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!