Green Thursday: Bush Administration Global Warming Policy

President Bush at the G-8 summit in Germany, where the lead topic is global climate control, has brought the disdain of the world upon us with his "Let's git together, say the top 15 contributors to global warming (if it even exists, heh, heh,) and develop a way forward (love that phrase, heh, heh, Dick is a genius!) by the end of 2008 (right when I leave office and saddle Hilary with this, HEH, HEH,)" proposal.

Big words are difficult for some, so let's just present a picture essay on the subject.

Every Green Thursday, LipsYard will deal with an issue vital to our global environment.

American Inventor is back, and so are the Delafield inventors

Last season on American Inventor, KTI listeners Pat and Vicki Rock took their creation, The Take A Seat to the top 24. It's the ultimate tailgate party accessory. Check it out.

Too bad they didn't have personal tragedy or conflict to go along with their product, the producers at ABC as much as told them that's what held them back from getting any further, or very much airtime on the show. Maybe they should rename the show. We have become a nation obsessed with looking past anything good or right, and wanting to see the train wreck instead. How sad.

B'shoppin' on the Morning Blend

TV; it's radio with pictures, and it's always fun to dip a toe in that pool. This morning I sang with a quartet put together from the Midwest Vocal Express men's chorus. (L-R Dave, Lips, James, Jeremy) Click the picture to hear us sing "Happy Together" and see our segment on The Morning Blend on Today's TMJ 4 TV.

"Morning Blend" hosts Allison and Molly get into the spirit of the MVE Fish Songs.

Here's the shameless plug for our show, June 16. 2007 at South Milwaukee PAC.

Before the "Blend," we made a swing by The Mathew Blades In The Morning Show on 94.5 KTI to sing a custom jingle for them.

Garden of Earthly Delight

I love to run the machinery that makes the LipsYard garden ready to grow, but it's really Charmaine that makes it all happen. Selecting varieties, planting, weeding, and harvesting.

Sweet Green Pepper (Capsicum annuum)

Early Cabbage (Brassica oleracea)

Carrot Scarlet Nantes (Daucus carota sativus)

Beet Detroit Spreme (Beta vulgaris)

Spinach Olympia Hybrid(Spinacea oleracea)

Swiss Chard Luculius (Beta vulgaris cicla)

Arugula Rocket (Eruca vesicaria sativa)

Leaf Lettuce Green Ice & Royal Red (Lactuca sativa)

Radish Champion (Raphanus sativus)

Onion Texas Super Sweet (Allium cepa)

Check out all the green goodies popping up from the ground! Over the weekend, we had fresh spinach salads with orange dressing, and fresh arugula with walnuts and feta cheese salads. The radishes also found their way into a great potato salad. Yum.

Not getting as good a reception on his "Greens," was President Bush. After years of pooh-poohing global climate change, last Thursday, "W." called for global cooperation to reduce greenhouse-gas emissions. Just in the 'nick of time,' too, as he heads to the G-8 summit where global warming tops the agenda. It is doubtful that German Prime Minister Angela Merkel, who is hosting the meeting, will see Bush's proposal as anything more than an effort to neutralize the more aggressive German plan, backed by Britain and Japan, that would require a 50 percent reduction in global greenhouse-gas emissions by 2050.

Welcome to June, National _______ Month

Everyone's got a National Something Month for June. Here's a few that I found:

In an effort to reduce traffic congestion and decrease road rage, June is Lane Courtesy Month. Stay in yours, I'll stay in mine.

June is Adopt-A-Cat Month. No way, I'm allergic.

June is National Homeownership Month. I'm onboard for this.

June Is National Scleroderma Awareness Month. Bad disease.

June is Prostate Cancer Awareness Month. Trust me, nothing fun ever happens in a Urologist's office, but go anyway.

June is iPhone month. I'll celebrate next year, or maybe the year after.

June Is National Microchipping Month. Good for pet identification, bad for your pet's butt.

The first Friday in June at Krispy Kreme is National Doughnut Day. I'm in line for a free one.

June is National Safety Month. Do you know CPR?

June is National Great Outdoors Month. Push away from the computer and go outside.

June is Fireworks Safety Month. July is National lose a hand month.

June 10 is National History Day. Learn it or re-live it (and you don't want to relive the Bush years!)

June is Dairy Month. Udderly fun.

June is National Fresh Fruit and Vegetable Month. Yum.

June is National Ice Tea Month. Long Island Ice Tea Month would be better.

June is National Rose Month. By any other name just as sweet.

June is Turkey Lovers Month. Gobble Gobble.

and Zoo Month, Aquarium Month, Black Music Month, Papaya Month, and on and on and on.

