Semi-monthly Hodge Podge: Mid-March to Mid-April

Happiness = plants that attract bumblebees in April (in this case, trailing rosemary)

It turns out that between helping to plan your own wedding (and all the associated appointments, shopping and events that go along with one!), trying to wrap-up experiments towards a graduate degree, and also dealing with a variety of unrelated but equally time-consuming (and stressful) situations, that your blog gets rather neglected.

I don't know if everyone can relate to this, or only other people fitting into the same relatively uncommon Myers-Briggs personality category as myself, but when I come home at the end of a long day*, all I really want to do is switch off my mind and turn straight to escapism. This is often in the form of a Top Gear episode or perhaps even a quick videogame.

*days get much longer when you're planning a wedding; each and every day after work you have to go somewhere, before wherever it is closes, to pick up, try on or browse for something. Then you have dinner at 9pm and realise that there's more things to do like invitations, phone conferences, email confirmations, that sort of thing. By 11:30 you collapse in a heap but can't sleep for an hour or more because your mind is still racing. At 9am, you have an important meeting with someone not at all sympathetic to your hectic schedule. And the next day begins!

Could THIS be the year?! Oh please, oh please!

Thankfully, it's the PLAYOFFS! Of all the escapism in the world, nothing works for me better than the NHL playoffs (when my team is in it, of course. And that would be the Canucks, just in case there's any question).

I think all Vancouver taxi cabs should have a sign like this on them! Bad Patrick Kane! Pay your cab fares and don't assault drivers!

So on game nights, I'm even more unlikely to blog, and yadda yadda yadda, so concludes my excuses for procrastination at Green, Broke and Living in Kits.


First Item: Bitch about Dan Murphy's Stupid Comments

Funny: Guts McTavish. Sad Try-Hard: Dan Murphy. Stick to sports reporting, Dan.

In yesterday's 24hours newspaper (which I usually discover aboard transit), I was immensely enjoying Guts McTavish's responses in the 5-on-5 segment of the sports section, after I finished reliving the glory of game 1 in the Canucks-'Hawks series of the night before.

Stop cleaning the house! Clean sweep a series, but not the floors. ;)

And then I came to Murph's answers (Murph being Dan Murphy, the baby-faced reporter on Rogers Sportsnet Pacific). You're no Don Taylor! (Sigh - Don Taylor! What a guy! Read his bio - he's truly hilarious).

Dan - you'd never survive if the women left town. You're too pretty...

I don't think Dan's response would have gotten a laugh in even the Mad Men era where women were openly treated as lesser people - the comedic value is simply weak, at best. Since I spent time ranting about it yesterday (and considering it probably won't get published in today's edition), I'll just post my rebuke here:

The extra-attacker: response to Thursday’s edition of “5 on 5”

As a long-time Canucks fan lacking a Y chromosome, it’s perhaps hardly surprising that Dan Murphy’s witless remarks in Thursday’s 5 on 5 would incite an impassioned rebuttal.

Granted, my first inclination was to hip check him, yank his shirt up over his head and jab his extra-soft underbelly for his suggestion that women should pack up and leave town for the duration of the playoffs. But I’ll be the first to admit that it wouldn’t be very ladylike of me, and so I’m happy to resort instead to venomous verbal blows (see Hosea Cheung’s answer to the same question for a side-dish of irony).

Let’s, for a moment, point out what even the non-sports enthusiast female does for the playoff-crazed men of our city. We all know how deliciously appropriate it was for Vancouver to face Chicago in the first round this year, a team limping into 8th spot in the West without Bolland and their former brick-sh*thouse-on-skates buddy Byfuglien; sports psychology plays such a crucial role in the NHL playoffs. Complete and utter domination of those irritating ‘Hawks would do wonders for the confidence of the Canucks heading forward towards the Stanley Cup finals; but a few preventable goals, an ugly couple of games, and a come-back forcing game 7 could potentially sow some rather insidious seeds of doubt in the minds of our soaring Canucks.

Hence the role of the Canucks t-shirt wearing hottie waitress who serves you and your equally unattractive buddies beers and wings while you shout and holler your way through the game. Despite the fact that she may not know the difference between ‘icing’ and ‘offside’ (or thinks you’re talking cupcake toppings and first-date etiquette), she is instrumental in making you feel like a man.

Waitresses the city over deserve the Jack Adams for coddling your fragile egos by laughing at your dad-jokes, ignoring your unsightly beer-bellies, complimenting you on your facial fungus (playoff beards yes, but moustaches?! Really?!), and listening to you postulate on why ‘this is the year’ while spraying cheap beer as you lean in to slur your theories in their ears.

If all women left the city during the playoffs, who would be there to make you feel manly? Because I’m willing to bet that in the absence of the shapelier sex, you too will begin to pick up on the sharp, high-def contrast between your physique and, say, Kevin Bieksa’s and other electrolyte-needing, lactic acid-producing, glycogen-depleting athletes. Without the pre- and post-game pep talks from the ‘coaching staff’, you really wouldn’t be so confident.

We see the truth, but compassionately overlook it – although you talk tough / shout as you call into sports radio, and feel surges of adrenaline as the Sedins or Kesler light the lamps, you’re getting ever softer, squishier, balder and more ‘teddy-bear’ like with each period that passes on the couch, in the bar, or in the stands.

