Memorial Day

As we celebrate Memorial Day, let us not forget to thank all of the many men and women who have sacrificed so much to protect our great country. Those serving, have sacrificed their time being away from loved ones, family and friends. To these, we say Thank-you and God-speed. To those left behind, waiting and praying for their loved ones’ safe return home, we say Thank-you and that we are also praying for their safety. To those whose loved one has made the ultimate sacrifice, protecting our country, let us tell you that our heartfelt sympathy and prayers are with you.

As we celebrate Memorial Day, let us take the time to tell all of those we love and care about what they really mean to us. This is today. This is the only day that we are guaranteed. Let us make the most of it and store up happy memories.

Make Your Home Greener in 5 Easy Steps

1 - Switch to compact fluorescent bulbs. You can get a pack of 3 for around $10. While they are a little more expensive than traditional bulbs, they reduce electricity in your home from anywhere between 20 to 25 percent. Plus they last about 10 times longer than traditional incandescents. So not only are you saving money (up to $30 a bulb over it’s lifetime), you’re using a significantly less amount of energy. We rolled all the loose change we had laying around the house and in our car . . . and had enough money to buy bulbs for 75% of the lights in our house. It’s that easy.

2 - Turn down/up the thermostat. In the summer, keep your house a little warmer by bumping that air off while you’re not at home. In the winter, keep your house a little cooler and wear warmer clothes while lounging around. Plus you get the added benefit that jogging pants are more comfortable than shorts!

3 - Utilize your blinds and curtains for more than decoration. In the summer, turning your blinds facing up (instead of down) will keep the sun from coming directly into your house and save a great deal of energy and money on your electricity. In the afternoon when the sun is on the back of the house and the 6 full windows, we close the blinds and pull the curtains.

4 - Seal up those air leaks. Warm air leaking into your home during the summer and out of your home during the winter can waste a lot of your energy dollars. One of the quickest dollar-saving tasks you can do is caulk, seal, and weatherstrip all seams, cracks, and openings to the outside. You can save as much as 10% on your heating and cooling bill by reducing the air leaks in your home. You can test your home for air tightness really easily. On a windy day, hold a lit incense stick next to your windows, doors, electrical boxes, plumbing fixtures, electrical outlets, ceiling fixtures, attic hatches, and other locations where there is a possible air path to the outside. If the smoke stream travels horizontally, you have located an air leak that may need caulking, sealing, or weatherstripping.

5 - Another great “hot spot” to watch is the fireplace. In the winter, when the fireplace is not in use, keep the flue damper tightly closed. A chimney is designed specifically for smoke to escape, so until you close it, warm air escapes—24 hours a day!

6 - Close doors to rooms you’re not in. Or don’t use. For example, when we don’t have guests staying with us, we keep the door to the guest room closed. We also close the vents in that room. This effectively decreases the square footage and size of our house by 15%. Which theoretically means that our house is using 15% less energy. This may sound a bit excessive . . . but if no one is going in there or using that room . . . why pay money and use energy to cool and heat it? Close the vents and shut the door.

7 - Unplug! Even if your appliances are turned off, they are still using energy! Buy a few power strips and plug multiple appliances into them. When you’re not using them, just simply flip the power on the switch. Something as simple as an HDTV and a Wii can cost as much as $20 a month if it stays plugged in all the time, even if it’s not being used!

8 - Pay attention to that hot water heater! Your hot water heater is one of the biggest and most expensive energy users in your home. When you go on vacation turn off your hot-water heater or put it into a “vacation mode”. Or go out and buy a hot water heater timer and set it to come on a few hours before you wake up and a few hours before you come home after work. You can always override it if you need to, but simply setting your hot water heater to come on when you need it will save you more than just warm water!

9 - Instead of using paper or plastic bags at the store, carry a few cloth sacks. Or if you only have a few items, try going without a bag. When you’re at the bookstore and you pick up a couple of books . . . just ask for the receipt and no bag. If you’re just picking up a gallon of milk on the way home, do you really need a bag? If you have to use plastic bags, hold on to them and bring them back to the store the next time you’re there.

