The Way We Live PT 1: Leftovers and one gourmet hot dog

[“Warren Buffett (one of the world’s three richest men) has touched a national nerve.” (He) “has taken to the pages of the New York Times to call for higher taxes - yes, higher taxes - for himself and his well-off peers.” Aug. 16, London Free Press]

If you are having leftovers for lunch and have an extra spot at the table then I’m your man. I like leftovers.

If I like something the first time, I like it even more the second time. On the third day my slow-cooker Irish stew tastes magnificent.

I relish eating food before it’s wasted and tossed, and believe me when I say a lot of stuff is wasted in North America.

Thomas M. Kostigen writes, “The average-sized house in a temperate climate can fully provide enough water to its inhabitants purely from the rainwater that falls on its roof. The sun provides in one second enough energy to power the entire US population for nine million years, yet we harness less than 1 percent of its energy. The third most common refuse at dumpsites is food.” (pg. 10, You Are Here)

You have no need now, however, to invite me for lunch. I just finished eating leftover macaroni and cheese and half a container of mashed sweet potato topped with butter and Parmesan cheese. (Just about everything I pull from the fridge tastes better with a sprinkling of Parmesan cheese, even Parmesan cheese. Sorry, I digress.) Sure, I would have liked the sweet potato more had it been mixed with diced carrot, parsnip and turnip because I like how the vegetables compliment one another, but I can’t be choosy.

What about meat?


[How about one gourmet dog on Tuesdays and Thursdays?]

I don’t feel I need as much meat as I do. One good gourmet hotdog every few days would do me fine and I prefer that I create the gourmet dog on my own. Whenever I eat a restaurant meal I feel I could do better myself. I could save a whack of money and if I planned the meal right, have leftovers the next day and save even more money at the same time. Why, I’m sure there are millions of people around the world like myself who feel they would even get a tremendous amount of pleasure out of stuffing the hotdog or sausage skins themselves and not rely on a factory of some sort to help with a small, easy task.

Maybe Warren Buffett felt some of the same feelings - about eating leftovers (with relish) and creating meals - when he said the following yesterday:

“My friends and I have been coddled long enough by a billionaire-friendly Congress. It’s time for our government to get serious about shared sacrifice.”

***

Leftovers. Stuffed sausages. Shared sacrifice. Oh, it all fits together alright.

More to follow.

Please click here to read more about taxes and attitudes about them.

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The Workshop: “Slow the pace. Get more done.”

Who first said ‘slow and steady wins the race’?

Was it a race-winning turtle? A tired rabbit who had learned his lesson? A dust-covered retired guy in his workshop after checking another project off his to-do list?

Whoever it was, they were right.

Sometimes ‘the hurrier I go the behinder I get’. (Who first said that? The cock-eyed grammar is hard to place.) But lately, I’ve just been taking my time, thinking and reflecting as I go, and more work seems to be getting checked off. I like it.


I’ll head outside after lunch and complete two 10-minute tasks, a warm up before starting heavier work. I.e., I’ll wipe a bit of linseed oil (w a titch of maple stain) onto the frame of my last cupboard door (the bottom one), and whilst I have the linseed oil out, wipe a smooth coat onto another piece of funky outdoor decor that is getting bleached by the sun. Twenty minutes, tops.


["Another Slab of Mulberry": photos by Dusty Jeans]

What I call “Another Slab of Mulberry” (“A Slab of Mulberry” appears on the front porch) will perk up a bit with its second coat of oil and my backyard neighbour will surely gain a new appreciation for the decor that cost me $18, not including tax.

If I take my time, I bet I’ll be finished in 15 minutes.

PS Those who know I primarily work with and write about rescued lumber may be surprised to learn I actually paid $18 for the mulberry. So am I! I bought two slabs when it was a dark shade of lime-green - I'd never seen anything like it before and the image of an outdoor table came to mind. The slabs became outdoor decor instead, my way of "showing it off."

***

Please click here to read more from The Workshop.

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PT 2 It’s “Another Saturday Night” and I ain’t got no money

[“Though some recent news reports ‘more that half of Canadians say they are making good progress paying down their debt’ (Aug. 9, London Free Press), the progress may not be enough to help them stay afloat.” Aug. 15, G. Harrison]

Sing it with me:

When you're weary, feeling small
When tears are in your eyes,

I will dry them all.

I'm on your side
When times get rough
And friends just can't be found,

Like a bridge over troubled water 
I will lay me down
Like a bridge over troubled water 
I will lay me down.
(P. Simon, 1969)

I think Paul Simon’s song will come to mind often in the near future when troubled waters on the horizon swamp the fragile boat many have boarded by taking on a lifestyle bigger than their weekly pay cheque can afford.

Journalist and author Gwynne Dyer addresses actual water woes - linked to financial problems I touched on in PT 1 - that are building up behind a weakening dam in his most recent column ‘Food supply depends on water supply’ and we should all take note.

[Please click here to link to Dyer’s article.]

Financial problems will likely sink many families soon, but water and subsequent food troubles will sink whole countries.


Dyer mentions more than water and food bubbles that will one day burst. He says, “There is the Chinese real-estate bubble, the biggest in history, which may take the whole world economy down with it when it bursts.” But then he adds, ominously, “But nothing compares with the food bubble.”

Okay, my interest was piqued.

Some highlights follow:

the average world price of grain soared by 71% in the last year

it’s a catastrophe for poor countries, not a catastrophe for some in rich countries who spend 10% or less of income on food supplies

climate change and water constraints will eventually make the situation more serious

water and food bubbles envelop and will affect everyone and their wallets and purses negatively

Some readers may be old enough to recall a food price crisis in the early 1970s and that “the problem was quickly solved by the famous Green Revolution, which hugely increased yields of rice, wheat and corn.”

And today some might be lulled into thinking that for every problem there will be a technological solution, so why worry.

There are drawbacks to that kind of thinking.

About the earlier food price crisis Dyer says, “The only drawback was that the Green Revolution wasn’t really all that green. Higher-yielding strains of familiar crops played a part in the solution, certainly, but so did a vastly increased use of fertilizer: global fertilizer use tripled between 1960 and 1975.”

Dyer perhaps assumes we know that depending on vast amounts of fertilizer is very short-sighted so goes on to his main point - future water shortages and food crises. But many don’t think about fertilizer, especially when roast beef is on sale at $2.99 per pound.

