Raised Bed Garden Watering

It's been months since I bought the wrong watering kit for my garden.  Yesterday, in a fit of energy, I finally returned the wrong and got the right.

This is the right one, from Lee Valley.  The cost is $26.50.

Here is the instruction sheet.

Sounds easy right?  Well it actually was easy!  From start to finish, it took 40 minutes, which includes time to look for pants to wear, so, um, it really took maybe 35 minutes.

After removing tape from the coiled rolls of hose, I grabbed a pair of scissors to cut the feeder hose to length.  I fretted that it would be hard to uncoil the hose, but it wasn't too bad.

1.  Attach header hose to hose/faucet connector.

2.  Attach hose/faucet connector to faucet, which is off!  This helps to straighten out the header hose, which miraculously became straight after attaching to the faucet.

3.  Lay out your header hose.  I led the hose right to  my garden and lay it along the edge of the long wall.

I decided to use all 5 included sprinklers for my 12 foot bed by putting a sprinkler in every two feet.

For each sprinkler:

1.  Punch a hole in the Header Hose using the Hole Punch.  This compresses the Hose but eventually the Hole Punch will make it through.  You can plump up the Hose after you've inserted the feeder tube by re-shaping it with your fingers.

2.  Each Spectrum Spike has an end connector attached it (picture below, my thumb and forefinger are holding on to the end connector.  Twist it off.  

3.  Push the slanted end into the punched hole.  It may click into place.

4.  Cut a length of Feeder Tube.  It runs between the Header Hose and your Spectrum Spike.  I needed about 2 feet to reach the centre of my bed.  You will need five of these for the five Spectrum Spikes.  I ended up making some too long.

5.  Attach Feeder Tube to the end connector attached to the Header Hose.

6.  Attach the Feeder Hose to the Spectrum Spike and push the Spectrum Spike into the soil.

7.  Attach the End Connector to the Header Hose.

Done!  Unfortunately, my plants are too tall at this stage for the sprinklers.  The maximum height of the plants for the sprinklers is 12 inches.  I should have installed it a long time ago.  So I have been eating the leaves in the way of the sprinkler, but there are quite a few outer edge spots that the sprinkler won't reach, simply because there are plants in the way.

Here are the sprinklers in action.  Adjust the sprinkler output by screwing/unscrewing the top cap of the sprinkler.

Yellow Face: Still Alive and Well

Today my daughter viewed a YouTube video at school, shown to her by her classmate. It was Miss Swan of MadTV, shown at a McDonald's (renamed "McRonald's") drive through. The first thing I noticed was the thick Asian imitation accent. This character is portrayed by Alex Borstein, a Caucasian actress.  I had never seen or heard of this character.

In the skit, "Miss Swan" irritates the drive through Manager by failing to understand what he is saying, and failing to speak or understand English well enough to place her order. In the end of the skit, she receives free burgers from the irritated manager, and she reveals that she does this all the time to get free food.

This was an ancient clip, from the year 2000. Guy Aoki, President of the Media Action Network for Asian Americans (MANAA), wrote a complaint, asking the Fox Network to ditch the character. The network did not, but said they would "fix" the character in a year. The original name of "Miss Kwan" was changed to "Miss Swan" and they lightened up on the makeup, but the page boy standard black China Doll bob haircut remained, along with the pseudo Asian accent.

In her defence, Alex Borstein claimed that the idea for the character was from her 85 year old immigrant grandmother, who would pull the same type of stunts as suited her to her advantage. She believes that by explaining the origin of the character, that she has done no wrong. I couldn't believe the inadequacy of her response, given that any observer would conclude immediately as to the possible ethnicity of the character--come on! Look at the picture above: Isn't she wearing a Chinese style collared shirt? What a lie, pretending that the character has nothing to do with Asian stereotypes. I love her response: "For starters, I would like to let it be known that the author of the article has never contacted me or, so far as I know, made any attempts to do so. He has never asked me a single question as to the origin of this character. So, in an effort to correct his misconceptions, let me ask and answer them myself." Do you really need to contact Ms. Borstein to find out whether she *intended* to be racist, when the main question is whether an outside observer would be characterize Miss Swan as being Asian?

