Going solar!!

We're doing it! Friday, we found out that we were one of 50 households who won a zero-interest loan through the city of Pendleton, OR!!! There were 93 households who applied, so we feel incredibly lucky! We'll have 4 years to pay back the loan, and will have to agree to a lien on our house, but much of that loan will be paid back with tax rebates that we should be getting in the next 3 years. We also met with the actual contractor who measured our roof, looked at the inside and outside of it, and inspected the electric system. Once again, he said we have a "near perfect" place for solar on our roof. We'll be getting the actual bid in the mail soon, signing the paperwork, and hopefully the company will start installing in June, or July. They have about 200 households who've signed up who are in various stages of commitment for the mass city project, so that should cut costs even more.

The drawing for the loan awards was done at Friday's Growers' Market here in Pendleton. While we missed the actual drawing, a white board was left up with all the names in place of who won the awards and who didn't. They wrote each name down in the order they drew them, and if any of the 50 households for some reason can't go through with a solar array installation, then next in line will be eligible. Looking at the list kind of reminded me of high school try-outs for sports or plays. While we're thrilled to be on the "in list", this being the small town that it is, we knew some of the people who didn't get one of the loans.... co-workers, neighbors, friends... So it's a bit bitter sweet, since we wish all 93 families could get a similar loan. We've also been learning just who in town will also be going solar and have found out a few of our neighbors will also be on this adventure with us, which really makes us happy, since we'll have someone else to compare notes with. But until I have more notes to share ourselves, shine on, shine on....

Solar site assessment

Spring is a busy time for our family, as it is with many others. Before it gets any later though, I thought I'd try to give an update of our solar electric journey.

A few weeks ago, we had the Energy Trust of Oregon come out and do a home evaluation, both for its current energy efficiency, and its solar electric site "value". Their folks climbed up in our attic crawl space, and under our house, looked at our heat and air conditioner, water heater, and gas and electric bills. They made a few minor recommendations, but our house is relatively new (12 years old), so it's in pretty good shape. Next, the solar evaluation was also an easy one. There was a neat tool the evaluator used to determine our exposure and shade. It had a graph of sun exposure, and a reflective dome fit over it that would show the percent of shade a site had. It was a low-tech tool for a high tech adventure!!



We suspected what the Energy Trust person confirmed, that we have 100% solar exposure... Our roof in the front faces due South, and we have no shade blocking it. We also have room on our electric circuit breaker to expand. We have space on our roof for a 3-4 kilowatt solar array. We also expressed interest in solar hot water heat, but right now the best incentives are for solar power.



If anyone else is interested in renewable energy or efficiency, I found this website for a list of state by state renewable/ energy efficiency money incentives. It depends on where you live, but most states have more than a few programs out there.

Since our initial evaluation, we have applied for the city's loan program, and were supposed to have the actual solar/roof contractor our today to give us a bid on exactly how much it's going to cost, but right now it's raining pretty good, and that appointment was canceled and will be rescheduled for later this week. I'll let you know what happens!!!!

Pendleton Quilt Show

OK! I'm now officially "hooked" on quilt shows! I not only attended my 2nd quilt show this week-end, but since it was here in town, and since I've become a fixture at the local quilt shop, I volunteered to help out. I'm kicking myself for forgetting my camera during set-up though. I wish I could show you just how much work goes into these events!! I spent a good chunk of Friday helping set up all the frames that the quilts hang from, and carrying many, many quilts from car to auditorium, to quilt frame. It was quite a treat to pull each quilt out of its protective bag and see them. Kind of like unwrapping Christmas presents! And the care and attention that goes into handling these treasures is something I enjoyed begin part of. I also got to meet and became acquainted with some wonderful quilters here in Pendleton.

