I've read about it Peter but as in your post the info source I came across had no info on where to get a product containing the poison. I did find links connecting it to delayed mental development in children and a connection to multiple chemical sensitivity (which I experience) so I'm not sure about using it in our house. I could apply it on the door mats and door frames outside and it certainly can't be any worse than what's been used on the baseboards by the professional exterminators our landlord hired but I have to be careful if I am going to be the one applying it.
But I still don't know where to get it, what product it's in, or anything useful. There's only one site I found with possible products but I can't tell if they'd be safe to use. I'd feel more confident if there were other healthy conscious people using and reviewing this stuff.
http://www.doyourownpestcontrol.com/pyrethrin.htm
I have an excellent vacuum, it's really old and boy does it ever suck! LOL. I empty the canister outside after vacuuming, plus I keep a very strong flea collar in there for the little bit of time any fleas might be in the bag. If I feel it's needed I mist the vacuum bag with alcohol, I've read that kills them.
I don't want to vacuum up DE, it's not great to inhale too much of it and I have some breathing issues already. Instead I've steam cleaned the floors more than once, that thing is so super duper hot it's supposed to kill anything. I steamed the windows and the rads too. I do treat the door frames with DE and a poison spray. The kitchen door leads out to the fire escape.
I've read 15 mins in the drier is enough time but I leave them in there on high for longer than that anyhow. The couch is actually my bed so everything comes off that, linens and the cover, and it all goes into the wash.
All the baseboards, cracks and crevices were caulked before I moved in, it's all sealed up tight. I can't do anything to the floor, I rent.
My daughter is little, I see her fully naked at least twice a day. That's when I photograph her bites . I also do a lice check on both kids daily and spray them with tea tree oil before they go to school (aka the germ and lice factory, omg). We never have fleas on us, not unless one jumps on then jumps off. I don't think they really hang around on the body. They just sense her heat when she's sitting on the floor and hop on over and bite her up.
I have looked this up online so many times and I follow Every Single Recommendation I've come across but to no avail. It's been over three months and I am just managing to keep them down a little. It's beyond irritating, I am really fed up.
Gotta go finish the 18 loads of laundry I'm doing this week .
We don't even use the common entrance at all, we come and go via the fire escape exit which leads from our kitchen straight outside. We're on the second floor and it is COLD out there. Plus we carefully wipe our shoes on the DE and flea sprayed mats outside the door before coming in. I don't think they're picking up fleas from the school, I'd hear about it from the other parents if their kids were getting bitten at school. I know the school treats it's floors and hallways as a pre-emptive strike against any incoming bugs too. It's only a 10 minute walk home from the school, it's not like they're rolling around with dogs on the grass on the way, lol. It's all sidewalks and busy streets.
I was careful to clean things when unpacking, all fabric got laundered, vacuumed, sprayed with bug deterring essential oils. I bought a wardrobe to put clothes that we were keeping on open shelves so nothing is exposed or even too close to the floor. We don't have clutter, the floor is fairly bare throughout aside from solid furniture. This apartment has been treated with poison now a total of 3 times since we moved in, you'd think fleas would not find it hospitable. I just don't get it, why is the problem so bad here? Granted, it is calming down now that the weather's turned but I suspect it will flare up again in spring and I just can't go through this again. And I'm afraid to move and take these bitey critters with us! We never had any sort of problems like this out on the farm, this city has some nuclear insects or something.
I have to say, as little as 3 weeks ago we'd be sitting on the couch and a flea would jump on one of us. 2 weeks ago one jumped onto my arm while at the dining room table. I'll do the white socks vacuum routine this week and see what happens. Unbelievable.
Oh My Goddess, yes, it has certainly not been a minor nuisance to us. We moved from rural southern Ontario to a city 3 months ago and within days my kids were covered in bites, especially the little one who had quite the swelling reaction and extreme itch. She'd wake itching, bleeding, crying, and wake the rest of the house and presumably the neighbours up and downstairs. It was horrible. 2 weeks after moving in we found out the fellow downstairs who moved out the same day we got here left behind an apartment full of fleas. The property manager and superintendents went in to inspect the place and ran outside and STRIPPED ON THE LAWN, they were that covered in fleas. One of them told me she looked down at her sandal clad feet and it looked like she was wearing fuzzy black socks. The fumigator who came said he'd never seen anything like it, he wore a has-mat type suit when he treated the place. Needless to say, I packed everything up, steam cleaned all the floors, rads and window frames, and had the exterminator spray our place, the balcony, the fire escape, and the shared hall/stairwell. We left for 4 days, when we came back I carefully vacuumed, laundered absolutely everything, and cleaned everything else as I re-unpacked it. We've now gone through that process twice more along with vacuuming several times per week with a strong flea collar in the vacuum canister. I wash every piece of fabric in the house weekly, I've purchased special mattress covers, new pillows and covers, new duvets and covers, ditched box springs in favour of solid fabric free bed frames, put door mats outside all the doors covered in DE and have lately taken to spraying with flea poison on those and around the door frames as well. I also have been misting the floors, walls, baseboards, bed frames, rads, shoe mats, etc with essential oils thought to deter insects. And I've steam cleaned the floors again too, also every crack in this place has been caulked up tight. The building is kept at 25C and is super extra plus dry. I have flea traps in every room, dishes of soapy water under nightlights. We don't have a pet or any carpets, it's all hardwood and tiles here. I don't keep clutter and am a very neat housekeeper.
