Sailing

We’ve lived near the Gulf of Mexico for more than four years now, though we didn’t come here for the water.  We have great beaches within a short drive in several directions.  The Gulf of Mexico affords opportunities to fish, sail, kitesurf, bum on the beach, or any other water/wind/sand combination you might come up with.  Of course, the Gulf of Mexico is also the stomping ground for hurricanes now and again, but that’s another story.  

We live this close to the sand and the water, but we don’t spend much time at the beach.  We go to the beach a few times a year, usually when we have out-of-town visitors who want to poke their toes in the sand and collect a few shells.  Up until recently, we’d never been sailing here.  In fact, I’m not sure if any of us have ever been sailing. 

Some friends of ours live a much more coastal lifestyle.  They live on the beach, ocean kayak, windsurf, sail, and have a tight connection to the water here.  When they called one morning and asked if we wanted to go sailing, we jumped at the opportunity.  Ok, most of us jumped.  Sonar X4 was less than thrilled at the prospect, and was anxious and cautious throughout our sailing adventure.  The other guys looked like they were born to be on the water.  

L to R: Sonar X4, Sonar X6, our friend the Honorary Sonar, and Sonar X9 (Look at the hair on that one. Gorgeous.) (Photo by Carrie Robertson)We sailed in a sheltered area because the wind was pretty strong.  After a few passes, we dropped anchor and swam to a little barrier island.  This was both the  most fun and the most frightening part of the day for me because I’m not a great swimmer.  The moment before we got into the water was also Sonar X4’s peak panic moment and we thought perhaps he was trying to drown his dad as we swam.

I’m happy to say that I’m a better swimmer than I realized and no one drowned.  We came home with a sunny glow (ok, I was a tiny bit sunburned), and covered in salt, but we had so much fun.  Sonar X9 would like you to know that he now wants to learn how to sail.  No, I’m not buying him a boat.  

L to R: Partner, Sonar x4, Sonar X9, Moi, and Sonar X6, with the wind in our eyes. (Photo by Carrie Robertson)

Family Tour '09

Our trek this year began in the Texas Coastal Bend, just outside of Corpus Christi.  We set out with two Sonars in the van and headed for Calvert, Texas.  Partner’s family had been harboring the middle Sonar for a week.  We scooped him up and headed off in earnest on our vacation.  

Somehow we managed not to take pictures of everything.  We completely forgot the camera for our visit with family in Amarillo.  We have to head back there again soon and stay a little longer.  We saw aunts and uncles and cousins, but not nearly all of them and not nearly long enough.  Next time we’ll take pictures.  

We spent a week in Albuquerque and behaved like tourists much of the time.  We visited the planetarium and botanical gardens, the tram and the Explora! museum.  We have to go back to that Explora! place again.  It’s a hands-on museum and everything is fun to play with.  Games, crafts, science experiments.  What an awesome place.  

X4 playing at ExploraDragon from Rio Grande Botanic Gardens. She needs a name.

This year the kids had to squish to fit in the giant carrot at the same time.  

Three kids in a carrrot, Rio Grande Botanic Gardens

We spent one morning riding the Tram up to Sandia Peak and had lunch at the High Finance restaurant.  Albuquerque’s elevation is about one mile above sea level.  Sandia Peak is another mile up.  Visitors can drive or hike up there, or if they’re feeling fancy, they can ‘fly’ up on the world’s longest aerial tramway.  

Sonars on the east side of Sandia Peak.Sandia Peak, east side view (down the ski lift)Sandia Peak, west side view (down the Tram)Of course, most of the time it was just as fun to hang out at Papa and Nana’s house.  They command a view of the entire valley and the west side of the Sandia Mountains.  Breathtaking is an understatement.  Sit out there for sunrise sometime.  There is no better place to clear one’s head.  

View of the Sandias from the back porch

On the Fourth of July, a lovely cool morning brought out many hot air balloons.  One landed across the street, to the delight of us all.  

