Category: Environment


Coffee grounds

Filed under: Cleaning, Environment, Manhattan, Uncategorized
December 8, 2011

When I moved into my apartment I bought a Keurig. I figured it would pay for itself with the money I would save by not stopping at Starbucks every morning. I was buying K-cups for a while, then decided to get a filter. I just started using the filter this week.

The coffee was more then I expected but when I figured out the price per cup, I would save 40¢ a cup. Now I had the problem of what to do with the coffee grounds, since with the K-cups you just toss them out.

After doing some extensive research (I went to ask.com and typed in ‘Coffee grounds down the drain’) I discovered that some people said you shouldn’t dump grounds in the drain, others said they had been doing for years with no problem, a couple of plumbers said, go ahead and dump grounds down the drain (Ka-ching!). I live in an apartment and am probably not the only one drinking coffee so I wouldn’t be the only suspect, but it wouldn’t be very nice.

As for putting them in the garden (did I mention I live in a 4th floor walk-up?) I don’t have a garden, I don’t even have a window box, I don’t even know if my landlord would allow me to have a window box. My boss suggested I save them and put them in a park, but I am a little shy.

However the real problem is how to get them out of the filter without just rinsing them out and down the drain. This morning I ended up putting a paper towel in the sink over the drain and filtering them that way. I will have to settle for keeping as much as I can out of the drain.

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October snowstorm

Filed under: Environment, Manhattan, Weather
November 21, 2011


I forgot I took this video, I was uploading my pictures and found it.

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Weekly Photo Challenge: Opportunity

Image
Filed under: Animals, Environment — 1 Comment
October 28, 2011

Weekly Photo Challenge: Opportunity

This little guy was taking advantage of my fire escape, so I took the opportunity to take his picture.

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6 more days

Filed under: Environment, Important Stuff, Personal not private
July 21, 2011

Last night we figured out that Stitch will only have to take me to the train station six more times.

In less then two weeks I’ll be in my apartment in Manhattan. I am so not ready, damn this heat! I can’t stay downstairs and pack when it’s this hot.

This is not how I planned it. I haven’t even got a bed yet.

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EPA announces Apps for the Environment challenge!

Filed under: Environment
July 6, 2011

The U. S. Environmental Protection Agency has challenged software developers to step up to the forefront of innovation and create applications that help communities make informed decisions about the environment and human health. If you are not a developer, you can still participate by submitting ideas for apps, and by passing on this announcement to others you believe may be interested in this exciting effort! Submissions are due September 16, 2011. For more information follow #GreenApps on Twitter or check out the website at http://www.epa.gov/appsfortheenvironment/, where you can enter the challenge, submit ideas for apps, join the developer mailing list, and find about weekly webinars (Wednesdays 2:00 PM eastern time).

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Weekly Photo Challenge: Sky

Filed under: Beauty, Environment — 2 Comments
July 2, 2011


I knew if I just looked through my photos I would find a sky photo. I love taking pictures of cloud formations, the sky peeking through the branches of trees and so on.

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Ah spring

Filed under: Environment, Health, Weather
May 25, 2011

That magical time of year when the days get longer and warmer, or at least are supposed to, green grass and flowers start to stick their little plant heads above ground and produce pollen. Sales of Benadryl skyrocket and allergists start to really earn money. Those of us with asthma triggered by our allergies stand around coughing into our jacket cuffs hoping the full blown asthma attack holds off until we find our inhalers, while onlookers wonder if we have the plague.

Yes spring. Spring can bite me.

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More on Saturday

Filed under: Beauty, Environment, Health, Manhattan — 2 Comments
May 9, 2011

Saturday was good, and it was beautiful day. I was just so tired yesterday, and I had to write a blog post about the Yankee game and a review post about Yorkville Crêperie where we had lunch Saturday. So I actually did post more then just the pictures Sunday, but I wanted to come back and talk about the day. We started with lunch, during which Em decided she needs to make her nail appointment either early in the day or last thing before we leave. While she was getting her nails done I decided to get a pedicure. I forgot to tell her to use my lotion, an oversight I regretted later, but I’ll get to that later.

