On the plus side...

I've been face-to-face with some frustrating, sad, depressing, and otherwise negative things this week, including one last goodbye to my Uncle Steve. When I was about four, I told him I wanted to measure his nose. He told me to go get a ruler. I replied, much to everyone's dismay, that I'd need a yardstick. He was a genuinely good person. So long, Steve...

Meanwhile, let's pack this blog entry full of positive things:

- Our electricity usage for June was 43% less than June of last year. Total for the year, we're down 35%. (Or if you prefer, almost 4000 lbs less CO2 emissions.) I'd love to keep dropping it, but it starts getting harder now.

- We've had more rain and cooler temperatures in July than we did in June. That'll be nice for our electric bill, but it's also nice for our grocery bill, since the garden is finally looking like it should.

- I got to spend an afternoon with one of my favorite authors, Gene Logsdon (The Contrary Farmer) a few weekends ago. I plan on writing about it at some point, but oddly enough, I'm having a bit of writer's block with it.

- I got at least 100 mason jars at a garage sale today - maybe closer to 150 - for the low, low price of $15. Woohoo! The milk alone was using up our previous supply of jars.

- I picked up a big fat jar of honey from a local (fifth-generation!) beekeeper today. We chatted for a bit. I told him we'd thought about getting into bees some day, and he said he was thinking about getting out of bees sometime soon. He said to call him this winter. Hmmm.....

- Willow over at Contemplating Change has nominated me as a "Blogger for Positive Global Change." And Pea at Mustard Seed Journal tagged me with a "Thinking Blogger" award. Thanks, Willow and Pea! I haven't been this popular since, well, ever. Not bad for a guy who didn't know hay from straw or Pike's Peak from Hubbert's Peak just a couple years ago.

I always struggle with these award memes. I love to share the love, but eventually they run into the same problem as chain letters and pyramid schemes. The recipients all start overlapping. I'm finding that the names on my list end up looking very much like the names on everybody else's lists.

But I do appreciate the compliments. I previously did a Thinking Blogger response here.

As for Positive Global Change, let's see... Emme and Sharon seem to be on a hundred lists already. I'm resisting the urge to bounce either of these awards back to my benefactors, willow and pea. I'm also resisting the urge to repeat anybody from my Thinking Blogger list. No sense making this easy or anything!

Even with all my self-imposed restrictions, some of these are repeat offenders, I'm sure...

- Bryan at My Fair Share. I like the way Bryan thinks, and the way he writes.

- Wendy at Home is... Wendy has gone all out on the local food thing, and has a great mix of mindfulness, thoughtfulness, humor, and experimentation.

- Liz at Pocket Farm. She's the originator of One Local Summer. Plus she's got all those great mini-farm stories

- Crunchy Chicken. She's the hardest working blogger in town, with a book club, the Diva Cup challenge, a local food month, lining up celebrity interviews, learning to sew, and provoking thought.

- Barefoot Gardener. She's taking lots of little steps, honestly sharing her successes and failures, overcoming insecurities and gaining confidence, and implementing more positive changes than most people I know... in between caring for a baby.

I really believe that the best way to achieve Positive Global Change is through many Positive Local Changes. Don't wait for somebody else. Go do something positive!