Happy to say, it seems she was on MadTV only until 2002. I read somewhere else that a movie was in the works. Let me hazard to guess that she never received funding for her brilliant and original (not!) movie idea. Making fun of different ethnicities was very popular in 1960s films. I should know, because those portrayals mortified me when I was growing up in Canada. I would cringe at Peter Sellers, Peter Ustinov, Charlie Chan and Mickey Rooney in yellow face, or at countless cartoon characters of stupid Asians with buck teeth, bowing, bowing, bowing...

Here's Mickey Rooney, looking oh so "Asian" in 1961's Breakfast at Tiffany's.

It repulses me to further promote this character or Ms. Borstein in any way, so I do not provide a link to the YouTube clips in question. They're easy enough to Google.

This provided fodder for today's lesson to my kids: what is stereotyping and racism. What is repulsive and ignorant.

Asian Canadians and Asian Americans are an anomaly: Hispanics and Blacks are protected groups, and it is not acceptable to don black face nowadays or pull racist humour on them. But for Asian North Americans, it is open season. Note Asian American NBA player Jeremy Lin, and the controversy with the firing of the ESPN writer, headlining an article "Chink in the Armour." That writer also claimed that he intended no racism. Sure, I really believe he had no intention, and that's what counts, doesn't it, intention? Ridiculous. Many wrote in supporting the comment, with the most popular argument being that Asian Americans needed to get a sense of humour. Likewise, the Miss Swan supporters believe that folks like the MANAA are just silly. She writes: "If he believes my nutty little character on a late-night sketch comedy show is a depiction of him and his "people," then, as Ms. Swan would say, "He needs to take a chill pill!" Nice.

Recently the campaign "Remember Vincent Chin" made its rounds on Facebook. In 1982, Vincent Chin, a Chinese American, was having a bachelor party at a strip club but got into a fight with some auto plant workers who said "It's because of you little motherf*kers that we're out of work!" referring to U.S. auto manufacturing jobs being lost to Japan, despite the fact that Chin was not Japanese. He was beaten to death by a Chrysler plant superintendent and his stepson, who hunted him down for 30 minutes after Chin's party was thrown out of the strip club and found Chin at McDonald's.

"They served no jail time, were given three years probation, fined $3,000 and ordered to pay $780 in court costs. In a response letter to protests from American Citizens for Justice, Kaufman said, "These weren't the kind of men you send to jail... You don't make the punishment fit the crime; you make the punishment fit the criminal." Chin's mother, Lily Chin, stated: "What kind of law is this? What kind of justice? This happened because my son is Chinese. If two Chinese killed a white person, they must go to jail, maybe for their whole lives... Something is wrong with this country."

The comments on the YouTube videos of Miss Swan were nearly 100% supportive of the skits. As long as there are people like Ms. Borstein, and supporters and fans, we will never be respected as equals.

Photo from SodaHead, probably Copyright by MadTV of Fox network. No violation of copyright laws intended. Ha! Because it's intention that counts.

Also, see the two letters written here with eloquent brief responses to the Miss Swan character.

In "Fox's Satiric Little Secret Finds a Growing Audience" (by William Keck, Feb. 24), "Mad TV's" Debra Wilson says that "the Asian community is taking themselves much too seriously" when they complain about Alex Borstein's Ms. Swan character. Here's an open letter to Wilson:

You are an African American performer making fun of African American characters. Cool. That's fine. Whatever. But Borstein is a white performer who dons Asian makeup and makes fun of Asians with an obnoxious nail salon-worker character (check the history of the character, she started out as "Ms. Kwan").
Asian Americans have teamed up with African Americans, Latinos and Native Americans to help get more people of color on prime-time TV. African Americans have benefited greatly from this, Asians hardly at all.
We're angry because not only are we barely visible on TV, when some white actress creates an annoying Asian character based on a lousy stereotype, the African American producer refuses to take her off the air, and we feel dissed and disenfranchised.
KEN NARASAKI
Venice

For decades (if not centuries), white performers have been dressing up as Asians to mock the way that Asian people look and talk (such as Mickey Rooney in "Breakfast at Tiffany's" and Jerry Lewis in "Hardly Working"). Ms. Swan is in this same, tired tradition. I see nothing cutting-edge about this kind of race-based humor.
ROBERT PAYNE
Studio City

An excellent history of Yellowface in Hollywood is here, at Racebending.com.

