When I moved into my new house it was invaded by ants. Especially when the gardener would rearrange the trees. Are ants invading your house? Do you find ants everywhere? Here is the most effective, easy, and natural way to get rid of them without using poison.
Steps
First of all, make sure all the food in your house is sealed up, so that the ants can’t get to it. Do this for about a week. When the ants have nothing to eat, will go somewhere else. This works because the ants are following the chemical trails left by other ants, who did find food.
Put laurel leaves to keep ants away from a particular place.
Use chalk to keep ants away from your kitchen areas. It’s amazing to see how they move away from any chalk lines.
Corn meal is also a great way to get rid of them. This is especially great around pets or children, as corn meal by itself is not poisonous. The ants will carry it home and try to eat it, but they can’t digest it properly. Be sure to put corn meal wherever you see places that the ants like to be.
Use boric acid. It is not harmful to humans.
Pour about a tablespoon of maple syrup on a flat plate.
Sprinkle the boric acid around the syrup so that the ants must walk through it to get to the syrup, you may even use a q-tip to ensure a good distribution of the powder around the syrup.
Boric acid dissolves their skeleton. This works on all insects with external skeletal systems. This is why they need only pass through it and not eat it.
Put out uncooked Cream of Wheat where you know there will be ants. When the ants eat it, it will expand.
How to Make an Earthquake or Hurricane Emergency Kit
Earthquakes are felt long after the shaking stops, it is always a good idea to have an earthquake emergency kit. Even if your house is safe for occupancy following a quake, you may find yourself without many necessities.
In the case of a hurricane your home can be destroyed or severely damaged.
You may be without gas, electricity and running water. And for several days, there may be no food stores or gas stations operating. Roads may be blocked and/or hazardous.
Bulky emergency items such as water and dry food are hard to fit in a single, easily accessible container. Large plastic garbage cans can make good storage containers.
A backpack is a good place to store smaller items. They can also be used for other purposes once you have opened the kit.
Into each kit, put:
Water and food to last for at least three days.
Water purification tablets
Heavy-duty gloves
A first-aid kit
Cash—at least one or two hundred dollars. ATM machines may be inaccessible.
Family photos and descriptions.
A flashlight and portable radio
Extra batteries
Goggles and dust mask
A personal commode with sanitary bags
You should have at least five gallons of water stored in your hallway or back yard. After a disaster, the water will be contaminated within 12 hours if you don’t have a shut off valve.
Although it is likely water would be restored within 72 hours of a major quake, some areas might be dry for much longer.
If there are indications that the power will be restored within a day or so, most foods will be fine as long as you don’t open freezer or refrigerator doors. If you think it’s going to be a long emergency, you might as well consume foods while they last.
WATER: Store drums of water (about a half gallon per person per day; you’ll need more for washing or if you have pets) in the hall closet or back yard. For water stored in store-bought containers, add a half-teaspoon chlorine bleach to five gallons to keep it good for one year. Or purchase in multi-year, sealed cases.
Moist towelettes can reduce the need for bathing water. If water is shut off, ladle out the water from toilet tanks and hot-water heaters. Water purification tablets are available at sports and camping stores.
BREADS & CEREALS: Keep crackers and cookies well packaged, preferably in tins. Stock up on ready-to-eat cold cereals.
.
DRY FOOD: For main dishes, instant soup cups and add-hot-water-and-steep dishes are good.
CANNED FOOD: Even if you generally don’t use much canned food, it is invaluable in an emergency. Just be sure you’ve got a manual can opener.
As with all emergency rations, cans or plastic containers are better than breakable jars. Canned fruit, vegetables, meat, poultry and fish make for sturdy eating. Be sure to include items that can be eaten cold.
Sardines and Spam may not be on your usual menu, but they’ll keep bodies fueled. Shelf-stable tofu is another great nutritious food.
DAIRY PRODUCTS: Powdered milk is versatile: You can use it for making instant puddings, chocolate milk, etc. Soy milk, plain or flavored, is widely available in shelf-stable cartons, and canned or evaporated milk will fortify instant coffee.
BEVERAGES & TREATS: In addition to basic drinking water, store fruit juices and prepared coffee or tea drinks in cans or cartons.
Stock instant coffee or tea drinks, canned puddings and such snacks as dried fruit, nuts, pretzels, chips and ready-to-eat popcorn.
These instructions for making a lava lamp or lava light are for experienced hobbyists. These instructions are not kids or novices.
This will take a few hours of time.
Here’s How:
First, break open an oil-soluble marker or pen and place the inked felt into a container of benzyl alcohol. Leaving it in longer will give a darker color, but will also increase the tendency to bleed into the brine.
