Paul Newman was a hell of an actor...

Rachel summed up my feelings on Paul Newman quite well. I've always been a huge fan of his movies, and his charitable giving.

I think that to honor his memory, I'm going to watch The Sting, Cool Hand Luke, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid and The Color of Money all in a row.

Of course, I will do this all while eating 50 hard-boiled eggs.

Rest In Peace, Paul Newman, champion of socially responsible business

We share sadness at the news this morning that Paul Newman passed away.



Paul Newman was an inspiration to us. He not only believed in quality foods, but he sold and promoted them before all-natural foods were a trend in grocery stores. Further, he used his food business, Newman's Own, to create a philanthropic empire. The company reports generating over $250 million to support thousands of charities worldwide and is still going strong. His idea that business profits could be shared inspired our own 1% for Good donation program.

Of course, Mr. Newman was also a fantastic actor. We will miss his face and remember his business spirit fondly.

Totally Off Topic: Swallowtail Chrysalis

A few days ago we found a caterpillar on some parsley in our garden. We brought it in with some of the parsley leaves and made it a little home in a glass jar. It ate and pooped lots.

Today I looked in to find this:

The caterpillar formed a chrysalis! How exciting! I've never seen a caterpillar from nature do this! I'll update if he/she hatches.

Baying Hound at Small Business Marketing Unleashed

This week I am attending Small Business Marketing Unleashed (SBMU). It's a conference put on by the good folks at Search Engine Guide featuring experts in the search engine, marketing, and website development industry. I'm at the conference to learn about how to make our web business more successful and more user friendly.

Package Handling

We use USPS to ship most packages at Baying Hound because we love the convenience of door to door delivery and the prices, especially on international packages, are impossible to beat. We usually order carrier pickups, the USPS service where carriers pick up packages directly from our door. Since they come here every day anyways, this is an ecofriendly choice too because it requires no extra transportation. Here's a picture snapped by nearly 3 year old Lil of Devie waiting for the mail.


Someday I'll take a video so you can hear her bay. I'm surprised Maria (our carrier) ever returns with the ferocity of Devie's bark.

When carrier pickup doesn't work out (usually because I forget to schedule it) we take packages directly to the post office. As often as possible we do this by bike to reduce our impact:

BPA has been linked to Type 2 Diabetes and heart failure

So in case you haven't heard, BPA (Bisphenol-A) has recently been linked to Type 2 Diabetes and Heart Failure. This latest news is the result of a study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association (AMA). While we are not surprised to see that this chemical has a wider range of potentially harmful effects, it is still disturbing to hear this sort of news. The full text of the AMA study can be found here.

Of course, everyone must be happy that this important information has been released to the consumer, right? Not necessarily. The FDA has issued a statement that all of their regulated products containing BPA are safe for use with food products. Of course, they include the caveat that there are alternatives to plastic products. Glass baby bottles are mentioned, but might I suggest Kleen Kanteens with sippy lids?

I am personally more inclined to side with the AMA advice over that given by the FDA. As a current employee of the Federal Government (this here is only the side job) in a regulatory capacity, I don't hold the opinion that all government employees are incompetent morons who couldn't investigate their way out of a paper bag. There are many dedicated and hard-working scientist, engineers and other professionals who work for the Big G. However, regulatory agencies as a whole have a tendency to err on the side of not making waves, especially when large amounts of money in the commercial sector are concerned.

However, as a consumer, I believe people need to make informed choices. The AMA is a rigorous and well-respected body in the field of medicine. My inclination is to take their recommendations at face value until someone shows me reason not to.

With this in mind, check out our line of BPA-free water bottles. We have styles in stock right now from Kleen Kanteen and Guyot Designs. By the end of October, we should also have some very interesting designs from Nathan as well. These are good options for drink storage that should help you put BPA fears to rest.

Regrouping after Ike

When Hurricane Ike traveled up the US, it ran into a cold front and slammed us in the midwest with wild weather.