If you would like to do more reading about Jeremy Lin, this excellent article from Devin Gordon of GQ exposes some disturbing questions about race and the failure of the New York Knicks to sign him:

"The moment I knew for certain that the Knicks were done with Jeremy Lin was on Sunday, July 15, when Carmelo Anthony publicly called Lin's offer from the Houston Rockets "ridiculous." At that point, the Knicks were still saying their minds weren't made up, and maybe that was true—maybe they were only 99 percent sure. Even still, Melo's remark was like an X-ray of his psyche, and, because Melo is the only person other than owner Jim Dolan who really matters in the Knicks organization, it was a glimpse into what the entire franchise thinks about Lin.

What's relevant here is not whether Melo was right or not about Lin's contract. Plenty of NBA players surely agree with him. What's relevant is that he said it out loud. Bad-mouthing another player's deal is a serious breach of the unwritten code among pro athletes, which is why it happens so rarely, no matter how many stupid deals get handed out, no matter how many franchises are crippled by bad contracts, no matter how many superstars find their paths to a title blocked by the bonehead decisions of their teams' front offices. It's also why, conversely, players almost always praise each others' deals in public, and offer congratulations – we've all seen the tweets – for getting every penny that the market could generate. It's a fraternity.

Apparently, to Melo, Jeremy Lin is not in the fraternity. Or at least, Lin's place in it is dubious enough that he has not earned the omerta that every other player gets. Anybody wanna try to convince me it has zero to do with Lin being Asian-American? Because, and let's cut to the quick, Carmelo Anthony never ever would've made that remark about a black NBA player's contract, and I doubt that he ever would've said it about a white player's, either. If Melo thought that Lin was being wildly overpaid but still, fundamentally, belonged in the club, he would've kept his mouth shut. He didn't because he doesn't."

Read More http://www.gq.com/blogs/the-q/2012/07/the-jeremy-lin-debate-no-one-wants-to-have.html#ixzz21B6YRuco 

Consulting with a Gardening Guru

A garden that screams "My gardener is absolutely clueless."

Who could resist?  An offer from my friend to have his gardening guru friend come and take a look at my garden?  Larry is someone with experience since childhood in the ways of growing things, and was one of the folks in charge of BARAGA, a huge community garden in Burnaby.  I first heard about Larry when my friend offered me some leftover leek seedlings just waiting for a home.

Larry's leek seedlings

I was curious about what Larry would say about my garden, the type of garden which screams, "My gardener is absolutely clueless."

The first thing he noticed was the lack of irrigation.  I sheepishly explained that I water the garden by standing there with a hose.  He suggested a tube system, 25 feet, with 16 emitters placed every 2 feet, plus a pressure relief valve, or to avoid turning on the water full blast.  I took his suggestion and headed to Lee Valley and picked up the $34 Fence Mount Sprinkler Kit, because it was the only thing I saw online.  Later I found that there were definitely more options when I did a search for irrigation.  There is a specific Raised Garden Bed kit, which is cheaper at $28 than $33 and does not require my purchasing mounting clips.  I've got to go back and make the exchange soon!

We went through the different vegetables planted in my SFG.

I had carrots still in the ground from last year.  He said that carrots are biennial and that once they flowered, they would turn woody and be no longer good to eat.  Well, thank goodness my kids plucked most of the carrots out (without my permission) a few weeks ago.  The carrots are only just beginning to flower this week, the middle of May.

As for my leftover kale, once it flowers I need to pluck off the flower and it will continue to taste all right, but I should soon yank it out.

