I realized I’d neglected updating this for February.

Visit One Small Change for details.

January was supposed to be about turning off the computer monitor when not in use.  I hate to say I was not perfect, nor even 90, 80 or 70% good on this;  I’d guestimate about 50% success rate.  It’s still not yet a habit.  However, that’s better than not doing it at all…

Lights off when not in the room:  doing pretty well there (but that’s not quite a new habit, just reinforcing an old.)

The deck lights:  still on, but the other outdoor lights are off.

Meat & eggs:  did great.

For February:  with all the pattern designing, there’s a lot of printing, despite that I’m trying to work primarily on the computer.

I don’t want to say I’ll only print out ONE FINAL COPY, because that’s just not going to happen;  I’ll print out what I think is the final copy, then, despite countless times proofing it on the computer, I’ll still find another error or something wonky happened to the layout between Word and saving as a PDF etc.

But — for February (and beyond) I’m going to make a conscious effort to really decrease how many copies do get printed, and if I don’t need to reprint the entire thing, I won’t.  I do print double-sided, so will continue with that.

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

1. solar panels
2. tankless water heater
3. tore up our lawn, replaced primarily with natives
4. growing some of our own produce in earthboxes on the roof
5. replaced nearly all bulbs with CFLs
6. use cloth napkins instead of paper
7. shop for produce at the FM
8. buy meat & eggs at the FM (not always able to do so…perhaps that can be one thing to add to the to-do list, to do so exclusively)

One thing we’ve gotten a bit complacent about is electricity — though we produce more than we use,  we can cut back a bit in our usage.

So, for this month:

1. turn off computer monitor when not in use, and preferentially use the laptop rather than the desktop (unless I need to use the desktop to use specific software)
2. make sure we turn out lights when we leave the room
3. unplug the deck lights, unless we’re actually up there at night  (I think they’re pretty, but how often do I look at them?)
4. buy meat & eggs exclusively at the FM (we can get bison & chicken & chicken eggs at the Torrance FM)

Interested in the challenge?  Check out Hip Mountain Mama:  One Small Change.

Summer  Knitting and Related Goals

• finish Curtis’ socks (the first sock needs some surgery, have yet to cast on for the second)
• finish Helene (currently on the foot of the 2nd) 
  Done!
• finish Anniversary Socks
• finish all the other socks I start!  (Lizzy, Rivendell)
• continue designing & then knit my Mollusca fair isle vest
• design & knit some sort of top down, fitted tank/cami
• finish St Brigid
• finish all other various WIPs or frog them
• spin 10-15minutes per day
• wash all fiber that needs to be washed
• dye fiber

Summer Gardening Goals

• Mini-meadow
• Herb raised bed, add’l raised beds
• start seedlings for fall planting
• ’stream bed’/ arrange river rocks
• hypertufa troughs
• fountain(s)  including one in the mini-meadow

Triathlon Goals

• continue to run 3-4x week (well, this is going fine)
• ride 2x week (but this isn’t)
• gym/lift 2-3x/wk (nor is this)
• train for a fall half marathon (should go well….thinking Long Beach Half.  I’ve done this one before, but it’s a decent course & close *)

Actually, looking at the registration fee for the LB half….not so sure.  Other options for me:  Big Sur Trail 1/2, Napa Wine Country Half, some of the XTerra events.

One of the things I’ve felt guilty about is that, with how our house & lot is set up, our backyard is just basically a concrete dog run.  Actually, I don’t feel guilty about that, that’s just how it is. But it is where Rigel goes out to go to the bathroom.

(ETA pic, and boy does that look dismal when seen in a photo!)

What I worry about is that we have to hose it down daily, which creates multiple problems:

1. waste of water
2. run off of dog waste into the street (into the drains, into the ocean  (in which I swim, though it’s not just about me))
3. run off of anything we use to clean the concrete (into the drains, into the ocean, yadda yadda)
4. odor that lingers even after rinsing, cleaning and scrubbing
5. run off under our fence into our (new) neighbor’s side yard (and, apparently, under his house — the old neighbors, even when we asked if all was okay, either hadn’t noticed or cared)

Because of #5 (which we just found out Saturday) we’re sharing the cost of a new concrete/masonry fence between our two properties, which should stop the run off into our neighbor’s property.  The old/ current fence is very old & rickety and has a lot of termite damage;  replacing it was going to happen sooner or later.

However, problems 1-4 are still an issue.

I’ve thought for a long time about breaking up the concrete  and putting in a combo of plants & flagstones, something that will be more permeable to mitigate all the run off issues.

Problems inherent in this:

1. ripping out the concrete
2. identifying native plants that do okay in mostly shade and can handle a bit more water that can tolerate dog urine

Hopefully we can have Daniel, who is going to do the fence, break up the concrete.  We can reuse the concrete for the walls of raised beds for veggies (I’ve been planning on making a couple more raised beds near the fruit trees anyway).

I emailed Bert as Las Pilitas (info included our zip, location re: the beach, amount of watering, guestimate on the soil type, mostly shade, dog urine — Las Pilitas has a fantastic garden planning program that uses all that info except the dog urine issue), who got right back to me with the following advice and plant list:

ok, you’ll probably have to use that much water to mitigate the urine on the plants, that’s called a marsh or pond, it would actually look more like a meadow.  Leave some of the concrete to give the dogs ‘steps’ between the plants.  Bidens, Lobelia(s) (another here), Yarrow, Mimulus cardinalis, a Bird bath, Danthonia californica (the dogs will love it), Elymnus tricicoides (dogs love), Zauschneria ‘Mattole River”,  and maybe Fragaria californica.  A small wetland for the birds and dogs, and you can ignore some of the mess as the plants will ‘eat it up’

We have plenty of flagstones in the front that we can move to the back, and have been wanting a bird bath/ fountain.  Las Pilitas has a lot of those plants available through their online store, so we could order & plant as soon as we get concrete plans to rip out the concrete (hah).

I’ve also emailed Tree of Life but haven’t heard back, and have yet to check with Theodore Payne.

Speaking of Theodore Payne — we’re going to be on the garden tour next year, woo hoo!  I’ve been wanting to participate and we couldn’t last year because it was the same time as spring break.

Knitting/Spinning

• Finish Dave’s Scarf
• Finish the other major knitted Christmas present
• Finish embroidery on Slinky Ribs (otherwise finished & blocked)
• Finish Gathered Pullover (I’m just finishing up the center motif, working top down)
• Finish washing merino
• Finish yak dehairing
• Finish carding BFL
• Card yak
• Finish the other major knitted Christmas present

Home stuff

• plant rest of wildflower seeds
• plant native bulbs
• harvest as needed
• set up fountain