What's In Your Shed: The Surprising Truth About Gas Mowers - They're Worse Than Your Car

It's spring! Which means every weekend, and sometimes on weekdays, we hear the sounds of lawn mowers, weed trimmers, leaf blowers and other yard tools. On top of hearing them... we also smell them.

Oh, I'm not talking about the smell of fresh mown grass which is actually quite pleasant, unless you have allergies, in which case, it might make you a bit twitchy.

No, I'm talking about the smell of gasoline exhaust. Even though we live in a semi-urban area with moderate sized properties (8000 sq ft), an appalling number of people still have gasoline powered lawn mowers. Not only are they stinky, they are also really noisy... and as I listen to the neighbour trying to get theirs working after its winter hiatus... I wonder... why? And what cost?

We sit in the middle of three houses that run the gamut of lawn mowing equipment. From battery to electric to gasoline-powered.

Battery Lawnmower

Downslope from us is Lindy who uses a battery operated lawn mower. State of the art and super quiet. She just plugs it in to a wall outlet to charge. There are no cords, no fuss, no muss. There's also not a lot of oomph. Lindy laments that she can only do about 30 minutes at a time before the battery loses power and she needs to plug it in again. That's usually enough time for her to finish the front lawn, but not the back lawn. That's the thing with battery-powered tools, they often lack oomph and their battery drains leaving you with an anemic lawnmower that can barely do anything.

Corded Electric Lawnmower

We, on the other hand, have an electric lawn mower, a Black & Decker, I think. We got it second-hand for $40 and it's been great. It has a height adjustment lever... one lever raises and lowers all 4 wheels. Nice! It has decent power although if the grass is long and shaggy, I have to raise the mower or risk it choking. You have to coddle electric mowers a bit... they don't have as much oomph as a gas-powered mower. And if you're not paying attention and try to plough through a long, dense patch of grass and don't listen to the mower and adjust accordingly... you will trip the breaker. We had that happen with the guy who does our house cleaning. He does yard work as well but had obviously never used an electric mower and... tried to push through and... tripped the breaker. The other thing you have to watch out for is the power cord... don't mow over that or your lawn mowing adventure will come to an abrupt end.

Gas Lawnmower

Then we have our upslope neighbours who have an old gasoline-powered lawnmower. It is old. It is super noisy. It stinks the whole neighbourhood up with the fumes. And every few times, they have to tinker with it to get it going. I had a friend who had a gas mower... her shed stank of gasoline and the wooden floor was stained with gasoline and oils spills. Yuck.

Obviously, the gas powered mower is not great for the environment... but I had no idea how bad...

Impact of Gas-Powered Lawn Equipment

The problem lies in the type of engine within these devices - two stroke and four stroke engines. Two stroke engines do not have a separate lubrication system so gasoline and oil are mixed. This means that 30% of the fuel does not combust completely, releasing toxic fumes into the air. Four-stroke engines are slightly better but not great.

For example, let's consider a two stroke scooter, which you might think is eco-friendly because it hardly uses an gas. A 2014 study of VOC (harmful gases) found that emissions were 124 times HIGHER with an idling scooter than with a car or truck.

Oh, and a four stroke gasoline powered lawnmower emits the same amount of emissions as a vehicle travelling 800 kilometres. 

A consumer grade gasoline powered leaf blower emits more hydrocarbons than a truck or sedan.

An EPA study in the USA found that gasoline powered lawnmowers produce 5% of total air pollution in the USA.

From APCD of Kentucky (Air Pollution Control District)
based on EPA data

And let's not talk about fuel spills when refilling a gas-powered lawn mower. This can release toxic compounds into the air and seep into the soil and ground water.

Oh, and then there is noise pollution. Most gas lawnmowers, particularly older models run at 95-100 decibels (db). Irreparable hearing damage can start at just 85 db with repeated or prolonged exposure. Electric mowers? They run at 75 db. You can listen to that all day and be fine. Gas powered mower or weed trimmer?

Solutions

 If you want to reduce your carbon footprint... and don't have the budget for an electric vehicle... don't worry... you can get huge bang for your buck by switching from a gas-powered lawnmower to an electric one! If you can't go big... don't go home... go small!

You could also, of course, get a reel lawnmower... one of those push mowers. A neighbour 2 houses up from us had one of those and... used it once and then it sat in the front yard and quietly rusted. I'm going to guess it was not a success. If you have a tiny patch of lawn then a push-reel mower might be the thing for you.

Take a look in your shed... can your gas-powered anything be replaced with an electric version? The electric version might cost more initially but over time... with gasoline costs going up and up... you'll make your money back. Or buy a second-hand electric mower and save even more! Or a weed trimmer... or a leaf blower... or a snow blower... or a chainsaw.

On top of that many municipalities are moving to ban gas-powered lawn equipment... so if you still have a fume-belching, gas-guzzling lawn dinosaur... it's days might be numbered...

Oh... and that cute little Italian Vespa scooter that is going to solve your commuting woes? Remember... two-stroke and four-stroke engines... put out more emissions than a car... The Italian city of Genoa, birthplace of the Vespa moved to ban the little things back in 2019... and other European cities have followed suite... mostly banning older models. But the writing is one the wall.

This is one of those times where you don't want "vintage", no matter how cool and retro it looks. Function (poor emissions quality) trumps Form (cute look).

Eco-Friendly Beauty: Discovering Makeup and Skincare Recycling Solutions

I was leaving Walmart the other day, having bought my jars of pickles (very specific pickles only available at Walmart) and a watch battery. I actually hate shopping at Walmart. I hate the self-checkout area which feels a bit like a bull-ring. I hate the talking tills. The whole thing just... irks me. I just want out of there! As fast as possible.

But as I scampered past the optical department... and almost reached the customer service desk... I stopped dead in my tracks. What the heck was this box?

TerraCycle Cosmetic & SkinCare Recycling Box at Walmart

Make-up recycling???!!! What the heck!? They have recycling for Cosmetics and Skincare products. Whooooaaaaaa... 

Now let me first say that I don't use cosmetics or make-up. But I do use skin-care products like lotions... and lip balm... and deodorant... And it has always irked me that these containers are either very hard to recycle (washing out a lotion bottle?) or impossible (deodorant - too many different plastic types).

There was a QR code on the side of the box... I scanned it and it took me here... It's a TerraCycle project! I know them! They have a system to handle "hard-to-recycle" things... like toothbrushes and toothpaste tubes...

Walmart has partnered with TerraCycle and a few cosmetics companies (L'Oreal being a big one) to take back cosmetic and skincare containers. From ANY brand! Cool! OK... I might need to re-evaluate my opinion of Walmart... a little bit.

So here's a list of things that they take... I'm going to need another bin to collect this stuff at home...

What You can Recycle

• lip balm, lip gloss, lip liner and lipstick tubes
• soap dispensers and tubes
• lotion bottles, tubes, dispensers and plastic jars
• non-pressurized shaving foam tubes
• body wash containers
• mascara tubes
• eyeliner pencils and cases
• eyeshadow packaging
• concealer tubes
• foundation packaging and bottles
• powder cases

What You Can't Recycle

• perfume (presumably because it has alcohol - flammable)
• nail polish bottles (same thing... highly flammable)
• nail polish remover bottles (same... extremely flammable)
• pressurized canisters (including aerosol cans) (explosive)
• sharps (including razors) (dangerous)

Excellent news! Kudos to Walmart and... wait a minute... I was doing some background reading and... London Drugs is also doing this. And has been for YEARS!

Well... not quite... yes, London Drugs has been recycling cosmetics for several years but NOT skincare products (like lotion bottles). So the Walmart box is more inclusive...

