The continuing cold snap may have claimed my beloved crepe myrtles this morning. They’d held up so well to the previous freezing mornings that I gambled that they’d be fine last night, spending my time instead on the azaleas and hydrangeas.

I seem to have gambled wrong. 🙁 Now I’m kicking myself for not rounding up three more towels and taking 2 minutes to cover them. I hope they bounce back.

What happened to the warm temperatures? It’s downright cold outside! Highs in the mid-40s? Lows in the (gulp) mid-20s? Didn’t I have the air conditioner on last week?

I’m so delighted that spring has arrived! I missed the greenery around here. Trees are what makes North Carolina so beautiful. I don’t think we can have enough of ’em.

I spent some time this winter replanting some trees and bushes. The azaleas that came from my grandmother’s yard by way of a long van ride were split up and moved from the backyard to the southern side of the house. They are now in the process of blooming, which really warms my heart. I’ll always think of Grandma when I see them.

I also obtained some hydrangeas from her yard which now are also at home on our southern side. In spite of looking a little shocked at being moved they are now greening up nicely.

We moved the apple tree from the front to the back to make room for our new redbud tree. I was worried that I didn’t get enough of the root ball to keep the apple tree alive but just like the others it is bursting out with leaves (and blossoms! Future apples, woot!) now. The apple tree should be more at home in the back as its now fenced in from its natural predators: hungry deer. Did I mention that the deer are really getting on my bad side?

The most fantastic result of spring is our crepe myrtle trees! They went in in early fall and soon looked overwhelmed. All winter long I thought for sure we had killed them. I ran to get Kelly when I saw the first leaves on them. All three have established themselves!

The crepe myrtles went in to replace the cherry trees we had near the street. We made the mistake of planting the cherry trees in midsummer two years ago, which doomed the already-stressed plants. What the move didn’t kill, the hordes of Japanese beetles finished off. The crepe myrtles should have a much easier time and provide some real character to our front yard.

Other projects on the list include adding more shade to the backyard. We still need some screening trees along our fence to hide the townhouses behind us. Also, adding an autumn blaze maple to our backyard should provide us with some reliable summertime shade and a breathtaking display of golden leaves in the fall.

We’re in the midst of shopping for a sunroom to replace our tiny deck, too. The stormwater creek in our neighbor’s yard is perpetually filled with water – making it Mosquito Breeding Ground Central. An unprotected deck holds no promise of keeping us safe from bites, so some sort of screened-in something is needed. If we can decide what to get there it will make the job of landscaping around it much easier.

I read that the city of Raleigh is testing LED lighting in its parking decks. Then I suffered through a long stop-and-go morning commute down Capital Boulevard. I was about to suggest that if the city really wanted to go green, it would spend that money instead on synchronizing traffic lights. That would cut down on greenhouse gas emissions from idling traffic and make everyone’s life easier.

Then I drove home from work and sailed up Capital Boulevard, having only one red light out of dozens!

That almost never happens. I had to laugh when my commute undercut my argument.

So the planet is heating up due to global warming, gas prices are high, oil comes from a Mideast more unstable than ever, and my car isn’t particularly fuel-efficient. I’ve seen Who Killed The Electric Car? and An Inconvenient Truth. And, naturally I’m a geek, one with a pioneer spirit. Thus its should be no surpise that I’ve been looking at electric vehicles, or EVs.

I checked out my first EV in April. A member of the Triangle EAA electric car club was selling one of its member’s cars. I was impressed until the test drive revealed a slight problem. As I rounded the first turn, the car stalled. Something apparently went wrong with the battery pack. Not knowing what an electric car was all about, I got cold feet about it and bought a far more environmentally-friendly vehicle instead.

Fast forward to December. This weekend I attended my first Triangle EAA meeting. Surrounded by veteran EV owners, I gained a lot of knowledge about EVs as well as a comfort that if anything should go wrong there is an EV posse to back me up. Knowing what I know now, I could have easily fixed up that stalling car.

EVs are actually much simpler than internal combustion engine (ICE) cars. You have basic parts: a motor, a controller, battery pack, charger, and perhaps a DC-DC converter. Gone are the engine, transmission, fuel tank, radiator, and most other parts that need oil.

EV owners tend to be tinkerers, as well as budding mechanics. That’s because there are currently (hah!) few repair options that don’t involve your own two hands. That’s why clubs like the Triangle EAA are so helpful. You’ve got experienced EV owners who are willing to lend a hand to new EV owners. To buy an EV at this point, you need to trust your skills at troubleshooting. Fortunately, unlike gas engines, working on EVs is anything but a dirty, greasy job. Your handiest tool is a multitester and your mechanical knowledge is mostly simple electric theory.

The one thing that I’m having a tough time understanding is the battery technology. There is a myriad of choices for batteries: lead acid, nickel cadmium, lithion ion, lithion polymer. There’s flooded (wet) cells, gel cells, and AGM (absorbed glass mat) cells. You need at least 13 batteries to power most EVs. Each battery can cost between $100 to $2000, depending on the technology. Each kind has advantages and drawbacks. It’s kind of mind boggling.

With all these battery choices, finding your ideal EV is only half the battle. You’re shopping as much for the batteries as you are for the car.

Since the batteries are likely to be half (or more) of your investment, it makes sense to buy the best charger you can afford in order to keep your batteries running optimally. There are various choices here, too, though not as wide open as the battery choice. I’ve learned that a lot of chargers can be programmed to match whatever batteries they are charging.

Battery technology has coome a long way recently. New technologies are hitting the market which might literally revolutionize transportation. At this point the price for such technology is still out of reach of most drivers. Even so, affordable options exist to make it possible for many to commute solely by electricity.

I’ve still got a lot to learn about EVs. I don’t yet know if one is right for me. On the other hand I seem to have the abilities needed to be a successful EVer. If I can’t make it work, who can?

I’m happy to take MT.Net readers along for the ride as I learn more about this technology.

At a recent dinner party, a few colleagues and I were discussing the problems of the world. Someone asked me what global problem was on my mind. I had just read Al Gore’s An Inconvenient Truth and knew right away what my answer was: the melting of the Greenland ice shelf.

The Greenland ice shelf is melting at an unprecedented rate. Should it finally slide into the ocean, the world’s maps will have to be redrawn, to quote David King, a science advisor to Tony Blair. Sea levels would rise twenty feet overnight. A similar rise in sea levels would occur if a threatened ice sheet on western Antarctica breaks up.

Today I read that the ice surrounding the north pole in the Arctic Ccean could be gone in 30 years due to global warming. Some scientists say even 30 years is optimistic.

Hang on for some bumpy climate changes, folks.