Natural Gas or Coal?

Coal burning power plant. Picture from flickr user davipt

The EPA recently put out some new guidelines on what is and isn't acceptable for power plants, according to the New York Times. Recently, companies have been switching to natural gas plants, rather than coal burning ones. Because of this, the EPA has decided to change up the current rules and make them less coal friendly and  more fitting for natural gas plants. Under the new and revised guidelines, companies may only emit 1,000 pounds of carbon dioxide per each mega-watt hour of electricity produced. For those of you who, like me, have no idea what a mega-watt is, one mega-watt can power, on average, 265 american homes. That's a lot of power. However, the new rules are too strict for coal plants, essentially eliminating their use in the power industry. Fortunately for the coal companies, this new law only affects new power plants, and not plants already built. Many critics cite this as a major flaw in the new legislation, and want stricter guidelines that pertain to all coal fueled plants. The coal industry, on the other hand, believes that the new guidelines are too harsh, and should be lifted. I think that the law should apply to all coal burning power plants, but we'll have to watch what happens in Washington in the next few months.

-John

Illegal Flowers

Geraniums planted by my mother and the beginning of a flower bed
Photo by me

Kimberly Bois, a woman in Portsmouth, New Hampshire was sued for planting a flower garden in front of her condominium at the Atlantic Pointe Condominium Association.  I read about the situation in this article by Robert Cook.  I find this very disappointing.  It seems that many apartment and condominium associations restrict the actions of their residents including owning pets and gardens.  However, Cook wrote, “the declarant, who was the condo development builder, gave her permission to plant flowers in front of her unit in 2008.”  Cook also wrote that Bois’ attorney, Paul McEachern, argued that the declarant who had given Bois the right to alter the exterior of her condominium did not have the right to take away that right.

Gardening can be a leisure activity, and I think that gardens help to make a neighborhood cheerful and beautiful.  Many people plants flowers every spring, and I see no harm in doing so.  I understand why a condominium association might not allow pets, since animals can damage property that the association may plan to rent again when the current resident has moved.  Plants, however, are never vicious, and, as I see it, cause no harm.  I would like to see Kimberly Bois, Patrick Champagne and Louise Tracy (Lawyer: City Woman’s Flower Garden Should Be Allowed by Robert Cook mentioned both Champagne and Tracy as well), and any other condominium owner who wishes to plant a garden legally able to do so.

-Frankie

Chicksplosion!

I was going to tell you all about my Spring Break of hiking, trail maintenance, and identifying plants and birds, and I will, but I just couldn't resist these adorable faces. So, without further ado, here are my chicks!

Photo by my mother

I wish I had taken more photos of the chicks when they were tiny, but I'm glad I have this one of Violetta, a Plymouth Barred Rock, when she was just 2 days old. The red tint on my fingers is from their heat lamp, which is important for chicks to have in order to keep their body heat nice and warm. I would hold them in my hands near the heat lamp and they would fall asleep in a fuzzy heap.

Photo by me

This is Fingers at 3 days old. She's so fuzzy and tiny - look at those adorable feet!

Photo by me

When the chicks were old enough (10 days old in this photo) and the weather was warm enough, we started to let them spend part of each day outside (under close supervision, of course). From left to right: Chicken Jane, Papagena, Fingers, Violetta, and Olive Oyl.

Photo by me

Here are the chicks at about 23 days old, hanging out in their cage. To the left you can see Olive Oyl (see below) with her feathered feet, trying to fall asleep.

Photo by me

This is Olive Oyl perching on my wrist, whom my little brother named for the Popeye character. I love her poofy tail feathers! She's really calm, doesn't mind being held, and sneezes adorably. Olive, as we call her, is a Dark Brahma, so she has feathered feet. In this photo, she is about 45 days old.

Photo by me

Chicken Jane is a Light Brahma, so she has different coloring than Olive, but they both have the feathered feet characteristic of their breed. She's very sweet and docile.

