Recycling Old CDs, DVDs, and Their Cases

In case your area does not recycle old CDs, DVDs, and their jewel cases, I found a place that will take them for free (I just confirmed it with their customer service as well). Send them to:

MRC Polymers, Inc.

3535 W. 31st St.

Chicago, IL 60623

Some interesting facts I learned about CDs and DVDs in general:

• A cd/dvd is considered a class 7 recyclable plastic
• To manufacture a pound of plastic (30 CDs per pound), it requires 300 cubic feet of natural gas, 2 cups of crude oil and 24 gallons of water
• It is estimated that AOL alone has distributed more than 2 billion CDs. That is the natural gas equivalent of heating 200,000 homes for 1 year
• It is estimated that it will take over 1 million years for a CD to completely decompose in a landfill 

So c'mon people, let's do our part and recycle, even if it's a hassle to ship them.

Springtime in Chicago (Finally) -- Garden Update

I'm a little early with my April submission to Garden Bloggers Bloom Day, but I have time this weekend to take a few pictures.

The neighbors' row of forsythia; we can see these from our front windows.

The Corner. Most of this was planted in November, so we're psyched to see that just about everything survived the late planting, including the spring bulbs.
We have so many rabbits and skunks around here, I had my doubts.

I'm especially pleased with how this corner turned out. We have crocus, grape hyacinth, and tulips coming in around the smoke tree; the columbine I just planted. The trellis is new; there are two of them and they form a bit of a privacy barrier with the next yard. I'll be adding flowering vines, but I'm not sure what kind yet.

The magnolia in the front yard. Last year we only had three blossoms on it.

One of the three forsythia bushes I planted this time last year. There are a lot of hostas and summer bulbs planted around its base; can't wait to see them!

Still a lot of work that needs to be done on this corner, but I wanted to get a picture of the hyacinth before they faded away.

Some tulips, creeping myrtle, and in the back are some irises from my godmother. She forgot what color they are, so it will be a surprise when they bloom.

More tulips and creeping myrtle.

A nice overview; you can see the trellises in the back. This is the first year for the crown imperials, growing at the right side of the picture. It looks like two of the three I planted here have decided to make an appearance. They should be opening soon.

One of the new flower beds in the back yard, around the base of the dwarf plum. This is our third summer for the plum, so I hope we actually get fruit this year.

Another new flower bed in the back yard.

So, that's it for the moment. Our three cherry trees, the peach, and the plum tree will blossom in the next few days. I have a couple of antique-variety apples on their way (Cox's Orange Pippin and Winter Banana) and a Seckel pear--all dwarf of semi-dwarf species. It looks like we'll have quite the orchard going on.

Hail! Hail! The Gang's All Here

It just hailed quarter-size ice chunks here, and guess who left her car on the driveway. Yeah. I'm not looking forward to inspecting it by light of day.

The rain and ice came down so fast and furious, that the drains in the garage backed up. When we checked the pit in the front yard, which we assume the drains are connected to, we found it had backed up to the surface.

The water is receding now, but yuck. What a mess to try and figure out tomorrow.

Moving Right Along!!!

Spring may be peeking around the corner but it's a little cold to really start working in the yard. Soooo . . . I took advantage of Joanne and Ted recently being away for a week and started painting the living room. Like the rest of the house, we used Venetian Plaster. Goes on with a small trowel instead of brush or roller. Really lots of fun. Just smear the paint all over the wall, don't worry about being neat or covering everywhere with an even coat. I did the first coat, which basically covered the old paint. Joanne came back later and did the final, finishing coat. This is where more care is needed to make sure there aren't any spots with thicker paint. Like I said . . .Easy!!

Since the house was built in the 20s we wanted to add decorator touches that were popular then. Art Deco and Egyptian. The warm tan on the walls reminds us of a pharaoh's tomb. The large papyrus over the two chairs was brought back from Egypt by Joanne years ago.

This is another finished corner of the room. The framed papyrus, over the antique radio, was also brought from Egypt. The two plaques, on the left, were made by my father, Joanne's grandfather, almost 30 years ago. Lon did art 'n' craft shows and these were pieces from his Egyptian period. They look like pictures that were chiseled from the walls of a tomb.



The figurine of Ganesh, on the radio, will someday be replaced with Bast, the Egyptian Cat Goddess.

Still working on the other side of the room. Pictures later. :)