And to be honest... I've never seen a make-up recycling box at London Drugs. Mind you... I don't really go into the make-up section but I have definitely walked by it at various times. And never, ever has a recycling box (and they are big!) impinged on my radar.

Walmart has a good location for theirs... as you exit the store, where people are most likely to see it. Alright... I am going to have to make up a list (make up... make-up... hahahah!) of recyclable skin care/cosmetic products and pay more attention before I throw a lip balm in the garbage... or a lotion bottle.

Although... I still want to know about deodorant... it is not on the accepted list... but neither is it on the reject list. To recycle it... or not... I think I will add it to the bin and take it along next time

And... I just did a search for deodorant and recycling and came across the Beauty Vixen's blog post... apparently there are a swack of other stores that also do beauty recycling including Hudson's Bay, L'Occitane en Provence, Winners and Holt Renfrew. There appear to be size limitations though on some of them (less than 60 ml, under 2 inches by 2 inches, etc). Although... some even accept shampoo bottles!

Well then... now we know. Any and all beauty and skin care products (minus the flammable stuff) can be recycled via either TerraCycle or Pact (another outfit like TerraCycle). Just look for the boxes... or ask at the front desk...

So... don't toss your lip balm, your lotion bottle or your foundation container. Recycle instead.

Still need to work on the dentist to sponsor a TerracCycle dental products box... will try emailing them again...

More Resources

TerraCycle's page on cosmetic recycling

Running on Empty: Writing Blogs with Zero Buffer

I had a 4 month buffer on this blog back in November. That's 16 weeks of posts... all scheduled and laid out... And I blew it. I'm now backed against the blog posting wall with no buffer... no posts in my backpocket and... I hate that!

The idea of having a nice fat buffer is... I can relax a bit. I don't have to write a blog every week. If I want to write 3 one week, and none for a few weeks, that works. There is a buffer... and the buffer can absorb the vagaries of my writing inspirations... or lack thereof. And a 4 month buffer is a very healthy buffer... but over the last few months, my attention has been elsewhere. And now the buffer is gone... weep for the little buffer... sigh...

No buffer means I feel the stress of getting a post written and published. No buffer means I have no wiggled room. No buffer means I question whether I even want to continue doing this.

Now... my partner will tell you that all of this stress, anguish and gnashing of teeth is self-imposed. There is no Blog God holding a gun to my head saying... "You must publish a blog every week or... else..." Seriously, there isn't... This blog doesn't even have a tonne of readers who will *gasp* abandon me if I skip a week or two.

But... and you knew there was a "but"... this blog isn't really for others... it's for me (mostly). A place where I can write an express ideas and wrestle with things and get my thoughts out of my head. If someone else benefits from it... bonus!

There is a sweet spot of writing for me... when I have a bunch of posts in the bag... I can write or not write on a particular day and I'm OK. I can focus my writing on other blogs (I have several) and other projects.

It's not that I lack for topics, I have reams and reams of ideas and many, many draft posts that need some polishing and tweaking and research. But the month of April (it is April 2 as I write this) is full. I have tax preparation as Priority #1 for the first two weeks. Oh, and Airbnb cleaning... And then 10 days of working the pulpmill shutdown as Hole Watch (now that is a whole other post!). And then a conference to attend at the end of the month. And there goes April... poof.

So I sit here and write what's front and centre and real. I could skip a post... I could. I've done that in the past. But from experience I know what happens when I skip one post... one turns into two... turns into three... then 10... then 50. Before you know it, a whole year has gone by and I wonder why I am bursting with ideas and no outlet for them.

There is something soothing, comforting, satisfying.. .cathartic? About writing these posts. So I do try to keep at least one post coming out every week. They might not be long. They might not be deep. But they are real and reflect my current state of grumbling anxious panic... "Who the heck let a 4 MONTH buffer slip away...?"

Because let me tell you... it is way easier to post one blog a week as part of a blog post maintenance program, thereby keeping a rolling 4 month buffer... than to try and come up with 4 blog posts in 1 week! The difference between sweeping and snow shoveling... maintenance is always easier than catch-up...

Grumble...

Day 1 - Diary of a Grieving Ailurophile (Cat Lover)

April 11

We had to put our cat down yesterday. We knew Minnie was going. She had been diagnosed with Stage 3 (verging on Stage 4) kidney failure in early September 2023. We pulled out all the stops, and gave her subcutaneous injections of saline every 3, 2 and, eventually, every single day.

In early February she got a UTI and slid downhill. We fought it with 3 rounds of antibiotics and many vet visits. One vet figured she was also hyperthyroid and prescribed anti-thyroid meds. When Minnie vomited those up after 3 days, we called it quits on that. She was 13 years old. The UTI took a lot of out of her. The anti-nausea meds didn't agree with her. The appetite stimulant's worked for a while and then didn't.

And by mid-March we knew the end was coming. She stopped eating her urinary cat food. She stopped eating her kidney cat food. We tried treats. She ate them for a while and then stopped. We tried canned salt-free tuna. She ate that for a week (her absolute favourite food) and then stopped. We tried Fancy Feast. She ate that for a week and then stopped. She'd nibble on a treat fragment every once in a while. She slept alot. But she was still cuddly. And yet... she was a pale shadow of her former self.

On Friday, April 5, we saw the vet again. She agreed. It was time. My partner wasn't quite there yet so the vet said we could have the weekend to say goodbye. And so we did. Minnie perked up a bit. She ate tuna. She wandered the backyard. She ate grass. She slept in the sun. She burrowed in the blankets. She slept. And got cuddles. Lots of cuddles.

Even though we knew it was time. The surrealness of it all was hard to grasp. Three more sleeps. Two more sleeps. One more sleep. No more sleep. 10 hours. 8 hours. 6 hours. 1 hour. Time to leave. We cried. Minnie burrowed in her blanket and purred and washed her front paws. Were we making the right decision? She weighed less than 5 lbs. From a healthy weight of 13 lbs. She was a ghost. Scrawny and emaciated. But she purred. She cuddled. She staggered sometimes when she walked. She was still happy. She hadn't fallen off the cliff yet.

We've had cats who have fallen off the cliff, who fade slowly and then, suddenly, one day, you wake up and it's clear... Today is the day. But at that point, the cat is in dire straits. Spooky, our previous cat, either had asthma or a tumour in her throat. We phoned the vet on the morning she fell off a cliff and got a 2 pm appt. I had to watch as Spooky coughed and wheezed while her gums and tongue turned blue. Until she could breathe again... but then if we touched her, she would purr... which would trigger another coughing spasm.

No. Never again. Let them go before they get to that point. Don't wait until they are knocking at death's door. But it's a hard thing to judge. Are they at Death's Door? Or wandering down Death's Alley, still a few weeks, days, from Death's Door?

In the end. We know... we think... we convince ourselves... that we timed it right with Minnie. We made the right decision. She went quickly when the vet injected the pink liquid. We washed her fur with our tears and held her and cuddled and let her know that she was loved.

And it is so insanely hard. To return to an empty house, devoid of a feline spirit. It's empty. Oh sure, we are there. But the little feline spirit is not. No pitter patter of little feet. No chirp or coo as she entered a room. No tail-in-the-air as she sauntered into the living room. Although, to be honest, we haven't had a lot of coos, chirps or perky tails for the last couple of months. She has been waning for many weeks. Months. 

So we burst into tears at odd moments. My eyes are scratchy with all the crying. I'm not sure if it's dehydration or too much salt in my eyes. So many things remind us of her. She was a presence in every room. No paddling at the patio door, asking (nay... demanding) to be let out. No cuddles on the couch. Nighttime is the worst. No warm little body tucked in behind the knees. No furry body taking up 80% of the pillow.

