Energy Audit

Recently, we improved the insulation in our house and the state paid for half of our expense to do this. Below are the details of the process.

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We hired a local energy assessment company to do the audit of our house. This was the first step that the state required.

They checked the insulation in our attic and other places. They also used a heat sensor to see how much heat was escaping along various joints and openings.

They checked the burn efficiency of our furnace.

They did a blow test that measured air exchange levels throughout the house. This told them how air-tight the house was.

Surprisingly, windows are usually not the main leaks in a house. It is usually from normal construction openings (plumbing and wire passes, etc.)

After the audit, another company did the recommended work. Most of this work involved sealing gaps and adding insulation. They did both of these in our attic...

as well as in our basement.

They used blown insulation in both our cantilevered second story and our attic .

We also got 12 new energy efficient light bulbs from the electric company that they installed.

After the work was done, the audit company came back and retested the house to see how things had changed. We had a 40% improvement.

Then the paperwork was filed by the audit company. We didn't have to do anything else except wait for the refund money to show up!

Food Waste Friday--June 22, 2012

It's time for Food Waste Friday, when the Frugalgirl encourages us to post pictures from the previous week of wasted food from our household. This accountability hopefully will help us to be more careful with our food and maybe save some money. 

Here is goes for this week.   

Lost (and found) sandwich on the dirty floor of my car.

This week, somehow a sandwich from work got lost on the floor of my car for a couple of days. I'm usually starving at work, so I don't know why it didn't get eaten. Maybe that was the day that someone brought in brownies and I filled up on those. Boy, were they good!  I hope the birds and chipmunks enjoyed this sandwich as much as I enjoyed those brownies.

Blueberry Picking

Ward and I went blueberry picking in Uncle Billy's patch. Yum!

Dog always hopes that we will toss him a berry.

A Second Look--June 20, 2012

The weather is getting hot, but fortunately we have had some intermixed cooler days. The lilies, both trumpet and day, are really starting to bloom, as are the coneflowers and balloon flowers. Unfortunately, the Japanese beetles have also started to make the rounds. I've only seen a few of them, but I have seen a lot of evidence of where they have been.

The sparrow eggs have hatched, and the bluebird has laid a second clutch of five eggs in its old nest. I am looking forward to watching these new chicks.

See what I found this week during a Second Look.

Day Lily

Trumpet lilies (Lilium regal)

Japanese beetle on coneflower

Coreopsis

Pink day lilies

Yarrow. Our yarrow is now mostly in the shade, so we don't get many blooms anymore.

Pale yellow day lily

Last weeks sparrow eggs and this weeks hatchlings.

Female house finch with sunflower seed.

School Days--Wally

School Days is a reoccurring feature in which I ask people about their early memories of school. Everyone has a story to tell about this and I hope to give them a voice here. 

Here is today's story.

 

Wally started kindergarten at age five in the 1990's in Houston, TX. His school was the neighborhood public elementary school.

Wally at kindergarten field day.

Tell me about starting school.

My kindergarten class was was in a portable building outside of the main school. There were two portable buildings next to each other for all of the kindergarten classes. Beside our buildings was a large grassy field about the size of 2-3 football fields. Now that I think about it, the grounds of the school were quite large. Larger than the high school that I went to.

I remember that there was a flower garden between the two buildings. One day I crumpled up some dry leaves and put them in the flower bed. Another kid told me that was stupid. I told him it wasn't because the leaves would decompose and help the flowers. He didn't believe me and asked the teacher if that was right. She said I was.

Did you go into the main building much?

Not really. We went to music and art in there. Kindergarten was only half a day, so we didn't eat lunch there. However, I went to first grade in the main building. My school wasn't like most schools. The walls didn't go all of the way to the ceiling.

Did that cause a problem with noise?

Not that I remember. The teachers were good at moving us around and coordinating their teaching so we wouldn't disturb each other. Also, the walls were about two inches thick and had good noise canceling properties. 

One day one of the walls fell down on one of the students. I don't think they got hurt, but it caused a lot of excitement.

Did you like school or have a favorite subject?

I was indifferent about most of it. However, I did like field day. All of the school came out for competitions with relay races of various kinds. The best part was the snow cones we had. 

Thanks. Another time I would like to hear more stories about your school days.