A few weeks ago when it was warm outside, I stepped from the house to the garage and was surprised at how cool it was. Our garage was cooler than the house. Granted, the air conditioner was off inside and the windows were open, but the temperature was markedly cooler. Monday afternoon, I walked in front of our garage and was hit with a wave of heat. It felt like I was standing in front of a heat lamp!

The reason for this is the radiant barrier I placed on the garage door last summer. It literally reflects the sun’s heat right back into space, keeping it from getting trapped in the garage. This radiant barrier is essentially a roll of bubble wrap with aluminum-foil backing. It cost $25 for a roll that nearly covers my garage door. I am still amazed at how well it works!

Monday morning I ventured into my attic to retrieve the broken attic fan I put up the year before (you remember, the one that almost claimed my finger). Rather than replace it, I’m considering buying more foil and stapling it to the rafters in the attic.

It is so much easier to cool a house if you can keep the heat out of it to begin with.

Remember when I wrote this about homeowner’s rules getting in the way of energy efficiency? It seems that Janet Cowell in the N.C. Senate and Susan Fisher and Pricy Harrison in the N.C. House have the same idea. They have a bill moving through the General Assembly to allow this to happen.

S.670 and H.1187 would make local restrictions on solar panels, clotheslines, or other “energy devices based on renewable resources” null and void. While some may think that solar panels or clotheslines might hurt home values, I think they would benefit a neighborhood. After all, who wouldn’t want to live in a smart neighborhood?

People can talk all they want about ending this country’s energy dependence. Eventually you have to actually do something. This bill gives North Carolinians the freedom to act.

I went up to our bedroom last night to find it unexpectedly dark: my bedside lamp wouldn’t turn on. After a moment of troubleshooting, I determined that its compact fluorescent (CFL) bulb had finally given up the ghost.

Thinking back a bit, I figured that the bulb was over 7 years old. In fact, having been purchased in 1999, it was nearly as old as my marriage! When it first fired up, there was no Sept 11 attacks, no Iraq war, no such thing as the dot-bomb bust. That’s a lot for a bulb to live through.

I became interested in CFLs because I got annoyed at all the heat that incandescent bulbs produced. Our old home’s thermostat was right next to a floor lamp, so its bulb would frequently throw off the temperature readings. Once I’d begun with one bulb, the rest were soon to follow.

I have to say the technology has improved considerably in 7 years, notably the quality of light CFLs, produce. When the box says 3000 Kelvin that’s what you get: a nice warm light. Add in the electricity savings and you have a deal.

CFLs still face hurdles to their adoption, such as a press sometimes hostile to them. This Washington Post article that ran last month is one example.

The article states:

The current market share of CFL bulbs in the United States is about 6 percent, up from less than 1 percent before 2001.

…and then follows it up with this:

The relatively glacial adoption rate of CFLs in most of the United States suggests continued stiff resistance on the home front, despite dramatically lower prices for the bulbs and impressive improvements in their quality.

Another way of describing CFLs growth would be to trumpet their 600% growth in the past six years, yet the reporter calls 600% growth “glacial?”

As for the “dramatically lower prices” the article mentioned, the accompanying sidebar listed the price of a single CFL bulb to be eleven dollars! Maybe CFL bulbs were $11 back in, oh, 1992 or something. In modern times, one can buy a CFL bulb for less than two bucks.

CFLs do wonders for the environment, beginning with your own indoor one. They don’t create excess heat for your air conditioner to battle. They also last incredibly long, as my seven year bulb attests. Sure they have mercury in them but the amount is miniscule and no cause for alarm. A trip to the landfill’s special handling section is not a burden if the trip happens only once every 7 years.

The wife in the WaPo story complained that the light from CFLs wasn’t as bright. Its been my experience that the opposite is true. I’ve replaced four, 60-watt incandescent bulbs in our bathroom with just two CFLs – because four CFLs made the room blindingly bright! Because of their lower heat output, you can place CFL bulbs with higher light equivalents in sockets designed for lower light incandescents. For instance, a lamp designed for a 60-watt maximum incandescent can handle a 23-watt CFL that produces the equivalent light of a 90-watt incandescent. You save energy and get more light!

What’s slow to catch on is the hip nature of CFLs, but they’re getting there. My friends are catching on. My relatives are catching on. Pretty soon CFLs will be the norm rather than the exception. Then the 1870s-era incandescent bulb can take its rightful place: in a museum!

Looking out my office window this morning, I spied a very visible sign of wind damage: a large limb on a Bradford Pear tree in the front parking lot peeled off like a banana peel. It happened last evening, landing on a woman’s car from what I hear. It reminds me why I hate Bradford pear trees.

They’re everywhere, for one. Way overdone. They stink to high heaven when blooming. They also lack strength. Any little puff of wind will shred them. They also have the habit of dying too young: you’ll be lucky to get 20 years out of them.

Why do so many people plant them? They’re tolerant of many types of soil. They also grow very quickly – at the expense of strength. But who wants to go to the trouble of planting a tree if its only going to die in 20 years?

I wish our area builders were a little more creative with their landscaping decisions. I wish we’d see more of what is Raleigh’s city symbol: the mighty willow oak (Quercus phellos). If we want to build a city with a future, we should be using oaks instead of Bradford pears. Too many times developers go for the short-term gain.

The crepe myrtles that I worried has been wiped out from the late freeze are alive and kicking after all! All four plants have new growth on them this weekend. Two of them are even sprouting fresh new stems. Its good to see things recovering. I was worried I’d never see green on them.

Oddly, the runt of the landscaping, the Japanese maple tree, is thriving this season. It looks better than it ever has in fact. The first spring we were here, the stupid deer chewed it down to the ground. Now that its fenced (and being watered regularly) its doing fine. I think we may have it providing some decent shade in the next summer or two.

The stupid deer referred to above have enjoyed munching on the azaleas I once fetched from my grandmother’s yard. Our neighbor decided to divert attention from his roses by pouring a bag of corn in the back corner of his yard. This has provided a niced balanced meal for the deer: they get their greens from my azaleas and a good dose of carbs from the corn.

After nightfall Saturday night I heard a vicious growling coming from that area. A raccoon was enjoying a corn feast and obviously wanted to dine alone. The next morning two deer were snacking in the area. I tell ya, there’s no better way to attract wildlife than with a bag of corn.

Manatees may lose endangered status.

(Ok, this post was just an excuse to use that picture again).

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.