Oh the sacrifices!

Yesterday I agreed to man the store while Lisa took a few hours off, presumably to get some chores done prior to her upcoming trip to see her mom in Mississippi.  When she arrives late, she asks for another 30 minutes, because it turns out she has to make a few finishing touches on the Chilipepper recirculating pump she has installed in our bathroom.  My first reaction was not one of support, I'm sorry to say.  (For one thing, I thought she was putting a second coat of paint on the living room and going to the grocery store.)  We are just testing it at this point, and so she installed it in our bathroom, which is a tiny 1927 craftsman bathroom with a pedestal sink, so now there is a small but ugly thing sitting on the floor with wires and extra supply line jutting out in my previously soothing and comforting bathroom.  Not only that, it is LOUD.

Okay, now the cool part.  What does this thing do?  Well, this is a pump with a computer chip, and when you press the button, it starts pushing the water that is sitting there in the line into the hot water heater and continues in a big loop until the water reaches a certain temperature at which point (25-30 sec) it turns off and your hot water is sitting there ready to come out of the faucets.  From my end what I see is that you press a button and then the machine comes on for 30 seconds, turns off on it's own, and then you turn the valve for the hot water, and OMG voila, hot water.  No wasted cold water running down the drain.  No expensive tankless water heater.  Just hot water.  

Lisa tells me we can put this under the house to hide the ugliness and muffle the noise (which is only for a few seconds anyway), and run the little button up through the floor so that we can just turn it on prior to using the hot water (anywhere in the house).  So once we finish this phase of the test, we will try the more permanent test.  If this works as good as it appears it might, then what a great product.  We have so many water-conscious customers that are diligently saving their cold water in buckets while the hot water heats up.  This could put an easy and efficient stop to all that it seems.  Status updates to follow.

Lynn, co-owner Olive Branch 

Solatube natural lighting

Lisa and I try to use all the products we sell, so we can test them and give out first-hand information and, if we love them, then we have no restrictions on telling everybody what great products they are. So our latest product test is a Solatube (natural light tube). We installed one in our dark hallway and maybe divine is too strong a word but awesome is not! I love it. Everyone who has one or knows someone who has one has told us that once the first one is installed, then whoever it is always gets more. I see why. I now want one in my office and my bathroom, just for starts! It's almost like a window got installed in the hallway. You can't see out of course, but the light coming in is exactly like the bright light from a window. Being an early riser, I also dig on the light coming into the hallway outside my bedroom as soon as it gets light outside. (You can get a diffuser that makes it dark if that's not your thing and you want to control the light.) As a self-diagnosed sufferer of SAD (Seasonal Affective Disorder), I am loving this extra (guilt-free) light coming into my home!

Lynn, co-owner Olive Branch

opening Olive Branch

We are starting this blog to humbly disclose the behind-the-scenes agonies and thrills, as well as descriptions of our personal and probably embarrassing decisions and activities resulting from the massive amount of information, both green and mundane, involved in the opening of our business.  We are hoping for support, criticisms that help us come to a screeching halt if we are going in the wrong direction, and humor related to our modest attempt to make a living while helping to sustain the planet.

Lynn

co-owner Olive Branch