On Sunday night the storm hit Columbus OH with winds up to 50 mph. Trees fell all over the city, causing widespread power outages. We at Baying Hound central were without electricity from Sunday afternoon through 1PM Tuesday. A tree near our garage fell into the neighbor's yard, fortunately sparing both our houses of any significant damage. You can see the remains of the trunk at left.

Because our gas stove still worked we spent Monday canning veggies from our garden. Here you see them (barely) by candle light.

By Tuesday morning we had not been able to communicate with customers or ship packages for two days. We had an elaborate plan to power up at relatives, use the library's wifi, and return to relatives to ship packages when our power turned on. Woo hoo!

The challenge of living and working without power was exciting for a little while but we are glad to be back to normal. :)

What's the best benefit of running an internet business?

For me, the best benefit is all of the cool technology and gadgets you can
buy as a business expense.

Our cell phone service is through T-Mobile, who will be coming out with the
HTC Dream phone in October running Google's Android operating system. This
is the first phone to run Android and will likely be called the G1 by
T-Mobile. This is going to be a full-bore smartphone that, if executed
properly by T-Mobile and Google, will likely rival the apple iPhone. In
addition to running Android, this phone will support T-Mobile recently
opened 3G network.

So, for the first time, I will discard my rules of waiting until the second
generation of a new cell phone before jumping on the bandwagon. I find the
prospect of a Google OS terribly exciting as I love so many of their other
products already. An added bonus is that Android will see heavy integration
with Google's existing online service (maps, calendars, email, documents,
etc.). Rachel and I are both hoping to transition away from Microsoft
products and make ourselves far more mobile by using web-based applications
to run the business.

The one downside is that so far pictures leaked of the G1 indicate it will
be something of an ugly duckling. It looks squarish, blocky and kind of
fugly in general. However, I am a staunch believer in function over form,
so I won't let this bother me.

Hopefully I will be posting again in just about a month concerning my
super-sweet new business expense.

Ciao.

What's the big deal about Reclaimed?

The old addage is reduce, reuse, recycle. The idea is to reduce consumption, reuse materials when consumption is necessary and THEN recycle the unusable pieces at the end of life. Somehow America is still stuck in the last phase, recycle, and even that is spotty. I can't count the times I go to public places and find no recycling facilities.

Manufacturers have plenty of choices that can lessen their impact on the environment. One of the biggest is material sourcing. New (aka. virgin) materials use the most resources because they must be mined (in the case of metals or minerals) or created from oils (for plastics), processed, and then reprocessed into the consumer item.

Some plastics and metal products can be made from recycled sources. In this case, virgin material scraps are melted down and reprocessed which uses less energy and time.

The best case scenario is to reclaim materials. Creative manufacturers find sources for their products in the scraps and left overs of other processes. This way, waste is saved and virgin materials are put back into the consumer cycle. Energy is not needed for processing raw materials. In the best of situations, these scraps are found locally and transportation energy is reduced as well.

Baying Hound is pleased to offer two product lines utilizing reclaimed materials: OLovesM (reclaimed yoga mats, chaco sandal straps, and fabrics) and Green Guru Gear (reclaimed bike tire tubes and billboard signs).

nary a second to post

but we are still here!

Busy stocking, taking photos, working with new computer, planning events, and placing orders with new companies. Not to mention waiting for preschool to start so I will have even more time to work. ;)

Blog posts coming soon -

the phones we're dreaming of
what's the big deal about reclaimed
why we aren't in business for the profit

OLovesM Bags and Purses in stock!

At the Outdoor Retailer conference last month we met a great lady, Merle, who owns OLovesM bags. These super chic bags are made by a group of workers in Colorado from reclaimed yoga mats, fabric, and sandal straps. They are funky, well designed, and eco-friendly.

As each one is a little bit different, we are busy taking photographs. The whole group is seen in these two photos.

Top picture: Large Bernie Bags ($51.95) and Water Bottle Holders ($15.95)
Below: the Ecoclutch ($29.95) and Small Bernie Bags ($39.95)

Remember that through September 15 you can save 20% with coupon code houndhowls20!