A few minutes is usually a good time to leave the inked felt in the alcohol. A ‘Sharpie’ bleeds too much into the brine, so choose a different type of marker.
Put the benzyl alcohol, specific gravity 1.043 g/ml, and 4.8% salt water (brine, specific gravity 1.032 g/ml) go in the glass container. A bottle about 10 inches tall is good.
Build a base to hold the bottle over the lamp using a tin can and plywood. A dimmer on the light will allow you to control heat.
Place a fan at the top of the bottle to cool the liquid at this location.
You want about 150 ml benzyl alcohol and the remainder of the liquid to be brine. Seal the bottle, but allow about 1 inch of air space at the top to allow for the fluid to expand.
Responsible adult supervision is required! Because the materials may be toxic and there is a flammability hazard, this project is not intended for young or inexperienced inventors.
Tips:
Alternatives to benzyl alcohol include cinnamyl alcohol, diethyl phthalate, ethyl salicylate, or nitrobenzine.
An oil-based ink may be used instead of the marker.
If the benzyl alcohol floats to the top and stays there, add more water. If the alcohol stays at the bottom, add more salt .
A trace amount of an antioxidant, such as BHA or BHT, may be added to the liquid to add color and increase contrast.
Please read a Material Safety Data Sheet (MSDS) for benzyl alcohol before performing this procedure. Have fun – be safe!
How often have you given your child vegetables at dinner time only to find them being pushed around their plate or worst still being thrown on the floor or hidden under the chair cushion or in a pot plant?. Here are some great little tips and tricks to get your kids to eat vegetables.
Make a big pot of vegetable soup, puree it up and then add some alphabet noodle shapes.With a little luck your kids will be too busy spelling words, or looking for the letters in their names to notice all the veggies they are eating in the soup.
Grate your vegetables and hide them in other foods! Add grated carrots, zucchini, mushrooms, and other vegetables to foods you make. Your kids will eat vegetables without even knowing it and will love the food.
If you can’t make them eat vegetables, make them drink it. Pour some vegetable juice over ice and add a straw, a cocktail umbrella or a stick of celery and watch them drink it up. Your kids may not get as much fiber as eating the entire vegetable, but getting them to drink their vegetables is better than not getting any vegetables in their system.
Offering them a plate of raw vegetables with some ranch dressing to dip them in? Many kids who don’t care much for cooked vegetables will eat them up if they can dip them. Just grab a bag of baby carrots some celery, snow peas and some cucumber. Arrange them on a plate with a little bit of ranch dressing or any other dip on the side.
Let your kids create artwork with their vegetables. Offer raw vegetables in different colors and shapes and encourage them to make a vegetable collage on their plate. Before you know it, you’ll find them sampling their creations.
Let them help themselves by putting vegetables out like a buffet. Put out some lettuce, some sliced tomato, slices of cucumber, shredded carrot, mushrooms, small pieces of broccoli and anything else you can think of. Let them choose what vegetables they would like and they will be more likely to eat them.
Get them involved in the kitchen especially when it comes to cooking. Ask them to wash the vegetables, if they are old enough let them cut veggies (under your supervision of course), let them help you stir, or anything else you can think of that would be age appropriate. You’ll be amazed at how proud they will be of their finished product and will want to eat it.
Cook some carrots with your potatoes and mash them up together for some special orange mashed potatos. Make carrot cakes and muffins, what kid can resist a muffin?
Have you recently broken up with your boyfriend? Do you feel that the relationship still has a chance? There are proven steps and strategies you can use to get your boyfriend back. Don’t make some of the common mistakes that others do.
First, you should try your hardest to stop sulking. Sulking is actually a very selfish thing to do. This is not a criticism of you. We all do it. You just have to learn to recognize when you are sulking and stop it in its tracks. This is actually the kind of behavior that brings us pain. Stop the sulking and you can stop the pain.
An important step to getting your ex boyfriend back is accepting where things are now. Much of the pain and suffering you are going through right now is a result of you fighting the current reality. This is easier said than done, but it is essential. Things are where they are right now for a reason. If you can accept where things are now, you will have a much greater chance of success at getting your ex boyfriend back. Your cool demeanor will make you more attractive to your boyfriend and will make your head more clear and able to think.
Do not smother your ex boyfriend. Guys do not like it when girls smother them. It only serves to push them further away. In fact, guys become more attracted to girls that are not interested in them. In some strange way, they feel compelled to approach women that are distant from them.
