday products including CD’s, baby bottles, sippy cups, lining in cans containing canned foods, water bottles, medical supplies, literally thousands of products we use everyday. Researchers at the CDC found that BPA was found in 93% of urine samples taken in a study of over 2500 participants. The levels varied somewhat with men showing 2.6 micrograms per liter, women with 2.9 and children between ages six to eleven showing a measurement of 4.5. The debate is ongoing that BPA does or does not accumulate in our bodies. The people that think BPA is not harmful say that the chemical leaves the body through the urine, therefore it doesn’t cause problems. The questions remain: does all the BPA leave the body or does it accumulate somewhere in the body? If so where and what are the lingering affects? Researchers have stated that BPA in low amounts have been harmful to lab animals and assume the same is so with humans.

Other researchers have found through tests with animals that BPA is suspicious or related to heart disease, complications in breast and prostrate cancer treatments, fertility problems and others. The FDA seems to be specifically concerned about how BPA affects infants and young children. Canada has taken the step to ban and remove BPA from baby bottles. Many manufacturers and retailers in the USA have voluntarily taken products off the shelves that contain BPA.

So while the jury is still out and the research still underway on BPA and other harmful plastic compounds, what do we do in every day life to care for our children and ourselves? Below is a list that can get us thinking and started. I will be doing  these from now own, wish I’d known about such things when my children were young.

1. When in doubt, don’t use it. If you have a non plastic alternative, use it.

2. Contact the company and get their take on their products, then check the reputation of the company regarding violations of regulations, etc. The internet is a wonderful tool for this.

3. Use as little plastic as possible. Prevention on the front end is always better. Even if it is safe regarding human use, the disposal and recycling efforts of some plastics are not finely tuned. Much ends up in landfills (some say up to 22% or more of landfills are plastics) for millions of years to come – or in our oceans to cause havoc on the wildlife there and eventually making it back to our dinner table. Tons of other plastics just get thrown on roadways, parks, etc. where it stays forever until a good hearted human comes along and cleans it up. At least if it is an aluminum drink can littered in the park, it can be retrieved and easily recycled.

4. Advocate for better labeling of non-food products so we know what we are buying before we buy it.

5. Be on the safe side and buy glass baby bottles. Triple check the type of plastics in your childrens toys, especially teethers, rattles, etc. that will for sure go into their little mouths. Some harmful plastic are even in some childrens books that are bound in plastic. If you don’t know or can’t find out about safety, don’t buy it.

6. Aside from helping yourself and your family, get more involved. Some suggestions:

a. Celebrate Earth Day April 22.

b. Celebrate World Environmental Day June 5,

c. Celebrate World Ocean Day June 8.

d. Adopt a Mile clean up on a road near you.

e. Adopt a Stream, Creek, Lake, River, Bay, Ocean – any body of water will most likely have a clean up program. If not, get your community involved and start one.

d. Reduce, Reuse, Recycle, and Reclaim energy.

e. Save energy and water.

f. Live as green as you can, garden, alternative energy, hybrid vehicles, etc.

g. Give, aside from giving of yourself, give money to valuable and needed earth friendly causes.

h. Teach your children and grandchildren the importance of taking care of the earth. Teach them about animals, nature and recycling to start.

i.  Pick at least one of these to do, preferably more.

j.  Inform others of risks and needs regarding our earth.

k.  Enjoy Your Earth!

In the early 1900’s scientists from different backgrounds, labs and companies were experimenting on their various products. One would pick up on the compounds of another and add or take away a chemical or two and by the 1950’s the fantastic product that we know today as plastics had evolved and was on earth to stay. Plastic material was soon found in every type of industry around the globe.

Plastics in one form or another during its evolution have been and are still good for human use regarding the quality and comforts of life that it offers. I would not want medical professionals to still be sterilizing needles or washing syringes to give me a shot or to be examined by a dentist or doctor without gloves. I want new single use sterilized needles and new gloves. There is too much room for error and too many new germs out there. Imagine taking medicine in a hospital setting without those little plastics disposable cups filled with clean water. What would we do without food storage and freezer bags, plastic wrap for covering cooked foods, individualized wrapped foods for protection and freshness on the store shelf? Imagine how much cleaner our garbage disposal systems and communities are due to using those large plastic garbage bags to dispose of household garbage. How many diseases have decreased because of better sanitation methods due to plastics? I doubt anyone will ever be able to determine a statistic measuring the good that plastics brought into our world. We can only relate somewhat to the great impact that plastics have made. Another thing that would be impossible to do is to list all the types of products made from plastics. The number of items is just immeasurable. No doubt about it, plastics have impacted each of our lives in many positive ways. Plastic is not the enemy in this discussion, but one of the most common products we use that unfortunately is frequently made of some questionable chemical compounds.