Grouper Fish Tacos

Dressing:
1 1/2 tablespoons sour cream
1 tablespoon minced fresh cilantro
1 1/2 teaspoons fresh lime juice
1/2 teaspoon red wine vinegar
To prepare dressing, combine first 4 ingredients, stirring well with a whisk.

Tacos:
4 (6-inch) corn tortillas
2 Grouper Fillets, flaked
1/2 cup sliced red onion
1 lime, quartered

To prepare tacos, cook grouper in a pan or on the grill until flaky. You may want to add a bit of blackening season if you like things spicy. Then place tortillas in a zip-top plastic bag; microwave tortillas at high 40 seconds. Divide Grouper Fillets and onion evenly over half of each tortilla; drizzle each serving with about 2 teaspoons dressing. Fold tortillas in half. Serve with lime wedges.

Serving size: Makes 4 tacos

Rockwell Elementary & Robbie Owen

This month we entered into a door not knowing exactly what to expect on the other side. As parents of four grown children, we have walked through this type of door many times, but had never entered one quite like this. Upon approaching the door to Rockwell Elementary School, we were immediately surrounded by green plants and patio decor that made the entryway warm and inviting. As we proceeded inside for our scheduled appointment with Principal Robbie Owen, the office staff greeted us with smiling and friendly faces. We knew immediately that this was the place we had heard about.

We were invited in and sat with Mr. Owen intending to discuss his recent National Honor for Alabama’ s Recipient in the National Distinguished Principals Program. We already knew that the school had been visited earlier by a team made up of Community Leaders, Parents, Students, Principals and Central Office Personnel, and why they came, but we wanted to hear it from Mr. Owen himself to be sure we were factual in our story. Were we ever glad we sat down with Mr. Owen! Before we knew it, we had been talking for thirty minutes or so and felt like we had known him and his staff for years. Never once did Mr. Owen take credit for his award. The entire time he focused on his wonderful staff, students both past and present, volunteers, community support and yes even a teacher’s child serving in Iraq. He also praised his own parents and his respect for them. Even before leaving his office for a tour of the school, we knew we were in trouble.  How could we limit this man’s story to just a couple of paragraphs.

As we walked the hall with Mr. Owen, seeing him interact with students, staff and parents was impressive. Finding out that every student and faculty member played a part in decorating the school with art projects that reflected what they had learned, we then realized why he was so humble. It wasn’t his story or award, it was the school’s story. The walls covered in art were more than impressive, but when you consider arts, lacrosse, golf, volleyball, an eighty member choir, a running program, a rock climbing wall, an a PTA program that raised $60,000 last year, that is extraordinary. Taking into consideration this is all in addition to their regular curriculum. Mr. Owens says that they offer something for every child to find success in. Add to that a principal who without focusing the attention on himself, gives credit to everyone from community leaders, teachers, parents, custodial staff, cafeteria workers and students. You can see why Mr. Owen was nominated for this prestigious award. We were honored to have spent time with him.

The Local Economy Is The Richer Economy

I’ve been thinking about the above phrase for a while now. That the local economy is the richer economy. Or better said, the local community is the richer community. I’m not just referring to “richer” in the monetary sense, but also “richer” in relationships, spirituality, etc.

As I was driving out to shoot some photos this morning I passed a Home Depot, a Lowe’s, and a Wal-Mart, the pillars of American big business. For illustrative purposes I’ll contrast a big box store with a typical local hardware store. Say if in the course of a month we spend $100 on hardware related things such as light bulbs, insect spray, air filters, paint, flowers, mulch, bird seed, and pressure washer, to name but a few.

It is true that many of the products can be found in both stores and both stores carry similar if not identical brands. When a light bulb is purchased at the big box store, General Electric will still get the money for their merchandise that they sold to the big box store. When a light bulb is purchased at my locally owned hardware store, General Electric will still get the money for their merchandise that they sold to Ace Hardware. Both stores still have to pay for their mortgage costs, insurance, utilities, facility maintenance, and inventory. But the difference comes with the payroll. If on payday we took our checks and shopped at the locally owned store, the money would stay in the local economy for one more round. The owners of the store would find more money in their pockets, which would inevitably lead to more money in the pockets of their employees, via pay raises, benefits, or incentives to reward them. Or at the very least having to hire more employees.