You should be careful not to play games with this truth, however. For example, do not find another boyfriend with the express purpose of making your ex boyfriend jealous. This is immature and not fair to the poor guy you are using.
It’s true that men are instinctively attracted to big- busted, sexy-looking women. But intelligent men are wise enough to ignore this instinct and enlightened enough to look for a woman who will bring more valuable attributes to a long-term relationship.
Being affectionate is one of these attributes. Perhaps because men want affection but find it more difficult to initiate than we do, most men rate affection as more important than beauty. Men are definitely turned off by women who aren’t lovable and affectionate.
Do you have frequent opportunities to be warm, open and affectionate with your family or kids? Or are you so tied up with your career and fighting to succeed that you’ve lost touch with your affectionate, vulnerable side? Or have you been hurt so much by past relationships that you’re afraid of being open and affectionate with a man? Men sense this right away.
If you’ve been having trouble attracting men, try being more open and affectionate. How? Many times women will come for counseling and show more love and affection for my dogs or cats than they have in years with a man. Getting a pet can sometimes reopen your affectionate side.
If you find it easy to love and hug and pamper a pet, yet you feel inhibited about showing affection to a man you care about, try thinking about him as a cat or a dog you love. Feed him. Pet him. Love him. Shower him with affection. He’ll appreciate that more than a perfect 10 figure or a pretty face.
2. You Do Need To Be Happy
Being happy is also more important than being beautiful. When men talk about traits they want in a women, most often mentioned is a “good personality.” Basically, that means someone who is happy.
Nothing is more important in attracting a man than the way he perceives you and how life with you would be. So, if you want to attract a happy, healthy man, look like you’re happy, enjoying your life and having fun.
If you’re unhappy with your life, keep it to yourself and work on solving the problem. Men are drawn to women who are enjoying their lives. Your lover is not your therapist or your lawyer.
The truth is that no man is attracted to a depressed woman unless he’s neurotic himself. If you meet a guy who seems happy listening to you whine and complain, don’t be flattered, be worried. A man who falls in love with you when you’re depressed has a sick, desperate need to feel superior. He will fall right out of love if you ever get happy. If you find such a man, his price is your having to stay depressed forever.
Get happy. Then get a healthy man.
3. If You’re In A Depressing Relationship, Get Out Of It
If you’re not attracting men because you’re depressed, and the reason you’re depressed is because you’re in an unsatisfying relationship, get out of it.
Don’t stay in a go-nowhere relationship, waiting for Mr. Right to rescue you. When you’re half-in, half-out of an unfulfilling relationship, you are not really available for a wonderful man if he does come along. He will sense your inability to be totally available, and you remain stuck with the previous unfulfilling man.
4. Project The Right Image
Are you sane, balanced, and settled, with both feet on the ground and your head on your shoulders? Or are you scattered and neurotic, without any stability in your life? Would a man feel safe marrying you, allowing you to use his credit cards, write checks from his checkbook, and most importantly making you the mother of his children? Would he feel safe leaving his children with you?
If you’re the wild and crazy type, that’s probably the kind of man you’ll attract. Of course, sane men are attracted to crazy women — for a lark. Later, when a sane man picks a wife, he picks a sane woman. He wants someone he can take home to his mother without being disowned for life. He wants someone he can take around his business associates without losing business. He wants someone he can depend on.
When you’re ready to get serious, tone down your most outrageous behaviors and show him your responsible side. Let a man see that you are the type of woman he can make a life with.
I don’t like spiders I have no desire to kill them all or annihilate them, I just want them out of my house.
I understand their role in the ecosystem and appreciate it, but I do not want them in my house!
I am not going to get all bent out of shape over spiders that are harmless such as daddy long legs and others that are known to be harmless to humans but the ones that scare me are the brown recluse, and the black widow spider.
Brown recluse spiders are naturally not very aggressive and will usually only bite if it is a last resort and they feel their life is in danger if they do not.
The first step in getting rid of them is to remove their comfy environment.. they love to get in dark places such as inside of clothes and shoes on the floor, inside cardboard (they love cardboard), under the covers on the bedding, etc., they need areas with moisture such as in bathrooms and kitchens.
These are things that are fairly simple to take care of..
Remove the clutter
Don’t allow clothes to pile up on the floor
Get rid of cardboard boxes and use plastic bins instead
Make sure the bedding is not touching the floor
Take care of any unnecessary moisture such as leaky pipes, standing water, etc.
The next thing I discovered in how to get rid of spiders.. namely the brown recluse spider is the things that they do not like.
Apparently their taste buds are located on the tips of their legs so they will be very adamant about not walking thru or hanging out in areas that contain tastes that they do not like.