It's cold out now, snow on the ground, the flea traps have caught next to nothing the past two weeks and still, my daughter gets home from school, sits on the floor to play and colour (I can't get her to stay at the table, she's too short for it to be comfortable) and by the time I put her to bed she's got more bites. I've had our place inspected, mattresses, floors, everywhere, for bedbugs just to be sure that's not it and it isn't. It's fleas. A horrible, unshakeable case of fleas. The building manager refuses to treat the building as a whole and spray it all at once and everybody else here has pets they treat with advantage. I'm about to go that route myself, foster a cat as a flea sponge and poison it to poison the fleas. How horrible is that? But I just don't know what else to do, this is literally eating up my entire life, all my time and a great deal of money, not to mention my daughter's health. She's been treated with antibiotics for a horribly infected bite, she's suffered so much, and she's regressing to the point I have to sleep with her. I moved to the city to work, lol, to save money for a better life. Instead I'm in debt for the first time in years.
I've been looking for an oil press that is either affordable or that I could build myself. Not entirely sure *I* can build this one but I am sure I know metal workers who could!
http://www.davehakkens.nl/work/wind_oil/ Sunflower and pumpkin seeds, I can grow those in Canada. Hazelnuts grow wild here too.
Take a look and say what you think. The rest of his designs are pretty cool too, the non-disposable customizable blok cell phone is what brought me to his site. Pretty awesome stuff.
In this link you'll find several tutorials for craft projects, 3 of them are for making stuff out of old tshirts. Baby bibs, women's panties and yarn from which you can knit or crochet heavy duty rugs, bowls, baskets and bags. You'll need to have some sewing and/or yarn work experience or a willingness to try them out at least . In the rest of my sets there are a couple of quilts and a LOT of toys made from old clothes too.
Whatever recipe you make up you want to avoid glycerin as it coats the teeth preventing remineralization. I would also avoid alcohol as it is actually a cause of bad breath.
Aloe juice, aluminum free baking soda, essential oils of mint, clove, cinnamon, etc. That oughta be fine to start with, you can experiement a bit if you like, things like stevia to sweeten, or xylitol.
We were out for lunch with family today and stopped into a new green store that's opened up locally. Considering this upcoming course I couldn't resist picking up this shirt (it was on sale and is by that nice "Life Is Good" company).
Made me smile anyhow
I'm hoping to take this course April 16- May 11, 2012. Just waiting to see if there are enough people registered. I'll be shocked if there aren't though, I've been looking for a course in Ontario and there's just nothing. Nada. So much of what was offered last year was taught by students of Gregoire too, lol. Might as well go straight to the master.
Anyhoo, if you feel like hanging out in the beautiful BC mountains this spring, check this out. Early registration ends March 5th (reduced tuition) so check it out quick. There are lots of places to stay in town too.
"You can fix all the world's problems, in a garden. You can solve them all in a garden. You can solve all your pollution problems, and all your supply line needs in a garden. And most people today actually don't know that, and that makes most people very insecure." (Geoff Lawton)
Point of View Thanksgiving dinner's sad and thankless Christmas dinner's dark and blue When you stop and try to see it From the turkey's point of view.
Sunday dinner isn't sunny Easter feasts are just bad luck When you see it from the viewpoint Of a chicken or a duck.
Oh how I once loved tuna salad Pork and lobsters, lamb chops too 'Til I stopped and looked at dinner From the dinner's point of view. -- Shel Silverstein
I don't think anybody is really saying that it would be preferable to go back in time, only that we have thrown out so much great stuff, practices and wisdom, from the past in favour of our modern technology. That we have taken the knowledge of generations and replaced it with something that is brand new, untried and untested and it's showing itself to be inferior in many ways. The two could and should be working in tandem with each other. That's all I'm saying personally, I'd like to see a bit of holding on to old practices that are proven to be beneficial and effective. I'd rather not see every farmer everywhere jumping onto the GMO and chemical band wagon and I'd much, MUCH rather see kids outside on their bikes instead of plugged into screens. Some "new" stuff really sucks.
It is just as ridiculous to throw out the wisdom of our ancestors as it is to forgo all modern inventions and conveniences. Why would anyone want to do either of those things? All that glitters is not gold, people who see no value in tradition would do well to remember that. Plus, how ignorant is to to be so nasty to someone for doing things in a different way? What is with those people? Reminds me of the folk who get so riled to discover that someone else is a vegetarian or follows a different religion. Unless they are trying to cram it down your throats why should you even CARE?! Weirdness.
You can brush your teeth with a drop or two of lugol's iodine on your toothbrush. It gets absorbed and is also a tonic for the gums, kills bacteria in the mouth while you're at it.
