Category Archives: Going Green

Checked Out the Local Produce Stand

Since we now lack a garden, finding a good source of fresh produce has been pretty important to me. The Stater Bros here is adequate (the company started here in Yucaipa!), but I like having smaller and hopefully more local sources for my fruits and vegetables when I can.

There’s a fruit stand… small store, really, just down Yucaipa Blvd a ways. Their prices on their signs always looked promising, so I took a look the other day.

Not bad at all. A smallish selection but definitely cheaper than the grocery store. And the selection was far from inadequate.

I’m not certain as to where the farms they buy from are located, but there are quite a number of local farms, so I have my hopes on that score.

Rats! My Cell Phone Only Lasted 4 Years!

Yes, I really am disappointed! I think 4 years is a terrible amount of time for something to last, even if many people do replace their cell phones more often than that. Goodness knows the cell phone carriers make it easy to replace phones as often as you renew a contract, so they can keep you tied in as a customer.

My cell phone lasted pretty well. It survived being dunked in a sink full of water by my son when he was 2. It was even on at the time. Amazing how fast a battery can be yanked out.

I’m not the sort who cares much about cell phone features. I only even own one because my inlaws put me on their plan as a gift because they were tired of me driving around town with small children and no cell phone. Or so they saw it. Working at home means that I really don’t do a lot of that anyhow.

So it’s time for a new one. I’m aiming for something pretty basic again. I don’t care about texting, although once in a while I’ve seen where it could have a point. I don’t need my cell phone to take pictures. Once again, I’ve seen where it can be useful but really don’t feel the need.

I really don’t need it to store a lot of information, don’t need to watch videos on it, etc. It’s just really, really not my way.

And I’m still going to grumble about it only lasting 4 years.

Going to Watch the Perseids Tonight!

My family is looking forward to trying to watch the Perseid meteor shower tonight. The kids get to stay up late if they behave, and we hope for clear skies. We’ve had hazy ones lately, but we can still hope!

That’s one nice thing about moving to a slightly higher altitude and smaller town. The night sky is a bit darker here. Poway was pretty good, but still closer to the city and a bit better lit at night.

We’ll head out into the back yard probably around 9 or 10, and just check out the show.

Astronomy, even if you aren’t too strong on the constellations yourself, is a great way to talk to kids about clean air. Clouds may get in the way, but light pollution and other kinds of air pollution do some damage to our ability to view the stars too.

And I don’t think there are many kids who don’t enjoy a bit of star gazing.

Appreciating the Beauty Around Our New Home

Even if I don’t exactly feel comfortable with how freely water gets used around here, I have to admit that Yucaipa is a beautiful area, and I don’t mean the landscaped areas.

We have mountains. A Regional Park with camping available. Even walkable neighborhoods for evening strolls with the family.

I pretty much ignore the golf course. Honestly, they are not that attractive to me in terms of landscaping. I much prefer a more natural flow to my greenery.

We’re planning on taking advantage of a lot of this as we get more settled into the house. It will be nice to be able to do some hiking that doesn’t involve sidewalks, for example.

Even though we’ve mostly just explored our neighborhood, I can tell I’m getting a good workout too. Lots of hills in our area. I’ll be ready for it when we get some more serious time available.

I Guess My Attitude Toward Watering Will Be Different from the Neighbors’ in Our New Home

According to the realtor managing the house we’re renting, there aren’t any watering restrictions in our new neighborhood. That surprised me, since it’s still southern California.

I could quickly see that many people there aren’t too worried about water. They were watering in the heat of the day, with lots of overspray onto sidewalks and the street.

The watering timer in our house was set to water twice a day, 15 minutes at each spot. Yikes! And the lawn still has brown spots because not all the sprinkler heads are adjusted right or working.

I’ve managed to fix the programming part at least. We don’t quite have the time yet to fix the broken heads.

Still, the idea that there aren’t any water restrictions amazes me. I still intend to limit our water use, no matter what the neighbors are doing. Even when you’re stuck with a lawn, there’s only so much watering needed.