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We first got our Toulouse Geese from McMurray in 2008. We got ten goslings and it turned out to be four girls and six boys. We ate four boys that first winter. So we started that next season with all four girls and the best two ganders. They are Toulouse Geese, a breed that will live to be forty years old, at least. We don’t think they’ll outlive us, but they could. So now it’s 2013, the older girls are five years old. Suddenly, we’ve figured out how to get goslings. The first few years were iffy. I blamed it on a lack of deep water, something I read somewhere, but Frank was convinced it was mere immaturity. It turns out he was right. I don’t mind being wrong about that at all. Then, even when they finally hatched some goslings, they’d all get off their nest to co-mother actual babies rather than hope for future babies. They love the babies. They are the most doted on critters that I’ve ever seen. The grown-ups become the outside guard to everyone else and yet they are so tender and sweet to the babies. They seem to be teaching the babies correctly, about who to be aggressive to and who is our friend. If a gosling calls the alarm, the entire calvary responds. With poults, it’s almost the opposite. The poults panic and vocalize about every damn thing, so almost everyone ignores them, and I have to fight that urge myself. No wonder poults are so fragile. They cry wolf far too often. (peep peep peep peep!!!!!) That last note is the one to listen to. If it’s calm, they are okay. If it’s a screech, they aren’t.) STFU. We’ve had three geese successfully hatch goslings so far this year. The first with eight, on May 16th, then one with five on May 17th, then another with ten! on May 18th. The most exciting bit is that the other girls have stayed on their nests. We have the first two clutches in the barn, because they kept going too close to the road. The third one seems to be doing okay, staying up near the barn and behind it, so we are letting them have a bit of freedom. I think I’ll keep the ones in the barn in there a bit more, until I have a safer way to keep them way from the road. I have two girls setting inside the barn, two setting under the eaves of the house, and one silly girl who is still laying eggs, and setting on the clutch next to a brush pile up the hill. I found the gang of turkeys picking on her today for some stupid reason and had to help her fend them off. I guess everyone else in her gang is busy so I need to keep an eye on her. I think she’s the youngest girl we have. I have got to figure out a way to band all these babies. Frank thinks we want to keep all our girls again and just keep a few boys from this year’s crop. I am hoping the plastic bands we have will work and have to figure out how to catch the outside goslings to band them. The ones in the barn should be easier. We just have to figure out a way to get the grown-ups out without them killing us, then catch and release each goslings. Easy!

Opinion: CO2 credits: The ultimate rebate? #green

Watch: The sticker saving thousands of lives from starvation

Hazmat teams are trying to contain a massive California wildfire that is threatening 2,000 homes. Locals are being warned not to inhale the smoke – especially since highly toxic pesticides have caught fire and are releasing dangerous chemical fumes. The wildfire erupted in Southern California at 6:30 a.m. Thursday, forcing residents near Camarillo to evacuate their homes. The raging fire has already burnt more than 12 ½ sq. miles, and 15 homes have already sustained damage. A group of recreational vehicles in a mobile home park have been completely destroyed. About 2,000 other homes are at risk of destruction as the flames lick the edges of communities 50 miles northwest of Los Angeles. A small, local university canceled classes for the week as the fire threatened its campus, AP reports. And while smoke inhalation is never healthy, the fumes of this wildfire are particularly dangerous: fire officials on Thursday warned that a store of highly toxic pesticides caught fire at an agricultural property in Laguna Farms, near the university campus. Fire officials have sent out health warnings, urging residents to avoid inhaling smoke – even if no flames are nearby. via Toxic pesticides burn up in California wildfire — RT USA.

It took nearly seven years, but the blades are finally turning on a pair of wind turbines at the Archbold and Pettisville schools in northwestern Ohio, demonstrating how school districts can take control of their energy future and create educational opportunities for their kids at the same time. “We have controlled the price of the electricity we will use going forward,” says Stephen Switzer, superintendent of the Pettisville schools. The turbine has a projected lifespan of 20 years. Administrators at both of the small-town school districts had been looking into how to become more self-sufficient and reduce their energy bills since the mid-2000s. Switzer says he had watched as other districts grappled with financial problems brought on by energy costs, and he didn’t want his schools to end up in the same situation when they built a new buidling, as they were planning to do in 2011. But it wasn’t until federal stimulus funds became available through the American Reinvestment and Recovery Act in 2009 that the construction of the twin turbines became a reality. Building wind turbines isn’t cheap. But it will mean about $100,000 in energy savings each year. Since the turbine’s activation in late February, says Switzer, the 85-foot blades of the 300-foot-tall 750-kilowatt structure in Pettisville have been whirring away productively, generating about 325,000 kilowatt hours to date. On some calm days, the school has to buy electricity from the utility, but on others, when the wind is strong, it sells juice back to the grid. In Archbold, school officials hope that the turbine will eventually meet 74 percent of the electricity needs of the district’s high school and elementary school. via Powering Ohio Schools With Wind Energy – Sarah Goodyear – The Atlantic Cities.

Eight political scandals that rocked Capitol Hill worse than IRS-Gate

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Watch: Meet the 'civic hackers'

Worse Than Watergate: Growing Scandal Brings Nation To The Brink Of Ruin. #green

Have a hankering to earn a grad degree in computer science? Georgia Tech's offering one for less than $7,000. Really.