Dealing With Mice

I read where if you see a mouse at night, set a trap but if you see a mouse during the day you have an infestation so likely need an exterminator.  Now we have owned six houses not counting our vacation home.  Our last three homes have had in common a very proximity to farmland.  What this really means is when the crops come off the mice come in.  It was common to see mice and voles in the garden and around the yards at our last two houses yet here I haven't seen a mouse other than what we trapped.  Vole live with proximity to river banks.  They seldom get into houses as they don't climb like mice but they can be problematic in the garden.  It is common to see voles scurry across yards or patios to get to the river bank.  In general, you won't see a mouse in the house, only evidence of a mouse in the house.

Our experience was we set a few traps and only catch a mouse or two then no further signs of mice activity more, then it was safe to seal the house well.  Chances are your problem is solved although you still need to keep a watchful eye.  This house was a bit different even though it is a newer house but had sat semi-empty for over six months.  The field came off and the mice came in.  We trapped four mice within one week!  Then I noticed the tell tale tracks of mice on the deck after a snowfall so did not hesitate to call in the exterminator.  He set up six bait stations, 5 indoors and 1 where we saw the mouse run.  Once the bait stations stayed clear of activity for a couple of months he told us to seal the hole the mice were getting into the house.  We haven't had a problem since nor have we seen any signs of activity in or around the house. 

You don't need to see a mouse to know you have problems.  All you need to see is the tell tale signs of a mouse.  If you see droppings, take action immediately.  This is not something you want to ignore.  Set traps and/or bait an exterminator.  Once you are sure there are no mice in the house, seal any problem areas where they are getting in.  Keep the traps and /or baiting going for at least 3 months after sealing the house.  If you see any signs of activity, outside, increase the traps and/or bait stations.  If you see any signs of activity in the house, set more traps then monitor the situation.

The Cell Phone Verses Landline Delimna

There is the question as to whether to give up a landline (aka phone service) in favour of cell phones only.  Some of our kids have totally eliminated their landlines and a couple after using only cell phones for a couple of years went back to adding a basic landline.  We have Bell for our landline, Roger's for my husband's cell phone and I put my cell phone of a pay as you go plan through Telus because I seldom use it. 

Here's the problem in Ontario.  We have Bell so pay $54.85 for a very stripped down service that includes caller ID and 500 minutes of long distance for North America.  They were none to pleased when we cut over $30 worth of extras about three years ago after buying a home telephone system offering call waiting, call blocking and all those nice features on board so all we need is call display.  The only feature on our landline that can be reduced is long distance but that won't save us much.  I pay $100 per year for my cell phone pay as you go plan with the only problem being it is only good in the US but I can unlock the phone, buy a sim card and plan in the US which would be good at our vacation home.  I very seldom travel in the US by myself so really don't need a cell phone there.  My husband pays $86 per month for his cell phone which has a data plan.

We looked at getting a new cell phone for me and eliminating our home landline.  A new cell iPhone was $199 special and adding a family plan was $50 plus $16 for caller ID and shared data ($66 total).  We would be up to $152 per month BUT if my husband changes his current cell phone plan that is no longer available he would also have to pay $16 for caller ID which brings the total to $168 per month.  We are currently paying a total of $151.43 for both cell phones and landline so giving up the landline would actually cost us more money for less.  Plus, we have internet and television with Bell so get a bundle discount of $21 per month that we would lose if we eliminated the landline.  After doing the math, we quickly realized giving up our landline in favour of cell phone only would not save us any money but rather cost us more while getting less.  Now technically, we could without changing out my phone, adding US coverage with no data but it would still cost us more monthly. 

I personally would rather go to cell phones only.  It really is a lot more convenient and quite frankly the younger generation has embraced cell phones, choosing to eliminate landlines.  There are a lot of benefits going to cell phones only as you have instant communication pretty much everywhere.   So far, the problem of telemarketers is very low as you aren't listed in a directory so the calls for the most part that you get are for you. 

