Category Archives: For the home

The History of Weathervanes

As weathervanes become increasingly nothing more than collector’s items – auctioned to the highest bidder both online and off – it’s easy to forget that once upon a time these were essential weather instruments. They were highly practical and no farm or village cared to be without one.

If you earned a living by working out doors – think farmers, think loggers, think gardeners – then you needed to know what the weather was likely to bring. For most of human history, you didn’t simply switch to the weather channel or flip open the paper to read the latest meteorological update. You had your own weather eye and weather sense.

A century ago, you couldn’t find a barn anywhere in the United States that didn’t have at least a rough vane atop the roof – a rooster maybe, whose beak would indicate from which direction the weather was likely to come. Or perhaps a trotting horse. Heck, there were even racing pigs!

But plenty of weathervanes were little more than arrows that were set up to swivel on a simple rod. They were made by people who were too busy working to worry too much about the décor of their rural landscape. And they needed to know what was going on with the weather. Could you hay tomorrow? Plant another bed of spinach? Make a weathervane and figure it out!

In truth, if you exclude rain gauges, when it came to reading the skies and making predictions, the weathervane was your best guide. And this was true from the days of ancient Greece – when many archaeologists believe the earliest weathervanes were made and used regularly – to colonial America.

If your a collector of these lovely and elegant instruments, you can take some pride in the fact that you are helping to preserve a critical piece of history. It’s well and good that we have far more complicated tools for figuring out in tomorrow we’ll need our umbrellas. But once upon a time we could do it with a lot less. Weathervanes – regardless of whether they are on display in our homes or still atop bars – keep us in touch with those old days.

Pest Control For Ants

If ants have taken over your home and you want to get them out, there are a few things that you can do. In order to begin the process of extracting the ants you will want to identify the type of ants that you are dealing with. There are different methods that are used to make ants go away depending on which type they are. Once you have identified the type that you are dealing with there are a few things that you can do.

The preferred pest control to use when trying to get rid of ants is sweet bait. You will be able to find different types of sweet baits that are made by different companies. One company that makes a good one is Terro. What you want to do once you have obtained some sweet bait is place it in the areas where there are the most ants. When they see the bait they will attack it and it will kill them. You will want to place as much bait out as it takes to get rid of all the ants in your home.

Another option is to us a bait from the company DuPont. It is called Advion Ant bait gel and it has a specially formulated active ingredient that just knocks ants out. The bait matrix is also composed of highly attractive foods that ants just eat up. The best way to use this bait, and any other for that matter, is to place it out in small pea size amounts along the foraging trail. The foraging trail is the path the ants are using to find food and bring it back to the colony. When you put the bait out right in the foraging trail the ants will find it and eat it up. This is a slow acting poison so it may take a week before you don’t see any more ants from that colony.

When you are using this method of pest control o get rid of the ants that have invaded your home it might take a few days to rid yourself of all of them. As you know, ants travel in colonies, so there could be thousands of them that you will have to get rid of. Make sure that you find some good sweet bait that you can use in order to trap the ants and kill them. If you ever have the same problem again then use the same solution to make the problem go away.

Please use chemical pesticides responsibly, and make sure any baits are away from areas that pets and children can access them.

Related Posts:

Pesky house bugs–bedbugs

How to Choose From the Various Types of Aluminum Carport Kits

There are different types of aluminum carports for sale these days so it may prove to be a challenge to find the right vehicle shelter that would meet your standards for the protection of your valuable items. The first thing to consider before you make your choice is to know what you need and the available space on your property. Once you have determined this, you can narrow down your choices. Keep in mind that there are almost an unlimited number of accessories that you can add to enhance the details and functions of a carport.

The availability of space plays an important role when deciding what type of aluminum carport to purchase. Your basic choice is to get either an attached or free standing shelter. Attached shelters are the ones which are installed on and adjacently to the house, while free standing shelters can pretty much be placed anywhere on a property as long as there is space and there are no applicable building restrictions or zoning laws. Because there are particular areas that experience bad weather, many local communities have set limitations on shelters for safety purposes, so check first.

When shopping for aluminum carport kits, keep in mind to consider the size of the vehicle you currently have, if you are planning to purchase another one, make sure that the shelter you will be purchasing can fit several vehicles. If you do add a additional car you will not have to alter the carport. This is an excellent idea especially if you have a generous amount of space on your property. Being prepared is always best.

Aluminum carport kits are usually have a wide verity of add-ons, allowing you to customize your shelter for your needs.

Pesky house bugs—bedbugs

“Sleep tight, and don’t let the bedbug bite,” was a common saying when I was a kid, but I did not really understand it. What was a bedbug anyway? I thankfully went through most of my life without knowing because they were largely eradicated as pests throughout the developed world. However, since the 1990s they have been on the rise.

