Inexpensive Kitchen Faucet

Our kitchen faucet broke over the weekend. It started leaking a month ago and continued to get worse as we used it. We want to eventually redo the kitchen and there was no way we were going to spend $100 to $200 on a new faucet only to have it not match the style of whatever kitchen we intend to do. Our kitchen is a "1960's ugly" mostly white with a white sparkly back splash behind the sink. I had checked both Home Depot and Lowes and found the cheapest faucet was $35. Every dollar counts these days so I headed to Ace Hardware to see what they had.... How about $9.95 for a faucet. Yeah, its Made in China. Yeah, I kinda feel bad. Yeah, its ALL PLASTIC. Yeah, its cheap as in cheap quality, not as in inexpensive (well, that too).

Since all of the kitchen faucets at the two big stores are Chinese made I didn't feel too bad anymore and settled for this $10 faucet which will work fine for us until we renovate. This is definitely a cheap kitchen faucet.

Protect Your Smart Meter with a Screen

Over the weekend I was tackling a bunch of small tasks. The kitchen faucet kept leaking from an old o-ring, the hallway ceiling needed a primer coat, and so on (and on and on and on!). One of the tasks I wanted to do as soon as I could was staple up the aluminum screen over our Edison smart meter. Since thus far they have refused to replace it with a regular meter, I am now taking actions into my own hands. If people dont stand up and say no, then governments and companies will do whatever they want. In fact, if you dont say no to people who do you wrong, then they too will run over you and do whatever they want.

The reason for covering our smart meter is to prevent possible health issues from the electromagnetic pollution. I am highly sensitive to this type of pollution so I am making these moves.

You can read my other articles on smart meters here:

Smart Meters Are Dangerous
http://1916home.blogspot.com/2010/12/smart-meters-are-dangerous.html

Smart Meters Are Still Dangerous
http://1916home.blogspot.com/2011/12/smart-meters-are-still-dangerous.html

Aluminum Screen for Smart Meters
http://1916home.blogspot.com/2012/01/aluminum-screen-for-smart-meters.html

I say the data on these devices is still too new to know one way or other if they are safe or not. If there is some small chance there could be a problem with smart meter effects and I dont want to put myself or my family in harms way. Its better to err on the side of caution and thats exactly what Im doing. I am curious, and I will update everyone, if my health improves over the course of the next weeks and months ahead.

In the first photo I have taken a shot inside of our kitchen cabinet which has the Edison smart meter on the outside of the wall. You can "barely" see the aluminum screen I had stapled to the back of the cabinet wall. We dont even notice it.


Here is what the outside of our meter looks like. I must say... its not the prettiest, but its not that bad either. Safe, not sorry.


This last photo I wanted to show that its still easy to see and read the smart meter through the screen. There should be no excuse for Edison to come and read their meter which I never wanted in the first place.


Conclusion - I feel better just by taking action. Its a step in the right direction at the very least. I plan to print out and post a WARNING SIGN next to the meter stating that I object to these smart meters, that I dont want the smart meter, Im taking a non violent stand against the installation of my smart meter AND that I do not allow my screen to be removed.

When I create the PDF of the warning sheet, I will post it here on the blog, so if you are interested, please look for it! If we all banded together and took these simple steps we CAN make change. It begins with each one of us.

Aluminum Screen For Smart Meters

Over the weekend I was determined to find some aluminum screen to cover my "smart meter" that Ive talked about recently. More on that here: http://1916home.blogspot.com/2011/12/smart-meters-are-still-dangerous.html

Just head over to your local hardware store and you will find the aluminum screen in the screen door area.  They sell a few different sizes and widths and for our needs I picked up a roll that only cost $10. There was a smaller width for $7 available. I figure better safe than sorry and went with the wider screen.

I havent put this up yet. Our old house has a million things to do on it and I will fit this task in ASAP... hopefully in the next couple of days.

I recently asked The Dervaes Family what their take is on the Smart Meters and they posted my question on their recent blog post. Read the whole thing here:

http://urbanhomestead.org/journal/2012/01/23/smart-meters-really-smart/

There is no long term scientific data on smart meters. I was recently lambasted for posting my thoughts on them (probably from an electric company employee), but if you think about it all... why take the risk? There is obviously some serious concerns going on here with many counties and cities in California banning the use of smart meters... http://stopsmartmeters.org/how-you-can-stop-smart-meters/sample-letter-to-local-government/ca-local-governments-on-board/

Playing Possum

This little guy has been visiting us nightly. We have no name for him, but he seems to be EVERYWHERE. In our trash, in the garage, running past the back door, etc. From a distance this opossum is kinda cute, but up close this is one ugly looking kid. We dont plan to remove him from our surroundings, and since he is just a little guy, we will do no harm to him.

I am mainly worried he will bite one of our cats, but he seems to hide himself up in the trees during the day, well out of reach. From what I am reading he will get along with cats and its very rare Opossums carry rabies. In this photo I caught him sleeping in the garage and woke him.

So if we are stuck with this opossum, what good are they? Well let me tell you :)

Opossums are the ONLY marsupial in North America. They are relatives of the Koala Bear and Kangaroo. They are omnivorous and eat insects, snails, rodents, berries, fruits, grass, leaves, cat food, dog food and people food. Opossums are nocturnal. If attacked or frightened it might play dead or "play possum". Fossil remains date the Opossum to the time of the dinosaurs... 70 million years ago.

These guys generally dont live very long... 2 to 4 years, with 7 years being about the most. They have so many predators like humans, owls and coyotes..... hmmmm. cars too.

Well, we'll do our best to keep him around, but we do have a night owl that comes around from time to time.

You can learn more about Opossums if you wish here:

Opossum Society of the United States...
http://www.opossumsocietyus.org/frequently_asked_questions.htm

National Opossum Society
http://www.opossum.org/

2012 - Off The Grid

2012 is the year I am planning to go "off the grid". Since this is THE year I was hoping to be completely off the grid, Id better get moving. Can I be 100% off the grid by December 31, 2012? I dont see why not.

I will be putting together a plan and update the blog as I work on projects. With wind and solar easier in reach then ever before and with electronics using less wattage... this is entirely possible.

There are Do It Yourself wind turbines, youtube videos to make wind turbines, tips and techniques to make solar panels and fix broken ones. Computers today use very little energy compared to 10 years ago. Many big screen TVs use less energy than that of a light bulb. LED light bulbs are better then ever and keep coming down in price.

If  you too are interested in going off the grid, or reducing your dependency, please post a comment and keep in touch so we can share ideas. Thanks!