The downside is cell phone numbers like landline numbers are recycled which means you can have a high volume of calls from debt collectors from the previous owner of that number but the cost of those calls can cost you in addition to your actual cell phone plan.  We dealt with this problem with both our landline phone number and my cell phone number since moving here in September of 2011.  They can be very nasty as well as threatening and if you are on a pay as you go plan can really eat up your minutes AND they will not remove the number from their database even if you request it contrary to the rules set out by the CRTC.  The problem is, you cannot block these calls on a cell phone the way you can with a landline.  The best advice I have after having this cell phone number for 18 months is to not answer the call, find out who they are via a service like Who Calls Me then report them to the CRTC. 

Upside Down or Right Side Up

When it comes to homemaking and organization, everyone has their own ways of doing things.  What makes sense or works for some does not make sense or work for others.  There are even debates over which way the roll of toilet paper should be placed on the roller.  What I never really considered an issue was whether to put glasses, mugs and other drinking vessels upside down or right side up in the cupboards.  I used to think it was just a personal preference.

Our first three purchased homes were relatively problem free as far as home invaders.  The worst we dealt with was ants (rarely), house flies, fruit flies and in our third house, earwigs.  Even then, all of these pests were very minor outbreaks that were quickly controlled.  They were not ongoing.  Glassware and mugs were placed right side up in the cupboards.  Then we bought our fourth house that backed onto farmland.  When the crops came off, the mice came in.  Our fifth house was a beautiful house in a beautiful location but it had issues.  It was across the main road with a small road in between from farmland on water front property.  The house was surrounded by English ivy, a rodent mecca.  The mice would scurry across the patio, get into the outdoor grill and loved visiting us indoors.  Not only were mice a problem, the house was a magnet for centipedes (4 or more a week!), millipedes, pill bugs and carpenter ants.  We bought this house in 2011.  There is farmland directly behind it so even though it is a newer house, mice found their way indoors.  After catching four mice, we called in the professionals who quickly took care of the problem.

As part of our pest control, glassware and mugs have been placed upside down in the cupboards ever since our fourth house.  It's a way to ensure that rodents or other pests don't get into them, and it keeps any dust out.  Well, this does make perfect sense.  However, shortly after we discovered mice in this house I was getting platters from the shelf unit in the pantry, I was not pleased to discover the tell tale signs of mice on the top platter.  So, even if the glassware and mugs are turned upside down in the cupboards, other dinnerware or pots and pans in the cupboard can still be contaminated by rodents, other household pests or dust.

Essentially, upside down or right side up ends up being a personal choice.  While it will give peace of mind that nothing contaminated your clean glassware or mugs, it does nothing to eliminate the possible contamination of other items in your cupboard that come into contact with food.  Up or down, 'tis up to you :)

Energy Conservation Incentive Programs

Yesterday, I wrote about our so far nasty experience with our municipal hydro provider setting up the PeakSaver program.  The premise is, the municipal hydro provider wants you to give up a bit of control over your hydro usage if needed and in return they give you an incentive for signing up.  So far, the municipal hydro provider is winning and we are left with a pile of electronic junk thanks to BlueLine.  Seriously, with out experience using the BlueLine Monitor and the BlueLine WiFi Bridge, I wouldn't wish either on my worst enemy!  Talk about crap and I do mean crap!  Now, at the moment I am not naming our municipal hydro provider (although they claim to be all about integrity but so far I've seen none of that) but I will and I have every intention of going through my MP (already contacted) and the BBB as well as reporting BlueLine to the BBB.  Seriously, pissing off consumers is not the way to go about getting them interesting in energy conservation.

Energy conservation programs rightly executed are awesome as it was done through Ontario Hydro.  Everyone was a winner.  We got a new programmable thermostat and they got a customer who didn't mind them cycling our hydro during the summer if needed.  So incentive programs do work. We knew what the incentive was through Ontario Hydro but not through our municipal hydro.  That was our mistake or my mistake because I am the primary with respect to energy conservation especially grants and that type of thing.  I should have came right out at asked the municipality hydro provider what the incentive was and then did the research before saying we wanted it.  This serves as a reminder BEFORE you sign up to any energy conservation program, do your research first.  It will save you a lot of headaches in the end.

The New PeakSaver Goodies - A MAJOR FAIL!