They hate citrus such as lemon, orange, etc. and from what I understand.. the best thing you can do is to dust with lemon pledge. They also hate eucalyptus leaves.. another natural way to make them feel extremely unwelcome.
16 oz Sliced Mushrooms
1 Large Onion Diced
2 Cloves Garlic
3/4 Cup Sunflower Seeds
2-3 Tbsp Nutritional Yeast
Salt and Pepper
Directions
Saute onions until they start to soften. Add the mushrooms and cook over medium heat until the onions and mushrooms start to caramelize.
When ready take off the heat and set aside to cool.
Once the mushrooms have cooled down add them to a food processor along with all the other ingredients.
Blend in the food processor until everything is chopped up and the mixture gets smooth. You will need to scrape down the sides of the food processor a couple of times to make sure all the ingredients are properly blended.
When smooth, remove the mixture from the food processor and place the pate on a serving platter. Serve with crackers.
While lottery games are based entirely on luck, there are some things you can do to increase your chances of winning. If the jackpot amounts have lured you in and you want to purchase lotto tickets, here are some tips to keep in mind. But also keep in mind that some people have devoted their adult lives to improving the odds of winning the lotto. You’ll have to pay a small amount but consider it an investment toward future success… if this appeals to you,
Limit your ticket purchases. Unlike scratch tickets, whose odds are 1 in 4, only one in hundreds of thousands, or even millions, of people will win the lottery. There are no $1 or $5 prizes in the lotto, so limit the number of tickets you purchase, because you will not regain any of that money if you don’t win the big prize. In games where the jackpot goes up each week if there is no winner in the previous week, avoid playing weeks with large jackpots, because you will have much more competition as people rush out to buy tickets.
1. Learn about number-picking systems. There are many complex number-picking systems out there, particularly on the internet. However, keep in mind that the winning numbers pulled are completely random. Therefore, they can’t be predicted before they are announced. Most advertised number-picking systems are ways to scam you out of money by making you believe they are a surefire way to make millions.
2. Consider forming a lottery group. Recently, lottery winnings by groups of coworkers or friends have been making the news. By pooling your money, you can buy more tickets. Keep in mind that splitting the money can be a legal headache and strain your relationships with other group members, not to mention reduce the amount of the lottery jackpot you will win. However, if you set up your group right and are willing to play for less money, they can be a great way to win the lotto.
3. Understand how to pick numbers. Avoid picking numbers that are all low, all high, all even, or all odd. Chances are high that the numbers that come up will be a relatively balanced mixture of numbers. While some people recommend tracking previous numbers and picking ones that haven’t come up in a while, in reality these numbers are just as likely to come up as those that came up just last week.
4. Play the same numbers. Find a good combination of numbers using the above rules, and stick to them, especially if you are playing the lotto every week. By the laws of probability, eventually that combination has to come up. Changing your numbers weekly increases the possibility that your combination came up just a month ago, or will come up two months after you used it, and you will lose out.
Of course, one of the most important warnings when trying to win the lottery is to not obsess about winning. Gambling can be very addicting, and it can cost a lot of money. You should play for fun, not guaranteed money. Avoid gambling excessively as you chase a lottery jackpot.
The gold pan is most often used to find the richest gold bearing ground (sampling), so that heavier equipment such as dredges, high-bankers and even simple sluice boxes can be brought in to work only the most promising materials.
Tip: a most common error for novice prospectors to make is not doing enough sampling before setting up operations for the day. Take the time to find the best paying areas before lugging all your equipment in. You are going to be moving a lot of material so why not take a little time beforehand to make sure it is the good stuff. As little as 5 feet in one direction can mean the difference between 5 colors and 20 in each pan!
Panning for gold is actually very simple. In your pan you are trying to recreate on a very small scale what Mother Nature does herself in the riverbeds. You will be attempting to concentrate the heaviest materials (gold) into the bottom of your pan.
Basic Procedure:
Find a good spot to do your panning. It’s best to choose a spot where the water is not too deep and moves just swiftly enough to keep the water clear from the panning. Clear vision is vital – you don’t want to wash away a big nugget! Don’t pan in fast moving water – this will cause the water action in your pan to be unpredictable and potentially cause you to lose some of your gold.
Tip: Pick a spot where you will be most comfortable. Wear rubber boots or hip waders so you can get further down to the water level and not wreck your back by stooping all day.
