A few items of interest (well, I thought they were interesting :) from earlier this week that got lost as I was rambling onto other things...
Sunday morning I tried to find an open fueling station. I needed one because I had agreed to help clean up rubbish from a trailer belonging to one of the church members. The trailer had been rented out and was crammed full of junk inside and out after the tenant had left.
I know where a gas station is located, but it was closed (opens at 10 a.m. on Sundays) so assuming this is like the ones in the lower 48, also assumed that the pumps were also closed. I came back on the way to hauling a load to the dump and as I started pumping (first, I noticed that there was no credit card swipe on the pump I used), a sign telling customers that the pumps on the other side take credit cards and are open 24 hours a day. Okay, so another new thing for me to learn...
With three other church members, we spent about 4 hours hauling stuff out to the dump. Later I learned that we hauled off close to 7,000 lbs. And this is just the stuff that was piled up in the carport and its proximity...
On one of the trips to the dump, I came across a couple of deer. I must have startled them because when I noticed them, they were prancing away (just like you see on the roadside signs!). Only one of them headed right for a chain link fence, green at that. And with a WHAM! crashed into the fence, bit the dust, wobbled about stunned and dazed before it managed to get back up and in a non-prancing gait made its way away.
Yesterday we got a package of 15 full-spectrum, daylight (5000 Kelvins), compact flourescent bulbs. Even with extra shipping charges, the per-bulb cost is less than what we can find around here for lower quality bulbs. So now our apartment is brightly lit, and night or day, sunny or cloudy, we have daylight indoors. And we use much less electricity now. I can't fathom why America is so fascinated by the yellow incandescents. I saved a few of the bulbs that I took out to put back in when we move. I had to throw out about half because they were burnt out, or looked so awful (you know how old bulbs seem to dim and yellow) that they were not worth reusing. The only incandescents remaining are the set of globe bulbs that line the bathroom vanity area.
Amy built a plant box several days ago and put in a CF full-spectrum bulb bought locally. Shelley built one yesterday and put a bulb in that I donated to her from the set that I got in the mail. The difference is rather stark. The one from yesterday is nice and white -- the one bought locally has the infamous, ghastly, greenish, typically flourescent hue. And it cost 40% more. Sigh...
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