It’s hard to come up with an idea for a small change.   We’ve done a fair amount of things already:

solar panels
tankless water heater
tore up our lawn, replaced primarily with natives
growing some of our own produce in earthboxes on the roof
replaced nearly all bulbs with CFLs
use cloth napkins instead of paper
shop for produce at the FM
buy [...]

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I made yogurt today!
Despite scalding the milk and burning my thumb (blisters!), the end result seems tasty so far (will add a bit of honey & fruit tonight to some of it to really try it).
I used 1/2 gallon of 1% milk from Whole Foods and some nonfat Stoneyfield Farms plain yogurt for my starter.
I [...]

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To date I’ve completed

7 of 8 pairs of fingerless mitts
11 of 12 hats
1 of 2 pairs of mittens
3 of 7 pairs of socks (2 of the remaining 4 are in progress)
1 of 3 toys
and 1 pillow

I’m hoping to start at least one pair of socks/footies today.  I’ve had to go back to the yarn stash [...]

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I got to meet Thomas Keller!!!!
If you’re not a foodie, he’s one of the most renowned chefs in the world. French Laundry, Per Se, Bouchon (one just opened here in Los Angeles, woo hoo!)…..I’ve only eaten at Bouchon in Napa but oh it was so yummy.
Anyways, he was doing a signing of his new [...]

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I decided to really & truly write up the pattern for Dave Finally Gets His. It’s currently being test knit by several wonderful volunteers. So excited! I will say that writing up a pattern for other people to actually attempt to follow is totally different than the hastily scribbled notes that I [...]

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It seems the more projects I finish as Christmas presents, the more I add to the vaunted Excel spreadsheet.  Shortly I’ll be adding an additional four to the desired total on the progress bar (they’re already there in my head).  The good news is that I just finished another test knit, which will be gifted [...]

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Yesterday we (Dave, me, Rosemary & Curtis) did a day trip up to Santa Ynez and the surrounding area for winetasting, a picnic, and alpacas.
We tasted & picnicked at Zaca Mesa, then visited  Alpacas at West Ranch (Orsino!) and had a lovely visit. Hayley and Joan have an incredible set up with gorgeous animals.  [...]

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The hiking trip was fun!  We hiked around Mountain Lake in Moran State Park.  We tasted rose hips (bland), wild grapes (sour) and gooseberries (delicious!) as wells as some greens.  We saw banana slugs.  Nat had baked some blackberry scones the night before for us that we ate at the end of the hike — [...]

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There are lots of deer in Washington — at least the places we’re visiting!  We’ve seen deer every day, including in front of our rental cabin on Orcas.
The first four nights we spent in Dungeness, near Sequim, reasonably convenient to Olympic National Park. We stopped at the visitors’ center for maps and info; the people [...]

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The 128 is a gorgeous drive although slow  — good at the start of a day, it would’ve been bad at the end, and we were very glad we’d decided to spend the weekend in Sebastopol as opposed to driving straight up from LA to Mendocino.
We stopped at the Anderson Valley Brewing Company and shared [...]

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