Here are a few highlights about fertilizer from ‘The Omnivore’s Dilemma by Michael Pollan:

“When humankind acquired the power to fix nitrogen (and thereby produce fertilizer), the basis of soil fertility shifted from a total reliance on the energy of the sun to a new reliance on fossil fuel.” (pg. 44)

“...synthetic fertilizer opens the way to monoculture, allowing the farmer to bring the factory’s economies of scale and efficiency to nature... fixing nitrogen allowed the food chain to turn from the logic of biology and embrace the logic of industry. Instead of eating exclusively from the sun, humanity now began to sip petroleum.” (pg. 45)

“When you add together the natural gas in the fertilizer to the fossil fuels it takes to make the pesticides, drive the tractors, and harvest, dry, and transport the corn (more than half of all synthetic nitrogen made today is applied to corn), you find that every bushel of industrial corn requires the equivalent of between a quarter and a third of a gallon of oil to grow it - or around fifty gallons of oil per acre of corn. (Some estimates are higher.)”

“Put another way, it takes more than a calorie of fossil fuel energy to produce a calorie of food... ecologically this is a fabulously expensive way to produce food (especially for beef @ $2.99 per pound) - but ‘ecologically’ is no longer the operative standard. As long as fossil fuel energy is so cheap and available, it makes good economic sense to produce corn (and many other foods) this way.”

Fertilizer. Fossil fuels. Food. The interconnection in modern times is guaranteed. The cheap price of food is not. As long as we rely on factory scale farms where production is driven by oil, the price of oil will determine the price of food.

Today, with the price per barrel at $86.05 (a real deal when compared to the price of $105 just a few months ago), and nations around the world scrambling to find new sources in more hard to reach places, the price of food will only go up.

Then there’s Dyer’s water issues.

More to follow.

***

Please click here to read PT 1 It’s “Another Saturday Night” and I ain’t got no money.

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The Workshop: “Busy times ahead,” says Dusty Jeans

My outdoor project is proceeding at an easy pace, even though I don’t have a schedule I can show you. Maybe that’s why I move at an easy pace.


["Two doors are now hinged and have sturdy wooden latches."]

And the project (a reading/writing alcove that will sport a new storage unit, table, chairs and funky fence decor) has grown legs. Branches might be a better term since several pieces of rescued lumber are involved.


["One more door - small job; moving pile of stone under tarp - big job."]

Though the storage unit only needs one last door, I will also soon build a sturdy compost bin to replace an old plastic unit with a slide-up hatch that a sturdy skunk is able to wrestle with and remove. (Am I overusing the word ‘sturdy’? Sorry, but you should see that skunk!)


["This compost bin has got to go!": photos by Dusty Jeans]

On this week’s flexible to-do list I find the following:

final door for storage unit

remove, sell, give away leftover stone in alcove area

build a small table for alcove (I know. I still haven’t shown you the unique piece of lumber I have for that table).

turn rescued lumber from old garbage bin into a compost bin

sweep up the alcove and workshop (the dust is almost knee deep)




["A few pieces of flat stone caught my eye. Cedar frames are very sturdy!"]

Sure, I’d be farther ahead if I didn’t spend time on funky fence decor, but I can’t toss all the stone out.

***

Please click here for more from The Workshop.

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It’s “Another Saturday Night” and I ain't got no money

Sing it with me now:

“Another Saturday night and I ain't got nobody

I got some money 'cause I just got paid.

How I wish I had someone to talk to

I'm in awful way.”

Sam Cooke sang it right in 1963 but if he was singing his hit song today he’d likely have to change the second line to ‘I ain't got no money though I just got paid.’

Oh, he’d be in an awful pickle alright, with nobody and no money.

Why? Because he’d be in debt just like most other people in Canada and the US.

A recent article with a Canadian perspective states the following:

The financial situation in the US is bad; Washington is borrowing just to stay afloat. Sadly, the same can be said for many Canadian families. (Aug. 4, London Free Press)

Though the American family wasn’t mentioned, the outlook is as bleak, if not bleaker, for our neighbours to the south.

Though we think we live in the land of plenty, it isn’t a prosperous place for all families, says the article.

“Credit card and mortgage debt, combined with everyday expenses like putting food on the table, are keeping Canadians from saving for the future.”

Today is tough for many. Tomorrow will be tougher without savings.

Though the US is taking on “six times in debt what it makes in annual revenue” - way too much to handle - the average Canadian, with $1.47 debt for every $1 earned, is in a very vulnerable position too.

“Once interest rates begin to climb from historic lows later this year, it could be too late for many Canadians to dig out,” says the head of online bank ING Direct Canada.

Though some recent news reports “more that half of Canadians say they are making good progress paying down their debt” (Aug. 9, London Free Press), the progress won't help them stay afloat when other troubled waters on the horizon swamp the boat they have weighted down with a lifestyle bigger than their weekly pay cheque can afford.

[My mantra, i.e., reduce spending, pay down debt, save money for the tough times ahead, is getting timelier by the minute.]

More about troubled waters to follow.

***

Please click here to read more about our lovely debt situation.

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London’s Job Summit PT 3: “We can dig a grave. Can we climb out?”

[“I can think of nothing finer than a three-wheeled scooter-mobile plant to occupy part of the soon to be closed Ford Talbotville plant on the outskirts of our city.” G. Harrison, Aug. 12]

On Friday, London’s Mayor Joe Fontana, local politicians, business leaders and interested parties participated in London’s job summit.

Ideas filled the air related to ways to stimulate the creation of good jobs for London, the city that is the current poster child for high unemployment in Canada. With Toronto at 8.3%, Montreal at 8 and Vancouver, Hamilton and Kitchener-Waterloo tied at 6.4%, London stands at the top of the heap with 9.1% unemployment.

According to yesterday’s issue of The London Free Press, here are but some of the excellent ideas concerning job creation that filled the air:

1. “politicians said times weren’t as gloomy as the high unemployment rate suggests”

(Surely then, jobs are just around the corner.)

2. “politicians pointed to developing along Hwys. 401 and 402 as a key to future plans”

(Jobs are guaranteed. Start lining up.)

3. “Mayor Joe Fontana let slip his ambition to serve a second term”

(Several really good jobs are likely going to be up for grabs. Comb your hair and brush your teeth asap for an interview.)