Hot air balloons in the front yard

That night we toasted marshmallows and watched the many different fireworks displays throughout the city, all from the comfort of that amazing back porch.  

July 4th, toasting marshmallows in the chiminea with NanaA couple-thousand miles later, we returned home, ready to not be in the car, ready to sleep in our own beds, and filled with memories and ideas to fill our imaginations.  The vacation was Cliche American Family Road Trip at its best, and we can’t wait to do it again.  Next time we ride the Railrunner to Santa Fe!!

Supplemental Laundry Center

“Use it up. Wear it out. Make it Do. Or do without.”

I totally wish I could remember where I read this, but applause to the person who generated the phrase. At it’s heart, it’s a phrase about frugality, I think. For me, it satisfies twin drives: the desire to save my family money and the desire to save resources and be environmentally and socially responsible. Oh, I might add a third—the creativity and cleverness that is often involved in the “make it do” part.

We are a single-income family with three children under eight, so I face the challenge of this phrase every day. One step at a time, we’ve whittled down our practices to make the most of what we have. One car. One walking commuter (payroll spouse). One biking commuter (oldest kid). Nearly year-round garden. No cable or satellite television (remind me to post about this as a watershed change in our lives). Second-hand clothes that are reused and remodified until every last bit of lint is shaken out of them. Home cooking and food preservation. Compost pile. Jam-packed recycling bin. Green electric company. Just to name a few.

But I know there’s room for more changes.

We live coastal South Texas. The same climate that makes it possible to garden almost all year long, is the climate that makes August feel like sitting in a pot of boiling water. We need the heater (mainly for one chilly bedroom) here and there for a total of only a few weeks each year. There are a few weeks before and after the heat need where the house is comfortable with windows and doors open. The other six to eight months of the year, the temperature inside the house and outside challenges my body’s internal thermostat. This makes air conditioning our single biggest energy suck.

We set our thermostat high (82F usually), turn it off when we’re not at home. Employ strategic window curtaining to minimize sun-warming (an opposite strategy occurs in winter, with strategic curtain-opening to warm cool rooms). In other words, we’re trying.

With three small kids, I do one to three loads of laundry every day. I estimate that this makes laundry our second biggest energy suck. We had tried a clothesline when we first moved here three years ago. We strung a long line between two trees and hung up some stuff. We gave up after a few days because of things blowing away in the sea “breeze” (yes, I did use clothespins), a general lack of drying in the high humidity, and other life events sucking our time and energy.

I am committed now to trying again. I have a new clothesline, strung in a spot slightly more sheltered from the wind, in a cradle of fencing that will likely catch any clothes that decide to take flight. And I have a splinter-free table for the laundry basket. So, yes the SLC is just a table and a clothesline, but doesn’t it sound so fancy? ;)

I am on day five of daily hanging, and so far, I’d say my renewed committment and our slight modifications are working. The humidity does seem to prevent the clothing from drying completely most days. Seams and pockets are very resistant. One day this week, everything dried completely (I cheered and did a snoopy dance). The other days, I took things down at the end of the day and tossed them in the dryer to finish them off.

Overall I think it is going well. I’m using the dryer less than one-quarter of the time I was using it before. I look forward to the next electric bill to see what kind of an impact it will make.

Now, this is not easy. Hauling wet clothes in the basket out there is not for the faint-of-back. And the lifting and clipping is a good upper-body workout. I doubt I’ll be able to do it on sick days. And I’m curious what impact the high summer humidity will have. I wish my line were just a smidge longer. Right now, it’s a W, one line strung at angles between the house and fence. I wish I had just two more spans. One day this week, I did one load in the dryer because I ran out of room on the line.

Unintended perks: My preschoolers love to hang out under the wet laundry. It’s a fort. It’s a space ship. It’s a cool spot out of the sun. They also love to put the clothespines back in the bag. And the work of the laundry actually seems to go by faster in the morning, because I do the load and hang it up, or do one load of wash after another, without having to wait for the dryer.

And no. Not washing by hand. Not gonna do it.

Next post: Aspirations and Fear