Photo by me

Papagena did not want to settle down, as you can see. She's a bit larger than the other birds, her coloring is a bit brighter, and she has some longer decorative-looking tail feathers, so I'm afraid she might actually be a rooster. Papagena is an Ameraucana, also called Easter Eggers, and they produce blue or green eggs. We have another Ameraucana, Fingers, but the moment I perched her on my wrist, she flew off, so I wasn't able to get a good photo. Fingers is the most adventurous of the group - she'll eat pretty much anything, and loves jumping on to things. Just yesterday, I perched her on my hand (this time she didn't fly off), and I saw a bug flying, so I held her up towards it and she snatched it up and ate it!

Photo by me

Believe it or not, this is Violetta! Here she is at about 45 days old. She doesn't like being held as much as she used to, but I love how her feather design is turning out - eventually she'll look like this.

Photo by me

Here's Yardbird (named by my dad after the jazz musician), our only grown hen. She's a Black Sexlink, and does not like the chicks being in her coop at all. She gets so annoyed that she starts sounding almost like a rooster!

-Cecilia

Gardening for Guys

Recently, my mom has started gardening again. I've lugged around dirt and mulch, planted seeds, and watered her plants. That got me thinking; why would my mom garden? When I asked her, she said that she had seen this video online about creating a garden from your lawn, and wanted to try it. Her big plan was to convert our tiny side yard into a veggie garden, planting herbs and tomatoes, and using drip hoses to irrigate it. Personally, I was glad to hear the last part, because it would save me the hassle of having to water the plants. Using a kit from Costco, we were able to build a raised bed garden in 15 minutes. We dragged the huge bed outside and put it on top of some paper bags from Central Market. When I asked why the paper bags were there, my mom laughed.

A raised bed garden. Image from flickr user suburbandollar.

"If you would prefer weeding every Saturday, you can." I agreed that weeding was bad, and we finished placing the raised bed on the ground. Then it was time to put the drip hoses in. My mom had looked up a tutorial on how to insert them. After about 30 minutes of jamming pipes together, we set the final product up. I really hope it lasts for a while.

- John

Bright Leaf Invasives Removal

Nandina's red-hued leaves
Photo by me

Last Saturday, February 25, I helped to remove invasive plants from Bright Leaf Preserve in Northwest Austin with LBJ Cares, a club from LBJ High School that organizes volunteering opportunities.

In the morning, the weather was pleasant, making the work enjoyable in addition to the fulfillment of caring for the environment.

The two invasive plants we primarily focused on were Nandina and Ligustrum.  Nandina, also known as Heavenly Bamboo, is recognizable by its red-tinted leaves and bright red berries.  Due to the recent rains, there were many small Nandina trees that needed to be cut down.  The Ligustrum, or Japanese Privet trees were still small, with trunks about two inches in diameter, but already very tall, probably 10 to 12 feet in height.  These were marked by pink ribbons so that we would not remove any native trees, and I cut down two Japanese privets while I was at Bright Leaf.

Bright red Nandina berries
Photo by me

Bright Leaf is a small, beautiful, privately owned preserve that hosts guided tours and works to protect native endangered species.  I thoroughly enjoyed my time there and I hope that you will consider visiting.  I also look forward to helping to remove invasive species at other locations.

Enjoy the cool weather while you can to plant your gardens and remove any invasives that are present.

-Frankie

Austin Art Yards: Don't Fence Me In

So, about a year ago, my family and I went on the self-guided Austin Art Yards tour. We only had time to visit a few houses, but it was worth it.  All the yard art was funky and creative - just like Austin!

Photo by me

I really liked the blue bottle tree in front of this first house, and all the bowling balls and recycled materials in their backyard.

Photo by me

I thought the juxtaposition of the rusty metal dice and the roses was interesting. That's another good thing about the tour taking place in the spring - you get to see a lot of lovely flowers in addition to the art.

Photo by me

I'm fond of bird cages, so of course I was drawn to this tree. If you look closely, you can also see a few old fans in the bottom right corner, which I thought was very whimsical.

Photo by me

Who would have thought that ironing boards and hubcaps could go so well with each other? This fence was lined with them. Old hubcaps were a reoccurring theme in the tour.

Photo by me

This year's tour will take place on the 14th and 15th of April, and I would highly recommend that you go check it out. You can find out more about the tour here, or visit their page on Facebook. Happy touring!

-Cecilia