Here’s my suggestion to any female, hockey fan or otherwise, annoyed by baby-faced Murph’s comments – stop faking it. All of it. Let’s give Dear Daniel a little taste of the playoffs Keenan-style and shred the ego.

As for GutsMcTavish – brilliant. I don’t even need to pull out the fake laugh or courtesy smile. There really is nothing more impressive and attractive than a truly funny man. Perhaps you can mentor young Murph in the field of comedic commentary and do us all a great service.

Sanrio's Dear Daniel and Dan Murphy (Sportsnet). The resemblance is uncanny.

And in contrast, humour. Thank you Guts. And Massengill.

Second Item: Gardening in April - Bothersome Birds, Sleet and California Dreaming

It SNOWED yesterday at UBC and around 4th and Vine. Snow! No, of course it didn't stick, but it did splash and sting the way only sleet can (miserable stuff!). How utterly depressing. Overnight lows of 3 degrees or less might explain why only a few of my peas actually sprouted (I started a few indoors a couple of days ago for transplant because of the poor results!). Happily, the cilantro, strawberries, spinach, borage and lettuce seedlings are coming along nicely still.

Happy little seedlings, some mine, some Wendy's. Plant-sitting is far preferable to baby-sitting.

Steph and Wendy - it was a brilliant move to go to Coachella, even though you are missing the first few games of the series. There was a thunderstorm two nights ago, and snow/sleet the next day. I can't even imagine the contrast of SoCal right about now!

The cilantro's still growing at least

Sometime during the winter, I picked up a bag of actual birdseed (to supplement the kitchen scraps and sweepings I usually offer up) because it was on sale at IGA. But now that the sun's returned and the insects are back (ants, bumblebees, flies, wasps - you name it!) and our wedding is looming and the bank accounts are at low ebb, it's time to go back to scraps.

Que Pasa tortilla chips (made in Richmond!) have been a staple in my family's home for years. In fact, Que Pasa was one of the first companies I ever contacted to discuss my abhorrence to genetically modified canola oil (are you listening Monsanto? I'll never forget. The younger generations will know. You won't get away with it! If only we could summon Captain Planet....!).

I rather wonder if Que Pasa doesn't translate to 'bird crack'.

Anyway, the chips are awesome, they use as much good stuff (organic, non-GMO) as they can get their hands on, and they're local. Not only that, but they actually invite you to come over to see their chip-making operation in person.

Many a summer afternoon is spent on our balcony, eating homemade salsa (tomatoes, cilantro, onions - I'm growing them all this year!) with a cold beer, G&T or glass of Gazela vinho verde. The cute little sparrows (or at least, what I USED to believe were cute little sparrows, but now regard them as evil Chicken McNuggets with wings, the bastards! I caught them eating my pea plants!) used to hop right up to us to beg for the chip crumbs. Only the Que Pasa chips, mind you - everything else seems far less exciting.

If you leave an empty bag on your deck, it will be filled with sparrows in no time!

Last week, when I was walking back from the grocer, some neighbourly crows flew up to me. So I opened the chip bag and dropped a few for them. Two steps later, more crows. So I fed them. Got to the apartment building - fed three more crows, then went inside.

When I came up to the apartment, crows, seagulls, pigeons and sparrows (no starlings that day) were all either perched on my patio or very near it. I threw out a few more chips and a squawking feathered frenzy ensued. They're nuts for these chips - all birds! People too, but birds even more so! They're still all hanging around today, and the crows and ravens have figured out how to beg from me (I'm weak, I have to admit).

Keep it up crows, and I'll bake four and twenty of you into a pie! Idle threats - even they can tell.

I've been failing at protecting my veggie crops from the birds - some of them (I'm looking at you, crows!) dig into my planters (I also saw them digging up my bulbs in my street garden to look for grubs! Argh!), others peck at my pea plants (yes, I'm sure pea greens are good for you, but can't you wait 'til they grow large enough to handle being pecked?!), and the Herring gulls and pigeons (particularly the pigeons) see every new crop-protecting measure as something to be walked or sat upon to test for comfort. I've noticed that the pigeons will prefentially land on my row marker for the spinach (an empty seed package on a stake) - I had to recycle it eventually because the buggers smushed it!

At right, an eaten and pecked stump of a pea seedling (random mustard green on left)

The irritating birds (who I feed, so really I can only blame myself), combined with the sleet/snow yesterday and the probably hail we had in the night with the thunderstorm the day before, have inspired me to create yet another measure to keep the elements and the avian beasts off of my planters!

Not the prettiest thing in the world, but hopefully will offer some protection from birds and nasty weather. Go Lettuce Seeds, Go!

I present the Plastic Baggie Bird Baffler Cloche! It's admittedly a work in progress, but it should fare better than my first attempt, which involved recycled streamer bits (metallic ribbons) taped to the end of an orphaned chop stick and stuck in the soil (to frighten them off?), with a few stakes holding a length of twine stretched out above it (in an attempt to prevent perching). That one got sat on by a seagull. And the pigeons seemed attracted to the wind-blown reflective ribbons rather than deterred.

Instructions are below:

1. Cut the heat-sealed end off the plastic bag.

2. Cut the plastic bag in half (across the bag - you want to form two tubes).

3. Gather bamboo skewers, defunct chopsticks, actual sticks and twigs or even proper plant supports/stakes.

4. Arrange 4 (if you want a square or rectangular shape) or 3 (triangular - great if you're short on sticks) in your planter. Fit one of your two plastic bag tubes around them (it will take some adjusting) and voila! An ugly but hopefully functional barrier. I'll let you know how it goes...

