Our water line was installed two weeks ago and the very end of the line - where the hydrant and the water cut-offs are - has sat open to the sky. In order to finish that section, I'd need to build an insulated box, cover the pipes, build a lid, cover the lid and the box with dirt. Not that it's a lot of work. After all, I built a milk stand for our goats in about two hours with nothing but scrap slab, a chainsaw, a hammer and some nails. But it's a bit of wood and I didn't want to use scrap slab for this because it's underground and would rot.

So there I stood, looking into an open hole thinking "Insulate box, insulate box... hmmmm." And inspiration struck!

When Robin and Summer left two days ago, they left behind an old cooler whose lid had warped. It was a matter of a few minutes work with the chainsaw to slice the bottom off of it and fit it over the water cut-off handles. I then seated the lid as best I could and covered the whole thing with dirt. The dirt will keep the lid in place. The cooler will keep the pipes from freezing.

And I didn't have to waste wood.

This is a perfect example, I think, of reusing a piece of potentially toxic trash. What ideas do you have?

Am I too picky?

My blogging platform of choice is WordPress. There's a lot of community support, a lot of themes and plug-ins and it is so customizable. Just wonderful. And now you're wondering why you're reading this on a Blogger powered blog, right? More on that later.

I just love it.

Then I hate it! I spent about 4 hours going through themes trying to find the theme that meets all my needs. Designers are you reading? I wanted

• Listing of pages which would display sub-pages without resorting to the pages widget... my sidebar real estate is too valuable for that.
• I want a customizable photo header
• I want the RSS feed button or link really prominent at the top of the page.
• I want text to wrap around the pics.
• I want the theme not to fall apart when I type in long words.
• I didn't want to have to build the theme from scratch myself.
• I didn't want to have to pay for the theme.
  

I didn't think I was asking too much. Surely, there are other people out there using WordPress with similar desires ("No, there aren't. And don't call me Shirley.").

And that was just for the theme! Imagine what I am going through finding the right blend of plug-ins that are compatible, load fast, do what they claim to do, and not require a degree in theoretical quantum mechanics to use.

But then I started thinking abut my conundrum from another perspective. Maybe I was being too picky. After all, I do the same thing when I select wood for my TriLooms... out of a rack of 500 pieces of wood I can usually only find 20 or 30 that I consider usable (and the guys at the wood store are always rolling their eyes at me).

Likewise, my tools have to be durable, do the job, and not cost an arm and a leg. People keep telling me "You get what you pay for." That's almost a truism. I've found that the sentiment can be more accurately rendered as either "You get what you (carefully) shop for." or "You get what they rook you into getting based on a brand name that means nothing anymore 'cause it's all made with too much lead in China anyways." But I might be a bit cynical there.

Might be, but the longer I look the less likely that seems to be. I read labels in the store (drives Jen nuts... she often wants what she wants and is used to and will grab and go) and the more I read the scarier it gets.... since when was high fructose corn syrup needed as an additive to EVERYTHING? I swear, they're adding high fructose corn syrup to high fructose corn syrup. That's about as ridiculous as opening a Starbucks inside a Starbucks. And engine coolant as a sweetener or favoring in low cal ice cream? Isn't that the stuff they warn you not to spill in your driveway because dogs and cats will drink it and die?

So, I'm going to keep on reading labels (sorry, Jen), and I'm going to keep on shopping for the best products at the best prices.

I'm going to keep on being picky and I'm not going to apologize for it. Sorry, but I just won't!

Oh, yeah, why is this WordPress lover's blog being written on Blogger? Simple. I also believe in redundancies, believe in redundancies, believe in redundancies, believe in redundancies. I'm also a geek and I like to stay abreast of available technologies... sort of the same reason I'm writing this on my Mac with three Windows PCs and a linux box in the same room.

From cars run on alternative fuels to creating fuels with cars. Cool stuff for a greener blacktop!

CREE Eco Car: Looks Like A Grasshopper, Great For Parking | GroovyGreen.com - Start Today :: Save Tomorrow
It's the only one we have : Design student invents radical highway wind turbines
Showing Off the Power of Going Green - New York Times