Can you hear me now?

 

I was hoping Blogger would be kind to me today, but that doesn't seem to be the case.  I will leave you a comment when Blogger sees fit. Until then, I still get "Failed to Publish."  Please understand, this is NOT my doing.

Thank you for visiting today.  This is a special day, as it is for the Earth.  It's also a culmination, where for 22 days beginning April 1, I attempted to show how to rethink, reduce, reuse, recycle, re-invent, recover, restore, or repurpose something in order to save it from the trash. It all led up to Earth Day, or "bEARTHday" in my world.  Of course, I believe EVERY day should be Earth Day, because we must find a way to save our planet. 

 

As an aside, there is more to think about than just trash.  There are endangered species to consider.  Do any of you remember when the California condor was on the extreme endangered list?  It became extinct in the wild in 1987.  In 1982, only 23 condors survived world-wide. By 1987, all remaining wild condors were placed into a captive breeding program in an effort to save the species from extinction.  According to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service:

Since 1992, when the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) began reintroducing captive-bred condors to the wild, the USFWS and its public and private partners have grown the total free-flying and captive population to more than 500 condors In 2004, the Recovery program reached an important milestone with the first successful chick hatched in the wild. In 2008, more California condors were flying free in the wild than in captivity for the first time since the program began.   

Now it's time to help endangered porpoises. With fewer than 10 individuals believed to remain in the wild, the vaquita is one of the most critically endangered marine animals.  It is also known as the Gulf of California harbor porpoise, or cochito.  According to NOAA Fisheries:

Vaquitas have the smallest range of any whale, dolphin, or porpoise.  They only live in the northern part of the Gulf of California, an area that is rich in fish and shrimp.  Fishing is thus a major source of income for the people there, who almost exclusively use gillnets, but vaquitas can also become accidentally wrapped in the nets and drown.  Scientists agree that for vaquitas to survive in the wild, "gillnet" fishing, also known as Fishing Net Entanglements, must end within the vaquita habitat.

Perhaps we need legislation that actually works to save these endangered porpoises. 

As those of you who have been here all 22 days know, I have brought back a favorite post from the past from April 2015, 2016, and 2017.  Today is no different.  I am sharing part of a favorite post from April, 2017.  As you read from the title of today's post it is called  

Can you hear me now? 

 

For today's recycling entry

I started with a book cover given me by my friend Sally.

I added some gold infused tissue paper

I saved from a gift.

I used white PVA glue to adhere the tissue paper to the book cover.

While the glue was drying, I decided to create a new universal hole locator.  I began with a pad of post-it-notes and a steel ruler.

I measured down 2 mm from the top of the pad on two sides and drew lines.

I used those two lines as guides to create a single line across the width of the page.

I measured 2.5 mm from the left and right sides

and drew two perpendicular lines to meet the horizontal line.


I drew a small circle at the intersections of each line,

then wrote the words "left" and "right."  That was for your benefit, not mine.

The idea is, no matter what width

you are measuring, the hole locater will work perfectly by lining it up with either the left or right side of the piece.

Here is my completed assemblage with holes punched, but minus wires.

I'm really happy about the completed assemblage.

I'm including a few random shots for your enjoyment.

I need to adhere the "Hear Hear" a bit better, I see.  As an aside, it is left over from the deli paper I used a couple of days ago.

For this assemblage, I started with a book cover and some used tissue paper.  I deconstructed an old cordless phone and used the "motherboard" as the main assembly.  I added the speaker from the same phone, along with some beads and baubles I either assembled, or used to add interest to this assemblage.   For the hanger, I used a colorful deconstructed telephone wire.  I used a stencil to write all the words on the scrap deli paper.  Everything except the PVA glue has been recycled or repurposed today.

Thank you beyond belief for your continued support of my recycling efforts through the past 22 days.   And please have a glorious Earth Day everyone.  BTW, I won't be eating cake today.   Instead, I'm having a glazed doughnut.