As my recycling efforts continue, I have been surprised to find that I recycle more plastics than anything else. I thought as I began recycling that cans would be the most recycled item or maybe paper. I also have been noticing how much plastic and other trash, usually food and drink containers, is left on the side of the road, in parks, parking lots, around and in lakes, oceans, just about everywhere. This fact brought about the question how does the chemicals in plastics affect humans and how does it affect wildlife as they run into it in their habitats?

The answer regarding potential harm to humans has become the subject of many research studies and some will be summarized in the next blog. The harm for animals takes several forms and any type of plastic is potentially dangerous to animals. Sadly, harm to animals could be prevented if humans would only properly dispose of plastics and other trash. The majority of plastic related mishaps with animals involve the animal getting its neck legs, wing, head or other body part caught some way with plastic items and cannot get free. Many animals die because their entanglement remains if a human doesn’t come along to help. For example our golden retriever recently had a bottle cap wedged in his gum. It was in the back of his mouth and by the time it was obvious to us that he needed a vet’s care, the cap was imbedded in the gum with a serious infection and had to be cut out. We had no idea it was even there. Another way animals get into trouble regarding plastics is by ingesting some plastic object or bit of plastic that may end up choking them or harming their digestive system. All animals are susceptible. A quote from Wildlife Stewardship on the website http://www.centerforwildlifeinformation.org emphasizes this, “Animals will eat anything with an odor including aluminum foil, plastic and other food wrapping. These can severely damage an animal’s digestive system and may even facilitate death.”

Examples of animals coming into harms way due to human neglect is birds and marine animals getting caught in fishing line or nets that became hung up and left in trees or caught on something under the water. At http://www.News.NationalGeographic.com, it is stated that 44% of all seabirds eat plastic by accident. I’m sure many other wild birds do the same. Little bits of Styrofoam after all to a wild bird will look like a seed. This site also claims that 267 marine species are affected by plastics that are left in lakes and the oceans. It also stated that larger fish will swallow a grocery bag whole as it looks like a jellyfish.

Another way of potential harm to animals is by how the chemicals within the plastic harm the soil or environment around them. The article, Plastic Breaks Down in Oceans After All–And Fast, on the National Geographic website listed above shares information about this new discovery. It states that unlike what was once believed, plastics do not last for years in the ocean, but the chemicals in plastics begin breaking down within months. The chemical that is harmful once the plastic breaks down is styrene trimer, a polystyrene (plastic) by-product (suspected to be a carcinogen) and bisphenol A (interferes with reproductive systems in lab animals) which is found in hard plastics like water bottles, baby bottles, linings of aluminum cans and other containers. The article described our oceans as “Plastic Soup”, a toxic soup at that.

The oceans are not the only place where environmental hazards exist for animals and humans. Toxic wastes dumped wherever always has the potential to be harmful sooner or later, according to how it was disposed. Also gases and toxic fumes are still polluting our air. While these problems are a major concern and government agencies, researchers and scientists work hard every day to rectify what they can, chemicals remain one of the most serious pollutants. Plastic items just happen to be one if not the most common commodity made from some of these potentially harmful chemical compounds. But most people could not imagine living without at least some plastic items and I’m one of them.

Almost everything has a positive and negative side, chemicals certainly do as well. While chemicals are necessary for many of the comforts of life we enjoy, they also present problems for the environment. Let’s just face it; there will continue to be an ongoing task for society to clean up the environment. We’ve just got to keep at it. All these thoughts bring about the question; is there another cleaner and greener alternative perhaps commodity items made of chemicals that are good, not bad, not harmful, maybe?

I am old enough to have witnessed the electronic world when it was an infant and watched it grow into the giant it now is in our society. New gadgets come out so frequently that I don’t have time to learn about one before a new one arrives on the scene. I feel I’m falling behind regarding the knowledge and use of recent technologies, regardless of how good and useful they may be. It’s just hard to keep up. I watch my grandchildren experiencing one of these new gadgets for the first time and it seems to come naturally to them regarding how to use it and I’m there asking, “What is it?” Then, “How do you work it?” And they just look at me weird. They really don’t want me to ask them to teach me and I’m not so sure I want to learn either. It’s according to the gadget and what use I have for it. Although, when my now 18 year old grandson was five or so, he taught me how to use the internet. For that I am grateful. I think the internet, even though there are some not so good things out there in cyberspace, overall is a good tool and has enhanced all kinds of communication and education worldwide. As far as children are concerned the internet has a lot of good things for them as well, but they need supervision as it can be a dangerous place without an adult monitoring their use of it.