Let’s contrast this with what happens when we take our paychecks and instead of spending it at a locally owned store, we buy products from the big box store. At the end of the day, that money gets immediately siphoned off to the corporate headquarters. Leaving the Eastern Shore, leaving the local community, and traveling to New York or Atlanta. This may not seem like a big deal and a rather small transaction at first. But when you think of how many of these transactions take place over the course of a day, a month, a year . . . it doesn’t take long to see what a drastic difference there is between the two. If you spend your money at the locally owned store, the money stays in the community. The money doesn’t go off to corporate headquarters thousands of miles away. The money doesn’t get spent on huge advertising campaigns. The money doesn’t end up buying company jets, steak dinners, and severance packages for executives. The money stays in the pockets of the local community.

In all fairness and likelihood, this is probably only a few cents on the dollar for each dollar spent at a locally owned store. But when you add up a few cents on every dollar spent in the course of a year at the big box stores, you can quickly see how that money would add up in a local economy. Even if it is only for a couple of extra cycles before it inevitably trickles out. The point though is that the more you shop and spend your money locally, the more money will stay cycling through the local community. This is not the case with Wal-Mart. It’s profits immediately get siphoned off to Bentonville, Arkansas. Which ironically enough sits in one of the poorest counties in Arkansas.

Think about Beverly Hills and Rodeo Drive. While I certainly don’t condone the ethics of the purchases or lifestyles there, the majority of the shops are local. Money gets spent in local clothing and retail stores as well as restaurants. This money when it makes its way to the owner in turn gets spent locally at a neighboring boutique or cafe. These store owners often lead a rather “rich” lifestyle. For the most part that is because they all shop within a close/closed circle of friends and shops. They may run an up-scale purse shop. Someone buys a purse from them and they in turn buy a necklace at another local store across the street. And both owners probably eat at the sandwich shop down the street. The money thus circulates twice as long within the community.

It is no wonder then why places like the Eastern Shore are so “well-off” in material things and in relational things. It is because we have a diverse and thriving small business community in places like Daphne, Fairhope, & Spanish Fort. We spend more of our money locally than say a suburb in Atlanta. But if we don’t want to end up like a homogenized suburb in Atlanta, we would be wise to remember the reason we are so blessed . . . and that is because we have a great history of shopping locally with friends.

Culture Corner

Jack Johnson, Sleep Through The Static
You either love Jack Johnson or you hate him. I’m in the former camp. His latest album Sleep Through The Static may be his best album yet. Whereas some of his previous albums haven’t been well rounded, relying on 2 or 3 singles to drive the album . . . it sounds as if Johnson has matured and created a complete album from top to bottom. It’s the kind of album that you can play multiple times over and over and not get tired of it. For those who aren’t familiar with Jack Johnson’s music, he is a former professional surfer who released his first album in 2001. Johnson lives and records in Hawaii when he’s not surfing. So his music has a distinct beachy, light, acoustic feel. Johnson also recorded this album entirely using nothing but solar power and it was printed using environmentally friendly standards.

Juno, starring Ellen Page, Michael Cera, Jason Bateman
Juno I really enjoyed this movie. The story was written by Diablo Cody and stars Ellen Page as a sharp-tongued teenager confronting an unplanned pregnancy. With a plotline like that you would think the movie would come off trashy or like a typical cliché high school movie. Instead, the film actually has some serious depth with the way it addresses complex issues. It certainly doesn’t hurt that Page puts on a stellar performance. Even those pretentious critics loved it as it won the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay and received 3 Oscar nominations including Best Picture. My only complaint was that they didn’t feature Michael Cera (Arrested Development, Clark & Michael) near enough. If you’re looking for an intelligent, witty, unique, and charming picture . . . this does a good of job as any.