Tomatoes should be chosen on the time to maturity.  Our growing season is not very long and tomatoes need warm weather to come to maturity, so I should aim for 60 days as a maximum time requirement.  Days to maturity can be tricky: it is not from when you plant the seed, but from when the plant first comes up that you count the days to maturity.  The gold nugget variety is not as flavourful as the sun gold.

As for my horrendous beets, which seem to develop lush tops but skinny roots, he suggested not to plant too early.  Early April is as early as it gets.

Foreground: Beets.  Background: Spinach.

He chuckled at my zucchini, asking whether I knew how much room it would take up, since I planted its square right next to my mizuna square.  Yes, I was aware that it would soon take over a huge space in the garden, but I figured the quick growing mizuna might make it to a big enough size before the zucchini went Godzilla on me.  He said it would take FOUR square feet when grown, which I confirm is the case from my plant last year.

From front to back: zucchini, mizuna, peas.

We discussed aphid control.  Last year my broccoli was rendered inedible by aphids and cabbage white larvae.  He said that depending on how adventurous you are, you can blast them off with water and they will often not come back or get drowned.  Best are baby ladybugs--to be obtained from vacant lots with lots of flowers.  Unfortunately we noted that in my area, with lots starting over $1M, that vacant lots are fairly rare!  The baby ladybugs like eating nectar from flowers.  If I bought adult ladybugs, they would *maybe* eat some aphids before they flew away to someone else's garden!

Broccoli, put in two seeds.  I will cut off the top of the smaller one.  Beet from last year in the square with the broccoli.

I could also spray the broccoli with BT, or squish the eggs of the cabbage whites.

My rhubarb was looking very sad and yellow.  He suggested that a hilling a pile of compost around the plant is the best thing.  Not being that into rhubarb, I'll take this under advisement.  Ha!

I bought a male and female kiwi plant pair which are supposed to bear fruit after three years, but this being my third year, they look fairly sickly.  The leaves are eaten away almost to nothing every year.  I need to come out at night to see what is eating the leaves.  It could be weevils, slugs, or pill bugs.  If weevils, I could knock them off at night (11-12 pm) and into a container of water.  I also need to learn how to prune the thing to promote fruit.

My blueberry bushes must have the dead branches cut off or they will continue to draw nutrients.  I need to cut them back 1/4 or 1/3 to help it grow back stronger.

My first year planting baby bok choy.  Boy, do these grow fast... I only planted the seeds a week ago, and they mature in 21 days.

This whole consultation took only 30 minutes.

Larry has started up his own blog at Larry's Organic Garden where you can read up more detail of his extensive experience.  You might want to contact Larry for some advice about your own garden.

Soy Milk Machines: Pioneer Woman Rides Again!

I've been having possible hot flashes lately. I say possible because I'm not sure if they really are hot flashes, and my internal factory still turns out eggs as regularly as always. It was the newspaper article that finally spurred me to make my own soy milk and put on my Pioneer Woman hat again. Heck, I grow my own vegetables, make my own bread. Might as well make ma own soy milk! Yeeha!


Why Soy Milk?

In a nutshell, I intend to drink a ton of soy milk to help with my hot flashes. Here is an excerpt from the influential article in the Globe and Mail (now I print excerpts because the articles disappear from the internet over time):

"...according to the most comprehensive study to date, eating two servings of soy foods a day may help reduce the frequency and severity of hot flashes. ...The interest in soy for hot flashes began when researchers noticed only about 10 per cent of Asian women experience menopausal symptoms. It’s been speculated that Asian women are less likely to have hot flashes due to their high soy consumption.


Soy protein contains isoflavones, natural compounds that can bind weakly to certain estrogen receptors in the body. In so doing, soy isoflavones might help compensate for declining estrogen levels that accompany menopause and offer some relief for hot flashes.

Until now, the evidence for soy has been inconclusive, with some studies showing benefit and others finding no effect.

The current report, published online in Menopause: The Journal of the North American Menopause Association, reviewed 19 randomized controlled trials that enrolled more than 1,200 women taking soy isoflavone extracts (not soy foods) or placebos.


When all studies were combined, there was a clear and consistent positive effect for isoflavones.