Green Thursday: Laundry ecology 101

What do you use to do your laundry? A caustic detergent? In a non-recycled, non-biodegradable package? In an old machine that wastes water?

Doing the laundry is the second largest use of water in the home, 22% on average. Bathrooms use the most, 53%.

When we remodeled the LipsYard house in 2000, we went with the Maytag low water-use series washer and matching dryer.

A front-loader uses lots less water, and therefore a lot less detergent. They even make special products for these kinds of washers. And here's where you can take your green-ness a step further.

Choose products that disclose ingredients on product labels, as most environmentally preferable brands do.

When gauging ecological claims, look for specifics. For example,"biodegradable in 3 to 5 days" holds a lot more meaning than simply "biodegradable," as most substances will eventually break down if given enough time and the right ecological conditions. And claims like "no phosphates" or "plant-based" are more meaningful than vague terms like"ecologically-friendly" or "natural." When ingredients are listed, choose products made with plant-based, instead of petroleum-based, ingredients.

To reduce packaging waste, buy the largest size available. Select products in bottles made with at least some recycled plastic or in cardboard boxes made with 100 percent recycled content. And choose concentrated formulas, which require less packaging and fuel for shipping.

Avoid harsh fragrances by choosing detergents and fabric softeners labeled "fragrance free."

In the LipsYard Laundry, we're using Tide he (for high efficiency) unscented in bottles made with 25% recycled plastics.

Here's a link to learn even more, including product purchase suggestions.

Every Green Thursday, LipsYard will deal with an issue vital to our global environment.

Baby Robin update: Fighting for space in the nest

Awwwww, aren't they sweet? We've got four baby robins fighting for space in the nest, and food brought to them by mom and dad. It's a non-stop nudge-fest. It won't be long before they jump from the nest into the big brave world. In the meantime, they do poop a lot, which mom cleans out of the nest and drops on the patio below. Nice.
Kinda reminds us of the mess the World Bank is in, courtesy of the departing Paul Wolfowitz. Another better-loved Bush administration lackee, Robert Zoellick, has been tapped to fill Wolfie's girlfriend-lovin' shoes.

past Robin posts:
We Have Baby Robins
Rockin Robin update
Crazed Robins won't take 'No' for an answer

Patriots on parade

Big Fun in Burlington, WI (my hometown) on Memorial Day! Watch your toes as you sit along the curb, here come the Tripoli Shriners in VW Beetle go carts doing figure 8's and other cool stuff in the Chocolate City Festival parade. The day starts out with Nestle handing out free candy bars along the parade route, then fire trucks, veterans, scouts, bands, clowns, horses, all your parade stuff. The Shriners never disappoint.

Another patriotic thing not to be missed this weekend was Lee Iacocca's editorial in the Journal Sentinel. Here's some brilliant quotes;

"Am I the only guy in this country who's fed up with what's happening? Where the hell is our outrage? We should be screaming bloody murder.
We've got a gang of clueless bozos steering our ship of state right over a cliff, we've got corporate gangsters stealing us blind, and we can't even clean up after a hurricane much less build a hybrid car.
But instead of getting mad, everyone sits around and nods their heads when the politicians say, "Stay the course."
Stay the course? You've got to be kidding. This is America, not the damned Titanic. I'll give you a sound bite: Throw the bums out!"

"I’ll go a step further. You can’t call yourself a patriot if you’re not outraged…. Why are we in this mess? How did we end up with this crowd in Washington? Well, we voted for them — or at least some of us did. But I’ll tell you what we didn’t do. We didn’t agree to suspend the Constitution. We didn’t agree to stop asking questions or demanding answers. Some of us are sick and tired of people who call free speech treason. Where I come from that’s a dictatorship, not a democracy."

This is a must read from a voice on the right. (I can't believe I just typed that sentence!)

Lee has a new book out, "Where Have All the Leaders Gone?," and with writing like this, he's about to become a pinata for the right-wing talk shows. Don't let them decide for you, read the editorial.

A tour of LipsYard, courtesy of new mulch

There it is, 6 cubic yards of hardwood bark mulch, dumped in our driveway, longing to cover our planting beds, keeping them moist, warm, and weed-free.

First things first, How Much Mulch? Mulch is usually sold by the cubic yard, and that can leave you scratching their head trying to figure out how much to buy. Here’s the easiest way:
1. First, find out the size of the area you want to cover in square feet. This is easy; just multiply the length of your garden by the width.
2. Next, decide how deep you want your mulch to be, in inches. A couple of inches is usually sufficient.
3. Now multiply the size of your garden in square feet (#1) by the depth of your mulch in inches (#2).
4. Divide the number you get in #3 by 324. This is the number of cubic yards of mulch you will need to cover your garden.