4. “Tory MP Ed Holder (London West) said his government had done its part...”

(Hundreds of full-time jobs are essentially on their way to London. Don’t forget to gargle.)

5. “Liberal MPPs Chris Bentley, Khalil Ramal and Deb Matthews lauded the province’s growth record...”

(Are you kidding me? You’re not hired yet?)

6. "The construction trades called for more construction, home builders for more homes and realtors for a streamlined process at city hall."

(I can hear them calling now. “We want to construct! We want to build! We want to sell!” Anyone got a bag of hammers and a box of nails? Anyone? Anyone?)

By now, many of the unemployed will realize their future is in good hands and they’ll be on a job site by Monday. Tuesday at the latest.

Though my idea about turning London into the building center of all things small wasn’t mentioned (re small homes, all items that go into small homes, small vehicles, etc.), I’m not discouraged. The jobs coming down the pike (Oh, they’re inevitable. “In five years, London will be the nation’s most prosperous city,” says London’s Mayor Joe Fontana according to the Free Press, Aug. 13) will surely support London in a sustainable fashion until they can’t anymore.


["Does anyone plan to build small fridges for small homes?"]

Though one observer said, “This meeting was 95% chest pounding and patting on the back” (KWM) I feel we should be thankful we have chests and backs. And now, thanks to the 135-minute long job summit, we also have jobs coming out of our ears.

Mystery jobs for now, yes. But jobs nonetheless.

***

Please click here to read London’s Job Summit PT 2.
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“IT STRIKES” Again: Condiments a-plenty, but where’s the real food when you need it?

{The following column was first published in February, 2003. Though we still have lots of mustard, we’re down to 12 bottles of salad dressing in the side door of the Westinghouse. gah]

Condiments a-plenty, but where’s the real food when you need it?

I was sure the ingredients for my special sandwich were in the fridge so I volunteered to make lunch. My wife Pat was skeptical the first time I made her one. Now she is a vocal supporter of this culinary delight.

After I placed the whole wheat bread, margarine, cheese slices, Spanish onion, bacon, tomato, peanut butter and dill pickles on the kitchen counter, I realized we were out of an essential ingredient - mayonnaise. My special sandwich needs a thick, healthy serving serving of mayo, otherwise ‘special’ becomes run of the mill.


["Oh, if we could just afford a fridge with shelves on the inside of the door. Then I could buy a second type of mustard, that Dijon stuff."]

I grabbed my coat at the front door as I prepared to go shopping for my own fresh, hand-picked jar of ‘Hellmann’s Real.’

“Pat, I’m going to Valu-mart for mayonnaise. Want anything?” I asked as I started out the door.

“I put the grocery list on the counter beside the toaster. There’s a few things we need. Have you got it?” she replied.

“Almost had it,” I declared as I reversed direction.

Pat asked, “Did you check the top shelf in the fridge for mayonnaise? That’s where I keep it.”

Yeah, pretty sure,” I answered hastily.

I jogged to the back of the house, grabbed the list and read it as I headed to the front door again.

I inquired innocently as I passed Pat in the dining room, “You want another jar of mustard?”

“Tes, we need another jar,” Pat replied.

“What’s this beside ‘mustard’? Mary is Dublin, very strong wind?”

Pat removed her glasses and took the list from my hand.

It says Marquis de Dijon, extra strong, with wine,” she stated.

“When I was looking for mayonnaise I noticed we already have lots of mustard,” I said, hoping to shorten my shopping trip.

“Well, I want the ‘extra strong’ as well,” Pat said with a smile as she returned the list to my open hand.

I knew after 32 years of marriage there was really nothing I needed to say to Pat at that point.

I said to myself, “Buy the extra mustard. It will always come in handy on festive occasions when the other twelve kinds won’t do. You know how some guests are. We’ll have eight tidy dishes of mustard on the table but someone will want ‘Marquis de Dijon’ because they like it extra strong with white wine. Keep walking Gordie.”

I kept walking. But I wasn’t finished chewing on the frustration that comes from looking for mayo and finding more condiments than we could ever use in one lifetime.

Have you ever fumbled through the fridge looking for sandwich ingredients only to discover 12 kinds of mustard to slap on a slice of ham, but no ham? Have you been able to locate 16 kinds of salad dressing in the side door of the Westinghouse but not a leaf of lettuce?

We are knee-deep in relishes of every description, jams, jellies, olives, pickles, sweet onions, barbecue and hot sauces. But go ahead. Sniff for a burger. It won’t be there.

I simmered down when I returned from Valu-mart with my Hellmann’s Real and saw that Pat had my recent purchases of PC Horseradish Mayo and Hellmann’s Big Squeeze waiting for me on the kitchen counter.

***

Please click here to read another exciting - perhaps even brilliant - episode of “IT STRIKES” Again.

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Cartoons in Progress: “Life’s like that, eh” 22

“Four doctors in a row refused to remove what Allan thought was a birthmark.”

gah

**

Please click here to view “Life’s like that, eh” 21.
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London’s Job Summit PT 2: “We can dig a grave. Can we climb out?”

[“The Corporation of the City of London needs to make a fundamental shift. In my opinion, one part of the answer lies where some business minds would least expect it - inside an 800 square foot house.” G. Harrison, Aug. 11]

London’s 9.1 per cent unemployment figure has spurred Mayor Joe Fontana into action.

With “his city suddenly the poster child for tough times, Mayor Joe Fontana says he wants to take stock of where we’re at and brainstorm solutions to London’s jobless crisis at an emergency summit Friday.” (London Free Press, Aug. 11)

So, today he’ll meet with local politicians and members of business and make hash, and try to find the secret to more jobs, jobs, jobs.

The entire answer may not be found inside Fontana’s meeting venue, e.g., a large community hall.

As ‘a poster child for tough times’ as well as a poster child for the culture of big, our fair city - built in sprawling, extravagant fashion when fossil fuels were cheap - may find part of the answer lies inside a very small house.

Please allow me to explain.

I don’t mean the answer lies inside my humble cottage (at 1,200 sq. ft.; exterior measurement), as if to say I’m an urban planning guru of any sort. (Urban thinker, maybe, or something that rhymes with thinker).

I mean that part of the answer to future job growth lies in making the transition to building small homes and all the small scale supplies (cupboards, furniture, appliances, heating and cooling units, cars, sheds, etc.) required to outfit them.