Here's the 'before' photo (below), with the string and the shiny ribbons to scare them off. I still think this should have worked, but it didn't. Blasted birds.

Fail.

*****

UPDATE: 2 May 2011

Before....

After: I removed the bags since so much new growth has come up! Still having to keep the birds at bay with twigs, but I'm pleased to say the lettuce loved it!

*****

Finally, after a quick wipe-down with castille soap and water, I oiled my wooden deck chairs and table. I didn't have linseed oil (or even baby or mineral oil), so I used some olive oil. I'm wondering if that's going to attract wasps. Hmmm. I'll keep you posted on that front as well.

I have a neighbour who is overly friendly. I know he's not just friendly to me, because my neighbour Stephanie (lots of Stephs in the world!) has also taken measures to build a rudimentary privacy screen for her deck. Now it's one thing to wave and smile at your neighbour from your balcony to theirs, but to holler and shout and insist upon long conversation EVERY TIME you walk onto your balcony is just plain rude. I think our neighbour is finally taking the hint that sometimes people just want a little peace and quiet, but nevertheless I am increasing my efforts to put a visual barrier between our balcony and his. Because when he doesn't holler, he simply stares. For hours. Not cool.

This is what I do when I should really be studying. I make no apologies - my brain needs creative breaks.

This is my 'vision' from a month or two ago. It's actually changed somewhat - I'm sorry to say that fig trees are not readily available in the lower mainland (might have to pick one up when I'm next on the Island!), so for now the 'vertical' component other than the beans on the netting will be filled in by a sunflower plant.

For the trellis - I figured I'd just string up jute twine in a similar pattern to that above, maybe tie off the intersections to form a web. I knew it wouldn't end up looking good, but as soon as the pole beans do their thing, it won't matter too much.

On a failed bridal and bridesmaid shoe shopping trip in Richmond, we hit up the Daiso to grab a few odds and ends (to recuperate our losses). And I found this:

Netting! For the garden! Hemp! And it's $2 for a decent sized trellis!

$2 only! I love Daiso. True, 99% of the stuff is wasteful and sheer poison to our planet, but where else can you buy small enamelled or stainless steel or glass food containers for so cheap? Or garden things? If you're conscientious about what you buy (and how much), Daiso and YokoYaya123 can be your best frugal friends.


Third Item for today - Child Sponsorship

I'm very pleased to announce that we have recently sponsored another child (this time through World Vision). She's a 5 year old girl from Bangladesh. We also sponsor a teenage girl in Botswana through SOS Children's Villages.

Now you might wonder why a blog on being environmentally friendly and frugal in the Vancouver Centre riding (it's election time here, for all non-Canadian readers who are wondering about 'ridings'!) involves Child Sponsorship. I really have been meaning to change the name of this blog to "Green, Broke, Ethical and Living in Kits", but perhaps it's just better to assume that you and I and everyone else are interested in doing the right thing all the time by default.

It's just to the right of the page! Try my quiz to see what suits you!

But hear me out again - I'm a graduate student. My partner is also a grad student. We have NO MONEY. Well, that is, we have no money by Canadian standards. Compared to parts of Africa and Bangladesh, we're rolling in it! Savings? What savings? We don't have them, and I'm pretty sure the vast, vast majority of the world doesn't either. Although we may feel we live hand-to-mouth, there's a much starker reality out there. We might be poor compared to you, but both you and I are rich beyond many people's wildest dreams in other parts of the world (and even here in Canada, when it comes to places like first nation's land reserves and the DTES).

So I challenge and encourage you again to open your heart and shell out $30 a month! It will change and perhaps even save a life, give a child a chance at a better future, and give the basic necessities of life that everyone, EVERYONE is entitled to (in my world, at least).

If I can afford it, YOU CAN.

Here's a link right here that will randomly select a child awaiting a sponsor: Please follow this link. You can help this person so, so easily! Pack your lunch two extra days each month and you'll cover the cost!


Fourth Item - Comparatively Trivial, but Bimini Pub Gossip and a $10 Gift Certificate

I like the Donnelly group of public houses here in Vancouver. Sure, they're as expensive as their competition, but they're always nicer, they're cleaner, and they seem slightly more generous. For instance, I filled out a questionnaire to get a $10 gift certificate, and it actually came in the mail! And we also gave our email addresses in exchange for a shot while we were there! Not to put Donnelly pubs off of such a practice, but my Hotmail account is happy to be stuffed full of more advertising. Unlike human beings, it can live solely on spam.

So I was exceedingly chuffed about receiving $10 to spend at the pub (granted, I have only a month and a bit of a window to use it), and I read on the gift certificate the pubs owned by the Donnelly group.

The Bimini? Alright! Much closer to home than The Academic!

And it listed "The Bimini". (This isn't even listed on their website, so far as I can tell! Scoop for Green, Broke and Living in Kits! Alright!).

Bimini's has been closed since 2007 or something, because of a fire, and according to this article (Business in Vancouver), Donnelly jointly owned it at the time of the blaze. Anyway, it's been in Kits for decades, and for years it's been sitting there, a silent black edifice in the heart of 4th Avenue, essentially wasting space.