When we moved into our fifth purchased home in 2007 our goal as with all of the houses we have owned was to make it as energy efficient as possible.  At that time we were dealing with Ontario Hydro, who supplies municipal hydro companies and is by far a lot nicer to deal with than the municipal ones.  We signed up for their PeakSaver program which gave us a $25 rebate off our hydro bill and a new Honeywell Programmable Thermostat.  We bought our sixth (actually seventh if you count our vacation home) in 2011 so I immediately called the municipal hydro company to sign up for the PeakSaver program.  What this program does is allow the hydro company to remotely adjust your thermostat by 3 degrees during the heavy air conditioning usage during the summer months if there are brown out conditions.  Honestly, I think they only did it three times in the four years we owned that house.

My husband was very excited that he was going to get a new thermostat.  NO!  What they gave us as an incentive was a BlueLine WiFi Bridge, a PowerCost Monitor and a Coby tablet so we can monitor and control our hydro use online.  Now the real problem is, the technician installed the remote on the AC unit and the sensor on the meter but then just handed me the boxes and the rest has turned into a bloody nightmare!

The WiFi Bridge if working properly would allow us to remotely control our furnace and AC from the cloud (online program accessible anywhere).  Since we are away a lot, this would be a nice cost saving and energy conservation feature BUT after several failed attempts at installing it, several reboots, disabling my firewall and two and a half days on the phone with BlueLine customer support I have nothing but a piece of junk!  The BlueLine PowerCost Monitor is rather nice as you can see the power usage and cost as you are using it BUT it doesn't work properly.  The numbers are off as it right now it is telling me it is 60°F outside when in fact it is 29°F and the dang thing keeps going into sleep mode.  It would be a very nice visual if it worked properly.  I have to tell you I am really not impressed with BlueLine products.  It has been two weeks trying to get this figured out and settled so Monday morning I will be calling my hydro company and ask them to remove the PeakSaver and give them back all their pieces of crap.

You know this really does tick me off.  They want you to conserve energy and set up programs to help you conserve energy then give you a crappy incentive that doesn't even work!  It would be bad enough if one of the pieces of equipment they gave us didn't work, but none of them do.  Oh wait a minute, the Colby table works but it isn't anything I couldn't do on my iPad to begin with.  At least the thermostat they gave us as an incentive last time worked!  In terms of customer loyalty and energy conservation this particular program through the municipality hydro company is a huge FAIL!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Beanies for Bravery

We were in Florida at our vacation home when the word of the horrid events at Sandy Hook Elementary School unfolded.  Like many I was glued to the television hoping it was just a bad dream.  I've been in a knitting and crocheting funk ever since we moved here in September of 2011.  Aside of making a few dishcloths for here and our vacation home, starting a couple of projects, my knitting needles and crochet hooks have fallen silent.  Inspiration comes in strange forms sometimes.

My daughter who only crochets emailed me asking if I would want to make a couple of beanies to be sent to the survivors of Sandy Hook Elementary School.  I told her I would.  Between Christmas and New Years, she brought me a skein a Red Heart Team Spirit yarn and the pattern designed by Michele Miller to be used for the beanies.  It is not to be used for commercial purposes but is free to use for non-commercial purposes.

Really, this is a simple round with increases evenly spaced to keep the project round then when you reach the desired diameter, discontinue the increases and continue until the desired length.  Basically, what you want to do is start the ring then increase evenly each succeeding row.  The first row after the ring is an increase stitch in every stitch, followed by work one stitch, increase,  in the next and work one stitch continuing around the round, then join, work two stitches and increase, work two stitches, continue around the round.  Each round you make increases the number of the first worked stitches by 1 and increases the number of stitches between increases by 1.  Once you understand how to increase to keep the project round, you could easily create your own pattern, custom tailored to what you are designing.

The beanie starts by making a magic ring.  The magic ring is a slick way to start a round project without leaving that little hole in the centre if using the traditional method of starting a round.  I am very experienced in crocheting but I did have problems starting the magic ring.  There are YouTube videos and it make take a couple of attempts but once you get it, you get it.

