I'm all for using less energy as long as it doesn't require me to spend more money, or money I wouldn't otherwise spend anyway. I wish people would talk about this kind of thing with a different title, like "using energy in smarter ways" or something. The whole "green" label is a turn-off to some types, and a lot of people just don't accept concepts like global warming as fact. Please don't jump all over me, I'm not saying that's me, just pointing out that in areas, like where I live now, people will make "anti-green" choices just because of the label put on the choice. It's a fundamental attitude issue that needs to be addressed before comprehensive cultural changes can manifest. Actively finding things to buy to save energy can be self-defeating when you consider the resources and energy used to make the thing you bought and the energy you used to go get it and cart it home. There's also the old stuff or thing that now needs a new home or space in a landfill. Some of these things are worthy, especially in terms of longevity, some not. You have to think it all the way through. Anyway, about clotheslines and dryers... I have one in my yard and tried using it a few times for towels & blankets. Yes, they were dried for free, but I had to wash them again to remove the bird poo, and one time there were ants crawling on some things. And it's a huge chore to lug that stuff outside. I can't pick up anything heavy and would end up all wet, lots of lost time. And no way am I going to hang my underwear on a rope in my yard. So what I do now is use the dryer until things are mostly dry, then hang everything up inside. If you are lucky, you have a door near your dryer. Hangers usually will hang on the top jamb of most interior doors. I use the dryer about half as much and don't have bird poo on anything. This winter I never turned on our furnace. We used 3 electric hot oil heaters for the rooms we actually use and let the rest go cold. I ended up spending about the same money but when we used the furnace in previous years and set it around 68, we were frozen all the time. With the heaters, we kept our occupied spaces at about 75 for the same money and were so much more comfortable. So we didn't really save or conserve but the same money and energy allowed us to be comfortable instead of miserable for those 3 months. Make sure your freezer is packed full of something, freeze water in plastic bottles or jugs if you don't stock that much food, especially in the summer time. I'm also a big fan of turning everything off & leaving the house whenever possible. I love the CFL bulbs! I started buying only these about 15 years ago and although I've left a few in previous residences, I've only ever had to replace 2 of these. Not convinced buying a Prius is truly beneficial. First, your old car will still be out there, so you've only added a car to the total out there. Say you drive 400 miles per month and your car...

We use a combination of Nickel Plus and K-Phite. It's working great. We spray with both, using a sticker-spreader we got at Tractor Supply. We also add their blue dye now, because it helps us see where we have missed a spot. It isn't very easy to see through goggles, with sweat pouring down in your eyes. Just avoid spraying any blossoms, unless you are really desperate for a blue daylily. We were advised to spray once a week for 3 weeks, then wait 3 weeks before spraying again. I've only sprayed once this fall, since it has been raining off and on ever since. Occasionally, I will have a plant that shows sign of rust, but nothing like it was before I started using the nickel. I wouldn't use anything else. Well, let me take that back. I am going to try some Actinovate on just a few isolated and unimportant plants to see how it works. The only thing I don't like is having to don all that protective gear, but I wouldn't have it otherwise. I'm very cautious. We use goggles, a special pesticide mask we bought at Lowes, chemical gloves (also at Lowe's), rubber boots and a yellow rain slicker. My hubby and our yardman refuse to put on a garbage bag drawstring skirt, but if I'm doing the spraying, I wear that, too. I'll have to get my hubby to take a picture of me in that fancy outfit so everyone can get a good laugh. When the weather is warm, we get very sweaty in all that garb! We start very early in the morning while it is still cool. We have a big tank sprayer on wheels we pull behind our riding lawn mower. It runs on the lawn mower battery. We got an extra length of hose so we can cover more territory. One of us drives the lawn mower while the other sprays. I could do it by myself, but it takes longer to have to keep stopping to move the mower ahead. We wash the tank out thoroughly after spraying and run clear water through the wand when we have finished. Aren't you cold climate people lucky??? Nancy

"The service advisor - he told he's never seen it (radiator cracked contaminating tranny) happened in the 10 year he has been with the dealership" A few things about his comment. One it's quite possible he's never seen that for a couple of reasons. One is this happens more often with older vehicles than new ones, and typically older cars tend to frequent the aftermarket shops (independents). Secondly, while ten years of experience in most fields is enough to have seen just about everything, thats not the case with auto repair. I've been fixing cars for thirty years, and I see something new all the time. As far as the multiple visits, I would of had to see what was happening in order to give a fair opinion. One possibility that always comes to mind first is the fact that "flat rate" (thats the pay plan most dealer techs work under) rewards the techs for getting the car in, making (hopefully) correct snap decisions, doing the repair and getting the car out. Jobs that have an uncommon failure often result in the car having to come back because of poor or improper diagnostics. The funny thing is, if a tech takes to much time diagnosing the cars he works on, he wont be as productive as the dealer wants him to be and he ends up looking for another job. A certain degree of failure is inevitable under those situations, and it's always the techs fault. NOT a VBG Thats one of the reasons I quit working at dealerships almost twenty years ago, and went aftermarket. Now I own my shop, and nothing like that occurs here, I'll guarantee it. VBG. BTW The Toyota sludging problem has several causes. Extended oil change intervals being one of the biggest, but it turns out now that a lot more research is being done and they have found that few oil products on the market had the correct additive packages to permit the oils to even attempt to achieve the extended drain intervals people were trying to use. Some are blaming the oil companies for issuing approval ratings for oils that really didn't meet the manufactuers specs. Oh well, once again I'll say, my daughters Rav4 will never sludge up. Between doing 3mo/3000 mile services, and using top dollar conventional oil from IMO the most trusted auto parts corporation NAPA, I've always been using the correct oil for all of my customers vehicles. Yes it cost more, and I have to charge more for the service when I do it for my customers, but NONE of them are having gelling issues. Thats why they come here when it is cheaper somewhere else.

OOhhh Kat..another Toyota Tercel lover! My little 1983 silver bullet was the car I had coveted ever since they came out..when we bought it in 2001 it only had 80,000 actual miles on it! Then I got T-boned, and totalled the car. Thankfully, no one was injured (seat-belt bruises and broken thumbnail not counted) but I grieved over that car. Still a Toyota driver. My 1997 Camry gets over 30 mpg in town, and up to 36 on the freeway. Has to be called a mid-size, but I like it.