If your yard is all curvy and unmeasurable like ours, guessing is your next best option.

I've been working away at "The Pile" over the past eight days, and thought a photo-blog of the progress, and a de-facto tour of the yard, would make a nice Memorial Day posting. Feel free to make up your own "spreading the mulch" analogies to virtually any member of the Bush administration.

Tools needed for this project include:

A Wheelbarrow

Several 5 gallon planting pots (good for moving the mulch in-between plants)

A Pitchfork for getting the mulch in the wheelbarrow and pots

Garden Gloves for spreading the mulch into an even 2 inch layer

A foam kneeling pad for the old man's joints

Instead of captioning each photo, just know that I'm working around the LipsYard counter clockwise, with a reference photo of the diminishing "Pile" thrown in every so often.

That's it, the last wheelbarrow. We probably got 1 yard too much, but our neighbor took some of it off our hands for his beds. The look is neat, the scent; woodserific!

Green Thursday: Save the Bees, get off your phone

There's a disturbing trend sweeping the world; disappearing bees. That could spell catastrophe for farmers who depend on bees to pollinate their crops. It'll also affect the honey crop, and ultimately raise the price of our food.

So where have the bees gone? One German scientist is claiming that cell phones have disoriented worker bees, who leave the hive to forage, but fail to return, leaving only the queen and some juveniles. This scientist claims that in a study, bees wouldn't come back to a hive with an active cell phone in it. (Maybe they didn't like the ring tone?)

Colony collapse disorder, that's what they call the bee problem, started turning up last fall, and has been spreading across the US and Europe, but its not a new phenomenon. Apparently it is cyclical, coming around every 15 or 20 years. No one knows why.

So is the cell phone to blame? Maybe, but phones have been around for a long time, and only now the problem is turning up? On the bright side, if it turns out to be true, it could be a way to keep bees away from picnics.

Every Green Thursday, LipsYard will deal with an issue vital to our global environment.

A Nation obsessed with voting

Today's the last day you can vote for your favorite Star Wars stamp. The winner will be released as a separate sheet of stamps.

Last night was your last chance to vote for the latest American Idol, either Jordin, or the Beat-boxin Blake.

America just selected Apolo Anton Ohno as the latest Dancing with the Stars champion.

Not too long ago we helped select the latest member of the Pussycat Dolls.

We are a nation obsessed with competitiveness, voting for the best, kicking the losers to the curb. Too bad we can't get this riled up when it comes to voting for the important things, like who's running our country.

Pick Hillary's theme song

Hillary needs our help! You bet she wants to know what America thinks about the important stuff: the war in Iraq, health care and ... her campaign theme song! On her official website, you can listen to 9 songs, then make your choice, or suggest one of your own.

Titles in the running include:"Suddenly I See" by K.T. Tunstall, "I'm a Believer" from the first Shrek movie, "Get Ready" by the Temptations, "Right Here Right Now" by Jesus Jones, "Beautiful Day" and "City of Blinding Lights" by U2, and the Bush-hating Dixie Chicks with "Ready to Run."

I'm all for a little fun on the campaign trail, and I've always been a fan of music promoting a product, like a jingle or theme song, but this is the leader of the free world we're talking about, and I'd rather tell her what I think about Iraq, Global Warming, Health Care, and Crime, than what song I want her to enter a speaking engagement to.

When all the other stuff the Bush administration has screwed up is fixed, I'll be ready for a little fun. Ask me then.

We have baby Robins!

Mommy and Daddy Robin (Wow! a two parent family) are flying in and out non-stop to the nest on top of the back patio light with mouthfulls of regurgitated worms and things to feed at least two little balls of fluff.


Here's a shot of Dad, worm in beak, waiting for Mom to finish feeding her mouthful. I'm sure Dad is already thinking about opening up college funds for the kids, along with Health Care Reimbursement funds, and finding a good Day-care.

past Robin posts:
Rockin Robin update
Crazed Robins won't take 'No' for an answer

Well, mow me down

I think everyone in our neighborhood mowed their lawn this evening. It was really getting long after the inch of rain the other night. It'll probably need mowing again this weekend with the heat coming in.

Paul Wolfowitz got mowed down today, too, resigning as head of the World Bank. Wolfie, who failed as an architect of the Iraq War, "It'll pay for itself with oil revenues!" and appointed by the Bush Administration, got tangled up in ethics problems over getting his girlfriend a great gig at the State Department.

As another one bites the dust, can Attorney General Alberto Gonzalez be far behind?

And how's that "Impeach Cheney" thing coming along?