There were about 200 quilts in the show, including 2 sets of "challenge quilts". One set all had to use the same fabric in part of the quilt, the other set was the "Round-Up Quilts", making a quilt that celebrated the 100th anniversary of the Pendleton Rodeo, coming up in September. This time I wasn't quite as overwhelmed, got to go without kids, and really took the time to read the story that was attached to each quilt. Some were the result of classes taken, "block swaps" or "block of the month" clubs. Some were art quilts, the inspiration coming from countless places. Some were fun patterns, some were done during rehabilitation from illnesses. Many of the quilts were made as gifts, for birthdays, graduations, weddings, birth of babies, or for other special events. It reminded me of just how special these quilts are. I really can't think of any other item that is as useful and as beautiful as a quilt. It fulfills such a basic need: warmth. And to be wrapped up in a work of art that was made by a loved one is such a wonderful thing! Of course the recipient often doesn't know that it's just as much fun to make these quilts as it is to use them. When I make a quilt as a gift, it's such an incredible opportunity to reflect and meditate on that person as each stitch falls into place.

Because of this I was so incredibly moved by this quilt's story:

It was started as a 16th birthday present for this mother's son. The "boy" in a boy/girl twin pair. I have a twin brother, so immediately I felt a connection. Unfortunately her son died in a freak skate boarding accident before he reached his 16th birthday. He was wearing a helmet, but the impact injured his brain stem, and he died shortly after. It took this woman many years to be able to pick up this quilt again and finish it this year, what would have been his 21st. I was so incredibly touched by this story. I walked around with tears in my eyes for a good bit of the show, and still am in awe at how this mother was able to find the strength to finish such a quilt and how she was able to put it in a public show. I can only begin to imagine the tears that went into finishing this quilt, and hope that she was able to find some comfort, healing and peace as she completed it. I am so grateful for her sharing it at the show. It's a beautiful quilt, but its story made it my favorite.

Louisiana oil spill

Words don't even begin to describe what I'm feeling right now. From the first mention of the BP oil rig exploding on the news, my anxiety level started rising. I've personally known people who worked on oil rigs, and even worked in a job at an environmental lab in Southern Louisiana, testing effluent from these places. I've been on chartered fishing trips that anchored near them to fish, drove along stretches of coastline where they stretched from horizon to horizon. I've been to Port Sulfur, and Venice, LA. My husband and I were even married in the swamp at the Louisiana Nature and Science Center, a place that was destroyed in Hurricane Katrina. I worked at the Audubon Zoo's Wild Bird Rehabilitation Center. Some of the beaches and barrier islands that I've spent youthful summer afternoons on no longer exist as they once did. For me, it's so personal! The oil coming ashore right now will have an enormous impact. It'll impact the wildlife and fisheries, plants and ecosystems and the people who depend on them for their livelihood. Most importantly, there are 11 families who lost loved ones during the explosion. My heart is aching.
I grew up learning about the environmental impacts of canals being dug through the marshland and swamps of Southern Louisiana, the impact of putting levies around the Mississippi river, introduced Nutria eating away the marsh, the oil rigs, refineries, pollution from agricultural chemical run-off from half the country traveling through the Mississippi River and being spilled out into the Gulf of Mexico. I knew when Hurricane Katrina hit that it wasn't only the storm to be concerned about. I'd seen first hand how easy it was to overwhelm the pump system in New Orleans, which siphons off excess rain water from its below-sea-level neighborhoods.

As a Louisiana native I feel a pull to the place I spent most of my childhood. After 3 years in Kentucky, I responded, to attend college and stay another 5 years. I still feel it's pull, and at times like these I want to be there helping. All of the horrible emotions I felt during Hurricane Katrina are starting to surface again. As before, I'm thousands of miles away. I'll do what I can. Write a blog, send money, try to connect with others here who understand my pain. But it just doesn't ever seem to be enough...

In my grief and anxiety, I must remember the positive lessons I learned from Hurricane Katrina. Namely, that there is hope. The people and the land that is Louisiana have an incredible mystifying way of recovering... a zeal for life and a strength that defies all odds.

Going Solar

My husband and I have been thinking about this for many years... figuring out a way to go solar or wind power, or? Finally, I think the stars have aligned and the combination of a local city program, and tax credits available right now, and a South-facing house roof in a city with lots of sun has got us moving forward at last. We're not quite sure if we can do it, but we've taken the first steps.