Think 800 sq. ft. house.


[“It’s hard to think of one. We see so few!”: photo GH]

Think small refrigerator, e.g., 8 cubic ft., and two-burner stove.

Think 25 sq. ft. (e.g., 5 ft. x 5 ft.) bathroom.


[“All tile bathroom, 16 sq. ft.”: Little House in a Small World]

Think small furnace and AC unit.

Think sleeping berths over chests of drawers and computer desks in multi-purpose bedrooms.

Think three-wheeled, enclosed, 500 cc scooter-mobile with 2-person bench seat and 9 sq. ft. truck bed for groceries.


[“The truck for me!”: photo link]

Then think of London as the center of the small economy, cornering the market of all things for the small household and families with sustainable pay cheques.

We have no shortage of space to build and display hundreds of small scale items.

Why, one fine looking 800 sq. ft. house - designed and crafted as a joint venture between the University of Western Ontario and Fanshawe College - will quite easily fit in the snack food section of one of London’s lovely Walmart Super Stores.

And I can think of nothing finer than a three-wheeled scooter-mobile plant to occupy part of the soon to be closed Ford Talbotville plant on the outskirts of our city.

Small.

Why, it’s never been done. Our tourism industry will likely get a substantial shot in the arm as people come from miles around to see the creation of all things related to a sustainable, live-under-your-means lifestyle.

I think my plan will work even now, but I know for certain it will work much better once the majority of Londoners, politicians and business owners realize we’ve been digging our own grave for many decades on the back of cheap oil and we have little time left to pursue business as usual before we start digging our way out.

What do you think?

***

Please click here to read London’s Job Summit PT 1.

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Letter to the Editor: What? That’s all you got?

Been there. Done that.

That’s all that came to mind after reading a letter entitled ‘Better way to create jobs’ in Wednesday’s issue of The London Free Press.

Jeffrey Daubs sums up his economic philosophy in these words:

“Jobs come from profits and productivity. Employers hire employees when it is in their best interest to do so. If we truly want prosperity we need to cut regulations and taxes so that we can have a business friendly environment at the municipal, provincial and federal levels.”


["A sustainable economy is a long way off": Mojo's runner]

I’m astounded by the simplicity of success and why no one has thought of it earlier.

But wait... someone has thought of it earlier.

Successive governments since the 1970s have attempted to stimulate a business friendly environment by doing the same thing, and we now have a federal Conservative government willing to strip more environmental regulations and lower corporate taxes from an already all-time low in Canada.

Don’t hold your breath for more productivity and profits by following ‘business as usual’ methods. The market place across the globe is tired of ‘ye old tried and true,’ maybe for reasons politicians, businesses and consumers are not yet willing to admit and confront.

We’re way passed Jeffrey’s mantra.

Ever heard of climate change, limits to growth, resource depletion?

***

Please click here for more about climate change and limits to growth.

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The Workshop: 66.66% finished means... time for a break

[“And one day soon, I’ll build the cupboard doors, and clean up the stone, and get the reading/writing table finished for my outdoor space. Maybe. I get distracted easily.” G. Harrison, August 8]

The task of building three doors for an outdoor storage unit is two-thirds complete.

Then I’ll tackle the heaviest job on my to-do list, i.e., remove 6 boxes of stone. Where will I put them? I don’t know. (Maybe you and I can make a deal you can’t refuse).


["After morning coffee I'll buy sturdy hinges for the two doors.": photo GH]

Once the stone is sorted, I’ll build a unique reading/writing table for the wee shaded alcove just outside my study window, through which the lovely strains of Bob Dylan’s voice will drift while I write my next million-dollar novel. (I lied... I should say “my first million-dollar novel.”)

I can hardly wait to start on the table. You should see the piece of wood I have for the table top. Oh, and you will. Count on it.

But first, with 66.66% of the storage unit doors done (I’ll do one long ‘lift-out’ door for the bottom), I think I’ll take another break - like Sunday’s - and frame another two pieces of leftover stone, to use as eye-catchers in the alcove.

One cannot have enough eye-catchers!

***

Please click here to see eye-catchers from The Workshop.

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London’s Job Summit: We can dig a grave. Can we climb out?

[What is London, Ontario? “It’s a low, wide city several degrees hotter than surrounding forests and farmland, built in sprawling, extravagant fashion when fossil fuels were cheap.” G. Harrison, Londoner, July 28]

Tomorrow, Mayor Joe Fontana will preside over an emergency summit involving some business leaders, politicians and interested parties that will brainstorm solutions to our city’s jobless crisis.

The mayor and many others now realize that with unemployment at 9.1 per cent, the highest rate of a major Canadian city (the number employed is down 3.5% over last year with reportedly 8,300 fewer people employed), if something isn’t done now to fill the hole we will not only appear to be standing in our own grave but making it deeper.


["I kin dig a hole so deep you can't get out."]

Unfortunately, I feel the summit will fail to reverse the grave-deepening trend if local politicians and business leaders adopt one of Mayor Fontana’s mantras, i.e., that it’s only a short-term problem, that if we can get over this jobless hump we can return to business as usual.

Fontana says we need to “get over this hump for 2011,” that he’s “not so concerned about our future, but... 9.1% (unemployment) causes us all to gasp and say in the short term, there are headwinds we are facing.”

Though I appreciate his confidence and enthusiasm, feigned or otherwise, I think we need to bear the long term in mind, especially now that the ground upon which we stand is sinking.

For several decades London has been growing far, fat and wide - in pursuit of the culture of big - on the back of cheap oil. Many citizens of this fair town have made a show of prosperity with bigger properties, homes, closets, cars, pools and countless material possessions while household, provincial, national and global debt has been growing deeper.

For a dozen decades or more, many cities and countries have become accustomed to growing productivity on the back of finite resources, e.g., petroleum, wood and metals.

Ron Wright, in A Short History of Progress, describes our prosperity in this manner:

“We in the lucky countries of the West now regard our two-century bubble of freedom and affluence as normal and inevitable... Our age was bankrolled by the seizing of half a planet, extended by taking over most of the remaining half, and has been sustained by spending down new forms of natural capital, especially fossil fuels. In the New World, the West hit the biggest bonanza of all time.”


["I'm jist lookin' fer the right way to turn."]

