Yes, the Holidays are here and so are the cookies and egg nog and alcohol and stuffing and pie and, well you get the idea. I, like most of you, intend to enjoy myself and indulge, occasionally to excess.
The important word there is occasionally. You do not want to leave the Season 30 pounds overweight, suffering from acid reflux and fighting your blood pressure. In fact, for those with hifg blood pressure and/or diabetes, the holidays can be a dangerous time,
The answer is simple and as old as man, use moderation. One cookie, nit three, Ine spoon of poraries, bit half the bowl. More of those food veggies and fruits and less ham and gravy.
We are social creatures and love sharing the good things of life with our fellow humans, but the important thing is sharing the sense of celebration and fellowship, The food and drink should always be secondary/
I know that you hear the same warnings and admonitions year after year, but there is a good reason for that. They are true . Enjoy the Season, but please take it easy. Start your New Year healthy and ready to roll. We all have much to do next year. And, allow me one more warning that you are likely tired of, bur it cannot be stressed enough/ Do not even think of driving of you have had more than one small drink and watch other drivers, especially late at night. Have fin, buy use your head.
Showing posts with label sprinklers. Show all posts
Showing posts with label sprinklers. Show all posts
Monday, December 4, 2017
Friday, August 12, 2016
Preventative Maintenance
There are a few things I know. Problems will not fix themselves. Small problems will get worse. And, it is far better to prevent problems from developing. The answer, Preventative Maintenance.
How do you do that? Simple. First, periodically, say once a month or so, look around your property. If you are an apartment dweller, just take a glance around. Do you see any frayed wiring? Is your refrigerator making strange noises? Is the air conditioner acting erratically, or, more importantly, does it have a lot of built up moisture. While you're at it, change or clean that AC filter. If it's cold out, check your heat source. Make sure you are seeing no drips around your washer and dish washer and, if either is rattling or clunky, get them checked out.
Do you see any little water spots on your ceiling? Apartment dwellers, call your maintenance staff and bug them until they look at it. Home owners, if you are able, and feel comfortable doing it, check out your roof. If not, call a roofer. Small repairs are quick and cheap. Large ones are not.
Keep your roof's gutters unclogged. If you live where there are serious storms, keep trees properly pruned. If you have a nice garden, check your sprinklers every week or so; it is easier, and, again, cheaper than having to replant parts of your garden or lawn. If you have a swimming pool check the chemicals daily and the flow rate weekly. Once a pool is out of balance, it can be nightmarish to rebalance it.
If your toilet is not flushing correctly, go ahead and fix it and, if you are a home owner, periodically have your drain lines cleaned, either by machine or with one of the many chemical drain cleaners available. I am sure you will not enjoy having your toilets back up.
Take care of your car. Check fluids once a week and do not skip scheduled maintenance, such as oil changes, belt replacement and tune ups. Do not ignore any little drips you see. They may indicate a serious problem.
Most of all, keep your property and belongings clean and neat. People will be surprised just how much this will improve the functioning of autos, appliances and your home in general. Preventative Maintenance does not have to be a huge chore. Just, on a routine basis, give your place a few minutes attention and you will save yourself a world of time, expense and aggravation.
How do you do that? Simple. First, periodically, say once a month or so, look around your property. If you are an apartment dweller, just take a glance around. Do you see any frayed wiring? Is your refrigerator making strange noises? Is the air conditioner acting erratically, or, more importantly, does it have a lot of built up moisture. While you're at it, change or clean that AC filter. If it's cold out, check your heat source. Make sure you are seeing no drips around your washer and dish washer and, if either is rattling or clunky, get them checked out.
Do you see any little water spots on your ceiling? Apartment dwellers, call your maintenance staff and bug them until they look at it. Home owners, if you are able, and feel comfortable doing it, check out your roof. If not, call a roofer. Small repairs are quick and cheap. Large ones are not.
Keep your roof's gutters unclogged. If you live where there are serious storms, keep trees properly pruned. If you have a nice garden, check your sprinklers every week or so; it is easier, and, again, cheaper than having to replant parts of your garden or lawn. If you have a swimming pool check the chemicals daily and the flow rate weekly. Once a pool is out of balance, it can be nightmarish to rebalance it.
If your toilet is not flushing correctly, go ahead and fix it and, if you are a home owner, periodically have your drain lines cleaned, either by machine or with one of the many chemical drain cleaners available. I am sure you will not enjoy having your toilets back up.
Take care of your car. Check fluids once a week and do not skip scheduled maintenance, such as oil changes, belt replacement and tune ups. Do not ignore any little drips you see. They may indicate a serious problem.
Most of all, keep your property and belongings clean and neat. People will be surprised just how much this will improve the functioning of autos, appliances and your home in general. Preventative Maintenance does not have to be a huge chore. Just, on a routine basis, give your place a few minutes attention and you will save yourself a world of time, expense and aggravation.
Wednesday, May 25, 2016
Gardening - Watering
Water is now a worldwide problem. There is a definite lack of drinkable water and it is getting worse rapidly. Homeowners are paying more and more for water. However, this should not deter the wise gardener.
It would be ideal if you have a well and can pump water from the ground for your plants. If you can afford this and don't live in a subdivision that monitors your every move, do it. If you must depend on your municipal water system, don't despair. When you select the type of plants you want, look for the type that are native to your area. This is called xeriscaping and you can apply this to food plants as well as ornamentals. Whatever you plant, be aware that plants have different water preferences; some like to be very wet, some like little water. Group plants by their preference.