No. Miss Minnie Princess Pretty Paws is gone. And we miss her dreadfully.

They say that grief comes in waves. Right now, the waves are coming hard and fast. They are raw. They are visceral. We sob, we cry. We laugh. We reminisce. We sob again.

In writing this post, I am hoping that I can see the waves ease. Become farther apart. Less intense. I hope. Small steps. One day at a time.

Closet Chronicles: The Strategy for Wearing More of What You Own

Crowded jeans/pants section of my closet

I wouldn't call myself a fashionista by any stretch of the imagination. My wardrobe generally consists of  jeans, t-shirts, flannel shirts and a few sweaters. Nothing fancy. Nothing overwhelming. And yet... my 5 foot stretch of closet rod is literally groaning with the weight of all my clothes. What the heck?

More perplexing is the fact that I end up wearing the same 2 or 3 t-shirts and pants, week after week. Why keep all these clothes if I just wear a few at a time? Why not... you know... rotate through them? And I have the best laid plans to do exactly that and... it all falls by the wayside. Why? Because sometimes my jeans don't fit well... they are too big... or too small. And so I am limited to the few that actually... fit. Sigh.

Tackling the Closet

So, the other week, I stood in front of my closet and decided to get organized. I tried on every single pair of jeans and pants and figured out which ones fit, and which ones don't. I also took aside my fleece-lined winter jeans and put them with the "do not fit" pile. Then I rummaged through all of the hangers and pulled out matching ones. These are for my jeans/pants that DO fit. The do NOT fit pile got different coloured hangers and got stuff in the back right-hand side of the closet. Now, I can identify them easily.

Backwards Rotation

Reversed hangers and normal hangers - 
Pull from the left... rehang on the right.

I then organized my jeans/pants and discovered that I actually had very few blue jeans that actually fit. So I mixed them in with the beige and black jeans... and the other pants and then hung everything up neatly. But with a twist. I put the hangers on the rod backwards. This is a trick I learned in the minimalism community. Every time I pull a pair of jeans/pants out of the closet, I will put them back with the hanger the right way. This way, after a year, or so, I will know which ones I actually wear!

Another trick... I am pulling jeans/pants from the left side and hanging them back on the right side, creating a bit of a conveyer belt system. Pull from the left... hang back on the right. Theoretically... I will easily cycle through my jeans/pants! Theoretically...

I did the same thing with my t-shirts (which hang in the closet) and flannel shirts. Since these are more on the left-hand side of the closet... I will pull from the right and hang back on the left (deeper into the closet).

How Much is Too Much?

I have to admit being a bit flummoxed by the number of items I had:

• Jeans/Pants that do NOT fit - 6
• Jeans/Pants that DO fit - 20
• T-shirts - 15
• Flannel Shirts - 10
• Hoodies/sweaters - 10
• Other shirts - 5

It's definitely not a ridiculous or excessive amount of clothes. Or... is it? Considering that our house was built in 1980 and that a 5 foot closet run was considered sufficient for two adults... me having a 5 foot closet rod all to myself would suggest that... in fact... this is a bit excessive. Although... if I watch any HGTV home reno shows and see all of the walk-in closets that seem to be de rigueur for new builds and renos these days... well... my tiny 5 foot span of closet rod is positively paltry in comparison! Compared with those dream closets, I have a piddly amount of clothes.

Glorious walk-in closet
(Image by Mike Gattorna from Pixabay)

But... if I got back to the 1950s and look at closets from back then... they are even smaller... a mere 3 feet or so of closet rod length for a married couple. Which makes me think that we are experiencing wardrobe-flation. Over the years... the number of clothes that are considered "normal" just goes up... and up and up.

And this despite the fact that the Pareto Principle is very much in force... we wear 20% of our clothes 80% of the time (2 or 3 t-shirts and a few pairs of jeans). It's true.

Fun Fact: The Average Woman owns 103 items of clothing but only wears 10% of them. (That does not... of course... include accessories, outer- or under garments).

And trying to cycle through 100% of my wardrobe is proving to be a bit of a "thing". It's not easy. Some days I don't want to wear slacks (too fancy for grocery shopping) and I just want a pair of jeans but... the Hanger-of-the-Day says that slacks it is. Ugh. I am at the mercy of my closet system. Sigh.

Oh... and then there are the "play" t-shirts (relegated to that category because of stains or holes). These are good for hiking and gardening but not for "going out". Then there are the shorts as well... I think I might be that "average" woman with 103 items of clothing!

But... for now... I am going to give my rotating, hanging backwards closet system a try. Ideally... if there are any hangers that are still on the rod backwards in a year... those items can go. We'll see about that!

Be the Hero: Sign Up as an Organ Donor Today!

I was at the Driver's License office the other week, getting my license renewed. As I waited in the lobby for the doors to open, I noticed a QR code on the wall... it was for organ donation.

I'm a big fan of organ donation. I have a t-shirt from the Kidney Foundation that I bought at some point. On the front it says...

"Don't take your organs to Heaven"

On the back it says...

"Heaven knows we need them here."

Two Minutes to Register

It used to be that you could register as an organ donor just by having the sticker on your Driver's License, but that is no longer good enough. Now, it needs to be tied to your provincial health card number.

The sign by the QR code said it would take 2 minutes. So I did it... And it did indeed take only 2 minutes. It's a very small step... but one that could have HUGE benefits for numerous people...

Driver's License Stickers are Passé

Did you know 95% of BC residents support organ donation? Yep... that means, the odds are... if you  are reading this, you support organ donation. Yay!!! The kicker is... only 30% of BC residents have registered as organ donors. Oh... you remember putting a sticker on your driver's license... years ago? That is passé... today, you need to be in the organ donor registry.

Too Old? Too Young?

But wait... you're too old you say? The oldest organ donor in Canada was 92! The oldest tissue donor was 104!! Let the specialists decide. It's never too early... or too late to become an organ donor.

Think you're too young?? Anyone 16 or older can register to become an organ/tissue donor. 

Religious Concerns?

You're not sure if your religion supports organ donation? Well... as it turns out, most religions support and even encourage organ donation. Here's a link to the American Kidney Foundation... find your religion on the list and see what it says... Most religions leave the decision up to you. Many see it as a voluntary act of charity and love while some actually see it is obligatory if you can save a life (Judaism). Yep... if your dead body could save a life... or many lives... why would you NOT do it???

So unless you practice Shinto or are a Gypsy... you're good to go!

Lackadaisical Doctors?

Some potential donors are afraid that doctors won't try to save their life with all the power that is in their possession but... that is not true. Organ donation is only considered after all life saving efforts have been exhausted and it is certain that you will not survive.

Oh... and only 1% of deaths in BC are viable organ donation scenarios... you basically have to be on a ventilator in ICU. Heck, you are six times more likely to NEED an organ donation than to actually BE an organ donor. Your tissue needs to be a match to a recipient and the odds of that are very small. Which is why we need more people to register to be organ donors!

Medical Condition?

You have a medical condition? You are worried it will disqualify you? Well, let the doctors make that decision when the time comes. You and I are (mostly) not medical professionals... we don't know. They do.

Open Casket Funeral?

But can you still have an open casket funeral? Yes, you can. Specialist surgeons will remove and prepare your organs and you'll still be able to have an open casket funeral.

What you Can Donate

It's your choice. And you get to choose which organs you wish to be donated. Everything from this list is possible:

• heart
• liver
• kidneys
• pancreas
• bowel
• eyes
• tissue (heart valves, bones, tendons, skin, veins, arteries)
• lungs
• used for research

Me? I signed up for all of it. 

Tell Your Loved Ones!