Compared to taking placebos, consuming at least 54 milligrams daily for six weeks to a year reduced hot flash frequency by 20 per cent and the severity by 26 per cent.

Women who took isoflavones for at least 12 weeks experienced a threefold greater reduction in hot flashes than women who consumed isoflavones for a shorter duration.

Isoflavone supplements with higher levels of genistein – one of the two main types of isoflavones in soybeans – were the most effective at easing hot flashes.

Genistein is the primary isoflavone found in soy foods as well as soybeans, suggesting that adding soy to your diet, or using supplements made from whole soybeans, may work better than synthetic isoflavone supplements.

The fact that isoflavones act like a weak form of estrogen in the body concerns some women, particularly those at high risk for breast cancer. That’s because certain risk factors for breast cancer are related to the length of time breast cells are exposed to the body’s own circulating estrogen. It’s thought that estrogen can promote the growth of breast cancer cells.

However, studies suggest that consuming soy reduces breast cancer risk in Asian populations. In Western women, soy has not been shown to increase or decrease risk. (Western women may not consume enough soy isoflavones to lower breast cancer risk.) Recent studies have also linked a higher intake of soy foods such as tofu, soy beverages and soy flour with a lower risk of breast cancer recurrence.

Soybeans are worth adding to your diet even if you don’t have hot flashes. They’re high in protein, low in saturated fat and offer fibre, omega-3 fatty acids, vitamins, minerals and antioxidants."


How Much Soy Do I Need Every Day?


The article cites 54 mg daily for at least 12 weeks to reduce hot flashes. According to another article by Dr. Weil, one cup of soy milk contains four to 10 grams of soy protein, and 20 to 40 mg of isoflavones. Penn State University cites 10 mg per 100 mL or 25 mg per 250 mL (1 cup) of soy milk. Since soy milk is made of water and soy beans, likely the variance is due to the dilution.

Roughly, I should drink two cups (500 mL) and a bit a day. Of course, the soy can be taken in other forms such as tofu or edamame. But drinking soy milk is fairly easy to do.

Penn State University cautions against too much soy: Isoflavones are weak estrogens. More is not better. Scientists are worried that these could have bad effects if eaten in large amounts for long periods of time. The safe range of intake is 35–55 milligrams a day. Some suggest an upper limit of 100 milligrams per day.


Why Make Soy Milk at Home?

Dr. Weil's article says this:

"Soy milk provides all the benefits of cow's milk, without the milk protein (casein), which can increase mucus production and irritate the immune system in some people, and milk sugar (lactose), which can cause digestive distress if you lack the enzyme that breaks it down.

Soy milk is made by soaking dried beans in water, grinding them, heating them in water, pressing them, and straining the milk. Soy milk makers for home use are widely available, and people who use them say fresh, homemade soy milk is much better tasting than packaged products. And it will have no additives."

These are the reasons as I see them:

1. It tastes better;
2. There are no additives;
3. It is better for the environment avoiding packaging and transport of the heavy liquid to your grocery store and home; and
4. It is cheaper.

Let's look at reasons 2 and 4.


There are No Additives

So Nice organic unsweetened fortified "soy beverage" has the following ingredients, other than water and soybeans:

• tricalcium phosphate: Likely added as a Calcium supplement.
• natural flavour: Huh? What natural flavour is this referring to?
• salt
• carrageenan: Derived from seaweed, a thickening gel agent.
• sodium bicarbonate: Um, baking soda. Yum!
• zinc gluconate: Usually a dietary supplement (Zinc). 
• ascorbic acid: Vitamin C. An antioxidant food additive.
• niacin: Vitamin B3
• pantothenate: Vitamin B5
• riboflavin: Vitamin B2
• vitamin B6
• vitamin A palmitate
• thiamine: Vitamin B1
• folacin: Vitamin B9, folic acid
• vitamin D2
• vitamin B12

This is like having soy milk plus a vitamin pill. If that's what you want, great, but I read that vitamins taken as supplements have dubious benefits. Like this?

From the article: Women taking multivitamins don’t live longer than those who get their nutrients from food alone, according to a U.S. study that found they in fact appear to have slightly higher death rates... “There is very little evidence showing that common dietary supplements would be beneficial in prevention of major chronic diseases,” said Jaakko Mursu of the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis, who worked on the study.

