Education

There are few things I find more refreshing than a hot shower. Because I set the shower water temp cooler in the summer I didn't notice that the hot water wasn't quite as hot anymore. With crisp fall temperatures suddenly the warmish shower was obvious. I took advantage of a warm, clear day (after everyone had their bath or shower) to flush the sediment out of the water heater and return it to full heat.

If you've never flushed a water heater, don't worry, this is actually a simple DIY task. Here are the basics of flushing a tank-style water heater:

Joel Salatin of Polyface Farms and Tom Delehanty of Pollo Real Ranch discuss local food systems at two public events presented by the Carbon Economy Series.

What: Building Local Food Systems - Talk & Panel Discussion with Joel Salatin and Tom Delehanty
When: Friday, August 26, 7-9pm
Where: NM School for the Deaf, James A. Little Theatre, 1060 Cerrillos Rd., Santa Fe, NM
Tickets: $10 at CarbonEconomySeries.com

Are large and frequent wildfires in the Western U.S. becoming the 'New Normal'? That's an unsettling thought, but new research and recent experience point to a smokier future in the West. The basics are this: 100 years of fire suppression have created overly dense forests, and climate change and drought encourage hotter and larger wildfires.

'Can I have a minute of your time?' Have you ever heard those words from a stranger, probably holding a clipboard, on the street? Did you stop for a minute or walk by more quickly? I consider my time precious and often walk past. In 'Harvest the Rain' author Nate Downey boldly asks for 10 minutes of your time every day to spend on catching, directing and using rainwater. After reading his book I'm not sure he asked for enough.

The more I learn about conservation and frugality, the more I re-discover what my grandparents knew. In this case it's darning. I vastly prefer the warmth and comfort of wool socks, glove liners and sweaters to cotton and most synthetics. Those same wool garments (especially socks) consistently wear out in the same places. Instead of throwing out mostly-good wool socks I've started darning (mending) them and extending their useful life.

In celebration of our upcoming anniversary, my wife and I visited Rocky Mountain National Park this fall. We love camping and neither of us had seen this great example of accessible wildness. Our trip turned out to be much more educational and exciting than expected. We had close encounters with wildlife, a tour of a lodgepole forest ravaged by pine beetles and a brush with wildfire all while surrounded by a gorgeous landscape.

Have you ever wished you could go back in time? Well, until physical time travel is invented and perfected (I don't care to be a beta tester) looking at old photos is a reasonable substitute. The Third View is a recent project to document the west of the past and today. Third View revisited the sites of 1860's and 1970's western American landscape photographs. The project made new photographs in the late 1990's, kept a field diary and collected materials useful in interpreting the scenes, change and the passage of time.