There are many ways to get water to your plants. If you already have a sprinkler system for your yard, great. Use it. But, you may have to adjust the heads a bit to get proper coverage. Just be careful when you put in the garden, especially if you use a roto tiller, or you will be spending a lot of time repairing pipes.
I spent many years working on sprinkler systems and I don't like them. If I didn't already have one, I would not spend the money to put one in. There are cheaper ways that take a lot less maintenance. The cheapest and simplest - get a hose and an old fashioned rotating sprinkler head, hook it up, stick it in the ground, and turn on the water. It works just fine.
The best system is drip irrigation, using microtubes. This is an easy system to install and it will save you a lot of water. Also, it delivers water only to the roots which is just where you want it. The problem is that, well, there is always a problem. Something is always breaking or getting plugged and they just take too much maintenance. Next best are soaker hoses. They also reduce your water usage and they are durable. However, you will likely find yourself having to move them around a lot to insure that everything gets soaked. The old way, using that rotating head hooked to a hose is the cheapest and the easiest.
However you do it, you need to know when enough is enough. That is easy. Of course you adjust according to what the plants need, but most like a good soaking. Then, they would rather you wait until the soil is almost dry before you re-water. To find that out, stick your finger in the ground. If the tip is dry or just slightly damp, water. If it is wet, don't. It is that simple. Do not over water. Overwatering will kill plants far faster than under watering.
Technically, it is best to water in the hours just before sunrise or just after. Well, that is best and if you don't get up that early, you can put a valve between your water source and the pipes or hose carrying it to your garden then add a timer They are easy to install, just follow the instructions. However, this can lead to overwatering. Say, your system is set to go off and you have a heavy rain that night. You will be wasting water and possibly damaging your garden. Or suppose you water thoroughly and you have several overcast days, leading to less evaporation. You can manually over ride your timer, or shut it off, or wire in a rain gauge, but, now you have added work. Let me tell you a secret. You can water in the daytime, you just have to water a little more to comp for evaporation. Just try not to water right before dark; plants really don't like that. With daylight saving time most folks can get home, water, and the plants have time to dry off before dark, and late spring, summer, and early fall is when most of you will be gardening, so, no problem.
Watering is something you have to play around with until you get a feel for it. Fortunately, most plants are pretty hardy and can abide our mistakes fairly well. Of course, if you are an apartment dweller and are gardening indoors or on your patio, no problem; you just port water around the plants when you see the need.
One final word. From time to time, droughts happen and water restrictions and even rationing are imposed. Don't violate these rules. Officials are telling you the truth; there really is a problem, so follow their orders. If the drought is severe, skip that growing season. Work on improving your soil so you are ready for the next year.
It would be ideal if you have a well and can pump water from the ground for your plants. If you can afford this and don't live in a subdivision that monitors your every move, do it. If you must depend on your municipal water system, don't despair. When you select the type of plants you want, look for the type that are native to your area. This is called xeriscaping and you can apply this to food plants as well as ornamentals. Whatever you plant, be aware that plants have different water preferences; some like to be very wet, some like little water. Group plants by their preference.
There are many ways to get water to your plants. If you already have a sprinkler system for your yard, great. Use it. But, you may have to adjust the heads a bit to get proper coverage. Just be careful when you put in the garden, especially if you use a roto tiller, or you will be spending a lot of time repairing pipes.
I spent many years working on sprinkler systems and I don't like them. If I didn't already have one, I would not spend the money to put one in. There are cheaper ways that take a lot less maintenance. The cheapest and simplest - get a hose and an old fashioned rotating sprinkler head, hook it up, stick it in the ground, and turn on the water. It works just fine.
The best system is drip irrigation, using microtubes. This is an easy system to install and it will save you a lot of water. Also, it delivers water only to the roots which is just where you want it. The problem is that, well, there is always a problem. Something is always breaking or getting plugged and they just take too much maintenance. Next best are soaker hoses. They also reduce your water usage and they are durable. However, you will likely find yourself having to move them around a lot to insure that everything gets soaked. The old way, using that rotating head hooked to a hose is the cheapest and the easiest.
However you do it, you need to know when enough is enough. That is easy. Of course you adjust according to what the plants need, but most like a good soaking. Then, they would rather you wait until the soil is almost dry before you re-water. To find that out, stick your finger in the ground. If the tip is dry or just slightly damp, water. If it is wet, don't. It is that simple. Do not over water. Overwatering will kill plants far faster than under watering.
Technically, it is best to water in the hours just before sunrise or just after. Well, that is best and if you don't get up that early, you can put a valve between your water source and the pipes or hose carrying it to your garden then add a timer They are easy to install, just follow the instructions. However, this can lead to overwatering. Say, your system is set to go off and you have a heavy rain that night. You will be wasting water and possibly damaging your garden. Or suppose you water thoroughly and you have several overcast days, leading to less evaporation. You can manually over ride your timer, or shut it off, or wire in a rain gauge, but, now you have added work. Let me tell you a secret. You can water in the daytime, you just have to water a little more to comp for evaporation. Just try not to water right before dark; plants really don't like that. With daylight saving time most folks can get home, water, and the plants have time to dry off before dark, and late spring, summer, and early fall is when most of you will be gardening, so, no problem.
Watering is something you have to play around with until you get a feel for it. Fortunately, most plants are pretty hardy and can abide our mistakes fairly well. Of course, if you are an apartment dweller and are gardening indoors or on your patio, no problem; you just port water around the plants when you see the need.
One final word. From time to time, droughts happen and water restrictions and even rationing are imposed. Don't violate these rules. Officials are telling you the truth; there really is a problem, so follow their orders. If the drought is severe, skip that growing season. Work on improving your soil so you are ready for the next year.
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