“Unless you are deficient, there is hardly any reason to take them,” he told Reuters Health.


It is Cheaper

I bought non-GMO organic soybeans for about $2.63/kg or $1.19/pound. This works out to $0.20 for each batch, a batch being 1400 mL of finished soymilk. This is $0.14/L.

The machine which I purchased based on reviews and recommendations was the SoyaPower Plus. Reviews here, here, and here. I bought it for $110 (all inclusive) from SanLinx through Amazon, because Amazon offered $10 off and a 2 year warranty. Based on online reviews, I can expect it to last for around 5 years of regular use. Yearly cost is $22, not counting electricity.

I need to make 540 mL to get 54 mg recommended isoflavones per day, so each batch of 1400 mL lasts me 2.6 days. So, I would need to use the machine at least twice a week, lowering the cost per batch for the machine. Each year I need 140 batches, so the machine cost per batch is $0.16.

Total cost is $0.30/L. $2.69 for 946 mL for organic unsweetened enriched soy milk, brand Natur-A, which is $2.84/L. Not sure whether it is worth the premium for the "enrichment.".


What About My Time?  Time is Money!


It takes very little time.  Making a batch involves:

Measuring dry soybeans, rinsing and soaking them in water to rehydrate them;
Waiting 8-10 hours (overnight) for rehydration;
Filling the machine with water;
Pouring out the excess water from the rinsed beans and pouring beans into the machine;
Pressing a button and waiting 15 minutes for cycle to end; and
Cleaning the machine and sieve (8 minutes);
Waiting for the soy milk to cool and pouring into containers.

Active preparation and cleanup time is about 20 minutes for a novice. Maybe you can beat my time?


Where to Buy Soybeans?

I searched in vain for a Canadian supplier of organic soybeans. If you know of one, please comment below. There are many growers in Ontario, Quebec, and Manitoba, but I could not find any in BC. None of the growers online appeared to retail to the Canadian public, but cater to overseas sales, particularly Japan.

Canadians can buy from US online supplier laurabeans.com, $60 for 20 pounds, which includes postage. That is $3/pound, which is cheaper than my local supplier (Choices) at $3.17/pound!!! The beans are different even visually, but I will leave the blind taste test for another post.

I will post another article on where to buy soybeans when I run out of my current $6 supply, which according to my calculations, should be in 26 days! For reference, I actually measured out the soybeans I bought using the supplied measuring cup from my machine and figured out that it takes 78 g to make one batch (1400 mL) of soymilk.

Beware Brokerage Fees on eBay

For a show I'm in I had to purchase a pair of camouflage pants.  I was thrilled to find a pair in Hong Kong.  It was only $20, and shipping was listed as "Standard International Flat Rate Postage: AU $9.99."

The pants arrived quickly, but two weeks after, I received an invoice from FedEx for $17.77!!!  This bill was for duty of $3.68, Harmonized Sales Tax (HST) of $2.89, and an "Advancement Fee" of $10.00 plus HST on the Advancement Fee!  This increased the price paid on my pants from the expected $36.56 to $47.76.  That is a 30% increase in the price.

Now, how does "standard international flat rate postage" translate to using Fedex to ship something?

Now, I'm not the only person steamed about this Advancement Fee and lack of consent for using FedEx to ship my things.  Luckily for me, other Canadians were steamed up enough about this to start a Class Action lawsuit against UPS and FedEx for exorbitant brokerage fees.  You can find the warning for this in the "eBay Canada Guide" only if you're looking for it, here.

I was right about to join Merchant Law Group's class action lawsuit to avenge this outrageousness when I decided to pick up the telephone and speak to FedEx, who probably has some awareness of the lawsuit.  I informed the agent at FedEx that I had no contractual relationship with FedEx and did not request the use of FedEx with the eBay seller.  The agent gave up without a fight and offered to waive the $10.00 fee and tax on that fee as a one time only thing.  That was when I asked her to waive it on another bill from FedEx that I received 10 days later for the same type of purchase from a different eBay seller.  There was simply no time for me to react to the previous problematic purchase by the time I bought another item.  She did that as well.

