Sunday, October 28, 2007

Purchasing Diesel

The last time I paid money for fuel was October 9th. Currently the odometer reads 219248, so we've driven 1433 miles since our last fill up. The diesel tank holds 14.50 gallons which computes to 98.8 miles per gallon of diesel. Obviously, most of our driving consumes WVO but that is basically free except for the $10 or so we spend each month on filters.

Saturday, October 27, 2007

Funnels and Bulbs


As we're coming out of Walgreens we noticed a woman writing down the website on our back window. We engaged her in conversation for a few minutes and found out she's a member of the local Sierra Club in Athens and happens to know one of our local friends. We now keep a store of extra business cards in the glove box for interactions like these so we can easily direct people to pertinent resources.

In the process of packing the car we forgot to bring a funnel so we stopped at a local Auto store to purchase one. Seems that funnels are somewhat rare items at least in this particular store and there were none available large enough for our purposes. While at the same store, Craig located a bulb to replace the one that burnt out over our license plate. Once we were back at Dad's place, Craig cut the top off of a gallon jug to use as a homemade funnel and replaced the light bulb. What a handy guy!

Here's a picture of my brother's cows - MOOOOO!

Friday, October 26, 2007

Another Trip to Connett Hill

Had lunch with my good friend Ruth who was amazed by our grease mobile. I brought some pictures of my mom's for Ruth that chronicled their high school trip to New York in 1957. I treasured the opportunity to sit back and listen as Ruth and Dorothy reminisced, retelling various stories and sharing memories.


For lunch we ate at Rocky's Boot Factory Grill in Nelsonville. It reminds me of a smaller, more Appalachian version of Cabela's. While were were walking around the store perusing the various merchandise we discovered the following item




















Now I know what to get my brother for Xmas this year!!!

Tuesday, October 16, 2007

A Grease Mobile Sighting

On my way home this evening I spotted another car driving down the interstate sporting a bumper sticker identical to ours stating it was powered by vegetable oil. I needed to exit before I could approach any closer to the vehicle but it made me smile to view another vegetarian driver.

Saturday, October 13, 2007

Camping, Cornhole and Whiffleball















Camping was great fun! As usual we brought a tremendous amount of food but managed to graze our way through most of the vittles.












Saturday afternoon was spent playing energetic games of cornhole and whiffleball.


















I had forgotten just how difficult it is to actually hit a wiffleball any significant distance.




Of course adorable Jake also provided us with much entertainment!











Friday, October 12, 2007

Hardy Lake

We're going camping this weekend at Hardy Lake with several friends. Originally our plan was to stay at Otter Creek but due to drought there is a burn ban throughout the state of Kentucky. Although I might be able to reluctantly survive without smores, I am fairly certain that I would be extremely miserable without some external heat source once the sun sets. After much research and several phone calls, we were fortunate enough to locate a campground in Indiana that will allow campfires.

Tuesday, October 9, 2007

Buying Diesel

I purchased 12 gallons of diesel this afternoon for $34.50. I'm trying to remember to track our mileage so I can calculate how often we're spending money on fuel. Presently the odometer reads 217815.

Friday, October 5, 2007

Dinner Guests

Craig and I assist with the religious education of the youth at our church and one of our responsibilities is scheduling volunteers who teach or lead the 6-week modules. In an effort to thank the volunteers as well as get to know our fellow church members, we invite them over for a meal so we can discuss any concerns, examine the curricula materials and express our gratitude. Tonight our dinner guests were David and Paul. After a delicious meal (thanks Craig!) we started talking about environmental issues and in particular fuel conservation. David currently drives a scooter but was interested in our grease mobile and the whole process of burning WVO. We showed them the homemade fuel station in the garage, our extra containers of WVO and let them smell the exhaust while burning grease. Over and over again Paul commented on how "normal" our car appears and the simplicity of the system we've created.