My first experience with electronics was in fifth or sixth grade when a school mate got on the school bus complaining that Santa gave her a ‘plug in’ radio rather than the handheld transistor one she asked for. Yes, young people, there was a time when you could not walk around with music plugged in your ears listening from your IPod or whatever gadget. Rather radios were plugged into electric outlets. Everyone in the house listened to the same music at the same time as the radio could be heard throughout the house. Parents made the choice of the type music and to which radio station the family listened. Electricity was still the energy source for everything in the home. Then, as now, I asked, “What is it?” I had not heard of a transistor radio and at that time did not see the need for it. All one had to do was ‘plug in’ the radio and it would work fine. The economics of electronics was the same then as now, which ranks in the not so good category. A new gadget comes to the market, as did the transistor radio, and the cost is very high. After several months or years, the price drops as new technologies come along or improvements are made to the original. My family couldn’t afford a transistor radio for several more years after its first appearance. We’d only had our TV for a few years and our radio was an old ‘plug in’ one but worked fine. And from there my electronic world began. Lucky for me, I got my transistor just as the Beatles were coming on the scene; otherwise I would have been listening to Blue Grass and other types of country music, (which was o.k., just not my favorite). I began to see how the transistor had some advantages over the ‘plug in.’

The point here is that I can remember a time in my life when the pace was slower and life was simpler. Now keeping up with it all gives me the feeling of always being behind and trying to catch up with the latest. It can bring on more stress for people my age of ‘50 something,’ if one is not electronic savvy, yet tries to be. I do like learning about it all, until I get to the frustration and stressed out point. Then I put it down for awhile and try again later. If I’ve tried over and over already and I’m still frustrated with the new gadget or software or whatever, I’ve learned to move on to something less stressful. I don’t just give up. One good thing about electronics these days is that I usually have more than one choice and I keep looking and trying until I find one that is more ‘50 something’ friendly.

There is no easy answer for the question, “Is this good, o.k., or not so good?”  Media technology is probably all of it: some good, some o.k. and some not so good.  My main concern or more of a question:  In the long run, how will our children be affected by so much media technology from birth onward? Will they suffer somehow from technology overload? Already many people across almost all age brackets are addicted to the internet and video games. Many children would rather sit and play video games until their thumbs twitch and go numb rather than join a sports team or go outside to play, take a walk, or just enjoy the sun and fresh air. Research has already determined that media electronics which includes video games, TV, the internet, movies and other varieties, already take up most of a child’s waking hours outside of the classroom and some hours in the classroom. The American Academy of Pediatrics developed a program called Media Matters in 1997 due to their concerns about this issue. The program helps build awareness of the effects on children in the areas of time, nutrition (obesity epidemic in children), increased violence and sexual misbehavior. This program also shares with parents and others, ways to manage children’s time and consumption of media technology. Read more details about this program at http://www.pamf.org/children/common/behavioral/electronics.

How will these younger generations that have only known a world with techy everything be able to cope without stress or addiction eventually taking over? Will they keep winding themselves up until they spin out of control? Or will they just learn to cope with it fine as they grow and technology keeps getting more advanced and complex?  I like to think the latter will be the case. Sort of like they never knew of another lifestyle, so they just deal with it. I hope for my grandchildren’s sake that this will be so. For some reason I’m doubtful that will be the case unless the child has consistent parental or other adult intervention and attention given to this potential problem.

I started to answer my grandson’s question by explaining the difference between a “pinano” as he calls it, and an organ that is ‘plugged in,’ but then I remembered how such conversations with three year olds usually go. So I decided a more detailed answer could wait until he is more mature, why overload him with more? Today the answer given with a smile was simply, “No sweety, you don’t plug it in.” He was fine with that and continued his little concert. He was doing something fun that was not electronic. I found that it can still be done!

Not quite to the Star Wars era yet, but we are moving in that direction. With my recycling efforts, I’ve found I recycle paper and cardboard more than anything else, with plastics coming in second. So we have a long way to go yet before trees are not used for paper.