Many citizens and businesses have grown prosperous, even excessively so, and visible signs of increasing wealth (the big houses, cars, closets, computers, etc.) are commonplace, as is associated debt.

Now, trapped by the trappings of the big lifestyle they desire and somehow feel entitled to, many countries and cities face the long term battle of not getting buried in a grave of their own making.

Will a frozen pizza factory on the 401 bail London out? Are more companies like it the answer? Is a stimulus package that will return us to ‘business as usual’ the way to go?

I think not. The Corporation of the City of London needs to make a fundamental shift away from the culture of big.

In my opinion, one part of the answer will be found where some business minds (especially in the home construction industry) would least expect it - inside an 800 square foot house.

***

Please click here to read more about The Culture of Small.

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“IT STRIKES” Again: Hey! I’m so sorry for talking in a coffee shop!

[The following column was first published on Jan. 29, 2003. By reading it you’ll discover that more phones make for more awkward moments. Maybe we should use the phone less often, especially in public places. It’s just a thought. gah]

Hey! I’m so sorry for talking in a coffee shop!

Jane Jacobs, an urban planning guru (who visited Althouse College in 2000) contends that more highways, wider roads, extra lanes and clover-leafs won’t solve traffic congestion or make life easier while driving.

“More roads create more cars,” is her comment.

Her words came to mind after I received a silent rebuke from the next table while at the Roaster in Wortley Village recently. A cell phone rang as my friend Don Kelly and I chatted about RRSPs, how rich our wives would be when we die, his job at school and the high price of Levis.

I laughed at one of Don’s off-handed remarks and suddenly got the ‘eagle-eye’ from a person that meant, “Hey! I’m on the phone here!”

I said, “Oops, sorry.”

Within seconds I thought, “What am I sorry about?”

I leaned quietly toward Don and posed, “”This is a coffee shop, right?”

Don was looking around the Roaster to see why I was sorry. Under questioning he would say I am one of the sorriest friends he has but he hadn’t caught my most recent foul.

“It’s a coffee shop,” he agreed.

It’s okay to talk in here, right? Laugh on occasion? Get a refill?” I queried earnestly.

Don shifted in his seat, folded his arms and nodded. So I nodded toward the Hawk and told him what had happened.

The conversation that followed touched on our opinions about cell phone etiquette, how often we used our own, what to expect when using a cell in a coffee shop and the high price of eggs.

Don and I concluded we would continue to take a cell in our cars while travelling (for emergency use), and that our normal conversations at the Roaster shouldn’t have to quiet down to allow a cell user to tell friends where they were at that precise moment, who they were with or what movie they had seen last night. If there was an important matter, e.g., a medical or family emergency, we would make the call or be the quietest guys in the coffee shop.

We thought it was a timely discussion because more phones have created more conversations. Cell phone conversations are taking place everywhere, and phones are being offered by several companies ay lower and lower prices in all types of media ads.


[“Cell trash abounds.” Click here for photo link and comment]

Have you seen the TV ad about a father giving his daughters call phones as gifts? He slips a cell into one daughter’s pocket, another into a gift bag as the young ladies are heading back home or to the university. Before they arrive at their destination he calls. It’s such a lovely moment.

I wish one daughter would say, “Dad, you could have called me at home in 20 minutes. You know, I have three phones in my apartment and my current service is a lot cheaper in the long run. By the way, are you going to send Julie money every month to keep her cell activated? As a student she’ll have a hard time paying for two phones.”

A Mitsubishi magazine ad for Internet-connected cell phones says, “The world doesn’t revolve around you... But we’re working on it.”

Wow! If I bought two would I get to be the center of the universe?

Not likely.

I think most phone conversations should take place in the comfort of our homes. Not in the coffee shop, in a moving car, at the movies or theater, while walking through a mall or an intersection.

The world shouldn’t have to revolve around us to that degree.

gah

***

Please click here to read another exciting episode of “IT STRIKES” Again.

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Cartoons In Progress: Life’s like that, eh” 21

“Tom felt the constant buzzing sound in his left ear was getting worrisome.”

gah

***

Please click here to view “Life’s like that, eh” 20

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The Culture of Small: Live under your means. Then what?

[Human beings and our economies have to find a place within the environment. The economic assumption that endless growth is not only necessary but possible is suicidal for any species that lives in a finite world. pg. 298, The Sacred Balance by David Suzuki]

The following recent headlines in the London Free Press tell a story:

Economic outlook, gas prices hit auto sales (Aug. 4)

Stink bug sizes up Ontario (Aug. 4; click here for the stinky details)

Drought worsens in American Midwest (Aug. 5)

Markets brace for the worst (Aug. 8)

(Tiger) Woods looking clumsy (Aug. 8)

And what’s the story?

That we should brace ourselves for tough times ahead because more than Tiger is off of his game.

We are mishandling the economy, personal and national finances, carbon emissions related to industry and human activity (resulting in climate instability), in much the same way that Tiger Woods mishandled his first marriage and recent golf tournaments.

Can things get worse? Of course they can, and they will, because we have a decades-old habit of pushing past personal, economic and environmental limits in just about all we do.

Allow me to offer the following advice:


["Buy a small house. Live small and prosper": illustration by GH]

Live under your means by at least 10 per cent. That is, make sure you spend - on essential expenses - no more than 90 per cent of what you earn.

Then what?

Open a savings account and deposit at least 10 per cent of earnings for the tough times ahead.

Certainly, pressure to spend, spend, spend will still come from many sides, from countless glitzy TV, radio and magazine commercials, even the Joneses next door. But resist the temptation.

I read the following under the headline ‘Economic outlook, gas prices hit auto sales’ (London Free Press, Aug. 4)”

Ford and General Motors sold fewer of their flagship trucks in Canada in July as consumers yet again opted for smaller cars as gas prices stayed high and confidence about the economic outlook wavered...

(I predict gas prices will only tend to move higher. Start saving soon).

...independent automotive industry consultant Dennis DesRosiers said, “There are a lot more economic problems and a lot more hesitation in the market-place than what people want to talk about, especially the politicians.”

As an old economist (I have a valid library card), I don’t mind talking about it. We are on a path that leads past personal, economic and environmental limits. It’s time to trade in the culture of big on a more efficient and affordable model, i.e., the culture of small.

What can you do to live smaller?

***

More to follow.

