The Great experiment

Bowing to the book Eaarth by Bill McKibbons we as a family have decided to cut our carbon foot print again by redoing again the Great Experiment. Where we live without lights and light candles. The electricity is still on but we cannot use the microwave or toaster but allow ourselves coffee maker. Computer use is at the library where public access is and cool airconditioned rooms give us respite from not using our airconditioner when it is too hot. We are still installing the laundry line to dry our clothes. We are still using our washing machine to wash clothing and Dryer to do clothes and towels. This is kind of like camping but without alot of the hassle of setting up a tent and bringing the propain or burning wood to cook with.

Sunday, August 22, 2010

Further updates interview and going to work in the dark

Wow it has been a bit since I have said anything... I guess that is the way with blogs.

Well it has been about five or six weeks for the Great experiment. Changes are that we now have five hours on Saturday and five hours on Sunday to get our computers running and update if we can other people. We were recently interviewed by Gary Graizzaro to publish us in the Pascack Press. Another new thing is that I have gotten a job that is about an hour away and starts at 6 AM.

The interview was done by phone with all of us sitting around MiL's cell phone. We got rid of our land line as each of us was working a couple of years ago. The interview was pleasant with stories of other people's reaction to what we are doing and some of our point of view about what we are doing.

MiL is also giving speech's, so far only in church, about the great experiment. I think that she is open to being interviewed by TV and by Radio so if your interested please contact us. Else, she is learning C the programming language to help her sister in her company.

My new job starts in the oh dark morning of OMG! OMG! I do not turn on the lights but find it pretty and peaceful. The hardest part is finding the matches so that I can burn a candle to make my cereal. No toaster or oven or stove top for Monday through Saturday. (Come to think of it I missed my eggs and onions today on Sunday.) Other than finding the matches, I have to put together lunch, by candle light and lay out my clothing the night before so that I can find it at the base of my bed and hopefully not put on the shirts inside out. I work with a bunch of guys so that they would never notice even if I had my shirt on inside out. This is one of the hazards of dressing in the dark, including putting on the incorrect shirt. I usually start out about 2 AM but have been known to sleep in a bit till 2:30 AM. I do not like to feel rushed so I prefer 2 AM to wake up. This puts my sleep time at about 8 PM to 9:30 PM just about dusk to full night. If I stay up any later, I get kind of cranky.

It could be worse.

DD8 is starting to show some displeasure at the Great Experiment. DD12 is starting to learn how to cook breakfast, which is why I was missing eggs and onions but got waffles which my daughter cooked. DD8 looks on with envy and will probably cook breakfast next year as she did when she saw DD12 reading and knew that she had to read as well as her sister.

Still for the forseeable future we will be doing the experiment. I sometimes wish that we had a better knowledge of the base of what we were using before as far as electricity and gas. If you begin you should monitor both before starting this "experiment." Even the knowledge of starting will probably make changes in the usage of both Gas and electricity.
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