I made two of the beanies as pictured.  Now I am a huge fan of variegated yarns but this is the first time I have used a self-striping yarn.  It does stripe nicely but I was not impressed with the texture.  The yarn was harsher and prone to splitting which I found a bit surprising as Red Heart is one of my favourite yarns to work with.

Together we sent 4 beanies in support of the children of Sandy Hook Elementary School.  I hope a little 'anything' helps give a bit of comfort if only in support.  I am truly saddened at those events so really What was nice is this project actually inspired me to do a bit more so the knitting needles and crochet hooks are in high gear.  What these children gave back to me even though they don't know it is a renewed spirit to get creating with knitting and crocheting.  From the bottom of my heart I wish them the best, the strength they need to get through this ordeal, the courage to face the future knowing the world is not that bad of a place...

Knock Down the Dust Mite Population with Cold Air

Many folk suffer from dust mite allergies more specifically from dust mite droppings. Dust mites are microscopic insects that live in our home feeding off of dead skin. The problem is dead skin accumulates in dust as a normal part of our daily activity because we are always shedding skin. In homes with carpeting and upholstered furniture or in rooms with a lot of textiles (eg. stuffed animals), the dust mite population can explode into large numbers causing those allergic to dust mites to have an increase in allergy symptoms ranging from minor (eg. sniffles, runny eyes) to life threatening (eg. severe asthma attack). My allergists and respiratory therapist have drilled it into me over and over that the best control is to reduce the dust mite habitat by removing all carpeting and upholstered furniture. We've been working towards that goal and in September 2011, we finally bought a house with no carpeting. All floors are hard so the dust mite population here is quite low. Not everyone can rip out their carpeting or buy a house with no carpeting. If you live in a cold climate as we do, you can use the reduced humidity and cold air treatment to knock down the dust mite population in your home. If you have a humidifier, do not set the humidity level higher than 25%. This will still help keep your mucosal membranes from becoming too dry. The cold air treatment ideally needs 24 to 48 hours so is best done during the winter when you can be away for one or two nights. The ideal magic temperature you want to get your house to is 50°F, no lower as you don't want pipes freezing. Turn the furnace off and replace the filter about 3 hours before leaving the house. Gather all textiles (eg. stuffed animals, pillows, afghans) and place in plastic garbage bags. Put them in the freezer or if you have an unheated garage or shed in there while you are gone. Strip the beds leaving them bare. Thoroughly vacuum all floors both hard and carpeted. Empty the vacuum bag or cup, clean if necessary and replace as you will need to use the vacuum cleaner as soon as you arrive home. Now, leave the house with furnace off for at least 24 hours. The inside air temperature will dip and continue to dip, killing off dust mites. The closer the temperature gets to 50°F the more effective the kill off is. At the same time, the dust mites in your textiles in the plastic bags are being killed off. When you return home, it will be chilly but houses don't take long to warm up. Turn the furnace on. Carefully open the garbage bags with your textiles and place the textiles in the dryer on air fluff for at least 15 minutes. This will remove dust mite carcasses and feces. Next, vacuum thoroughly all floor surfaces to also remove dust mite carcasses and feces. The dust mite population has been basically knocked down to an ultra low level so will take a couple of months or more to get to the level to cause allergic symptoms providing you do regular vacuuming. While you are doing dust mite control, this is a good time to put allergy covers on all pillows and mattresses. The cover forms a barrier between you and the dust mite droppings. Use the cold treatment on pillows then cover. Vacuum mattresses well then place a zippered allergy cover on the mattress. If your house has a lot of carpeting (eg. all rooms except bathrooms and kitchen), this treatment can be used monthly or three times during the cold weather depending on your lifestyle. When we are at our vacation home in Florida during December, our house is left at 50°F for the entire duration of three to five weeks. This was particularly helpful for dust mite control in our last home where there was a lot of carpeting and while it is more of an eco-friendly solution here to avoid using a lot of energy to heat our house when we aren't here, it still kills off the dust mites. Oh, and while the treatment sounds like a lot of work, it really isn't! It usually takes me about a half hour on each end of the treatment. The results are definitely worth it in increased comfort, reduced allergy symptoms and reduced medications.