You also get to leave an optional message for your loved ones at the time of donation/decision. This makes it easier for your loved ones to know what your wishes were and to relieve them of having to make the hard decision. 

How Many Lives can be Saved?

So... the burning question is... how many lives can one (1) organ donor save??

1. Five
2. Eight
3. Ten
4. One

I'll give you a minute....

 ***elevator music***

According to Canadian Blood Services...

A single organ donor can save up to eight lives!

And eye and tissue donors can improve the lives of up to 75 patients!

Win. Win. Win. Win. Win. Win. Win. Win!

Sign up! It takes Two Minutes

Why wait? There's no reason to wait. It takes 2 (two) minutes... all you need is your BC Personal Health Number. Remember... you're not too old or too sick. Odds are, you are one of the 95% of British Columbians that support it! (If you're not a BC resident... keep reading!)

Just go here... Organ Donor Registry (transplant.bc.ca)... sign-up. Maybe you'll be one of the lucky 1% who get chosen to be an organ donor when your time comes. And if not... at least you tried. You're still a hero!

If you're in Alberta - it's also super easy, all done online - Alberta Organ Donor Registry 

If you live elsewhere... just google your state/province and "organ donation"... you'll find the site quickly.

One final thing... tell your loved ones about your decision. Ultimately, at the time of your death, when the doctors show them your organ donor registration consent... your family or loved ones need to know this is really what you wanted. Families are more likely to agree to the donation if they know what your wishes were.

In Canada, we have an organ donor awareness day/week in April known as Green Shirt Day in honour of Logan Boulet... a member of the Humboldt Broncos ice hockey team. Even in the face of that tragic day in 2018, and the death of their son, Logan's parents respected his wishes as a registered organ donor and his organs saved 6 lives. His coach, who had inspired Logan to be an organ donor, also died and saved another 6 lives.

If Logan could do it. You can do it too.

Balancing Act: The Dance of Form and Function in Our Relationship

My partner and I have had a LOT of disagreements over the years. On every topic imaginable. And sometimes they got quite heated. We would each be perplexed by the other's position or point of view. To each of us, it was so obvious why we wanted to do something a certain way. But not to the other person. 

A year or so ago, it came to me in a flash, a different way of understanding our different worldviews. Form and Function. Now this is not a philosophical discussion into the question of Form and Essence. It's much more practical than that. My partner and I each look at the world from a very different point of view. We approach every task and project from a different perspective.

Function

This is me. I look at things from a function perspective with maybe a dash of form. I think about how this will work. How will this function.

For example... we have a steep little slope down to the north property line. There are weeds growing on this area, but since it's below our line of raspberries, it's not all that noticeable to us. When we first moved in, my partner wanted to get rid of all the weeds because they didn't look nice. I refused to rip them out because I knew that their roots were part of what was keeping the soil in place. Rip out the weeds and the torrential rains of winter would erode the soil and create all sorts of problems.

That's the practical side of me... the function side. I will happily weed whack that area, but I am not ripping out the weeds. And the only reason I would even spend time weed whacking them was to prevent them from spreading their seeds into the raspberries because then I would have more work ripping out weeds from the raspberries. That's function.

Form

Can you guess what my partner is? Yep, form. With the weeds above, it was all about how it would look. The weeds look ugly and unkempt, better to rip them out.

Another example, we have a narrow garden bed next to the fence along the side of the house. There is a stone pathway that leads to the compost bins along the side. In the past we have just planted scented geranium along this garden bed as it grows without any care or attention, keeps the weeds down and doesn't need watering. We had to remove a section of plants because of the new irrigation system, and now the bed is waiting to get replanted. My partner would like to plant some hardy primulas along the edge of the bed, because they are so cute and cheery in the spring. I really don't care what we plant there. To me, as long as the weeds are kept to a dull roar, I'm fine with whatever. I don't want weeds spreading their progeny to other areas of the garden. Although... if we plant scented geraniums in behind the primulas, I know that they will over-run the primulas within a year or two... is that function or form?

The Light Bulb Moment

These are fairly innocuous examples. But it shows up everywhere. We want to buy a new car. I'm more concerned about functional aspects like all-wheel drive or safety while my partner tends to lean towards the colour and the look of it.

After one tussle of differing visons, it came to me that I was concerned with function... and my partner was focused on form. That realization changed everything. It gave us a framework from which we could see that the other person wasn't a complete heathen. We just saw things very differently. I understood that for my partner, how something looked was important. My partner could understand that I was concerned with how something would work or function.

When my partner presented me with some airy, dreamy vision for a garden bed, a retaining wall or a trellis, I would immediately run through the practicalities of it in my head and voice my reservations/concerns/objections. My partner would experience this as a shut-down of her dreams. But now... now that we understand form and function... and that we sit at opposite ends of the spectrum, we can see and respect the other person's point of view.

Now, we can talk about a project or a task and see each other as having a valuable contribution to bring. Sometimes Function doesn't really matter... and Form can run rampant and spread joy and beauty everywhere. But sometimes Function has a good point.

Dry Sectional vs. Wet Sectional

We purchase an outdoor sectional for the Airbnb's patio area. It's a long, narrow area - about 6 feet wide and 20 feet long. Two of the sectional pieces do fit across the patio, so my partner thought that would be ideal... put two pieces across the one end, and then have the other pieces along the long side. But... Function popped up with the reminder that the hanging baskets have a spray irrigation that would spray anything within two feet of them... And so now the sectional pieces are all arranged along the long edge of the patio, with the exception of a cushion-less ottoman piece that sits in the "wet zone". The cool thing was... we could have this conversation without an argument... we could use the form and function terminology to help see the perspective of the other.

There is a well-known phrase that Form follows Function. Think of a building... which needs to be primary... the structure of the building or the beauty? Well... structure obviously. A beautiful but poorly built building won't stand up very long. But well-built buildings can also be beautiful. Otherwise we end up with Soviet-era ugly concrete blocks that drain the soul and look hideous.

Form and Function really need to walk hand-in-hand and respect what the other has to bring. That way, we can create something is functional as well as beautiful! Because it's not really either/or... it's both/and - so that the two can work together.

Other Reading

I came across a Medium post about Form & Function in relationships

An architect's take on Form vs Function with some hilarious examples from the design world

Starbucks Unwrapped: Delving into the World of Factory-Made Bakery Delights

Brownie on wheels... how far does it come?

I'm up super early most mornings and usually zip off to Starbucks for 5:30 am. Yep, they are open early! Most of them. I grab my tea and unpack my office gear at a table and start happily blogging or writing or organizing my to-do list. Until the delivery guys come.

The Gordon Foods delivery trucks usually arrive shortly after the cafe opens and they trundle in mountains of boxes and oodles of milk jug crates. A lot of the delivery drivers like to leave the doors of the store open, because it's more convenient for them. But there can be loooonnnggg gaps while they are in the back, unloading things into the refrigerators, or in their truck, loading stuff up on the hand-cart... while I am sitting there, freezing my knees off.

Then come the boxes of soy milk, coconut milk, oat milk and yak milk (kidding on that last one).

A delivery of food boxes at Starbucks

Plus many, many boxes of baked goods. Croissants, breakfast sandwiches, brownies - all in cardboard boxes. 

Which got me thinking... as I sat there, shivering... exactly where do these tasty things come from?

It's quite unlikely that they come from a local bakery. If you walk into a Starbucks in Vancouver or London or Bangkok and order a double-chocolate brownie... odds are the brownie will look and taste identical. Sooo where do they come from?

I actually emailed Starbucks to ask them and got some standard boiler-plate email which basically said nothing. Apparently it's a proprietary secret. So I did some more digging...

Ready? Brace yourself. Cause it's not pretty.

