Last night I watched “Living With Ed” for the first time. If you’re not familiar with the show, it’s about Ed Begley Jr’s living green lifestyle. He’s not one of those stars that just preaches about what people should do to save the environment - he lives it every day and is very passionate about it. For example, he rides a stationary bike in the morning to generate enough electricity to make his toast (10 minutes for 2 slices).

The episode I watched was about rain barrels. Ed bought two and proceeded to place them in his backyard. Then his wife came home and stopped him because she thought they looked hideous. I had to agree they were ugly and wondered why Ed couldn’t have gotten ones in a more neutral color. White would have been good since their house is white.

The storyline hit close to home because my husband and I have been having “disagreements” over his efforts to collect rainwater and use it in our garden. I don’t have a problem with collecting and using the rainwater. I think it’s a good idea. But my husband, who is very frugal, won’t even consider buying decent looking rain barrels but instead uses old 5 gallon buckets that were sitting in our garage. Some are white and some are bright green. Both colors stick out against the wood siding on our house. I wouldn’t mind it so much if they were in our backyard where nobody saw them but they’re not. They are in the front of the house where everybody sees them. They stick out and look ugly.

Here’s pictures of the rain barrels I would like. They are wooden barrels from Kentucky distilleries and were once filled with bourbon. My husband thinks his free buckets are just fine since these wood barrels cost $300 each. So until I come up with a spare $600 (plus shipping) for the two whiskey barrels I want, we’ll have ugly buckets in our front yard that I will probably try to hide with some strategically placed shrubs.