Note that the article, written around this time last year, slated reopening of The Bimini in the fall of 2010. Hmmm. Hopefully whatever roadblock it encountered has been removed since.

There are only 2, no 3, bars/pubs on this stretch of 4th ave at the moment (though I admit that I haven't investigated the Burrard to Cypress block in ages): Rowan's Roof above the New Apple Farm Market, Room 18 between Arbutus and Maple, Brown's Social House where the vineyard used to be at 4th and Vine. Brown's Social House on 4th and Vine is *THE* worst drinking and eating establishment I've ever been misfortunate enough to step foot in. The waitresses are beyond bitchy (Everytime! Miserable, miserable people!), the food is crap, the drinks are terrible, and it's just thoroughly unpleasant in virtually every other regard. Such a shame - what a location!

Rowan's Roof is alright. It has a terrible location, though. I keep forgetting it exists and heading elsewhere for a drink. I'm sorry Rowan - it's nothing personal. It's just that your location is terrible and the bar is empty and too dark. There's another pub on the same block as Bimini (Room 18). It's definitely doing something wrong because I keep forgetting it exists and I think I might have gone once but clearly didn't remember. Pizza from Hell across the street is aptly named. I met a nice waitress from there last fall, but even she didn't suggest it worth visiting!

If 'The Bimini' reopens on 4th, and it's managed by the Donnelly Group, WOW! Talk about a revival of that block (between Arbutus and Maple on 4th ave). I for one am very much looking forward to the prospect of a pub worth watching the big game (or PPV) at within my stomping grounds!

So stay tuned on The Bimini front! And if you're at The Lamplighter, The Cinema or any other Donnelly Pub (I recommend The Academic on Broadway myself), make sure you fill in a customer service card for your $10 gift certificate!

Earth Hour 2011 - TONIGHT at 8:30pm

from the WWF's website (link here)

How will you spend Earth Hour this year?

Last year, I was dining out (at the Naam, actually), and the wait staff furnished us with plenty of candles and a little lantern, dimming the lights for the full 60 minutes.

This year - not sure yet! See if Wendy's home and invite her over for a Dutch Blitz tournie? I was going to finally finish reading Last Chance to See (Mark Carwardine and Stephen Fry, following in the footsteps of the late Douglas Adams... still sad about him going the way of the White Rhino and Yangtze River dolphin), but I finished it. (There is a BBC television series with Mark and Stephen that I have yet to see - catch it after Earth Hour).

I'm always looking for an excuse to play Dutch Blitz!

So why bother with Earth Hour? Your typical no-fun, no-heart (sorry, that's harsh) naysayers will I'm sure scoff and ridicule the mere concept of Earth Hour (but they're always doing that about everything anyway), but "publicity stunts" and "gimmicks" like this do serve a very important purpose - they give the population at large the chance to participate in something global. It also serves to remind people that conservation begins with them, and that their actions (albeit a drop in a bucket) will add up over their lifetimes. By turning off the power, they are empowering themselves to take action against wasteful practices. They're also saving money - we pay for electricity after all! And having a tangible exercise that promotes thought about electrical consumption is probably quite beneficial - reminding people of how many useless appliances they have plugged in is never a bad thing.

Team Power Smart magazine Spring 2011 (yes, the paper publication is wasteful, I realise)

So what effect does Earth Hour have then? According to BC Hydro, last year during Earth Hour, consumption in BC dropped over 1% (64.6 megawatts of energy - translating to about 1.4 million lights turned out). Only 1%? Sure - think of all the other things electricity does in our cities! Probably the largest drain on your electrical bill comes from heating your home. Think of all the office buildings whose thermostats aren't programmed to turn off at night - megawatts of wasted natural resources. Inefficient hot water heaters, old fridges and freezers, and stupidly inefficient small appliances (hair dryers are terrible!) - it all adds up (and quickly, too).

Want a real challenge? Turn down your thermostat by 4 to 5 degrees (Celsius, to my American friends - Fahrenheit is a larger scale!) and unplug your toaster (good idea for safety's sake anyway), put your computer system on a power bar and shut that off and compare your electrical bill next month! I'm not joking - it will be less money, and you'll notice. And if you don't feel like crunching the numbers, sign up for Team Power Smart (BC Hydro) and you can see graphs of your power consumption online.

An unexpected perk of Team Power Smart membership is a free recipe from Vikram Vij and Meeru Dhalwala! I'd post it, but I'd like to encourage you to register and get it for yourself instead.

My favourite cookbook authors are also eco-saavy. Nice!

Despite the fact that I've been run off my feet this month (hence the drought re: posts - apologies), I have been looking forward to Earth Hour! A full hour where the nearly imperceptible (nearly) din and hum of electrical fields from computers, televisions and every other plug-in appliance is reduced to truly imperceptible - I can hardly wait.

Never one to abide by the adage that 'silence is golden' (much, much too talkative for that!), there is something obscenely refreshing about being able to 'unplug' with other considerate people in your block for a full hour.

Read a book, play a board or card game by candlelight, or just crack a bottle of wine and sit on the couch chatting (me and Steph, Earth Hour 2008). That was lovely. Put out some appies (still haven't gotten to the raw-food post but I will! Thanks for the reminder Sarah!), put your feet up, and realise that there's more to life than Facebook, Twitter and my blog (ha ha).