Tracking the Brownie

There's my brownie!!
(Well, a demo version of it...)

Let's backtrack first... So there's that chocolate brownie sitting in the Starbucks display case. It used to be that Starbucks had several of each item displayed. So you might see 5 brownies sitting there, and 5 coffee cake slices, etc. But those days are gone, at least in our Starbucks. Nowadays, in order to reduce food waste, I only see a "demo" brownie in the display case (along with other single bakery items). And the breakfast sandwiches don't have demo models (can you imagine... that sitting out all day??).

That single brownie is for display purposes only. It is never sold but tossed at the end of the day. Apparently the food in the display case smells quite funky and sour by the end of the day soooo, no... you don't want to eat that brownie. (Newsweek article on barsitas cleaning out the display case - don't even get me started on this...)

So, you order your brownie, and the barista will reach into an under-the-counter cooler and pull it out. It is individually wrapped in plastic and she/he will then unwrap it, put it on a piece of paper and heat it in the oven for 20 seconds (ALWAYS get your brownie warmed up - sooooo much better) They will then toss that little piece of paper as they slip the brownie into a little paper bag for you (or a plate if you ask for it). Yes, I know... that's three disposable wrappers... ugh.

Baskets of individually wrapped sandwiches &
baked goods at Starbucks.

So how did the brownie get into the behind-the-counter cooler? Well, in the mornings (bright and early), the baristas re-fill the behind-the-counter coolers from the big freezers behind the scenes. They have yellow plastic trays and they will pull out all of the baked goods that they think they will need - 10 of this, 12 of this, 12 of that. Those yellow plastic trays might sit out for a bit, possibly thawing. And how did they get into the behind-the-scenes freezers? From those cardboard boxes that Gordon Foods delivers.

Now the trail gets murky... Gordon Foods gets them from somewhere. But where? This is where some internet research yielded the answer...

Your chocolate brownie, or breakfast sandwich or lemon loaf cake are all made in a massive factory by a Canadian company called Premium Brands. Where is this factory? Could be in Columbus (OH), Reno (NV) or Phoenix (AZ). Here in Canada... it could be Edmonton or Montreal. Does it matter? Not really... it's certainly NOT a 100 mile diet for most of us - unless you live in Edmonton or Montreal.

From a Premium Brands Factory to a Starbucks near You

So here's how it goes down... roughly... the chocolate brownie or egg breakfast sandwich gets cooked in this factory... 100s of them... 1000s of them... a whole long conga line of brownies and breakfast sandwiches. Which come toddling off the assembly line quick frozen and tucked into individual plastic wrappers. They come with an expiry date (6 months into the future - they are frozen after all) and are packed up in boxes. These boxes are bundled up and shipped off to Starbucks cafes around the country. Shipped via train, truck or plane? Don't know.

But the baked goods are frozen... so the expiry date is good, right? Well, as long as the temperature stays constant for the entire trip... as they get trundled from factory to loading dock and on to a truck... which has a good refrigeration system... and then unloaded or reloaded somewhere else (several times perhaps)... until finally, they arrive through the door with Gordon Foods.

A Starbucks breakfast sandwich in it's wrapper.
(From CNN)

Have those boxes remained frozen for the entire time? No idea. Maybe not a big deal for my chocolate brownie... maybe a bigger deal for your egg & sausage breakfast sandwich. Some Reddit folks have spotted entire boxes of baked goods tossed in the trash behind Starbucks. Perhaps they arrived thawed instead of frozen?

I will tell you this... those boxes sit on the floor at Starbucks for anywhere from 15 minutes to an hour, depending on how busy it is in the store. And then they go into a freezer... to be pulled out days, weeks, months (?) later and thawed, reheated and served to you.

What happens to the unsold, thawed items? Well, for my local Starbucks, they bag them up and donate them to a local youth shelter. The shelter coordinator hits all of the local Starbucks (we only have 6) in the early morning and picks the bags of food up. And here's hoping that the items are all distributed and eaten quickly.

Not just Starbucks

So, who, you are asking, is Premium Brands? They are a Vancouver-based business that has become the fastest-growing packaged foods supplier in North America. Over the years, they have quietly bought up all sorts of niche food suppliers... places like Piller's Meats in Ontario and Freybe Gourmet Foods. Premium Brands doesn't just supply Starbucks... they also supply The Keg and Boston Pizza...

Which makes me wonder... is ANY of the food that we buy in restaurants actually... you know... cooked from scratch in a restaurant? Or is it all just pre-made "somewhere" and all the restaurant does is heat it up, doll it up with some sauce or a sprig of parsley, and serve it to us?

Cause I'm going to bet that Tim Horton's does not mix up their donut batter in the store. Nor do they make their own breakfast sandwiches... they just assemble them for you. Everything in a Timmies breakfast sandwich was cooked long, long ago in a factory far far away... and shipped to your local coffee shop.

Ugh. That's the thing. Whenever you have a restaurant chain... where customers expect the same standards whether they are in Vancouver or Halifax... or if you have "fast food" or "convenience food"... you are looking at pre-cooked, prepared food.

It's not just Gordon Foods too... there is also Sysco Foods. I've seen their trucks delivering boxes of "food" to various businesses. Heck... I even stayed at a retreat centre in Edmonton once and had the most amazing "healthy" cookie with craisins and nuts. It was SO good! I asked the retreat director - "OMG! What is the recipe for these??!!" She replied "They're good, aren't they! They come from Sysco." No recipe. No home-cooked baking. All the retreat centre did was bake the pre-made cookie dough.

Sadness. No yummy cookie recipe. Sigh. And no yummy brownie recipe either. It makes me stop and think when I look at a restaurant menu... A steak is probably cooked onsite. Chicken fingers? Probably come in a box and are tossed in the deep fryer. Salad? Probably comes in a bag, pre-mixed.

We have sacrificed something with our fascination with speed and convenience... And let's not even mention the environmental cost... prepared food that is shipped hundreds (if not thousands) of kilometres. All that packaging. All that food waste. There is a high cost to convenience and speed.

Further Reading

Globe & Mail - The Canadian secret behind the sandwiches at Starbucks - The Globe and Mail

Financial Post - This Canadian food company is growing like crazy because of Starbucks grab-and-go breakfast sandwiches | Financial Post

The Daily Meal The Scary Reason Starbucks' Food Looks Identical No Matter Where You Are (thedailymeal.com)

Premium Brands - Wikipedia article

Fox News - Starbucks recall of pre-packaged food (from 2016)

Reddit - Starbucks food boxes thrown in dumpster

Puzzled Reflections: Clearing My Puzzle Backlog

Someone else's puzzle hoard
(from Reddit)

Hi, my name is Gigi and I'm a puzzlaholic (yes, it's a thing).

Seriously. It's a thing. And I'm not the only one!

I follow some jigsaw puzzle groups on Facebook and you would not believe how many puzzles people have stashed away in their homes.

Dozens... no... hundreds!!!

Some people have an entire ROOM devoted to jigsaw puzzles (be still my beating heart). They post pictures of how they have organized their puzzle hoard... by brand... by number of pieces... by box size...

People share different storage options for their puzzles - wire shelving, book cases, etc. (N.B. IKEA bookshelves are a big favourite).

Puzzling Hunting is Half the Fun

Now... I also see a LOT of people selling puzzles... brand new... unopened... never done. There was a post today which shared that puzzling is actually two separate hobbies: (1) finding and buying puzzles and (2) doing puzzles. It is very true.

Hunting for puzzles is a LOT of fun. I'm pretty laid back about it. I don't go out there, actively hunting for a specific puzzle. But some people do that. They have "Puzzle Collections" - they are collecting puzzles like some people collect stamps. They might specialize in Ravensburger, the Van Life series... or the Curiosity Cabinet series... or whatever. 