Please click here to read more about The Culture of Small.

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The Workshop: One step forward, one step sideways

I get distracted easily. And I know that. Yesterday, while tackling the job of moving leftover (reno) rock from a future outdoor reading, writing and snoozing alcove, I made the mistake of looking closely at the first of a few rock slabs.


[I asked myself, “Could these pieces be useful?”]

They do look nice, I thought. Better than nice when wet.


So, I poured a bit of ice water onto one slab. Then I wondered if linseed oil, with a titch of maple stain, would create an interesting effect. I rubbed a bit (a titch, really) onto a 6 by 6 inch piece.


[“Yes, in my opinion, an interesting effect,” I say.]

I liked the result. Then I wondered how long it would take to make a cedar frame for each of three pieces of rock. I didn’t know, so I pushed the saw out of the workshop and cut a few strips of wood and fashioned a frame.


Then, instead of returning to the job of sorting and cleaning up hundreds of pounds of stone, I looked for a place to hang my first framed piece of reno rock.

Personally, I think the side of my outdoor cupboard is a perfect place.


[“Maybe I should get back to the task at hand!”: photos GH]

And one day soon, I’ll build the cupboard doors, and clean up the stone, and get the reading/writing table finished for my outdoor space.

Maybe. I get distracted easily.

***

Please click here for an earlier piece from The Workshop.

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The Culture of Small: One day, I’ll own a smaller fridge

[“My mom would occasionally look in the freezer to see if there was anything there she could use for supper. As I recall, the freezer was only big enough for two ice cube trays and half a bag of Birdseye frozen peas. So, not much help there.” A recollection from 1959 - G. Harrison]

One day, I’ll own a smaller fridge

Positive news.

76% is reportedly “the amount an ENERGY STAR appliance can save a household in energy costs over the course of an appliance’s lifetime, according to the Bosch Green Machine Index.” (Aug. 4, London Free Press)

Sounds good. I tip my hat in the direction of ENERGY STAR.

But we may be wasting the advantage of making things run more economically. I mean, have you seen the size of refrigerators lately? A friend has a fridge with a pull-out freezer the size of a small nation.

What? Is a food shortage coming?


[“My mom’s fridge was never this full!”: photo and story link]

We may be wasting the advantage of making appliances more energy efficient in much the same way we wasted more efficient home construction methods by increasing the square footage of the average house. “Build it better, then bigger, so we can fill it with more stuff” must be our motto in North America.

76%. Advantage wasted.

Because my wife and I live less than two blocks away from a grocery store (one that will keep things frozen for us until the time we actually need them), I think there will soon come a day when we can get by with a fridge one third the size of our current ENERGY STAR model.

But, does any company make them in such a small size, with a freezer that would accommodate a couple of ice cube trays and a few pork chops?

***

Deforest City should become a leader in all things small.

Please click here for more cool thoughts about refrigerators.

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Climate Change Concerns: Stink bugs and thermometers are on the move

A headline in a recent news article, i.e., ‘Stink bug sizes up Ontario’, didn’t tell the full story. Though the story it did tell was disturbing enough on its own.

That “a voracious, invasive insect is closing in on Ontario crops and homes, having sucked its way through millions of dollars of produce in one American region last year alone” (Aug. 4, London Free Press) will get many people thinking about future food prices.

“Stink! They’ll be going up! And they’re already going up!” some will say, correct in their assumption.

Because stink bugs “slurp the juice out of fruit as it ripens on the tree, leaving ugly brown holes or dried-out scarred areas,” many shoppers will worry if they’ll ever again see bountiful displays of perfect fruit from around the globe, e.g., apples from China, on a daily basis.

I worry that growers will learn to air-brush their apples.


["Coming soon to an apple near you!": photo link]

That being said, the reason why stink bugs are on the move, from the USA to Ontario (Canada), was not discussed. It was hinted at by Hannah Fraser, provincial entomologist for Ontario’s Agriculture Minister, when she said she “doesn’t believe Canada’s relative cold will deter the stink bug’s advance.”

I feel, however, we deserve more than a hint to inform us why some of our main crops will be devastated (“tree fruits, berries and Southwestern Ontario’s largest cash crops, field corn and soybeans”), why food prices will rise continually, and why researchers are working overtime to find natural and pesticide solutions to a pest that has “no predators native to North America and is difficult to eradicate once it takes hold.”

Here’s what I think.

Climate change is causing average annual global temperatures to rise, winters are not as long or as severe - on average - as in even the recent past, and many pests that were once killed off in large numbers by winter’s cold are now surviving in droves and are on the move, seeking out fresh habitat and food sources.


[Temperature Graph compiled by Goddard Institute for Space Studies, of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)]

As you can see from the NASA graph, the last nine years have been nine of the ten hottest years on record, and with proper study, we would likely be able to track down the names and friendly attributes of dozens of other pests now on the move thanks to warmer temperatures. The emerald ash borer, now in the business of destroying the ash trees in my own city (London, Ontario), immediately springs to mind.

Knowing that researchers are now on the move to find a cure, many North Americans will sit back and let science and modern chemicals do the work. And that’s the wrong approach entirely.

I suggest, since food crops and trees are under attack because of our addiction to the culture of big (big house, big car, big closet, big lifestyle, big list of other big things), we move - as quickly as stink bugs and ash borers can crawl - toward the conservation of resources and the culture of small. A smaller lifestyle, including fewer sq. ft. in homes and closets, lower horse power in cars, etc., will slow the build up of carbon emissions and the migration of more than bugs and borers.

As well, if you’re finding your big lifestyle already boring into your wallet and getting too expensive, adopt the following financial principles:

reduce spending

pay down debt

save money for the tough times ahead.

With the threat of another recession hanging in the air like summer smog, you’ll be glad you did.

***

Please click here for more Climate Change Concerns.

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The Workshop: I still can’t read or write

My wife would argue the point.

“You can read in the shaded area on the back deck,” she would say.

Sure, but the deck isn’t shaded all day like my new and improved alcove is, or will be, when I’m done with the previously mentioned “Turn a junky outdoor space into a shaded alcove for reading” project.


["I've only used rescued lumber so far. Recognize the cedar siding?"]

Now, many jobs are done and can be checked off my earlier list.