We attended a local information system, through the city of Pendleton, Oregon. Solarize Pendleton is an amazing program that has been put together with the help of many different people and agencies. I encourage you to look at their program, and copy it in your own communities. We feel that we can not afford to miss out on this opportunity. And in this day and age, it even makes sense to pull money out of retirement funds to invest in solar energy for our house, instead of Wall Street. We're hoping we can get one of the no-interest loans that the city is offering. Wish us luck!!

We have the Oregon Energy Trust coming out next week to do an energy audit of our house to see how we can improve how we use and save energy. They'll look at the insulation, appliances, heat, AC, hot water etc... At the same time, we will be getting an assessment as to whether or not our house is situated to be a good candidate for solar. They'll look at how much shade we get (almost none), and the orientation of our roof (almost due South). The panels need to face South for the best energy generation. The size of our roof will also determine the size of array we can get. At this time, there is no program to buy back excess energy that we generate, but it will be credited back to our electric account to use when the sun is not out. Excess energy will go to our neighbors to use, keeping it all local.

I thought it'd be fun to bring you along on the journey as we try to "go greener".

It's a cause we both feel very strongly about, and want to teach our boys, by example that it needs to be a priority, both for the environment, and for our fellow citizens who have sacrificed their lives drilling for oil in the Gulf Coast, or mining for coal in West Virginia. Not everyone can go solar, but we can all make steps to use less gas and electricity.

If you have any questions, feel free to contact me. Also, I'd love to hear any other stories and experiences of others who have gone solar!!!

I was uploading some recent pictures I took during Spring Break to another site, and decided to share a few here. My mom came out to visit us and we did our best to show her a good time here in Pendlton. We enjoyed the outdoors at McNary Dam, Hat Rock State Park and The North Fork Umatilla Wilderness. Trips to the Tamastslikt Cultural Institute Museum, the Pendleton Underground Tours and Bluegrass Night at the Great Pacific Wine and Coffee Company gave her a taste of the local culture. Of course we all got to spend time together as a family too :-). We were all sad to see her leave, but hope that we'll get to see her again this summer!

Tri-Cities Quilt Show 2010

Anyone who knows me, knows that I'm addicted to sewing, and lately quilts have been my passion. But I'm rather new to quilting, and have been living in more rural areas for the last 20 years. So even though I'm a quilt fanatic, until this past week-end, I had never been to a quilt show. Yes, it's true. Well, all of that was remedied when a friend of mine, whom I'd met on-line a year ago, and in person a few months ago, invited me to her quilting guild's (Tri-Cities Quilt Guild) quilt show in Kennewick, Washington. So I cashed in some kid-free time from my husband, and spent 27 blissful, inspiring, relaxing and fun hours in Tri-Cities visiting my friend and the quilt show.

There were over 400 quilts displayed, and over 50 fabric and quilt supply vendors to shop at. We spent over 5 hours there admiring, and shopping. I must say it was an amazing experience. How did I not do this sooner? I'm already eager to go to another quilt show. We have one coming up here in Pendleton in May (Krazy Horse Quilt Show), and Sisters, Oregon has one of the largest, well-known quilt shows in the country in July, The Sisters Outdoor Quilt Show. They're both penciled in on my calendar.

The featured quilt artist was McKenna Ryan, who uses mostly applique to create absolutely gorgeous nature-inspired scenes on her quilts. The detail of her work is phenomenal. Here are a few pictures of her quilts, including one with me in front:

There were also quilts displayed from Barbara Sherrill, a local quilt guild member and artist. I LOVED the embellishments on her quilts, and her style of artistry. Here are a few of my favorites from her wonderful collection:

Also on exhibit were some of the quilts from the "Hoffman Fabric Challenge", a national quilt contest where participants must all use a recognizable piece of a certain chosen fabric in their quilt. Here's a few of these to admire too:

There were so many beautiful quilts there! I wish a had pictures of all of them, and apologize at the not-so-great pictures I did take. But here are a few of my favorites, starting with one from a Pendleton friend and fellow quilter/artist/teacher, Collen Blackwood: