I'll never forget the time my wife and I were dive-bombed by a bat while we were in bed at a lake house. We spent the entire night cowering under the sheets. This was several years ago so this article from Old House Journal on how to rid a home of bats is long overdue for me. Before you panic at the sight of a bat, let it be known that bats are not a threat to your personal safety—less than one percent have rabies—but bats should never be allowed to enter interior living quarters. The article documents the entire procedure of eliminating bats from a home in great detail, particularly useful for owners of older homes.
I do declare that the first Sunday in June to officially be Bug Your Mom Day. As people who read my blogs know, I live in Florida but for you Northerners the bugs really are not out in full force until June. So, June makes sense for us as a nation to start thinking about bugs. Moms and dads need to be extra diligent in checking their kids for ticks or other bug bites as well as checking the pets for fleas, mites, etc. This diligence also means wearing bug repellent (and sunscreen if you really want to be safe). As a kid, I remember not really caring if I got bit by a mosquito or a bee or even the occasional Orb spider, but my mom sure did. Many bugs carry diseases from Lyme disease to malaria to West Nile, not to mention bacteria and other germs they may be transporting from the last animal or person they bit.
P.S. The reason I called this Bug Your Mom Day instead of Bug Your Parents Day is nobody really cares if you bug your dad.
I drive on the highway in Central Florida, which means I get bombarded with the “love bug” (Plecia nearctica) just about everywhere I go.
Don’t cry for me nearctica.
The truth is I never felt you.
All through your wild days
Your mad existence.
You fly into my windshield
I clean your carcass.
I digress, but did you even know I could sing like Madonna? The simple truth is I spend too much time adding windshield wiper fluid to my car’s reservoir. To prevent making a big mess, I usually keep a funnel in the trunk but it sure does roll around (and things that go bump in the trunk are not something my wife likes to hear). A week ago I saw a funnel that lays completely flat so I can set it on top of the spare tire under the rug in my trunk. Not a bad idea. If I changed my own oil I guess I would use it even more. And it's green. And not spilling fluid, including motor oil and other engine fluids, may just be "green" in other ways.
Every Monday morning I put out my recycling and grit my teeth. I hate it. I am all for the saving of the planet and its natural resources. It is the little industrious man in the brand new Toyota Sienna Minivan taking the aluminum from my and all of my neighbors' recycling bins a block ahead of the city’s recycling truck. The way I see it, if I had put my cans in with my trash because I was lazy or didn’t care about the environment then he would have every right to take the cans from my garbage container. But since I sort the recyclables and put them in a bin specifically for the recycling truck, I believe he is stealing as well as harming the environment. Here is why: The aluminum(arguably the most expensive item in the recycling bins) is used to offset the cost of my refuse bill. Without the aluminum, it may cost more to pick up the recycling than the materials themselves. If the city loses money, my bills go up. Second, by having both his minivan and the city truck stopping at every recycle bin in my neighborhood, he is putting more carbon in the atmosphere by burning fossil fuels.
I am sure every neighborhood in America has one of these “canners” and if they picked up the cans that were in the ditches or even in the garbage cans themselves I have no issue with it as they are helping recover more cans. But taking cans that would have been recycled from the recycling bins is just plain wrong. Now, would you call the police to report this crime? Individually, my cans are only small change every week. But if I estimated that everyone in my neighborhood recycled as many cans as I did, this recycler makes more on Monday than I make all week. And there are other pickup days in other parts of the city. If I wasn’t morally opposed to stealing, I’d be rich. So, give me some ideas on what we can do to stop these thieves.
Is a guarantee a guarantee if you have to pay an annual fee for it? That's the question Chris over at The Consumerist is asking. After paying $1,700 to have Orkin exterminate the termites in his 60-year-old house last year, Chris was surprised to be charged $214 this year to retain his "lifetime guarantee" for as long as he lives in the house. Hmm, sounds like he's subscribed to an insurance policy, not a guarantee. The Consumerist did some digging and found Orkin settled with five states in a case regarding misrepresentation of their guarantee six years ago. Troubling to say the least. When dealing with any home improvement contractor, be sure to read the fine print of any agreement you sign.
Let’s call the whole thing off. The ninety-decibel, seventeen-year reunion with the Midwest Cicada is about to begin. They call this brood 13, and it happens to be the lucky number for those states around Illinois. While mainly harmless, they can damage or kill small or distressed trees and shrubs when the females rip a hole in the bark and implant their eggs. If one suspects their plants may be susceptible a light cloth covering of tulle will be all the shield needed. Can they be harmful to humans? Well, with some areas experiencing 1.5 million cicadas per acre, riding a bike through the forest preserves can be downright treacherous as these slow clumsy invaders get out of the way for no one. They will ruin picnics and parties, and lay siege to car grills and front bumpers, so buy the multi-pass at your local carwash. Some culinary clubs are planning to eat them, but unless one is deep fried in beer batter and catapulted into my mouth from afar these things are getting no where near my gullet.
Termites are high on the list of Insects We Could Do Without. I’d even put them above mosquitoes, primarily due to the damage costs incurred yearly by homeowners nationwide. Termite control is an industry unto itself, and it continually sees new products and means to detect, deter, and destroy these pesky critters. The Green Eye Termite Alert is a monitoring station that can be installed inside or outside the home. It uses cellulose as a food, and that cellulose is attached to a gravity stick. When termites feed on the cellulose in the device, the gravity stick drops, causing the color to change from green to a black or gray. Termite detection will no longer require bending over a monitoring station and fussing or fuddling with bait or parts. A simple glance at the station will do. The Termite Alert for outdoor applications costs a mere $4, and the indoor monitor just $8. At those prices, I don’t know why you wouldn’t line the entire perimeter of the home with these termite sentries. Available online for order and delivery.