Bedbugs are parasitic insects in the true bug order Hemiptera. Like other true bugs, they have piercing mouthparts, but unlike most other bugs, bedbugs use them to pierce you and suck your blood. While feeding, the bedbug injects its victim with an anticoagulant saliva. They can live for long periods between meals, but prefer to feed once every five to ten days.

Bedbug nymph

Bedbug nymph

The adult bedbugs are large enough to be easily seen. They are about 1/8 of an inch long and dark brown in color. Their bodies are rounded and flattened front to back. Younger nymphs are small and clear. Bedbugs live in large groups, usually close to their food source, and with a food source their numbers can balloon very quickly. They can be easily transported on clothing, luggage, or furniture and in this way are easily spread from place to place. Infestations can be very hard to detect and eradicate. In recent years dogs have been trained to detect infestations and can do so much faster than a human exterminator in most cases.

Signs of bedbugs include blood spots on the bedding, molted skins of the bugs themselves, clusters of droppings, and the bugs themselves hiding in mattress folds or in the box springs. There is still a stigma about infestations as many people assume that an infestation means the home is unclean, and this stigma means that infestations may not be reported. Hotels increasingly have issues as they serve many people from all over, and once infested, the travelers can carry the bugs home.

Bedbugs feed mostly at night, and they will attack any exposed skin. Bites are not felt at the time, and after feeding for about 10 minutes the bug goes back to hiding. Later, the bites might welt and itch. Sometimes they occur in a line of bites, and are often mistaken for bites from other insects like fleas or mosquitoes, or some other skin rash. This is one reason that infestations can persist for long periods without detection.

You do not have to live with bedbugs however. Getting rid of an infestation is generally not easy, and usually involves a professional exterminator. All areas where the bugs occur should be cleaned and vacuumed. Clothing and bedding should be washed to kill eggs and larva. The bugs will live on mattresses and box springs, behind headboards and in furniture, behind picture frames, and in crevices like around baseboards. Clearing up clutter around the bed is also a good idea. Getting to all the areas where the bugs could be hiding is very difficult. An exterminator will spray insecticides which should be used only as needed since they will be applied to bedding and carpets that you come in contact with too. There is evidence that the bugs are becoming resistant to common insecticides, which is a source of concern.

Be aware. Early detection helps keep infestations from becoming more difficult to deal with. These days more people understand the meaning of “don’t let the bedbugs bite” as these pesky house bugs make a comeback.

A good reference with lots of photos can be found at bedbugger.com. Also check out the story on Fresh Air.

Four Great Soy-Based Products That Replace Fossil Fuel Alternatives

You probably know by now about the many great benefits of eating soy-based foods, including soy milk and tofu. But did you know that soybeans also provide a more eco friendly alternative to a whole list of fossil-fuel based products that are not always so good for the environment?

It’s preferable to use soy-based products over man-made synthetic materials simply because they are far more likely to be easily biodegradable and non-toxic. They also lessen our dependence on fossil fuels, which isn’t great for the environment–as the BP oil spill disaster and climate change make clear. Take a look at these four soy-based products you may or may not have heard about:

1) Crayons. Your kids probably love their crayons, but they are made of paraffin wax, a petroleum by-product. If that gives you pause, then why encourage its further use? Instead, consider buying soy-based crayons, which are made of soy wax and work just as well for your kids without the environmental hassle.

2) Soy Candles. Traditional candles are likewise made of paraffin wax and pose the same challenge, with the additional problem that this petroleum-based wax gets burned in our homes and in the air we breathe. A soy candle is likewise made of soy wax and burns just as well as regular wax, making for a more eco friendly, less petroleum-based alternative.

3) Solvents. Think of solvents and you might think of some nasty black substance that dissolves anything it touches. But solvents too can be made of soybeans, which as you can imagine is much more environmentally friendly. Soy-based solvents are versatile and can be used for anything from dissolving old wax to cleaning stubborn oil-based paint off paintbrushes.

4) Diesel Additive. Unless you drive a diesel truck you may not have heard of diesel additives. They are generally added to the gas tank to improve performance, reduce engine knocking, improve fuel economy, and the like. Instead of, again, using a petrol-based product, you could use one made from soybeans instead. Not only do you help lower the use of petroleum, but you encourage an agricultural business that is more friendly to the environment than digging deep under the ocean.

These are only four examples among many that show how wonderful soybean is as a crop. From making healthy foods to maintaining a more healthy planet, you should seek out soy-based products whenever you shop–particularly if you are seeking out anything wax based, solvents, or cleaners. The environment will thank you for it!