Want more ideas? Visit WWF's Earth Hour site and search by city to see what's going on! In Vancouver, La Terrazza, the Fairmont Vancouver (both), The Mosaic, Diva at the Met, the Delta hotel and Miku restaurant are all advertising Earth Hour candlelit dinners tonight (despite not being listed, you can bet The Naam will participate too - a cheaper and local option for Kits denizens).

Or check out EarthHour.org to design your own virtual lantern (for fun - there's a link on the top right of this blog) and see other suggestions on how to spend the hour (or longer!).

You can even spend an hour reflecting on how you will spend Earth Day (April 23rd, as always) this year! Get outdoors for a hike and a picnic is my suggestion. Or go for a bike ride and farm & garden tour on Westham Island. Or rent a pair of rollerblades and circumnavigate Stanley Park along the seawall!

Happy Earth Hour 2011!

Earthquake Preparedness & Your Camping Gear

*Update: 14 March 2011*
Just found the best wake-up call article (from 2005) explaining exactly what will happen to Vancouver and Victoria when our odds are up (1 in 10 to 1 in 7 chance The Big One will happen within 50 years). And he's talking a 7.0 or an 8.0 on the Richter scale, not even the 9.0+ we'd be expecting. Thank you Ken MacQueen of Maclean's magazine.

A more recent read on what could happen here is in the Metro here (thank you, Paul Sullivan)

I wish there was a happier reason for posting this, but as you will undoubtedly be aware, our friends in Japan have just witnessed the 5th largest earthquake in recent world history (1900 and after).

Extra blankets, camping mats available at Atmosphere (near 1st and Burrard)

Before that, there were larger ones. Guess where they occurred? In about 1700, we had an earthquake of larger than 9.0 which wiped out coastal villages and communities, something that is evidenced by salt-water rings in old-growth trees and layers of sedimentation far, far inland, and by native peoples verbal histories. Geologists and seismologists have speculated that every 300 years or so, the cycle repeats.

Don't buy spring water - it expires! Distilled or purified water is the best choice.

I don't think being scared is overly helpful, but yes, our big, locked fault is a subduction zone fault. If you want to scare yourself into action (optional!), here's the truth about the Cascadian subduction zone. We're overdue for a Mega-earthquake, even bigger than the one that happened yesterday in Japan. It's coming, but no one knows when it will occur. Maybe today, maybe 20 years from now, and maybe we'll outlast it and it will happen to the future generation.

I only use this backpack a few times of year to go hiking/camping. The rest of the time, it houses my earthquake kit!

I've actually been drafting a post on Earthquake Preparedness Kits for this blog in my mind for a little while - it's getting near income tax time, the time of year I update the kit and rotate out food that will expire before tax time next year. I recommend updating your earthquake kit the same time as you start gathering your T4's and charitable donation receipts. It's an easy way to remember.

All cans in my kit have pop-top lids (no opener required)

You can buy earthquake preparedness kits from The Canadian Red Cross and on online sites like QuakeKare.com (which are great, I'm sure), but the one I built myself didn't cost much at all and is tailored to suit my individual needs.

Checklist recommendations vary, so read a few to get a sense of what's truly essential and build around that. Here are some lists to scan through:

• Provincial Emergency Program (BC) - Earthquake Preparedness
• Government of Canada - 72 Hours Emergency Preparedness Kit
• Government of Canada - Earthquake-specific kit
• Government of Canada - PDF "Your Emergency Preparedness Guide"

It is also recommended that you have a small kit for your vehicle as well (containing water, a blanket, and granola bars, etc.), which is a particularly good idea if you commute daily or often take long drives.

Here's what my home kit contains:

1. WATER, WATER, WATER. Distilled or reverse-osmosis purified water in factory-sealed plastic containers. 24 litres minimum - that's enough for 2 people for 72 hours. (It's going to be much longer than 72 hours before someone comes to look after you, trust me on that). Don't buy Natural Spring Water - it expires, and you'll have to replenish it every year. Learned that one the hard way! Plastic containers, as much as it may make your skin crawl, is the best bet as they are lighter and more durable than glass! This is perhaps the only time you should ever buy bottled water. Bleach (small bottle) can also be very, very helpful - 4 drops of bleach per 4.5 Litres of clear water will make it safe to drink (let it sit and mix it well). For cloudy water, 10 drops per 4.5 Litres will render it potable. When the earthquake happens, fill your bathtub with water. If you are able to stay in your home, you will be able to use this water to bathe with, or to drink if you don't have separate water containers. Water mains will rupture, and dirty water will contaminate the system soon afterwards.
2. Shelter (outdoors). In my case, a tarp (I don't own my own tent, but hoping that will change this year!), sleeping mats (inflatable camping mats), polar fleece blankets (flammable, but light-weight).
3. Plastic Bags, lots of them. Any other day, I loathe them and wish they ceased to be. A bane to the oceans and landfills, plastic bags are evil in every respect apart from a few key situations in which they are indispensible - when vomitting somewhere without a toilet or garbage can, and in emergency and wet-weather stituations! Where will you, ahem, you know? If you're living in your car, where's the poop going to go? Sewers will be ruined, and if you're lucky enough to have a home that remains safe structurally, you won't be able to flush... Being able to dispose of human waste in a leak-proof, sealable, disposable container is something you certainly want to be prepared for. I stash all good heavy-duty plastic shopping bags into my earthquake kit and hope that I'll never have to use them for a toilet. Water-proofing your clothing and belongings is another very important use for plastic bags - my tarp tent is unlikely to keep the rain completely out.
4. Toilet paper, toothbrush & toothpaste, soap and toiletries. Don't skimp here - stash a good week's supply of tampons, extra eyeglasses or contact lenses and solution, wet-wipes, hand-sanitizer, deodorant, etc. Hygiene is going to be a challenge - give yourself every fighting chance. Mini-bars of soap and hotel- or sample-sized shampoo and conditioner are going to be worth their weight in gold! Extra hair elastics, spare socks and underwear will also come in handy. You'll be thankful you packed the ugly old things you never thought you'd wear again! (Follow link above for free sample-size goodies - not at all green for all that packaging and waste, but useful for earthquake kits).
5. Medications, enough for a week or more and a First Aid Kit. If you're dependent on insulin or thyroid pills, or anything you need to take daily (birth control, hypertension meds, etc.), put some aside for your own safety. I also put in quite a lot of painkillers as well - you'll probably have some pretty bad bruises to cope with, at the very least. First Aid instruction manuals and a kit with the basics is key.
6. Canned PREPARED food (pop-tops!), jars of applesauce, dried mangoes or other fruit, Gatorade / energy drink powder, etc. First off, if you can't open the jar with your fingers, your kit is going to need a designated can-opener (you can get them cheap at Ikea). I've got Campbell's Chunky Soup, Stagg Chilli, Ocean's Tuna Snack things in cans - all of which have a pull-ring top. Note that all of these are pre-cooked, prepared food that simply require heating to enjoy. You probably won't be able to heat these - be prepared to eat them cold from the can, and don't buy anything that needs to be cooked before consumption (including, unfortunately, those plastic pouches of Indian food I love so much). Gatorade is yucky and full of crud, but it also has electrolytes and can be really helpful in preventing and treating dehydration. Make it half-strength or less - it's full of sugar and doesn't need to be as strong as the label suggests.
7. Flashlight (crank-powered is great!), extra batteries, battery-operated (or crank) radio. The crank options are much better - you won't have to lug around extra batteries (and they're better for the environment, too!). Go to MEC.ca to have a look for these essentials. Here's a great option that has LED flashlight capability as well.
8. Shoes (with good soles) and warm-clothing. Broken glass is a natural by-product of earthquakes, and since the hospitals and paramedics will be overwhelmed, you don't want to risk lacerations to your feet! They don't have to be pretty, but make sure they have good thick soles. Extra hoodies and sweatpants might just make your day one day. Waterproof jackets and pants are great if you have them.
9. Containers. Yet another scenario when plastic is a good option (only in emergencies, it seems!). Empty yogurt containers or transparent plastic sandwich containers are great for holding toiletries and first aid supplies. Once you start breaking into those jugs of water, you'll want a cup to drink out of. You might also want a clean place to keep your toothbrush and wet soap. Nest a few useful, empty containers together for your kit, or use them to segregate and store your supplies.
10. Family photographs and emergency contact numbers. Both for your mental health, as well as for helping to locate missing persons. "Have you seen this person?!" is a much easier question to ask when you have a photo to point you. Your cell phone batteries are going to run down quickly, and you won't be able to simply plug it in to power it up to show shots of your friends taken at the bar the week before. Print out a few clear photos, including some that will cheer you up, and put them in your kit. Next year, you'll smile at them while you update the kit. An out-of-area contact (i.e. in another province) is a good way to check in on your family - keep a phone number printed out for inclusion in your kit. Don't forget to REGISTER with The Red Cross or any other agency volunteers that you encounter after the disaster.
11. Cash. And some quarters. Debit and credit are electricity-dependent, so if you have to buy anything, it will be cash-only. Quarters are useful for payphones as cellular networks fail or crash, but finding a payphone might be harder than you'd expect. The best way to let your family know you're alright is to register with disaster-volunteers as emergency centres crop up in local schools and community centres. I would probably think that $100 or more would be a useful amount, but who knows what will happen when demand rises and supply is limited.
12. Tealight candles and lighters. PLEASE pay attention to this warning - GAS LINES will have ruptured, and gas leaks will have occurred! Don't light up if you smell gas (if you smell gas, move away from the area ASAP). Do NOT use candles or matches within a vehicle - you will risk asphyxiation by carbon monoxide. The only safe place to use candles is outdoors where there is no risk of explosion or fire. Remember that synthetic materials (tarps, tents, polyester and polar fleece blankets) are flammable. I pack a few in my kit in the hope that I will be able to warm some water safely, if needed.

As as you can see, 90% of my earthquake kit is also my camping supplies! The sleeping mats, tarp, backpack for carrying everything, light-weight plastic camping cups and plates, first aid kit, flashlight, toiletry pack, extra blankets and small pillow, camping towel, toilet paper, etc. - it's all stuff I use in the summertime!

The only additional things are the water containers and canned food, and they fit nicely into reusable (durable) cloth tote bags.

Tote bags for food and water - and a bag of plastic bags and toilet paper

Being prepared doesn't mean spending a fortune - in fact, you probably already have the vast majority of supplies anyway. It might also mean that the money you invested in camping supplies you rarely use will be money well spent now that the gear can do double-duty!

Extra toothbrushes from the dentist piling up? Here's where you stash them!

Extra contact lenses for me, and trial-sized soap.