After the nail appointment, Em was going to a store she didn’t want me to come in with her (adult toy store). She said she was afraid I would giggle and get us thrown out. Probably would have. So I went to the park (Central Park) to wait for her. While I was waiting there were some men putting on a show. Then Em sent me a text and I went to meet her, then we cut through the park. Spring is in the air, I started sneezing. So we had to leave the park, later as we were walking on the sidewalk past the park, my nose started itching. I hate allergies.

Later when I took my socks and shoes off, I really hated them. I had a rash from the lotion. Nasty red bumps that itched. I don’t normally worry about the lotion, normally I am wearing sandals, but that day I had socks and sneakers on, so the lotion really got rubbed in, and I had shaved my legs in the past week or two. Sometimes, it is really hard being a girl.

And that is all, says she.

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Close encounters of the Arachnid variety

Filed under: Environment — 6 Comments
April 27, 2011

One of the things that happens when you live in a basement apartment is you get creepy crawlies. This past month I have had 4 close encounters with spiders. I’m not afraid of spiders, I just don’t want those eight legged terrorists in my living space.

The first encounter was when I was on my bed reading, I looked up I think because my phone buzzed, only to see a spider next to my head, suspended from the ceiling on a web string. I swatted him/her/it away and then jumped to smash it and it disappeared.

The second was in my bathroom, I was sitting on the toilet and it crawled out from under my sink. I pulled my feet up off the floor, before I could do anything else it crawled back under the sink.

Then tonight as I was getting ready for church I noticed a little one on my door, I picked up my Croc (its a shoe) and hit it. The spider fell to the floor, it was still moving and it went under my door, still holding the Croc I opened the door and it was gone. So after being hit on the head, falling from a height that for you and me would be the equivalent of the Empire State Building, it was able to run away. Disgusted at the fact that it got away, I dropped the Croc and shut the door, there on the outside of the door was a huge big ugly eight legged monster. I grabbed a fabric softener bottle and whacked it. Dead. So that is Spiders 3, Bella 1. That makes me the Astros.

That is why I sleep with my blankets over my head. Oh and don’t even get me started on the f***ing centipedes.

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Nasty Cold Rainy Day

Filed under: Beauty, Environment, Family N Friends, Manhattan
April 18, 2011

And there I was in the city with a few hours to kill before my nail appointment. Since I really didn’t want to be walking around in it, and the Starbucks in GCT is not conducive to sitting and waiting, at least not for long periods of time, I went to one of my favorite places in NYC, the library. On my way I stopped to take pictures of the flowers in front of the library only to discover I had forgotten to take my SD card out of my computer and put it back in my camera. So I stopped in a store to buy one before I went to get my nails done.

Flowers don’t mind the rain, in fact I think they quite like it. I don’t mind it, at least if it’s not cold and windy. For most of my time in the city on Saturday it was like that, sort of raining but not really windy. I found a lot of umbrellas to take pictures of, check out Better off soaked to see what I am talking about. I went to SoHo for tea then NoHo to see Ashley and bring her coffee, I almost got another hole in my ear, I had my blue diamond stud with me.

When I left NoHo and started for Grand Central, it had started getting windy and cold so I went to catch the subway at Broadway and Houston St. While I was waiting I was looking at the tracks. People throw all kinds of junk down there, even though being told not to. I don’t know why I always look down there, the tracks kind of fascinate me for some reason, I keep thinking I might see body parts …. On this particular day I saw movement, I looked closer, it was a rat. It was the same color as the floor and the tracks so it was hard to see, I wouldn’t have seen it if it hadn’t moved. I watched it run under the tracks and under the platform, then it came back. I was so intent on watching it I didn’t notice the D train pull in behind me, until it was leaving. That was the train I was waiting for. So I had to wait for the next train, with only the rat to entertain me, oh and my iPod of course.

So the rest of day was uneventful, the Yankees won, I participated in some retail therapy and then came home.

And that is all, says she.

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