I have spent most of December working on re-formatting my children’s book, Friends in the Meadow-Birds, to fit the formatting for an ebook so that all those tens of thousands of people who got their Kindles for Christmas have access to my book as an ebook as well as others. But before I started that project, I looked into the whole thing, ebooks and ereaders. My question is not a simple one, but is this just another electronic gadget, here today, gone tomorrow? If I determined that it was an electronic fad, then I wasn’t going to bother, as aside from Christmas, this project had dominated the whole month. What I found was that authors and publishers are thinking that ebooks and ereaders will change the publishing business similar to what iPod’s did for the music business. So a publishing revolution is just ahead it seems.

Upon further research, I found that the ebooks were a very hot item for Christmas and the ebook store sites are popping up all over the net. You can get many books for free to download, both classics and modern literature. The cost for those books for sale is about one third or less of the printed books. Many are sold for $1.00, which is not far from the royalties made on printed books sold in the major bookstores.

I doubted that my eyes would hold up to reading on an ereader, as they get very upset with me when I stay on the computer all day. So I went to Best Buy to eyeball the ereaders. From the ones that Best Buy carried, I liked the Sony most of all. I was pleased to see that you can adjust the size of the font to however large you need it so as not to strain your eyes. Most ereaders I learned have E-ink and special lighting so that you can read it clearly with little eye strain even in bright lighted situations. Except for physically turning the page, holding the reader was about the same as holding a book. After visiting Best Buy I felt most positive about the idea of ebooks and ereaders.

After this, I was sure I would find something on the internet to discourage my thinking about the positives of the ereaders. I found three very informative  articles that were of most interest to me.

I was very curious to know if the ereaders and ebooks have the potential to really make a positive impact on the environment. I found an article on Epublishers Weekly titled “Ebooks Save Millions of Trees: 10 Ideas for sustainable Publishing”, by Michael Pastore. He is both a novelist and non-fiction writer. He has authored a book on the subject, 50 Benefits of Ebooks: A Thinking Person’s Guide to the Digital Reading Revolution. His article answered my questions in just the title. But he went into enough detail that gives hope that ebooks and ereaders are on the cutting edge of the publishing business and that millions of trees each year can be saved. One example he shared is the newspaper, New York Times. One Sunday issues consumes 75,000 trees and one year of the Sunday issues consumes more than 3,900,000 trees. This is one newspaper. There are millions of books published each year. Mr. Pastore shares that each year the publishing industry in the USA consumes 32 million trees for book. Books and newspapers together consume 125 million trees each year and “emit over 40 million metric tons of CO2 annually; equivalent to the annual CO2 emissions of 7.3 million cars.”  His 10 ideas for sustainable publishing are good ideas for the publishing industry as well as each household in the country to take to heart.  Read his full article at

http://www.epublishersweekly.blogspot.com/2009/09/ebooks-save-millions-of-trees-10-ideas.html.

Feeling even better about the whole idea, I went back to the internet to look for ebook comparisons and guides to buying. I found an article written by the Electronic Frontier Foundation which is titled, “EFF’s ebook-buyer’s Guide to Privacy.” This was the only red flag I found in my research. But it could be a serious one for some people. The article basically says that the ereaders that are made and sold only by certain brands, bookstores, etc., do keep information on the owners, mainly what ebooks have been purchased, what customers are reading at any time and the store can share the information with law enforcement and third parties for marketing efforts or other service providers.  Some of the information sent back to the stores reminded me of cookies from different sites that monitor our use of computers, buying habits, etc. The article encourages those purchasing an ereader to read the terms of service agreement very closely before purchasing. If you want strict privacy regarding your ereader, look at what the article calls “open source” ereaders that can download books from a number of sources and does not have a service agreement with anyone, therefore no one is keeping records on the ereader or you. The web address for this article is http://boingboing.net/2009/12/21/effs-ebook-buyers-gu.html.  Read it before you buy.

My last question at this point was what was the best one for me to purchase? So the comparison shopping begins. I found a neat chart comparing eight different readers. These included: Amazon KindleDX, Fugitsu FLEPia, Cool-ER, Kindle 2, Sony Reader PRS-700, Sony Reader PRS-505, ASTAK EZ Reader, and IRex Digital ReaderDR1000SW. This will be a hard decision because no one has everything I want. So I will probably wait a year or so while the bugs continue to be worked out and the ereaders become more user friendly. What I want is a reader that the screen size is 6 to 8 inches, has E-Ink with color and great lighting, touch screen, high resolution, weighs about 10 ounces, has a lot of memory or extendable choices, has a long battery life if wireless, but most importantly has as many document format choices as possible. But it must have EPUB, PDF, .Mobi, .PDB, HTML, Javascript, Plain Text, LRF, RTF and more if possible. There must not be a service contract regarding use of it. I do not want to be monitored in any way. You will see when you compare, that right now there is no such critter. But given a year or two of customer feedback, maybe there will be such an ereader or closer to it anyway, and maybe the price will have come down. This chart can be found at http://www.myebookreaderreview.com.