First use a screen, sieve, or classifier to size down the material to a manageable size – one that is as close to the size of the gold you expect to recover. Most of the classifiers are designed to fit over your 14” gold pan or 5 gallon buckets quite nicely. Remember, large nuggets are very rare so you will recover mostly fine gold with an occasional “picker” nugget. Use at least a quarter inch screen (4 mesh). While gold is heavy, very small flakes will have a difficult time displacing the larger rocks. Screening or classifying material down will make this much easier and speed your panning greatly. Pan the screened off rocks and gravel separately and look for the gold nuggets – nuggets of this size will be hard to miss.
Place a small amount of material in your pan – maybe 1/4 to 1/2 pan full at first. Submerge the pan just below the rim and shake side to side or around and around fairly vigorously. Be careful not to wash a lot of material out of your pan while doing this. will rise to the top. You will repeat the process often during your panning with the goal to keep the gold The old and other heavy material (black sands) will work their way down to the bottom of your pan while the lighter and valueless materials in your pan last. This method is often called “stratifying” the material.
Tip: don’t be shy about getting your hands in the wet material to break it up. You want to be sure to rinse off any large rocks and break up any clay balls or roots. Clay balls are gold robbers – break those up.
Next, raise your pan out of the water but keep the material in a semi-liquid state. Tilt your pan forward with the riffles or “traps” facing away from you. Start shaking slightly so that the gold has a chance to settle in the forward and bottom part of your pan but not enough to cause any material to wash over the side. Be sure your material is always in a semi-liquid condition – add more water if needed.
Now you should have your forward edge of the pan just in the water. Start moving your pan slowly up and down in the water so that the water itself is washing off the lighter sands and gravel. Don’t try to pour the material off – doing this will cause your material to “lock-up” and your gold will be lost. Keep the material semi-liquid and continue to use the action of the water to wash the lighter material out of the pan until you see the darker more heavy material coming to the surface. Sweep just a little material off each time – don’t get a huge tidal wave going in your pan or you are sure to lose your gold. When you feel it’s time to re-stratify the material go ahead and bring the pan back and shake it up again finishing with a slightly forward angle. Remember you can never do this too much – keep the gold in the bottom of your pan. Try to shake your pan for at least 10 seconds at first to be sure to get all the gold back down to the bottom. After shaking the pan again you should see the lighter material coming up. Continue sweeping this material out of your pan with water slowly.
Tip: Re-stratify more often than you think is necessary to make sure the gold stays put in the bottom of your pan. Heavier materials are often comprised of iron and are darker than the lighter weight blond sands making it easy to know when to re-shake. Re-stratify your pan whenever you see the dark material coming up. Go slow – you are outdoors so enjoy your time!
As you get further down in the material of your pan you will see the heavier material turn darker and darker and it will be increasingly more difficult wash this material out. Resist the urge to wash the water in harder. Continue sweeping the material out little by little until you have almost just black sand. Luckily gold stands out well against this dark background. If you start to see gold flakes in the heavy sands it’s time to re-shake your pan again.
Tip: most novice panners stop panning with far too much material in their pans. Work your material down to almost all black sand (a few tablespoons at most) before bringing the pan back to look for gold.
Back and forth, round and round, or side to side motion- it’s up to you! As you continue to prospect for gold you find as many methods to panning as there are gold panners. Whether you shake the pan from side to side, use a circular motion, or maybe a little nervous twitch it matters little – whatever you are comfortable doing. After a while you will find your muscles will develop a memory for your technique and you will sink into a habit which you can continue to perfect. Your panning will become swifter and your gold losses will become smaller.
Tip: whatever method you use try to keep it smooth and rhythmic. Trying to wash the water in and out at the same rate each time will help control the contents of your pan. Periodically bring your pan all the way back flat (level) and re-shake so your gold will not creep too far forward in your pan.
Use a magnet to quickly separate the gold from the black magnetic sand concentrates. Place the magnet to the bottom side of your plastic pan and move it in a small circular motion with the pan slightly tilted. This will quickly remove the gold from the magnetic black sands.
Final Tip: you can use a sniffer (snifter; snuffer bottle) to quickly suck up any gold you see. A snifter bottle is a small flexible clear plastic bottle with a small tube attached to its end. Squeezing the snifter bottle creates a vacuum inside, and submerged gold from the pan can be easily sucked up through the tube and saved by releasing the bottle and moving it around the edges of your pan showing gold. However, because time is often limited at the river, I recommend you use your time to actually dig, pan and find gold – use the time at home to finish the clean up and separate your fine gold from the black sands. Take your black sands home with you where you can pan in a controlled environment – go over each pan several times with a catch basin underneath to be sure you got all you can. Use a wetting agent like “jet-dry” or detergent to break the surface tension of the water and keep the very fine gold from floating.