Me? I'm just happy if I find a "good" puzzle - nice brand, nice pic, box in decent shape and... if I shake it... it sounds like it's bagged inside. Because here's a PPP - Puzzlers Pet Peeve... people who put the pieces back in the box... loose... and then the puzzle gets donated to a thrift store and is NOT taped shut. I don't know if you've walked through the puzzle section at Value Village but... they only rubber band the puzzle boxes... which is not enough. The number of orphaned puzzle pieces on the floor is enough to make a puzzler weep.

Anyhow... I'm not THAT bad, I don't "collect" puzzles. I'm not a snooty puzzle collector. I buy all of my puzzles second-hand at thrift stores. I then do them, take a pic of them, bag the pieces in a ziploc, put them back in the box and sell them... if they are complete.

If they are missing a piece or two, I throw a hissy fit and then donate the puzzle back to the thrift store, with the box clearly marked that a piece is missing! (Grumble... Here's another PPP - there is nothing worse than buying a puzzle, opening the box (which is often taped shut) and finding a little note from the previous puzzler that says "one piece missing". GAH!!! Write it on the box!)

Covid Puzzling

Some of my puzzle stash...

Puzzling, as a hobby, really seemed to take off during Covid... and I bought a LOT of excellent puzzles at the thrift stores during Covid.

And squirreled them away in various closets, pantry shelves and in baskets on top of the kitchen cabinets. (I puzzle in the dining room... hence the puzzles in the pantry).

Because, you see... there are always new puzzles showing up in thrift stores.... "Ooooohhh... I love that one!!!" So I buy these newer ones and do them and the older ones languish.

To be honest... some of the ones I bought during Covid... well, they looked good on the shelf but, they are HARD! And so I skitter away and work on the easier ones... the newer, easier ones.

A brutal 1000 pc Heye puzzle... all those little people and little bits of rigging
a nightmare to sort... took me forever!

Until January 1... at which point I decided that somebody (me) needed to get a grip. I committed to clearing the puzzle backlog... first!

Enough is Enough

So I went through the house and did an inventory of all of my To-Do puzzles... there were "only" 41. Which isn't bad. I mean... come-on... some people have hundreds! I only have a few dozen... **cough**

Some of my completed puzzles

Then I told my partner the rules. I can't buy any puzzles until I clear the backlog. All of it. If I DO buy a puzzle, then I am paying her a penalty of twice the sticker price of the puzzle. Cause I'm a sucker for 30% off days at Value Village and the thrift stores. If a puzzle is $10 and I get 30% off... that is a done deal! But if I have to pay a $20 penalty on that $10 puzzle (bought for $7)... then it's really a $27 puzzle and that is NOT a done deal.

By January 19, I had churned through a dozen puzzles, which isn't bad! By then, I also knew why I had procrastinated on so many of them. They are almost all 1000 piece puzzles which take me a good 3 to 6 hours to complete. There are also a lot of Cobble Hill puzzles which have the weirdest randomly shaped pieces meaning the puzzling is much harder.  And... silly me... I had bought a few 1500 piece puzzles AND even a couple 2000 piece puzzles. Ugh...

But... as long as there is a backlog... I can't get any more puzzles. There's incentive for you!

With one caveat... if I find a still-new puzzle (shrink-wrapped)... I can buy that if the price is reasonable, cause I can just turn around and sell that. I saw a $2.95 shrink-wrapped Cobble Hill in a thrift store the other day and passed on it (oh the pain!)... and when I told my partner, she said I should have bought it! Buy it for $3 and sell for $10... that's a deal!

My Learnings

I have learned a few things during this process:

1. Bigger is not Better - I am a 500 to 1000 piece puzzler. Anything bigger and it gets tedious and I lose interest. 500 piece puzzles also sell the best!
2. Ravensburger is Best - I am a Ravensburger puzzle person. My favourite brand, hands-down. Plus they are easier to sell.
3. Diversity is not Better - I am done with experimenting with other puzzle brands: no more Cobble Hill (I am not a masochist), Heye (ugh), Jumbo, Pomegranate, Bits 'n' Pieces, Wasgij (maybe)... I know what I like and I'll stick with it.
4. More is not Better - let's go for quality and puzzling joy over quantity and puzzle slogging...
5. Don't buy at Value Village - they try to sell a 1000 piece Cobble Hill for $14.99!!! That is a second-hand puzzle with NO guarantee that all the pieces are there. Plus, it's ridiculously over-priced. 1000 piece puzzles typically go for $10 on Facebook Marketplace. Sometimes, very rarely, on a 30%-off day, I will find a deal at Value Village, but those are getting few and far between.
6. How Much is Enough? - I am not a puzzle hoarder. Or maybe I am a reformed puzzle hoarder? My hoard is small... OK... smaller... than others. But I have no desire to hoard puzzles. They nag at me. I am going to limit myself to a hoard of... 5? Max 10? No... 5. That's it. Maybe just one shelf of To-Do puzzles?? That would be more like 10... 

Drive Smarter, Not Farther: The Benefits of Strategic Trip-Chaining

I read this hilarious article the other day. Did you know that [some] men do not get the concept of an errand. Even more foreign to them is idea of "running errands". I'm pretty sure that every female reader in the bunch knows exactly what "running errands" means!

The other interesting tidbit is this... when a man is working on a project and needs something. He will run out to the hardware store to get whatever he needs. The next day, perhaps he is painting the fence and needs a can of paint. So he will run out to the paint store to get the paint. The look on his face, if his wife asks him to tack on a couple of "errands" on either of those trips, is a study in confusion.

Now this may be a bit of an exaggeration but... studies have shown that women are more likely to practice trip-chaining than men, who tend to prefer  a star-burst pattern of "errands".

Trip-chaining, as the name suggests, is the concept of planning your errands in such a way that you can get them all done without doubling back on yourself. Basically running them in the most efficient way possible - least time, least amount of fuel, least amount of kilometres. Maybe if we held it out as a game, it would be more appealing to some folks?

A star-burst pattern of errands is... you're at home, and you drive to the swimming pool to get the kids and come home to drop them off. And then you head to the hardware store to get something and then come home. And then you head to... you get the point. Each trip has one purpose and starts and stops at home base. Very inefficient in so many ways... fuel, time, kilometres, energy, etc.

Even fuel companies know this!!

"Combining errands into one trip saves you time and money. Several short trips taken from a cold start can use twice as much fuel as a longer multipurpose trip covering the same distance when the engine is warm. Trip planning ensures that travelling is done when the engine is warmed-up and efficient."

A University of Michigan study found that cutting shopping frequency in half reduced greenhouse gas emissions by 44%, while trip chaining cut emissions by about 50% (compared with the base case). What's not to love about trip-chaining!! Ultimately takes less time, less energy, less gasoline, less carbon emissions. Although... it does require waaaayyyyy MORE planning!

Planning Required

Trip chaining requires absolutely exquisite planning. You also need to be able to practice your delayed-gratification muscle. Maybe you've run out of milk and it's a Thursday and grocery day is tomorrow. Can you get by just this one day without running to the store for milk on Thursday? Of course you can! Maybe. If you can, that's way better for everyone involved!

I know I'm making this sound like some sort of epic battle campaign but... what if we did treat it as some sort of gamified competition... maybe more people would actually enjoy running errands? Or at least not dread it?

1. Brainstorm or Track your Upcoming Errands

First step is to keep track of what errands you need to run. Whether it's a paper list or an app, write it all down. You don't want to forget these things. Because there's nothing worse than realizing after a successful Trip-Chain Adventure... that you've forgotten something crucial.

