Backyard Science

Possibly the best advice to new parents I've heard regards naming children. (Full disclaimer: having no children, I reserve the right to completely change my mind on this later in life.) Don't share the name of the baby. Once the child is born, everyone will more or less tell you that the name is fantastic, that it fits, that it is just right. (Aaaaaaaand, I'm sure plenty of people have had less positive experiences too.) But really, who wants to look at new parents and ask "you names your child WHAT??" As if they didn't already have enough to worry about.

Much like the name of an unborn child, I've nursed a dream for "someday when we own a house" for a few years now. I did my research. I discussed it with my husband. Otherwise though, I kept it pretty quiet for fear that I would get talked out of it. A few months after moving in though, I was ready to finally move forward. So, you're probably wondering what crazy thing I've gotten myself into now.

Composting.

Yes, that's right, the brilliant science of attempting to turn our trash back into dirt. For me, it's really just the next logical step for someone who wants to reduce their environmental impact. Growing up, my house was a waste-not-want-not kind of place. Our town had more categories of recycling than anyplace I have ever lived. Suffice to say, I have a deep appreciation for my current access to single stream recycling that gets picked up at my curb. (I have some concerns about the efficacy of single stream but there's not a lot I can do about that at the moment.) If your trash was found to have any of the items included in over 20 different recycling categories in it, you received a fine and then the town stopped picking up your trash. So, out of very ingrained, very compulsory, habit, recycling is something I take pretty seriously. Nothing else in our house went to waste either though. If clothes, sheets, and towels were too ratty to be donated, then they became rags and painting drop-clothes that we proceeded to use for another 10 to 20 years to come. (Really, really not kidding. If I enlist my Mom's help, I'm sure she can find rags that out-date me.)

So, after lots of research, I finally settled on a tumble style composter. We don't have the room on our property for a compost pile. They're great if they can be kept far from the house and less great if the only place you have available to put it is right behind your garage. Lots of compost bins are essentially a trash can with one end open to the dirt below and the other end latched so that material can be added but critters are kept out. I thought about this one long and hard because the previous owners left behind a lot of ratty trash cans and I would have been happy to re-purpose one of them. (There are also inexpensive, but slightly fancier mesh versions.) The lack of backyard space still posed a big problem though and my husband looked distinctly unhappy about the prospect. So, a tumbler won out. It's fairly compact, closed to critters, and much more movable than the other types of composters. Also, I don't have to get a shovel and turn the pile over by hand (instead you roll the bin) and I don't have to worry about "layering" different material types to make sure everything is well distributed.

A few weekends ago found us standing in Home Depot trying to find composters. I knew they had them in stock because I had checked in advance. One person told us that they were with ladders. I didn't even bother checking up on that lead because I was sure that not only were they not with the ladders but that the person I asked probably didn't know what a compost bin was to begin with. We headed to garden instead. After some fruitless searching, I finally asked another employee. Who had to ask yet another employee. Eventually we were directed down an aisle that had previously been closed off for re-stocking. No wonder we couldn't find it. The guy pointed me to the composters and then asked if I had done this before. I told him I hadn't and he snorted and walked away. Okay, fair enough. I might be crazy but that's okay.

I picked out the least dirty of the clearly rarely touched boxes and we headed home. Way too many screws and a few hours of trading on and off with my husband later and we had produced a composter. I started nervously making contributions the next day. I won't have a solid answer on how well this experience has gone for at least a few months but so far it's going pretty well. I've been surprised that friends visiting the house very quickly started asking what should be set aside for compost and what should go into the trash. I don't think my husband is anywhere near as enthusiastic as I am about our backyard project (that's okay, he has his own pool chemistry project to contend with) but he's glad that I'm excited, which is really all I can ask for.

Not another election year

Every presidential election cycle reminds me of the same political cartoon. It was published during the 2000 or 2004 election and showed a couple in bed, about to turn off the lights. The two candidates were shown crouched by the side of the bed, like eager puppies. One spouse turned to the other and asked "honey, did you remember to let the candidates out?"

I enjoy political cartoons in general but that one has always stuck with me. I even have it in a scrapbook of my favorite cartoons. So, it's election year again and good luck hiding from it. I think I liked elections a lot more before facebook though. By the time I was old enough to vote, I also had a facebook account but facebook was still new and status messages were still limited in length. I'm pretty sure most people posted about the party they had gone to, what they did at the gym, or something about how hard classes were. I remember some pretty good election debates in my freshman dorm room but I never remember anyone being called "stupid" (or anything worse) over their views. No one left angry and no friendships ended over differing political views. You disagreed and then you moved on.

Apparently not so anymore. Want to debate politics on facebook? Cool. I'd rather do it over a table with some wine and snacks but hey, go for it. Let's up the standards though. My opponent isn't "an idiot" because we disagree. Most likely, their priorities are far different than mine. Different experiences have shaped us and that's okay. Often, it makes for a really good discussion too. In fact, I respect the heck out of a facebook friend of mine who publicly went on facebook and apologized for rude language during a facebook debate that, it would appear, deteriorated quickly. The friend and I agree on almost nothing politically but I still can and do respect him.

Back in college, I dated a guy much like the friend I just mentioned- we could not have agreed less on politics, religion, the economy, or anything else if we had tried. Among the things we didn't agree on was how to vote. Thankfully, we both agreed that exercising your right to vote was critical. (Seriously, GO VOTE.) I believed in voting within a two party system though and he believed in voting for the candidate that you had the most faith in, regardless of how obsolete their party. I told him he was throwing away his vote.

A decade later, I find myself unable to vote for either party's presumptive nominee. Who knows, maybe I'll get lucky and we'll end up with a candidate or two that I could consider voting for. It could still happen. Right?

Seriously though. I'm now eating my words from a decade ago. Because I would very much like this to not look like an invitation to debate me on facebook (but let me know if you want to talk over snacks), let's keep this theoretical. The nominating conventions haven't actually passed yet so I guess it still actually is. Theoretically though, I might feel ethically and morally unable to vote for either major party candidate. I've been told I'll be throwing away my vote. Mickey Mouse 2016 anyone?

There are other candidates out there though. And no, I'm not talking about Micky Mouse, Darth Vader, or the tooth fairy. Research them. Maybe if everyone voted for the candidate they believed in most, we would end up with a better outcome in November. I know I'm not the only person looking at the possible choices in despair. Before you choose your favorite fairy tale princess as a write-in vote though, check out the other people. The ones that you, unfortunately, will not see in a major presidential debates but might have real experience and real ideas and could, possibly, really be a better fit for you.

I've you've stuck with this post this long, please stick with it just a little longer. I was really less than enthusiastic about writing this post because I do try to keep my political debates off the internet. A few days ago though a friend posted an inoffensive status about her beliefs. Replies to her post were rude, offensive, and shallow. She replied without lowering herself to the same level. Debate politics on facebook if you want to (again, preferably not with me) but be polite, pretty pretty please.