The weather has finally turned warm enough for my laundry ritual of hanging the clothes outside again and the familiar slowing down and enjoying it has returned. This weekend it was in the 90's with a small breeze - just enough breeze to dry things in about 10 min. Unfortunately, I had errands to run that afternoon which cut into the cycle of wash and dry and I did end up doing the final load in the dryer after sundown. I always feel a sense of failure when I don't do everything possible to cut back on our electricity. While I'm drying clothes outside I am also running the A/C inside. I keep the thermostat at 80 day and night but 80 on a hot day just doesn't feel that cool. Last night I was raking and weeding on the West side of the house and just about died from the heat pouring off the side of the house. When we bought the house we were very aware of the sun pattern and faced the house North and South so the sun would go over the sides with the least windows. We also upgraded our insulation
to the highest rating available in the attic, but now I wonder about the walls. I only feel heat on the inside of the windows not the walls. I have trees on the East side where the big windows are and they block most of the morning sun and heat in summer, but there really isn't room on the West side to plant trees. I put insulated panels on the windows, and keep the blinds closed, all of which do help, but if in May the side of the house almost caused heatstroke, what about August and Sept. ~ our hottest months?
Before we built the house, I toured the Botanical Gardens here in Phoenix several times to see the flora and fauna (if you can call it that in the desert) to see what grew with no water and no brown dirt (our dirt is light beige) and they had an experimental house you could see for help in saving the environment. I devoured everything I could learn (1994! people!!) because I knew I now lived in a desert and the rules had changed. Unlike midwesterners who show up here and put lawn in EVERYWHERE and think they're in Milwaukee, No lawn, No peonies, No lilacs, no this, no that. Cactus and plants that strive to kill you every time you garden are the norm. Plants with spikes 
2" long and just sit in wait. Oh, and the weeds know just how to bury themselves INSIDE the grouping of cacti (cacti stick together a lot) so you can't possibly get to the damn weeds without piercing yourself a dozen times. Every time I do yard work I show up the next day with scratches and scars from the day before. The cacti always win. Even the trees that look so beautiful have thorny prongs 2" long on them. That friendly mesquite over there? Laying in wait.... The yellow blooming Acacia? Wants nothing more than to scar you for life. As much as I have a personal hatred for the damn Acacia in my front yard, I refuse to kill a tree in the desert. It takes patience and prayer to grow anything so I am the last one to kill something I finally go to grow in the first place!!I have changed out all my light bulbs to the low energy kind, use as little water as possible, and hope to get an instant hot water attachment for the kitchen faucet. I hate seeing water pouring down the drain waiting for hot water and do my best to do multiple tasks - use the cool water while waiting for the hot. Makes
my conscience feel better if nothing else. I do shower every day but in less than 5 min. unless I wash my hair (once a week) which adds 3 min. I smell good and use as little water as possible.At the end of the day I just look over how I've lived my day and most of the time I feel I've done my best. I combine trips to save gas, and with hot weather arriving, my driving will be cut back and I will be staying home and building my stock on Etsy. My garden looks the best this year as it ever has, and with shade now available from noon on, watering will be even less this year than last. Slowly but surly I am getting there. It takes time to become green and it ain't easy Kermit!!
You tried to tell us!
Thanks for stopping by!
Hannah
Dreaming in Colors
Let the wind blow....
