Have You Been Stimulated?

Checking online balances last week I noticed a bump in our account which could only mean one thing. Our gift from the government had arrived! (funny, I didn't feel stimulated) While I'm not one to look a gift horse in the mouth, "free" money makes me a bit nervous. The PF blogs have been discussing the stimulus package ad nauseum over the last months and we have the money earmarked for fattening the IRA so it's pretty much a done deal for us. When Jacob's post at Early Retirement Extreme hit I almost deleted it but was caught by the title: Dear Unborn Grandchildren,

Thank you for the generous $1200 stimulus package gift we just received from you. You know, traditionally it’s been the obligation one generation to help the next generation along. Parents help out their children, even their unborn children, by saving a little start up money so that the next generation has enough to start out when they leave the nest. (Read more)

Thanks, future grandchildren!

Strawbale, Ohio and other Sunday morning thoughts

Blue Rock Station is in Philo, Muskingum Co., OH, not "too fur" from where we're from. Looking at the list of workshops they have a lot going on there, even strawbale building. It's a beautiful area of gently rolling wooded hills and farmland. A wonderful place to spend some time, if it doesn't rain. But, it rains a lot back there and that's how we found ourselves in the desert. But I do like to go back and visit and maybe I should time my next trip home to coincide with one fo their workshops. Lllama Trekking in the Fall sounds fun.

I Love Cob has a post about cob-making with an electric mixer. That would be the only way I would approach it for anything larger than a bench or oven. Dancing in mud is fun for a while, but the charm soon wears off on a large project especially if you have to keep a day job.

I found a page of earthships for sale at Taos Earthships. I like the Finish it Yourself listing cause the tires are already in place.

I've been researching earthen oven ideas for the community here. We may build one at the community garden. I've probably mentioned this before but Kiko Denzer's book is the place for information and instructions on earth ovens.

Scott Calhoun's book Chasing Wildflowers won a GWA book award! Read more about it at his blog. It's a great read, as he describes it: "Chasing Wildflowers... is about botany, gluttony and the open road"

We are fighting Wildfower Wars here in Civano and Simmons Buntin has a great commentary on it at Next American City.