Here's hoping that you never, ever have to rely on your emergency kit to stay alive! Having a kit prepared can alleviate fear of a natural disaster, and it never hurts to be prepared just in case.

Being poor doesn't mean you can't be prepared! It'll just take a little more innovation and efficiency. I hope that some of these ideas makes putting together your own emergency kit a little easier.

MetroVancouver - Tap Water Pledge

I would like to thank the beautiful Eva for the inspiration for today's post.

Eva put a comment at the end of my post on Life Lessons from Dirt Girl, with a link to a smart-phone app showing water fountains and taps for refilling your reusable water bottle all over our city.

And that got me thinking back to my Safe Water post (probably the most critical UN millennial goal of all!), and made me sad (again) that parents the world over still have to bury their children as a result of preventable water-borne illnesses (cholera, typhoid, dysentry, etc., as well as the protozoan and parasitic infections). You can help do something about that here, or here, or here, or even here, if you are so moved.

If you need a reusable water bottle, why not buy one from thewaterproject.org - profits go towards clean water in Africa & India. They sell coffee & coffee travel mugs too, and the stainless steel water bottles are really cool ("This bottle helps provide two children in Africa with clean, safe drinking water for five years. Ask me how.")

On the news last week was a fluff piece on high school kids taking the City of Vancouver's "Tap Water Pledge" and creating a moratorium on bottled water sales at the school. I didn't think much of it (maybe I should have), because back in the day when I went to school there were those old Haws water fountains which worked perfectly well. Aren't they still there?


The students displayed plastic garbage bags full of empty plastic water bottles, showing a portion of the waste generated by the student body. I suppose that nowadays with places like LuLu Lemon promoting adequate hydration (though I would love to point out that they have water fountains for use in their 4th Avenue store - check out the first bullet on their manifesto), trendy water companies like Fiji 'artesian' water (your water is not green - bite me!), and the irrational fear of 'toxins' building up in your body if you don't pee enough (yes, but it would be nitrogenous wastes and nothing evil or mysterious - don't forget you don't want to burn out your precious kidneys!), people in our part of the world are drinking water today more deliberately than ever before. And I suppose it's not a bad thing, in moderation of course (you could drink yourself to death on water due to renal failure so don't overdo it!).


But the empty plastic bottles are just disgusting! We don't need to do that! And certainly not in Metro Vancouver, boasting some of the best water on the planet (I believe that an Abbotsford watershed received international recognition last year for the world's purest water supplies). That said, if you're on well-water in Langley, you might want to continue to get that water tested (I have a friend who's studying fecal coliforms (bacteria from human and animal poo) in the water of that area - test that water!).

So clear it's hard to photograph.

I took the Tap Water Pledge. It's easy for me - I do it deliberately whenever I can. Unfortunately, I have some major hinderances - my workplace is primarily in a building that is over 100 years old, and rust flakes and green slime come out of the lead-lined pipes. Hmmm. So I refill my water bottle from the Canadian Springs water coolers scattered around the centre (on campus though, I refill with the water fountains! They're great!).

My other big hinderance is at home. I had Vancouver Coastal Health come out and check my tap water after many discussions with other tenants (who bought bottled water!) and the managers of our building. Those of us with sensitive tastebuds (i.e. people who have the potential to be excellent sommeliers!) have always tasted a nasty metallic tang on our flat-tasting water. The inside of my kitchen faucet was green (and green microbial slime was growing in my Brita jug), so I figured it was time to have it tested. A lady came by with a portable spectrophotometer, tested the concentration of chlorine (which was apparently in range) and said it was fine.

Hmm, yeah. The assumption is that if the chlorine hasn't been depleted, then it hasn't killed microbes, so there aren't enough microbes to worry about. Weak.

The taste of metal and concern about lead remains. "Well, can you test for lead contamination, please?" I asked, knowing that I still wouldn't be able to drink it because of the taste alone. "No, just run your taps for a few minutes to flush the system." She tasted the water and thought it tasted fine. I would not trust this lady to choose wine, by the way - her tastebuds cannot be very keen!

After 2 years of living here, I still can't shake the taste of our building's water. It's gross. And yet all the homes and restaurants in our area have nice tasting tap water. So we do, reluctantly, refill those water cooler bottles at Safeway and use that water to drink (tap water for cooking). I inherited our neighbour's water cooler stand when he moved out (see, I'm not the only one grossed out!).

I feel badly about buying drinking water, because Vancouver really does have lovely tap water. I suppose I'm probably just buying the same water, filtered, from Safeway anyway. Not so economically sound, but I really can't handle drinking this tap water.

And I am being whiny, I know that - I can't even begin to imagine what it would be like to drink this water in Africa (article here on TreeHugger.com). I don't want to. And this shouldn't be happening still.

Note the contrast - this isn't right. Everyone should have clean, clear water.

Nevermind that Vancouver has perfect tap water when some of the largest populations in the world have no running water at all! No sanitation, no pipes or plumbing, no faucets or sinks.

MY WATER CHALLENGE TO YOU:

Start by taking The Tap Water Pledge from the City of Vancouver. Let it be known that you care about environmental conservation and stewardship in our city.

