A Unique Artificial tree for Christmas

I gotta hand it to those clever sales folks who are promoting the living daylights out of the kind of Christmas trees that most of us would never dream of owning. I mean those crazy looking things they like to call unique artificial Christmas trees!

You know the ones I mean, like those upside down trees, or crazy shapes like crosses, or spirals or even topiary designs. All supposed to be something different to scare your neighbors away. or something like that.

Well, here's what I think about them. I think that a Christmas tree should look like a darn Christmas tree and if your gonna go buy a plastic one, then it ought to look at least partway like the real fir tree its supposed to replace! What in the blue blazes does anyone want with a tree that stands on its head anyway? crazy!

Not only do you get odd shapes of what can only loosely be described as a tree, but they come in weird colors as well. Black! What kind of warped mind has a black Christmas tree in the home? Red and white I can sorta understand, but black? Or purple?

I never tire of find the ridiculous in what I see around me and even at this time of year when its supposed to be goodwill to all men, your truly still has his jibe at something that irritates him.

But for all that, have a good Christmas even though its still a month to go, cause that will go fast and the stores want your money. Now!

Edwyn Prose

Ventless Portable Air Conditioner

Ok, I'm back with another post and this time I want to mention the ventless portable air conditioner I bought last year and how it has helped me save money on power consumption during this year's hot summer. Ok, first you need to know that I already have a whole house air conditioning system installed which is real nice to have, but costs more and more to run as electricity prices climb and its also bad for the environment, right?

So I figured that by getting a smaller, portable air conditioning unit that it would use less power and still keep me cool. Well I got it last year and it was a resounding success, cutting my summer power bill by around two thirds, which is a pretty damn big saving. Well, I guessed it made pretty good sense. Those small units use only a fraction of the power of a whole house system and they run pretty quiet and don't take up much room.

Ok, at the same time I also had solar lights installed on my patio and back yard, so they run for free, also helping keep the power load down. But the power hungry monster in my household was always the air conditioning system in summer and I needed a way to use less power but still keep cool. It was pretty much a no brainer from my point of view.

That small, ventless portable air conditioner I got worked so well I bought a second unit to keep permanently in our bedroom so I didn't have to keep moving the other unit into the bedroom each night. I made a point of only switching the bedroom unit on a half hour before we went to bed, so the room was nice and cool for us and the unit has a good thermostat that kept the room at around 72 degrees all night which is completely comfortable and meant it didn't have to work much to maintain that temperature.

The other unit stayed in the main living room and of course only got turned on while we were in there. If we spent the day outdoors, the unit was switched off to conserve power and it was really no inconvenience to walk inside and switch it on a half hour or so before we planned to come in for the evening. Of course, when the rest of the family called round with the grandkids, we put on the main house air conditioning system to keep the whole place cool, but that was only every so often and the rest of the time we only ever used one portable or the other.

So as a neat investment to save power and do your small bit for the environment, one of these little babies is perfect for the job at hand.

Edwyn Prose

Wheelchair Stair Lift For Mom

Hey there once again, Edwyn here with some more of my observations and musings on life in general and life as it affects me in particular. This post is one of those sides of life that affects me, of more correctly my family. An elderly mom in the peak of health is one thing but an elderly mom who has arthritis and still insists on living in a two story house is another.

That woman is as tough as they come, but not so tough anymore as she struggles to get up and down those damn stairs of hers. Well, if she won't see sense and move into a single level home, then I guess the next best option is to have a stair chair lift fitted. And that would have been simple enough but she, as usual had other ideas.

Sure, the idea of a stair lift appealed to her no end, but to add to the logic that only a great grandmother could come up with, she decided that a stair lift should be able to cope with an uncertain future. meaning she could see herself one day having to use a wheelchair to get around and try as I might, I couldn't fault that logic that she should have a full blown wheelchair stair lift fitted. Hell, her stairway is certainly wide enough, so it made perfect sense.

The job was done inside a day and she now has the option of riding up and down her beloved stairs either standing, sitting or imagining her future in a wheelchair, if that's what she thinks about!

So, I guess the message coming from this post is that if you have an elderly mom who needs to climb stairs but she's getting too old for it, then get her a stair lift for heavens sake, because it'll maker her life far more pleasurable than the alternative.

I'll see you next time.
Edwyn Prose