So... if you buy anything on eBay, make sure you specify that the sender is not permitted to use a courier without your consent.

The Lorax, Oilsands, and SUVs

On Sunday we made the trip to the local stadiumplex to see Dr. Seuss' "The Lorax."  I'd been alerted by one of my friends that the Lorax had been used to flog Mazda SUVs as being "truffula tree friendly", likely causing Dr. Seuss to spin in his grave.  The Mazda SUV is a gas powered vehicle, not an electric or even a hybrid vehicle, and it...  is... an... ***SUV!!!***



And most recently, the Lorax was used to promote Mazda SUVs in visits to elementary schools, with $1000 going to participating schools.  The kids are asked to convince their parents to take them for a test drive of the flogged car so that $25 will be donated by Mazda to the National Education Association.

While waiting for the movie to begin, the pre-show included a piece on Canadian innovation.  A series of vignettes of famous Canadian inventions were shown, including, WHAT THE?  Extraction technology for oilsands!!!  To promote the company which develops the extraction technology!  The Once-ler lives again, a greedy industrialist.

And finally, I wondered what happens to the 3D glasses after we throw them in the recycling bin?  Well, wonder no more.  There are various fates for the glasses.  It turns out that industry leader Real 3D  transports the glasses to a facility in Los Angeles, where the glasses are washed and checked for damage before re-packaging them in plastic.  It might not be a bad idea to keep your 3D glasses--the person taking tickets told me to.  Then I can use the glasses at the next 3D show I see and it won't have to take a vacation to Disneyland before it makes it back to anyone's face.  Real 3D was originally disposable, and recycling finally began in 2008.

Cycling with Kids in Washington, DC

Why Bike?

If you've been to Washington, DC, you will know that if you visit the Smithsonian Museums, you will be travelling a great distance between them.  The buildings are like a mirage... they seem so close, but when you try to walk to them, or even find the entrance, that short distance stretches into infinity, especially when you have little children tagging along or you are walking in sweltering heat or extreme cold.  I'm pretty certain that some tourists have died from exhaustion from the walk between buildings.

In researching the top things to do in DC, I came across "Bike the Sites" on Tripadvisor.  While I'm sure the tour guides give a great talk, I actually dislike big group tours.  I feel like a caged animal.  I decided that I would get the bikes, and ditch the tour.  This way, big overwhelming distances on foot would be avoided.  We stayed at a hotel near Union Station, which is a good 1.5 km from the edge of the National Mall, the name of the big green space stretching from the Capitol Building in the east to Lincoln Memorial in the west boundary.  Along this strip of green lie the many Museums of the Smithsonian.  On average, it was around 2.5 km to each Museum from our hotel.

Where to get your Bike?

The best option is probably to use Capital Bikeshare, a bicycle sharing system with 1,200 bikes and 140 stations across the district.  For a tourist visit, you can pay $15 for a three day membership or $25 for 30 days.  The first 30 minutes are free.  So, essentially all you pay is $15 for three days if you just need the bikes to get around.  This is the end of the research I did because I could not use the system since my two young kids could not ride adult size bikes.  I thought of buying bikes for the kids through Craigslist, though... used bicycles from Craigslist (kids' bicycles go for a song when they are used) and donate them or re-sell when I was done with them.  I also thought of packing up our Chariot bicycle trailer to bring with us, but wasn't sure I could attach it to the shared bikes.

Instead, I found another option.

We rented two adult "comfort" bicycles from Bike and Roll, spanking new at the beginning of the tourist season, which begins in March.  We also rented one children's bike and a trail-a-bike, which turns a regular bicycle into a tandem.  It lacks a front wheel, and its steering handles don't steer, but the back passenger can pedal.