Easy, right? Take it further - life is short:

• GIVE A GIFT OF CLEAN WATER - RIGHT NOW. You can do this. Please do this. Take your pick:
• IDE (via ChangingThePresent) - $5 towards safe water and sanitation
• EnterpriseWorks/VITA (via ChangingThePresent) - $10 to purchase a home water filter
• TheWaterProject.org - $10 gives a person clean water for 10 whole years
• UNICEF Gifts of Magic - water, starting from $20 and up
• OxFam Unwrapped "Safe Water" Gift - $22
• WaterCan.com gifts starting from $40 and up
• World Vision gifts - water, starting from $75 and up

Bulk Food Storage Containers

You've just returned from Sabzi Mandi with a car-boot load of dried lentils, rice, peas and beans, and you've discovered (as I did) that you have nowhere nice to store your healthy goodies.

L-R: Yellow Split Peas, Chana dal (dry black chickpeas), and Mung beans (moong dal)

Plastic is finished. The more we think about it, the more likely we are to switch back to glass storage jars and steel canisters. If only for the mere aesthetic of it all, storing foodstuffs in vintage Mason jars and recycled Illy coffee containers* is far preferrable to shelves full of xeno- and phytoestrogen leaking plastic tubs.
*see upcoming post - still scheming on decorative overhaul

Along the top shelf: 1L Slom jars with beans, lentils and split peas.

True, I still use empty yogurt containers to freeze single-sized servings of soups for lunch (but I won't reheat it in them! Scary!). Plastics do still have important applications elsewhere (medical science is a good example - I don't think anyone wants to go back to the days of glass intravenous drip bottles and rubber hoses), but we need to cut back where we can.

L-R: Aged brown basmati rice, aged white basmati rice, and boring old long grain rice

Behold my beautiful collection of Ikea Slom jars. With spring-locked lids and a usable volume of 1.8L, they are a good deal at $3.99 a piece. The smaller ones (1L - not the smallest of the range) cost $2.99 each. (Another Broke Tip: Be sure to check out Ikea Richmond's and Ikea Coquitlam's "Wacky Wednesday" deals each week - the savings are HUGE. You just have to luck out and have them pick something you need!).

Ikea Richmond receipt from February.

Now that may not sound like the best deal in town (please notify me if you find a better one!), but the cylindrical jars that I use to store cornmeals (polenta grade and regular) with the metal tops (pictured below) are going for $5.99 each at the Superstore on SW Marine Drive! I'm sure you can find these fairly ubiquitous jars elsewhere for less, so I'm going to continue to keep my eyes open. Ming Wo might be the first place I'll look.

1.8L Slom jars with rolled oats and popcorn; shortie glass jars with metal tops

Glass jars are great for storing dried foods in the pantry. You can see what's in them at a glance, and I think they look rather nice in a old-fashioned, homestyle sort of way (for me, reminiscent of the wall of homemade scrumptious preserves at the Twisted Fork Bistro).

Recycled artichoke, jam, olive, capers and honey jars, repurposed as spice jars.

But you don't have to go out and purchase glass storage jars! Believe me, if I had the option not to, I'd take it! Call up your family members and friends and let them know you're collecting empty glass jars in ALL sizes (discriminate after the fact is my advice). Pickle jars are a perfect size, and if you know a Costco shopper, all the better! Big glass jars are easy to clean (and sterilize in the proper sense, if necessary), and once you do a little creative redecorating, they can look super cute on a shelf.

Paper I bought from The Book Warehouse - I bought several sheets and lined my kitchen drawers with it. And now I have a perfect use for the leftovers, thanks to the Design*Sponge blog!

Want to do this? Follow this link to Laura Normandin's (Wren Handmade) post on Design*Sponge. It's easy, and as she points out, mixed paper scraps can have a neat effect - so don't fret if you don't have excess coordinating drawer liner paper! Wrapping paper scraps, origami papers (visit Paper-Ya on Granville Island!), art papers from de Serres, even newspaper could work. Time to check your craft drawer!

And then I got carried away, and relined a stained bread basket, covered up a magnet for an animal hospital, and painted and decoupaged a very ugly but functional magnet clip.

Time for the very first installment of "Green, Broke & Living in Kits - Recycling Tips"! Here's a little Q & A that I would have found useful (but then had to go and find the answer myself, bah!).

Q: Can I recycle milk cartons (both the waxed cardboard type and plastic ones) in Vancouver?

A: Not easily. The City of Vancouver's Engineering Services website on Solid Waste points out that Encorp Return-It depots (i.e. bottle depots that aren't within other retailers like a BCL or Safeway) will take the empties from you for free and have them recycled. Otherwise, no - they cannot be taken in the blue bins. They apparently end up in the landfill if you do.

Don't toss out those milk cartons! They make great seedling pots!

There are many ways that you can reuse empty milk cartons, the most useful (to me) is to cut it in half and use the square bottom half as a plant pot for starting seedlings (punch a few drainage holes in the bottom first).

Perhaps the best option is to buy milk in glass bottles. Not only can you use the empty milk bottles for food storage (and they look so cute on the shelf!), you can use them as rustic vases or for storage of small things like the spare buttons that come on new garments or safety pins. They also work great to hold paintbrushes, tips up. They're narrow in the neck, but can be used to store a few pairs of chopsticks as well, or even knitting needles (in which case, you simply MUST knit it a cozy!).

You can visit the Metro Vancouver Recycles website to see if what you have (and it could be anything!) can be recycled, and where. It's convenient and easy, and even has a self-generated map to show you your closest option.