Sometimes, I'll have Costco on my list, for one thing, but it's not urgent, so I'll bump it into the following week. Trip-chaining can work in-store as well. If I don't have to go to Costco for that ONE thing... but can wait until I have several things on the Costco list, that's ideal.

2. Plan Your Meals

We also sit down on Thursday evening and plan our meals for the next week. What do we have in the fridge and freezer that needs to go? What do we feel like eating in the coming days, based on our schedules. Some days we have time to cook a large meal, other days are more suited to left-overs or pulling a ready-made meal out of the freezer.

We can then look at the list of meals and figure out if we need to buy anything. There's nothing worse than trying to cook a meal and finding we are out of something critical. When that happens... we sometimes end up going with Skip the Dishes and that is $$$~

The other thing we tend to do is write items on the list during the course of the week, as we realize that we need them. "Oh, only 2 onions left... better put those on the list". "Oh, opened the back-up mustard jar... better get a new one".

This way... I am not standing there early on Friday morning, looking at a blank list. Planning and preparation are key!

3. Roughly Map Your Route

Our city is a long strung-out string-bean of a municipality. Going to the north-end is VERY different from going to the south-end. But if I do go to the north-end, I can usually weave in a few central tasks as I make my way back to base camp.

So in mapping my route, I look at the tasks and group them - north-end, central, south-end. Then see if any need to be shimmied around. I normally do north-end and central. Recently though, with our cat having some kidney issues, I am making more trips to the south-end where the vet is located. There is a grocery store down there, and a big-box reno store, a recycle depot, as well as a LifeLabs. Sooo... can I move some of my errands to the south-end so that I'm not doing a single-task vet run?

Most of this mapping is in my head as I look at all of the stops on my list... but in the next step, we get concrete.

4. Check Opening Times

This is key. Because you don't want to show up at one of your carefully planned stops and find... it's 9:05 and they open at 10 am. Baaahhhhhhh!!!!! That's sure to generate a muttered OFFS (Oh for F*@k's Sake!).

So I double-check opening times of stores. PetSmart is irksome because it opens at 9 am, when I think it should really open at 8 am! Superstore opens at 7 am, as does Home Depot. Costco opens at 9 am, unless they are ready inside, and then sometimes it opens at 8:45 am. One day, I was in and out of Costco before 9 am!!! The library opens at 10 am but their book drop is open all the time. Vet opens at 8:30 am. Pomme opens at 8:30 am. Canadian Tire opens at 8 am.

I usually write those times next to the locations on my list, just to make it concrete for me. And then... I make a final mapped route on a new piece of paper. I write all of the stops down in chronological & numerical order. And I'll write the opening time next to it, just so I know...

1. Leave Home (you'll see why I have this)
2. Starbucks (6 am)
3. Library (book drop open always)
4. Home Depot (7 am)
5. Superstore (7 am)
6. Pomme (8:30 am)
7. Costco (9:00 am)
8. PetSmart (9:00 am)
9. Staples (9:00 am)
10. Recycle Depot (8:30 am)
11. Thrift Store (9:30 am)

Now, the starting point of the entire trip is not necessarily the time listed next to the store. The trick is to hit the place during opening hours. Sometimes Superstore goes faster than expected and I'm standing at Pomme at 8:00 am. Not a good scene.

So rather than hitting Home Depot at 7 am... I will now examine my list and try and time it so that I am standing in front of Costco at 8:45 am. Costco is the pivot point because I really don't want to show up here any later than 9 am (it's a zoo). It is a firm anchor in the schedule, around which everything else revolves. Superstore is a secondary anchor. I don't want to do it any later than 9 am either, otherwise it too is a zoo. 

The recycle depot and thrift store are enroute to base camp from the north-end so they are not as critical. Unless I am bringing in cans and bottles... in which case I am there at the crack of 8:25 am... any later and... it's a zoo! I generally try to avoid zoos if at all possible.

5. Gather & Stage Your Supplies

You've got it on the list, you've mapped it in your head, you've checked opening times. Now it's time to gather everything that you need for each of those errands.

I generally do this in my head and just scan my list and then make sure I have what I need. Although sometimes, I find it more helpful to write it down, or place the items needed down by the front door, ready to head out.

1. Leave Home... Prepared!
• Wallet - obvious. And yet I can't tell you how many times I've shown up at a grocery store with no wallet in my pocket. I now have Google Wallet set up on my phone, just as a back-up.
• Phone - also obvious. If I leave home without wallet or phone, I am in serious trouble. I also have ebooks on my phone, so if I'm waiting in line, I can read!
• Breakfast To-Go (yogurt/berries/nuts) - otherwise I get hangry and cave in to a Starbucks chocolate brownie or a Timmies bagel... (my backpack has a plastic cutlery set so I am' ready to eat my yogurt wherever)
• The List! - Don't leave home without it. Otherwise, the whole thing falls apart. And you're phoning your partner at 6:30 am, waking them up, and asking them to take a pic of your list and send it to you...
2. Starbucks
• my backpack with laptop, so I can blog, and my notebook, so I can journal if I have to wait in the car for a store to open (or I can read my ebook on my phone)
3. Library
• books I need to drop off
4. Home Depot (7 am)
• receipt and item that I need to return
• measurements for picking up something else
• can of paint to get shook up by their shaker thingie
5. Superstore
6. Pomme
7. Costco
8. PetSmart
9. Staples
• dead pens & ink cartridge to recycle
• ink cartridge number so I know which one to buy
10. Recycle Depot
• big pieces of cardboard
• bags of shredding
• various bags of recyclables
• glass jars
• styrofoam trays
• flexible plastics
• metals
• batteries
11. Thrift Store
• box of stuff to donate

When a place is on the list, I generally think... "what else could I do there?". For example, with Staples, I need printer cartridges but I also think... "what else is there"? Ah, I can drop off the stash of dead pens so that they can be recycled. Oh, and I can drop off the dead printer cartridge too. And, while I'm there, I might as well get a ream of printer paper.

By the time this is all done... the car is pretty much crammed with stuff! But... I am ready!!

6. Begin the Adventure

The trick, always, is to be flexy-bendable with the errands. Because sometimes... Superstore has run out of something and I need to pivot and add in a quick trip to Save-on-Foods. There are two that I could hit on my route (Item 8.5 or 9.5), so it's just a matter of adding them to the list (don't forget!).

Or I might remember... "shoot... we need canning labels...", so I'll stitch in Canadian Tire (9.3) or Home Hardware (10.5) into the list. And, darn, we need gas (4.5)! Whew... 

By the end of it... I usually feel like I deserve that brownie that I didn't get because I was responsible and brought yogurt! Sigh. But it's better for me without the brownie.

And now... the errands for the week are done. My goal is to avoid the "oops... forgot to get... [fill-in-the-blank]".

Although, if I am out and about for an appointment on another day of the week, I will add in one or two stops that may have popped up.

Caveats

Some caveats are in order! All of this depends on your own circumstances. Maybe you live in an urban centre and can walk to most places. Maybe you can't carry everything in one trip. Or maybe you don't have the stamina to do a 4-5 hour Errand Extravaganza. Maybe you go to church every morning and you hit a stop after church each day. It all depends.

For us... and our strung-out city, it makes sense for me to combine as many errands in one area as possible. I don't want to have a 20 minute round trip several times a week (plus shopping time).

Or maybe you live in a large urban centre like Vancouver and trip-chaining makes perfect sense. If you're going to drive 30 minutes to the nearest Superstore or Home Depot or Costco or IKEA, you are going to make darn sure that you have everything you need on a list! And you are going to make sure that you combine as many stops as you can.