The rate is $45/day for each adult bike, and $35/day for a child's bike OR trail-a-bike.  Wow, you might be saying to yourself: that's more than a car rental for a week!  And you would be right.  The rental does include helmets (mandatory for those under age 16), locks, and little handlebar bags.  Now that I think about it, I think they forgot to give us the tire patch kit (bike tube, pump) that was promised.  Well, thank goodness we didn't get a flat.  The longer you rent, the less expensive the rental becomes.  Day 3 and 4 of our rental was only an additional $24 for all four bicycles.

Being the Obsessive Researching Mommy, I would be remiss if I did not get a discount on my rental rate.  I bought an Entertainment Book in March for the Washington, DC/Maryland area for $17.50 (delivery included) to get a 50% off rental fees to make it more palatable.  As the year progresses the price of the Entertainment Book goes down, so you could pick one up as cheaply as $5-10 the closer you get to the expiry date of November.  If you would like to use the rest of the coupons, make sure you give yourself a very long lead time for delivery, which is 10 business days.  With the discount, I was able to rent all four bicycles for four full days for $144 plus taxes for a total of $152.50, or around $9.50 per bike per day.


How to Bike?

I'd been warned that cycling in DC meant a death wish with children.  While it is illegal to ride on the sidewalk, we found that riding within the green space of the National Mall on the gravel paths and wide sidewalks was acceptable at a very low rate of speed.  In the mornings, from 8-11 am, most of the sidewalks and pathways are virtually empty, save the occasional runner.  The only time things got unmanageable was daily around 3-5 pm when the paths between monuments were choked with tourists.  In these cases we would ride on the grass or worn bare soil paths adjacent to the sidewalks.

We also found ourselves riding down Pennsylvania Avenue once.  The bike lanes run down the centre of the Avenue, but you are only separated from fast moving traffic by a white painted line.

To make it safer, we opted for the trail-a-bike over an individual bike for our youngest child.  My husband and I are not spooked riding on the road in traffic, and perhaps that is why we did not find DC traffic to be frightening.  That being said, I find that the drivers in DC were often on their cell phones and in a big hurry, meaning that they did not yield to pedestrians or cyclists and would frequently make dangerous turns across our path.  For this reason, we would often walk our bicycles across intersections and wear bright clothing.

Where to Bike?

I had the idea that I wanted to cycle from Union Station to the Zoo, which is a 18 km total round trip, via the National Mall and the Rock Creek Trail, which is a paved separated path that runs from the Lincoln Memorial north to the Zoo.  I wanted to tour all the monuments on another day.  We did both of these things, and it was not dangerous.  The Zoo is really quite close.  The total ride time to the Zoo is about one hour at the pace of a jogger.  That is, at a very slow rate, with some stops.

The path veers north after reaching the Lincoln Memorial, running beside the Potamac River and passing by the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts.

The path is nearly flat, but has a few very small hills near the Zoo.  Much of the path parallels a busy parkway.

The path is narrow in some places, barely enough for two bicycles to pass each other in opposite directions, and we had to walk the bicycles a short distance when there was only a sidewalk and nothing separating us from traffic just south of the last bridge/tunnel before the zoo.

The kids will love riding beside the creek.

When you reach the Zoo, you enter directly from the Rock Creek Trail at the Zoo's south entrance, so you avoid the big hill at the other Zoo entrance.  Lock your bikes north of the information booth/security station across from the concession.  You may not ride your bikes within the Zoo, although you may want to!

The tour of the Monuments was entertaining.  The worst part is negotiating the angled roads crossing from the Washington Monument to the Tidal Basin.  There are no bike racks in front of the Lincoln Memorial, Martin Luther King Memorial, or the Roosevelt Memorial.  This was not a big problem as we did not stay very long at each memorial, so we did a sloppy job of locking up to nearby fences.  In fact, bike racks were fairly sparse through most of downtown DC.  The rack outside Air and Space was not even secured to the ground, and the centre spaces had bent bars.  The bike rental agency assured us that none of the renters had ever reported a bicycle stolen... yet.  If the bicycle is stolen, you are responsible for paying the whole replacement cost, unless you buy insurance through them.  We said no to the insurance.

The kids had a great time and all my research was worth it.  When we tried to return the bikes at the end of day 3, the kids begged to keep the bikes for another day, so we did.