Steve and Barnabas in Tanzania

As soon as I wrote that title I realized I would have to differentiate from what I mean and Reading, 'ritin and 'rithmatic version of the 3 Rs.  I am talking about the Reduce, Reuse and Recycle version.  No this is not going to be a change your whole to life to no plastics and no fossil fuel consumption or we are all going to die talk.  While I don't give in to the hysteria doom and gloom viewpoints of some, I do believe in a reasonable attempt to reduce our impact on the planet.  I also believe more in the follow my example approach to things than do what I say approach.  With that in mind, many of you are familiar with my previous blogs about storing things in which I reuse as many waste products as I can.  I will cover the reuse portion later in the blog.  Right now I want to talk about the fun I have been having learning to recycle plastic using some very rudimentary tools. The above is a heart shaped future necklace or bracelet charm made com...

I like things I work with to be organized.  Not OCD type organization just organized so I can find things.  Sometimes that can be a problem if you don’t have the tools you normally use to organize with.  For example my “desk” is a bit of mess because I have nothing to put files in.  So they sit on top of my desk along with my books and constantly get knocked askew as I flip through them to file receipts which seems to be a major time consumer for me.  First I have to do the accounting then I have to take pictures of receipts for the folks in the states and rename the picture files once I get them on my computer so they can easily figure out what they are for then I get to file them in their folder.  I also have to keep account of all the money I spend personally for tax purposes since I have to show the money I got was what it took to live here. So the tool room has been a big headache for me.  First it is the old min-shop room and the shelvin...