For example:

rescue old deck lumber from neighbour - check

tidy up junky space - half check

fix fence, make it funky - check (Oh, it’s funky, alright!)

dismantle old wooden garbage can container - check (parts will become a new and improved compost unit)

build storage unit for snow tires and two garbage cans from rescued lumber - half check (doors needed)

trim it up for more funkiness - half check


["I'll use the diamond motif in the cupboard doors too.": photos GH]

Yes, I still have to make cupboard doors, apply more funky trim, then sell or use ‘leftover stone under tarp’ and ‘tidy up all tools, sweep up brick alcove area, place two chairs and one small table in reclaimed space, sit down in shade, read a book, snooze if desired,’ but I’m getting there without stressing my limited limits where using power tools is concerned.

Yes, I still have all my fingers.

While sawing lumber outside the workshop I came across a very, very rare piece of wood that will serve as a lovely writing table for the reading alcove. So, I guess, some important notes and memos will be written soon, and - as per usual - you’ll be the first to know!

For now it’s a surprise, but wait ‘til you see the table top.

***

Please click here for past - though still exciting - news about the alcove, for context.

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“IT STRIKES” Again: Jack Lalane and his super juicer for only $229

[The following column was first published in January, 2003. Is Jack Lalane still plugging his goods? I don’t know. But I’m feeling better now that the fever has past. gah]

Vision from a sickbed: Jack Lalane and his super juicer for only $229

When a particularly unpleasant virus visited our house recently I camped out on the futon in the Tv room and acquainted myself with various sports shows, reruns and news programs.

For a few days, remote in hand, warm ginger ale in the other, I was caught in a frightening, feverish nightmare.

As my temperature increased I found the woes of the struggling Leafs overwhelming. I cried with them. While suffering through ‘cold shakes’ I tried to memorize and match up all the new names and faces at the New PL. I despaired. (“Where’s Kate? Where’s Kate?”) And no matter how loudly I quacked back, the Aflac duck still waddled around annoying people.

Pat thought I was getting better when she heard me commenting one to no one in particular (this is considered normal, healthy behaviour at our house) about the many exciting features of the new and improved Jack Lalane Super Juicer.


[“Yup, my 30-year-old blender still works like a charm.”]

Pat popped her head into the TV room.

“Feeling better today?” she inquired.

“This is so good,” I croaked and weakly waved the remote at the TV.

Then I coughed, gasped noisily for air, sneezed wildly, caught half a breath, clawed for another tissue, hacked four times without inhaling, used both hands to twist my head into the forward and upright position and crawled back onto the futon.

“My gosh. Are you alright?” Pat asked.

“Yeh, I’m better today,” I responded. “Look. Here it is.”

Two smiling faces appeared on the TV screen beside a flashing reminder that with ‘five easy payments’ the Super Juicer could be ours for the (incredibly!) low price of only $229.

Pat looked at me cautiously. “Do you actually like it?”

I didn’t hear her. I was too busy egging on the TV couple.

“Come on. Put in some more kale. More kale!” I demanded.

Upon request the young lady with muscular arms reached for more kale. She rammed a week’s worth of greens down the throat of the Super Juicer and hit a button.


[“I can ‘liquefy’ stuff too (sounds like a 1964 Volkswagen) for only $19.95!”: photos GH]

“It’s not just a juicer, it’s a lifestyle choice,” chimed her smiling pal.

I laughed at his words while bright green juice dripped and dribbled from the spout into a waiting plastic cup.

“You must be feeling better if you can watch that,” Pat commented. “But it’s so big. Where do people store those things?”

“Well, it’s a lifestyle thing, Pat, I suggested with a grin. “We’d make room by getting rid of a table or chair or all of our canned goods.”

“You’re not serious are you?” asked Pat.

“No. Come on. It’s just a blender with a spout stuck out the side. But it’s funnier than any other show on TV. Look. Carrots.”

The girl with huge arms fed carrots and an assortment of other vegetables into the Super Juicer until the glass was full. Then she drank it down with a flourish.

“Five easy payments. Only $229!” she cheered excitedly.

“We do almost the same thing with our 30-year-old blender. Only $19.95!” I cheered excitedly too.

“Good to see you’re health is improving today,” Pat said.

Off went the TV. I started to doze off wondering if $229 was a fair price to pay to develop arms like that girl.

gah

***

Please click here to read another exciting episode of “IT STRIKES” Again.

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Cartoons In Progress: “Life’s like that, eh” 20

“Jerry was sorry he couldn’t find anything in his kitchen to help his neighbour grate cheese.”

***

Please click here to view “Life’s like that, eh” 19

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It Strikes Me Funny: Canada is out of potatoes?

Must be.

Canada must be out of potatoes. Maybe we fished them into extinction like the once mighty cod. Maybe we hunted them down and blasted them into oblivion like the once thundering herds of wild buffalo that covered the western prairies. Maybe we ate so many French fries in July our once plentiful supplies have dried up, disappeared, died.

Whatever the case, Costco is now selling giant tubs of red potato salad distributed by Reser’s Fine Foods, Beaverton. But not as in ‘Beaverton, Ontario, Canada’ but as in ‘Beaverton, Oregon, US of A.’


Good grief.

As if the fact my wife buys potato salad in tubs the size of a small nation isn’t disturbing enough.

How can I even look into the fridge for something to snack on before lunch without feeling the overwhelming pressure to eat a bit more potato salad - it will last forever, otherwise - even though we had it for supper last night, supper the night before that and lunch a few hours before that?

Sure, Canadians love a deal. Potato salad in 20 pound drums for $1.99, who wouldn’t love it? Who wouldn’t buy extra and ask to store it in the neighbour’s freezer for the next family reunion or when a football team - for some unknown reason - comes for dinner?

But the pressure!


["I've got to get to the bottom of this.": photos GH]

And now... Canada is out of potatoes and we have to ship in salad from Oregon, US of A. Now I have to struggle to look past or around a giant tank of potato salad - from some far off state - when trying to find a smidgen of mustard for my gourmet hotdog that’s sitting on the kitchen counter getting colder by the second.

When we finally reach the bottom of this container, I’m going to ask my wife to forget the next deal on potato salad ($1.99 for 50 pounds is surely just around the corner) so I don’t have to face the daily pressure of eating more than I need for one lifetime and so the US of A doesn’t run out of potatoes as well.

It’s bad enough that Canada is out of potatoes.

