Lucky escapes…

You’re lucky Dot and I are still here to tell our planet-saving tale. Unbeknownst to us, hunting season began two days ago. In retrospect, the fifteen year-old boys toting three-foot shotguns we passed as we headed out for our walk yesterday should have tipped us off, but it wasn’t until a sharp crack to our left made us jump out of our skin that we decided walking in the woods might not be such a good idea. So tomorrow it’s off to the farm shop to find some luminous orange garb for little Dot – she may be edible but I don’t really want her being turned into venison.

Our uninvited house guest problem was also put into perspective by reports of a bear-sighting in our local friends Kelly and Anna’s yard. Think I'll take mice over bears. Mind you, there was that curious incident of the four-pound weight…

Anyway, we took another small step in the right direction today. This one's REALLY embarassing because it is kind of 'going green 101'. I've been meaning for ages to start using a washing up bowl whenever I wash up (which the hubby would contend is rarely) but instead have been wantonly running the tap. Today I was finally spurred into action by the need to eke out the last of the eco-friendly washing up liquid. So I dug out the washing-up bowl we used as Dot's bath when she was first born and got to work. I was really shocked at how little water I needed. I haven't been able to find a definitive figure on how much I'll now be saving every time I wash up, but estimates I found range from 5 to 9 litres. However, since taps apparently spout 2 to 3 gallons a minute this seems conservative.

Blimey, am so crap - that bowl's been sitting there and all I needed to do was go upstairs to the bathroom and get it. No wonder the planet's in peril. It's because people like me keep putting things off till tomorrow. Speaking of which, I know I promised you adventures in diesel but I'm just soooo tired. Can we do it tomorrow?

Dot in the washing up bowl