Until then, I can still download as pdf’s and read on the computer. At least I’ll still be saving trees and the environment. Good reading everyone! By the way, I’m getting my eyes checked and new glasses tomorrow. I’m good for another year or so with the computer! But still looking forward to my perfect ereader.

Nothing went to waste at Grandpa’s and Grandma’s. Even ashes from the fireplace and wood stove were used for different purposes like making soap, using in the garden, around flower beds and other uses. With just a little research, we can find ways to still use ashes today. They help in composting and growing tomatoes, just to name a couple. In those days, ‘junk’ mail was rare but when it came it was reused somehow. The spare paper, especially postcards, was used to make quilt patterns or other patterns. Sometimes, the back of a letter was used to write new letters to family living away. There were usually few left-overs after a meal. But when there were, it became the main course for the next meal. Food scraps were given to the dogs or hogs when they had them to feed. When their clothing became too worn or not the right size, the buttons, zippers, lace, etc., were taken off for reuse and the material left was used to make quilt pieces. Sometimes Grandma could resize the item for another family member to wear.

It was a hard life for them by today’s standards. But they knew no other way of living so for them, it was normal. Most of their neighbors lived the same way. Many would think that their life span was probably shorter due to such harsh living, but Grandma was almost 80 and Grandpa was almost 87 when they died. Both were born in 1889. They saw many new things come about in the name of progress during their lifetime, but used very few of them. Everything from radio, telephone, television, automobiles, airplanes, and the list goes on until 1976 when Grandpa died.

I’m not advocating that we return to their way of living, however quaint and sweet it seemed. Obviously, that was two generations back. But, we can learn from their work ethic and do the best we can with what we have. Just remembering to Reduce, Reuse, Recycle and Reenergize what we can rather than adding to the landfills will help the earth and our carbon footprints tremendously. We can contact those sending us ‘junk’ mail and ask to be taken off their mailing lists. Reduce where ever we can. We can also make a plan and carry it out for recycling plastics, glass, metals, paper, cardboard, and electronics. We can teach our children and grandchildren. We can work toward only throwing away what we have to, after finding no other way to reuse or recycle. All of us can stand to reduce the “things” in our lives that we buy and really don’t need, learning to be content with what we have. This list is just a start of things we can do to reduce our carbon footprints. It can be added to in countless ways if we put our minds to it.

Clean Energy Sources

(Part 2 of 3)

My grandparent’s main source of energy was the fire wood that was grown and cut off the land they lived on. One fireplace warmed the whole house, or at least as far as the heat would go. The kids in the back bedroom learned to unwrap themselves from a stack of quilts (made by Grandma) and get up quickly, dress and rush to the fireplace to stay warm. The fireplace was in my grandparent’s bedroom which doubled as a living room. So everyone congregated there for physical and emotional warmth. Much fellowship with family and friends went on in that dual purpose room around that fireplace.

My Grandma cooked on a wood stove and canned many jars of vegetables, fruits, jams, jellies, peppers, soups and other foods every summer for use during the winter. Some of the best smelling and tasting foods came from that kitchen. Yet the only electricity she used in the kitchen was from the light string that was sometimes pulled to turn on the electric light bulb hanging from the ceiling. She cooked three good meals every day on that wood stove. The warmth of the stove added cozy heat to the house in the winter, but smothering heat in the summer when all the canning was going on. There was no central air. She did all this without a blender, electric can opener, electric coffee pot, electric chopper, mixer or any of the other electrical gadgets we now find in our kitchens. Dishes were washed by hand with hot water heated on the stove as the stove was cooling down from the cooking of the meal. Dishwashers were unheard of. The electrical usage consisted of five light bulbs that hung from the ceiling in each room with a string to pull to turn them on and off. The house was not wired with electrical plug outlets in the walls because there was no need for them, no TV’s, stereos, computers, etc.

The water was drawn one bucket at a time by hand from the well that was located a few feet from the kitchen door. An inside bucket of water set on a cabinet and held the drinking water. This bucket kept a dipper hanging on the side for everyone to use to drink the fresh, good tasting well water. They lived without indoor plumbing of any kind.

They bathed themselves the same way with the hand drawn water from the well. The water was warmed on the stove and poured into a large metal wash tub which was placed in one of the back bedrooms for privacy when in use. The bath water was used by more than one person and then reused again in whatever way Grandma needed it, vegetable and flower watering or other uses about the household. Laundry was washed outside in a large wash tub and hung on the clothesline to dry. If the work clothes were extremely dirty, they were washed in a big black cast iron pot that was heated over a wood fire. The soap added to the boiling water and stirring with an old broom handle did the job well most of the time.

I know by now you are wondering about the bathroom facilities. Well, the old “Out House” was behind the house and a good little distance down a sloping path and far enough away so as not to interfere with the well water. And yes, the previous year’s Sears catalog was a commodity in that out house, along with other catalogs that were reused.

So energy sources included fire wood, water from the well and five light bulbs they used very little because they pretty much went to bed not long after the sun set. Do add the muscle and pure human strength and energy as it took that to do what today’s modern appliances and conveniences offer us.

This all adds up to a very small carbon footprint compared to today’s usage.  And they did not even know they were green living heroes!

Simple Lifestyle

Having moved back to my rural childhood home eleven years ago, I’ve had plenty of time walking about the place to remember the lives of my grandparents. They were very kind and simple living people. Today we would call their lifestyle ‘green’.

Well in fact, they were living green before people even heard of living green and were doing it quiet well. Their carbon footprint while bringing up eleven children was very small. Both Grandma and Grandpa were hard working people. I guess when your livelihood depends on your quality, quantity, and production of goods and food, a strong work ethic just develops without much thinking about it, just doing.

At some point every day they found time during the daylight hours to sit beside their respective window and read the Good Book, the Bible, from which they learned their ways of living. From this book, they learned and became our example for loving God, family, our neighbor, and our country. Also our example for working, sharing, saving, reducing, reusing, and recycling. They were our example for learning not to covet other’s things but, “be content with such things as ye have,” (Hebrews 13:5). They were our example for honesty and integrity.

Grandpa and Grandma were not only accustomed to hard work but life with few conveniences. Neither ever learned to drive a car nor did they own one for the older kids to drive them about. The family did a lot of walking or riding in the horse (mule) drawn wagon. For necessary items that had to be bought, they would wait until the peddler came around or caught a ride to town with a neighbor. Eventually, after some of the older boys were grown and bought vehicles, they would ride about with them to visit family.

My Grandpa tended his fields and vegetable garden with a mule and plow so he never used a tractor. As far as meat to eat, Grandpa had a smoke-house where he cured hams and other meats and preserved it until needed for a meal. He also had chickens for meat and eggs and a few cows, keeping at least one for milking. He dug out a space under the house that was easy to get to for a place to keep the harvested crops like potatoes and others in a cool, dry, and dark place so it would last as long into the winter as possible. Grandma’s part of the food preparation was harvesting, canning and cooking.

When the meal was ready, we would sit on home made benches along side the table that Grandpa built. Then he would say grace, teaching us not only to be content with what we have but also be grateful. “Oh Lord, forgive our sins, accept our thanks for these and all our blessings, we ask for Christ’s sake, Amen.” It was always the same, and always enough.

]]> http://birdandnaturefriends-children.com/blog/2009/11/25/the-green-life-of-grandpa-and-grandma-examples-we-can-use-part-1-of-3/feed/ http://birdandnaturefriends-children.com/blog/2009/11/10/author-showcase-interview-the-reading-blog/ http://birdandnaturefriends-children.com/blog/2009/11/10/author-showcase-interview-the-reading-blog/#comments Tue, 10 Nov 2009 01:34:50 +0000 Administrator http://birdandnaturefriends-children.com/blog/?p=117 Author Showcase from The Reading Tub

MEET PEGGY WILLIAMS

Even in retirement, Peggy Williams sees herself as an educator. When she set upon her counseling career, her primary interest was to help children build self-esteem and to give parents ideas for positive parenting.

Early in her career Peggy set a goal to use the concepts she learned in her studies to create books that teach children needed social skills. She wanted to write easy-to-read stories that would engage a variety of audiences. Friends in the Meadow - Birds is her first attempt at this goal. She found that when both children and parents do things together, they have opportunities for sharing and bonding. According to Peggy, bird watching offers the benefit of building the child’s self-esteem and can help to form a closer parent-child relationship.

In recognition of her work for documenting local history, she received a community award as the author of Memories of Randolph Bibb County, Alabama.

Peggy and her husband Wayne are natives of Alabama. Peggy holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Sociology and a Master of Arts degree in Counseling. She is a Licensed Professional Counselor.

FALL 2009 FEATURED AUTHOR PEGGY WILLIAMS

RT: Good morning Peggy, and welcome to the Reading Tub®. Congratulations on Friends in the Meadow: Birds, your first book. Could you tell us about how you decided to write this story?

Peggy: My life’s work has always centered on helping others. As a mom, licensed therapist, and wife of a Methodist minister, I am surrounded by children every day. What I see is that many children today are hurting for quality time and closer relationships with adults who offer positive guidance. The best way I’ve found that parents can provide this for their children is to plan and take the time to be with their children and enjoy activities together. This provides time not only for hobbies or whatever activity but also for the much needed conversations to take place between parent and child that helps to form closer, trusting relationships. This goes a long way in getting through the teen years for both of them. I decided to use the children’s book genre to share with the children while encouraging parent participation as well.

RT: One of the things that I enjoyed about the book were all of the pictures of birds. Are these pictures of birds in your back yard? You even got picture of the brand new baby birds in their nests. How were you able to do that safely? Did you need a special camera?

Peggy: All the pictures are from my yard. I try not to go far away without my camera, because I always seem to miss a good shot when I do. Some of the photos I took from inside the house through the window. I try to keep feeders and water close by so that I have plenty of birds and photo opportunities. The photos of the bird eggs and newly hatched birds were taken from a shrub just beside our deck. The Mockingbird mom chose a very close and busy place to make her nest. I was able to get very close shots using the zoom without disturbing the nest or bird family. I have upgraded my camera once, and am getting ready to do it again so that I can start digi-scoping, a fairly new method of attaching a digital camera to a high powered spotting scope. This gives a very detailed picture, even very fine feather patterns, from a much greater distance. I hope to use digi-scoped images in the next book of the series so the pictures will be a better quality.

RT: Friends in the Meadow is part story, part nature guide. You have given some of the birds distinct names, like Tuffy Titmouse and Melodie (a Northern Mockingbird). Can you tell when Melodie or Tuffy return to your yard, not just a titmouse our mockingbird?

Peggy: I can recognize some of the birds that remain year round because of certain markings or sometimes by behavior. When I go out to fill the feeders “the regulars” begin to chatter and sing. They also let me know when I go outside and the feeders are completely empty. So we have our little relationship going. There are some migrants that I have recognized a few years in a row; one hummingbird in particular comes to mind. I named the birds in the book more to describe their personalities or behaviors rather than a particular bird. I chose names that hopefully will help the children remember a particular bird as they are learning to identify them.

RT: In addition to keeping Bird and Nature Friends, a blog about Friends in the Meadow, you also author Grow Green Kids. Do you envision writing children’s books about responsible living?

Peggy: To my way of thinking, Friends in the Meadow - Birds, is a children’s book that not only introduces kids to a great hobby, but also talks about nature and the need to be responsible for our planet. Many adults move slower toward an environmental consciousness than the younger generations due to better environmental education opportunities during the last 20 years or so. The adults get there by reconnecting with the great outdoors, like they did as kids. When they start to enjoy nature, then they start to care about it and begin to think and act responsibility. Kids relate to birds and other animals with wide-eyed enthusiasm. It pretty much comes naturally with just a little effort on the parent’s part. It’s not hard for the kids. They easily understand that animals and birds need clean water and environment in order to live, just like they do. They are being taught it in school, the TV shows they watch, and the Internet, too. In many cases it is the adults in the children’s lives who need convincing to act responsibility and be an example for their children. I try to encourage parents to participate in birding activities with their children first to spend time and assist the child with learning the hobby, but more importantly, to get us all to work together and become more environmentally aware.

RT: Staying with the theme of being responsible stewards, what do you think is the most difficult – but important message – to convey to children through books?

Peggy: It is difficult for children to understand the history and full impact of our negligence over the last 60+ years. We are now trying to repair a lot of damage that was the result of “progress.” Several generations of adults grew up without any knowledge of the harm that had come about and therefore did not teach their children. Now we are trying to do better, but still only about 40 percent of Americans recycle and our landfills continue to fill up. We take two steps forward and one step back; it is very slow progress. The big picture is certainly too complex for a children’s book. But the most important message - keep our earth healthy - they can get from a book. Similarly, they can learn personal responsibility. Each of us has a role and must do our part. As I continue the Friends in the Meadow series, I will bring this message out with the different animals we meet.

RT: You displayed Friends in the Meadow - Birds at the American Library Association (ALA) Conference in Chicago this past summer. Was this your first experience with a trade show? What did you learn during the event that you want to use in talking about your book at other venues?

Peggy: My book was on display at this conference, but I was not able to attend. It was part of the publisher’s display. I still have this venture to look forward to when the opportunity presents itself.

RT: One of your goals for the Friends in the Meadow series is that it can help children develop social skills. Is it difficult to create transitions using nonfiction content for more conceptual lessons?

Peggy: Some authors may find fiction easier for this task. I have the luxury of being able to draw on my experiences as a mental health therapist for children and families. My mind tends to stay in the real mode when thinking about children and their needs. My desire is to use animals and their real behaviors to get social skill points across, with some fictional conversation or circumstances mixed in to keep the interest of the child. For instance, in Friends in the Meadow - Birds, I make the point that all of Lovie Dove’s bird friends had things about themselves in common and things that were different. The point being that the differences make the group of birds more interesting and that everyone accepts each other as they are. I used hummingbirds to show selfishness. They are possessive, guard the feeder as if they owned it, and chase others away when they try to come near. But when so many hummingbirds were in need of a drink, the dominant hummer backed down and allowed the others to share his feeder. The social skills of decision making, problem solving, and sharing with others were present and of course can be discussed in more detail between the child and the parent as they read the book together. Such discussions can also take place using the book in a group setting at school, scouts, or wherever.

RT: What do you envision for the other books in the series? Will they continue with the stories of the birds or will you introduce other animals?

Peggy: Right now, I am going to use the Wilson’s small farm and meadow as my setting. There are lots of animal stories. For example, the next book tackles the constant battle between the squirrels, Mrs. Wilson, and the birds. As most of us have seen, squirrels create havoc at the feeders by robbing the birds of their food. They make a mess for the Wilsons in the process. Somehow, they need to work out their differences. Again, the use of non-fiction regarding circumstances and behaviors, but some fiction mixed in to make the story interesting for the child. I am purposely building in social skills lessons and plan to have some type of related activity to reinforce what they learned from the story. Friends in the Meadow - Birds has a life list in the back of the book so children can record the first 20 birds they have learned to recognize. Once an adult verifies the list, a certificate, also in the book, is completed and presented to the child. These activities will hopefully build the child’s self-esteem along with the birding skills.

RT: Learning about birds (e.g., being able to identify species) is the foundation of this book. Could you tell us how you got hooked on birding?

Peggy: I have always loved nature and living in a rural area. Birds have always been a pleasure to watch from afar. I didn’t get hooked, though, until I had to retire early due to an illness. I went from 20+ years of a very busy, long and stressful workday to being alone all day with little I could do. I began looking for something I could do that was interesting, not stressful, would keep my mind active, and would not interfere with my recovery. The birds got my attention because of their singing. I began to spend a lot of time at my windows just watching and enjoying the view. Someone gave me a bird field manual and I began studying the birds I was seeing every day. My husband then added a pair of binoculars. Not long after I asked for a good camera for Christmas. I was hooked. The birds came to my rescue!

RT: If you could do it all again, what would you change (if anything) about the process or the story?

Peggy: I am already doing it. This time I am spending a lot more time on research before moving into the publishing phase. With the first book, I learned so much about publishing and marketing processes - some of it good and some of it overwhelming and scary. My fear is that I have barely scratched the surface and that there is still a lot out there I need to figure out. Even so, I have learned a lot and the next go round will be easier because of it.

As for the story, while I might tweak it here and there to make it more readable, I wouldn’t change the plot that much. There is always room for improvement. I have written two books for local fund raisers, one a family history book and the other a history of our small community from the early 1800s onward. From those experiences, I learned that no matter how many times a book is proofed (even by different people), there will inevitably be some errors. I do the best I can and then move on.

RT: Is there anything else you’d like to add?
Peggy:I really appreciate The Reading Tub® and its mission of helping children with literacy and providing them with books. This opens up the whole world to them and offers opportunities they would not have otherwise had living in a home with no books. I appreciate this opportunity to share my thoughts and to introduce Friends in the Meadow - Birds.

From: The Reading Tub