***

Please click here for more It Strikes Me Funny.

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“IT STRIKES” Again: Cleaning up the workroom with the help of a quiet stranger

[The following column was first published in January, 2003. It reminds me I need to give the workroom another thorough cleaning. Yup, after 8 years, I’d say it’s about due. gah]

Cleaning up the workroom with the help of a quiet stranger

Getting the first sheet of drywall from the garage and down the tight, narrow stairway to the basement was a job for Superman. In a red cape and tights I look more like Mr. Potato Head, but with fewer interchangeable parts.

Once the drywall was inside the basement workroom I had to swing it up and over my portable workbench for measuring and cutting. This was another task easier said than done. I kept bumping into boxes, old cabinets, piles of hockey gear, tins of paint and buckets of garden supplies. I felt like I was dancing with a Sumo-wrestler and neither of us could negotiate a left turn.


["The workbench needs another wee clean up.": photo GH]

It dawned on me (too late) that I should have done the measuring and cutting on the snow-covered back deck but I wasn’t going to survive the trip back up the stairs with Mr. Sumo over my head.

What to do?

I decided to move assorted piles of belongings out of the workroom and into the laundry room to create more space to operate. During the beginning stages of this task I discovered several items I had never purchased, seen or used before.

I took my questions and cold coffee upstairs.

“Pat, are we planning to paint the house green?” I asked while staring into the microwave.

My wife’s reflection turned from her ironing. “No. Why do you ask?”

“I found four large tins of green paint that have never been opened. I just hauled a hundred dollars worth of paint to the laundry room.”

Pat stated, “Well, I didn’t buy them if that’s what you’re asking. And why did you put them there?”

I explained the slow dance with drywall and headed back downstairs. In the next 15 minutes of reorganizing, with more evidence piling up on the workbench, I concluded we must have people I’ve never met living in the basement.

Who had purchased the second set of chisels and drill bits, three large rolls of drywall tape and eight new and unused packages of sandpaper (still in plastic wrap) for a rotating sander? I looked at my vibrating sander and shook my head. It wasn’t me.

For 15 years I thought the noises I heard as we settled down at night under cozy blankets were just normal ‘settling’ sounds old houses or middle-aged bodies make. The furnace ducts may ping a bit as they expand and contract at night but that doesn’t explain the three six-quart baskets of golf balls I found under a roll of red carpet.

An unknown boarder could explain that. While they’re at it, maybe they could tell me where my favourite putter went.

When Pat leaves for work and I head off on my frequent trips to the Red Roaster perhaps the boarder leaves his secret corner of the basement and goes out into the world to buy assorted house-hold goods for us as payment for room and board. Whoever it is certainly has bought us a lot of stuff.

I laughed as I spread out before me four unopened rolls of carpet tape and several new packages of Miracle-Gro, spring toggle bolts, window putty and electric socket covers. I then happily placed many of the mysterious items on pegboard hooks over the workbench to fill disconcerting empty spots.

As I surveyed the improved arrangement of items on the pegboard I started to feel better about having strangers in the house.

As rent, the green paint and 40 meters of clothes-line are negotiable.

gah

***

Please click here to read another exciting episode of “IT STRIKES” Again.

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Cartoons in Progress: “Life’s like that, eh” 19

The newest member of the class did quite well in his first-ever entrance examination.

gah

***

Please click here to view “Life’s like that, eh” 18.

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I know about bus trips. What about bike trips?

[Human beings and our economies have to find a place within the environment. The economic assumption that endless growth is not only necessary but possible is suicidal for any species that lives in a finite world. pg. 298, The Sacred Balance by David Suzuki]

Two-wheeled bicycles seem to be growing in numbers and popularity.

Is it because of the rising price of gasoline or a growing awareness that our love for the automobile comes with astronomical environmental costs? Is it because two-wheelers are cool, fun and connected with self-reliance?

Is it because they’re sexy in a way that three-wheelers will never be?

Whatever the case, based on personal observation of ridership in Wortley Village alone, I think numbers are up at least 4.1% over last year. But... I don’t know for sure.

Now, about buses, here’s one of last week’s big financial numbers - 1.9 billion.


“The number of trips taken on Canada’s public transit systems in 2010, a new record, according to the Canadian Urban Transit Association. That was a 4.1% increase from 2009.” (July 26, London Free Press)

I can only guess why bus ridership is up, but I bet the increase is associated with “the rising price of gasoline (and) a growing awareness that our love for the automobile comes with astronomical environmental costs” along with the recession, high unemployment, tightness of money and expansion of bus routes, but not because buses are “cool, fun...” or “sexy.” (Electric trolleys are sexy, but buses, not so much).

When I read the little news clip last week I wondered if numbers related to bikes are kept by anyone. Are bikes sale up across Canada and the US? Are people riding fewer kilometers in cars and more on bikes? If so, how many?

Admittedly, I know that bikes go slower than cars, are cheaper to operate per km. or mile, and are easier to store on one’s front porch. I know with each mile my legs are getting stronger. I know I can view my surroundings more fully while pedalling and can hop off at a moment’s notice and sit under a shade tree or on a river bank and actually become a part of my surroundings (rather than travel past it or over it at high speeds - never giving nature’s beauty a second thought at times - within the confines of an automobile, artificially climate-controlled).


["I can sit under a shade tree at a moment's notice.": photo GH]

I know that not only are my legs getting stronger, my butt - already a tough little number - is getting firmer with each mile too.

What I’d like to know, however, relates to the bike’s popularity.

Is it growing outside Wortley Village? Are numbers of bike trips growing?

***

Please click here to read more about bicycles from my limited point of view.

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nature's solace: alone time

7 a.m.
this morning one duck sails south
past the dock, so quietly


last night
a group of seven
a tight-knit band
plied the same waters
and earlier
eleven braved the channel
alive with motored crafts at the time
all shapes and sizes
but none as at home
as this lone duck

7:02 a.m.
it's time for quiet thoughts
time to listen to a line
or verse of nature's prose
writ upon a breeze


["It's time for quiet thoughts... writ upon a breeze": photos GH]

more fishermen will start
their engines soon and rattle by
then the daily din
of more human enterprise
will hold sway and chase
the wary ducks away

but now, with one duck
disappearing from view
it's time for nature's breath
to tell another tale.

gah

***

Please click here for a closer look at a few trees.

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