This is a pretty interesting article about renting out a spare room or apt as a b&b to make way more money than renting it out to a roommate or tennants with what seems like way less work. Kinda cool.
I don't mind an ugly wreck, believe me. I'm going to drive it right into the ground anyhow! I think I might have a lead, a car that isn't actually that old but kids have drawn on the inside with permanent marker, lol. Not that I would ever care about a thing like that, we'll just add to it I'm sure.
Sprouting grains like quinoa can be just as good as cooking them and they work wonderfully as a substitute for couscous or Bulgar wheat. You can sprout lentils and other small legumes very well too, awesome in a salad of tomatoes, red onion and cucumber with mint, basil or dill. Corn is amazing raw, on the cob or off, no salt or grease required. If you eat meat cook a larger portion than usual and use the left overs sliced in salad the next day for a light, cool meal. I have cooked extra pasta and just rinsed it in hot water for another meal later on, I might even add cold sauce. The kids and I like this very much on a hot day.
christhamrin wrote: I just bought a used car & most cars with 100k on them will be closer to 5,000, sorry.
That totally depends where you are. Vehicles are typically at least $1000 more for the exact same thing on the coast than they are in the middle of the country here. Or so I am told by my friends from here who've moved out west!
We're making smoothies out of frozen fruit (the freezer isn't working all that great in this heat so gotta use stuff up anyhow) and baby greens (you don't taste them but they add minerals and nutrients) instead of cooking. I add some soaked chia seeds, sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds or nuts to the mix for added calories and some fat. The stove is staying OFF! A mister to spray yourself with, direct a fan your way wherever you are (all night long the fan is pointed at us), ice your wrists and take it as easy as you can.
If a vegetarian were acceptable to your diet would you be acceptable of theirs? I don't see the two as mutually exclusive, personally, when it's an individual choice and not one of judgement. Are you looking only for a single person or is a couple of a single parent ok?
I'm going to have to get a solar lamp, that's awesome!
The other light thing you linked to, I don't even understand what that is. Perhaps that's why people don't switch? I am not an engineer and just don't have the time to try and figure this stuff out. I need it REALLY dumbed down for me to get it, differences in energy use, etc. Wading through the advertising overwhelms me, let alone finding a way to determine what is true or not. I'll take your recommendations though so keep 'em coming!
I just took driver's ed so I can hardly drive anything at all right now. My mom has a stick and even though that's what she learned to drive, after years of driving standard she hates it so much. I'm pretty sure I want a standard. 2 kids in the backseat is as much in-car aggravation as I can stand, lol.
Thank you thank you thank you all! $1000 would be my top limit, I'd rather an older car because the newer things are, the more cheaply they were made in my experience. But I would like good gas mileage so don't really know how older cars stack up against newer in that regard. Good tips about checking out the inside to get an idea how the owner treated it. I'm looking around on kijiji etc but need to figure out how to get a mechanic to check a car over for me, I have no idea how much that will cost and if it's for more than one vehicle it's going to take a chunk out of my budget for sure. I'm working on it!
I've never had a car, never driven, but I took driver's ed this year and will go for my test in Sept. I need a roadworthy car that will hold up and not guzzle gas but I just don't have any idea what to even look for. Got any tips for a total car noob? Whatever you can tell me will be gratefully received. I have kids and we plan to travel a bit looking for a new town to live in, I'll need to take a small amount of gear with us (tent, sleeping stuff, clothes for 3, a cooler with food, etc) but I'd look into one of those roof pod things if necessary/advisable. I don't know how you figure out what sort of car can handle extra weight like that, how it affects gas mileage, etc., whether a trailer is a better option... And I have no idea what sort of questions to ask or what to look at when buying a car.
"The “Fusion Jr.” Home Energy Reactor is in essence a mini-generator that derives its power off of combustible waste material (like paper, wood, yard clippings, and even some plastics) inspired by “Mr. Fusion” as seen in the movie “Back to the Future II”."
No duh about the burning, I can't believe they did that. How to remove the roots? I don't even know what to look for. Apparently she should never go near the stuff again, once sensitized any contact will immediately cause a reaction from what I've read.
My mom and brother cut a bunch of it down and burned it last week. Needless to say, my mother is an itchy, rashy mess and is taking herself to hospital today. Terrible. It grows around the shed so either has to be cut down or prevented from growing in the first place. Should we use black plastic and some sort of mulch over a season to kill it off, would sheet mulching with cardboard do it, or should we call an "expert" bearing chemicals? D'oh. This is nearly as bad as when she peed into poison ivy on the golf course a few summers ago. That woman is prone to rashy experiences, the poor thing .
. I also do a lice check on both kids daily and spray them with tea tree oil before they go to school (aka the germ and lice factory, omg). We never have fleas on us, not unless one jumps on then jumps off. I don't think they really hang around on the body. They just sense her heat when she's sitting on the floor and hop on over and bite her up.
.
. In the rest of my sets there are a couple of quilts and a LOT of toys made from old clothes too.
.