The Tiger is Back, But Not at the Zoo

Yesterday I spent several hours at the Roger Williams Park Zoo. It was a great day in the sunshine checking out the many animal exhibits there. I am of two minds when it comes to zoos. Like many I feel sad to see these exquiste creatures enclosed, but I do appreciate a chance to see animals I would never be able to see so close up and personal. RW zoo seems to have made a good attempt at not putting all their animals in cages as in the old days and has attempted to
place them in more natural surroundings. I marveled at the cheetah, a South American penguin,python snakes, and several giraffes.I even got to see a Shetland sheep!!! Sadly I neglected to take my camera...can you believe it.

There were no tigers which brings me to my latest knitting project......

In case you haven't heard Opal got wise to the fact that it's customers wanted more Tiger. They finally released it, and thanks to Sue at R.I. Handspun I got a skein. I've begun a pair of socks using a simple wave pattern and I'm loving it.More mindless knitting to perk up my knitting slump. I'm also determined to work on two nameless sweaters that could be worn soon.

Energy

On another note.... energy costs have been soaring so I'm trying to think of more ways to cut them down. In the 70's DH and I began buying fuel efficient cars and this will be continued as well as cutting down on unnecessary trips.

I'm also fond of recycling and will try to find more ways to increase this through recycling clothing and reusing paper and plastic bags. In case you haven't heard, most of the major market chains in R.I. are collecting our plastic bags. These bags will be made into plastic products that will make park benches,decks and more. In fact I've seen some of these products at Roger Williams Park this weekend, and they are very durable.

Next is working on ways to make our house more fuel efficient. This will mean lowering the temperature which has been a balmy 68 degrees to whatever we can stand. As I am an inveterate knitter, I have much in the way of woolens to wear :). I need to explore ways to cut down on heat loss through our fireplace which has a glass enclosure that still permits cold air to enter our family room. Any ideas out there to handle this one?