Conclusion

Usually... by the end of one my Errand Extravaganza's, I am pooped. Satisfied... but pooped. And hoping that I haven't forgotten anything urgent. I much prefer this system though to the star-burst pattern. Trip-chaining saves me time, which is limited. It also saves on gasoline and reduces carbon emissions. For the rest of the week, I can focus on other things, rather than being forced to "run an errand" because we need something urgently.

I love it when a series of errands goes smoothly, without a hitch. When it's been planned well and executed well. It makes my little heart sing and the Inner Organizer in me does a little happy dance! I know... I'm weird... but it's these small steps that make a big difference.

More Reading

Baltimore Sun - Men don't get the concept of an errand

Stats Canada - 2013 Report on Trip Chaining

Twitter 2015 - Trip Chaining diagram

University of Michigan - 2022 - Trip Chaining and Carbon Emissions

Beyond the Clock: My Evolution from 4-Hour Dependency

When I first started this blog, I knew that I wanted it to focus on small steps - for healthy living, for the environment, for anything really. And several years into this, I am reminded daily that no great thing gets done without these small steps. Everything is made up of small steps.

The thing is... we don't see some of those small steps. We see a singer blaze into stardom and forget that this singer spent hours, days, months, years, practicing their craft, one small step at a time. We see new buildings pop up in our neighbourhood. We don't see the myriad small steps that go into constructing the building. We hear of a friend of a friend retiring at age 40 with millions in the bank. We are jealous and wonder what they did to hit the jackpot? Win the lottery? Sell a start-up? We don't believe it can be done one frugal penny-pinching step at a time.

And we know this... deep down, we know this... but still... we think that we there might be a shortcut to fame or fortune.

How Much Time is "Enough" Time?

A friend of my is producing two books a year (more or less). These are not fiction books, but heavily researched non-fiction espionage books. I don't know how he does it! He must have oodles and oodles of time! Like, open vistas of whole days that are just devoted to writing. Right? Maybe. Maybe not. Perhaps he just has a different view of time.

I still think that I need several blissfully empty hours in front of me before I can work on the next book, or start a new project. I don't believe that I can write a book one small step at a time. I think 30 minutes is too short. I think the smallest step I need is 2 hours. Maybe more. Like 4 hours!

Perhaps that is the key. I have an image in my mind of the size/length/duration of the "smallest step". For writing... realistically... I think I need 2 hours... and ideally 4 hours. I mean, I "need" that time to get back into it... to pick up where I left off... to gather my research notes and recall where I was in the project. And maybe I do need an hour to do that... but if I were to work on the project every day... I wouldn't need so much time to "get back in the groove".

When it comes to yard maintenance... it's the same... I think I need a good hour to get anything useful done. I mean, there is soooo much to do out there... I believe that I need at least an hour to make a meaningful dent in things. Or do I? My partner and I went out there this past spring, on a sunny afternoon, and decided to spend 15 minutes decluttering the shed. We made a sizable dent in the chaos in the shed. Just 15 minutes.

Same with house cleaning... my default seems to be an hour. Even though I know, from experience, that I can get a tonne of cleaning done in 15 minutes. My brain seems to have a default setting of one hour.

So if there is less than an hour of time in my day... I fill it with smaller, less important tasks that I know I can complete, rather than working on a larger project which I know will not be complete... even though it is moved further along to completion.

I know that completing a task gives a dopamine hit... so maybe I'm just a dopamine addict... wanting the hit after completing a task. If I know that a task can't be completed in 15 minutes or an hour... there is no dopamine carrot dangling ahead of me. And so I default to easier, simpler, shorter tasks.

The question then becomes... can I alter that 1 hour default? I did use the Pomodoro technique successfully a few times for projects that were seriously stuck. Work for just 25 minutes and then take a 5 minute break. It seems awfully rigid though. Or could I create an artificial dopamine carrot for working on something for 15-30 minutes?  And what would that look like?

Peak Alertness

Or... perhaps my sense that an hour is required in order for me to do productive project work isn't actually that far off. Studies have shown that our ultradian rhythm (cycles repeated multiple times in a 24 hour period) might have a role to play. Based on studies of our natural energy and alertness cycle... we can maintain peak alertness for 90 to 120 minutes before we need a break. On top of that... studies have also shown that it takes about 23 minutes to get into a deep work zone.

Sooo... if I really want to do some deep work... then the Pomodoro technique isn't going to work. I legitimately need about 30 minutes to get into a work zone. And I can maintain that for up to 2 hours. So the sweet spot for working on a complex project (like writing a blog or working on another book) is going to be somewhere in the 60-120 minute zone.

This actually makes me feel a bit better. I'm not mucked up! My sense that I can't get anything useful done on a blog or a book in less than an hour is probably not that far off. I need to be able to work on it for at least 30 minutes to get into a flow zone... but can only maintain that for another hour or so.

30 Minutes is Enough?

But here's where I can marry these two bits of information. All I really need is a 30 minute chunk of time. That's a small enough segment that it doesn't feel impossible or overwhelming. I also know that once I've been working on something for 30 minutes... odds are I will continue for a bit longer. And yes, ideally I would have a one hour chunk to devote to my writing.

On the other hand... for other things... like decluttering the garden shed, or updating our finances... I can drop that down to 15 minutes. I can get a lot of decluttering done in 15 minutes.

Now... the trick is... to actually follow through on this. An hour seems like a fairly large step to me... although 30 minutes is a bit more doable... cuts that hour in half. But even those 30 minutes are broken up into countless small steps... the first one being... to just start! Getting started seems to be 80% of the battle. If I can just get started, I know that everything else falls into place.

Next Small Step

So much of my to-do list is made up of things like "write blog about ____". That isn't, actually, a small step. That's like saying "land a man on the moon". Well... let's just give up right now because that is a huge mountain of a task! It's no wonder I get stuck and just skip over that item in my to-do list... it's much more doable to "screw fire extinguisher to the wall"... a very concrete, small step task. And it gives me a quick dopamine hit. Whereas "write blog" is so amorphous and nebulous that my dopamine addict looks at it and goes... "nope... too hard... I need a quick fix". And so I spend my time completing small tasks rather than focusing my precious time on larger, complex tasks.

Sigh... I'm back to looking at my productivity system! Surely there is something out there... something better than what I am doing. Something that will actually help me focus and get things done?

Productivity Systems

What about the Getting Things Done (GTD) system... where you identify the next actionable step? "Write blog" is not an actionable step. Even "research blog" is not an actionable step. Maybe "open blogger web app"... "open current blog post"... "review material written to-date"... "identify next steps"... Those are small steps. But do I really want to spend time adding them to my to-do list? Not really. I think I should be able to identify these when I see "write blog post"... but clearly that is NOT working!

There's also time-blocking... where you look at the week ahead and map things out ahead of time. What appointments do I have? What are the self-care things that need to go in there - walk, eating, etc. What work time do I need to factor into the schedule. Then... look at the remaining time and figure out... what can I do in that block of time... write a blog? answer emails and make phone calls? research Airbnb tips and tricks? The idea with time-blocking is that you group things together. So I am not answering emails and making phone calls throughout the day, when I should really be working on a blog or something else. I have tried it in the past and found it far too rigid... but perhaps I wasn't using it correctly because it is supposed to flex and flow with the unexpected.

I've also come across another idea... about working on one thing... without distraction. So the question to ask is... "Did I do what I said I'm going to do for as long as I said I would, without distraction?". Even if I didn't finish it... I can still get a dopamine hit because I did what I said I would do... without getting distracted. That's a win!

I'm going to have to let all of these percolate for a while... and see what I can come up with that might actually work for me

Image by Steve Buissinne from Pixabay