My Earthy Momma Odyssey: chuck manes

Showing posts with label chuck manes. Show all posts

Tuesday, September 27, 2011

Some Funnies From My Littles

Zoe age 6

Zoe told me that she wanted Aqua Sand for her birthday. I reminded her that she just had a birthday in May. She said, "that's not fair! Why do I always have to use the same date for my birthday?

“Mom, not letting me draw on my body is crushing my creative soul.”

“Mom, I got a comb stuck on the top of my head”-I’m driving Zoe, I’ll get it out when I get home. “OK mom, I’ll just be a helicopter then”

I'm driving kids to school and there is a police car behind me. Zoe yells, "step on it mom, we have to lose the Po-Po".

Talia age 4

"Mom pretend I have a penis but I'm still a girl"

My husband Chuck was cleaning a DVD for Talia. She told him to wipe it on her shirt. Chuck explained that he needed a special cloth to clean it properly. Talia said, "why is everything special with you?" He told her that she was special. Talia replied, "I'm not special, I'm Jewish!"

Dinnertime at the Manes house... Talia, "can I tell you a story?" Sure I replied. "Ok. Once upon a time there was a girl named Kiki. Kiki stuck her head in the toiled and ate a poop. Her hair got wet. The end."

Talia recently told me that before she was born she went to heaven and asked God if Alison Manes could be her mommy. Sigh.


Talia wearing her goggles as a headband while at a restaurant

Saturday, May 1, 2010

What can you do with a palette of wood? *lots of photos

Click on the photos to see them in entirety

My husband is an upcycle extraordinaire. His latest passion is rummaging through construction sites for palettes of wood. Let’s see what he has made recently:

Here are the palettes before he breaks them down.

Check out the work space he has created for himself

Notice the counter. It was a counter top he found in the dumpster on a construction site. The “shelves” are actually drawers that someone was throwing out.

Look closely at the containers. They are all re-used glass jars and coffee tins.

One last look at his ingenuity.

Moving on to the yard. The first think Chuck made were several garden boxes. He’s been reading square foot gardening…

Oh doesn’t that squash look wonderful!

Next he built a compost container that the dogs couldn’t break into.

Finally a picnic table for the kids. I am told that chairs are next.

I saved my favorite for last. This cost us less then $30 start to finish. Someone gave us the aquarium years ago and it just sat in our garage. The filter was also a gift. We had three Guppies and I got four Mollys for $4. We had the gravel from an art project I did a few years back. The only thing that we really paid for was the supporting 2x4s.

So there you have it folks – what to do with a palette in the Manes house.

Tuesday, March 16, 2010

My Husband Wanted to Put Weed Killer In Our Yard!

That's right folks, not only did he want to use it in our yard but he then wanted to go to his mother's house, my mother's boyfriend's house and then to our friends house and spray all their yards as well. Seriously?

He is not alone here people. We all know that it's common to spray your yard. Why? I can tell you in three words WE ARE LAZY.

This general apathy is contagious. My neighbor sprayed his yard which meant that Chuck felt like it was ok to spray our yard since it's already in our neighborhood. And this thought pattern dominoes and before you know it - our whole neighborhood is weed-free and laden with tumors.

There are four basic types of herbicides.

1. Above ground. This is the easiest weed killer to use. interrupts the way the plant makes protein by destroying the enzyme that does it: EPSP synthase. The problem with above ground weed killers is that on windy days, you could end up killing plants you want to keep because almost all plants contain EPSP synthase.

2. Birth Control. Scientists claim to have created a weed killer that is safe for one type of plant, say grass. The theory is that the chemicals attack plants that are made up of different chemicals. So the weed killer for grass is made from a chemical that resembles grass and kills everything else. Sound to good to be true? I'll let you be the judge.

3. Under Ground. This is a horrendous creation of chemicals meant to kill the weed from the root up. The big problem is that it makes the soil to toxic to grow anything.

4. Chemical. This chemical attacks plants by being absorbed through cell walls. It bleaches the cholorplasts that the plant uses for photosynthesis causing the plant to weaken, erode and die.

There are organic alternatives to herbicide - salt and vinegar are commonly used weed killers. I wound up going into the yard and spending a few hours pulling weeds. At first it was very relaxing and when it wasn't so much fun anymore - I called the kids to come outside and help. It turned into a nice family afternoon.

Please, I beg of you, stop putting chemicals into our soil. They leak into our groundwater and our food. Weed killers are causing are children to be sick and in some cases cancerous. Please America - pull your weeds!

This is a link to several prestigious studies done on weed killer and it's effect on our bodies. http://www.co.thurston.wa.us/health/ehcsg/weed_feed.html