Home Bar Blog

Well, it’s now about a week later and into the first week of September. The August flies have started to decline, but there are still a few stragglers. There are still weekend footbal parties that can be help outdoors, so let’s investigate fly control further.
We tested a few other fly erradication methods are here are the results:
1. The hanging CD: It seemed to work in reducing flies, but on warm early evenings, they were still pretty bad, but it helps.
2. Hanging bags of water above the door: This worked about the same as the CD method. Warm air and the smell of food from the inside of the house will certainly attract plenty of flies to a screen door. The solution? Close the door sliding glass or main door.
3. Fly traps: They always work great, but place them in a sunny area AWAY from your party.
4. Mothballs: These also helped. Just dump them into a coffee can and place around your party area. Downside? The smell. Don’t use the “old fashioned” variety.
5. Flay paper or strips: Again, these always work, but must be hung in wind free areas. If it gets too windy, the strips wind up sticking to the side of your house or worse, someones head! Add a smaill lead weight at the bottom to keep them hanging straight.

The bottom line is to be proactive. Don’t leave trash lying around and place garbage cans away from the party area, preferably near the fly traps. Get your fly traps in place a few weeks or even months in advance. Reducing the local population early can help in the long run.

There’s nothing like summertime, but in the upper midwest and elsewhere in the country, August is the month of the fly. An enjoyable Labor Day Cookout can turn into a nightmare of flies hovering around grill areas, food on picinic tables and doorways leading into homes. In the late afternoon and early evenings we have seen literally thousands of flies on the side of our house, waiting for a hot dog to wander by. When it cools down at night, they wait eagerly by the screen door for someone to enter or exit at which time dozens buzz into the warm house to pick over kitchen leftovers and be yet another summer health hazard. Bug sprays and fly swatters can never get rid of all the flies and for someone with flyphobia (actaullly it’s called entomophobia) it can be maddening to try. However, there is hope. Rather than using chemicals and aggression to get rid of flies, I found a few tricks that mess with their little fly brains, and they seem to work.

The CD trick: This one really seems to work. Find an old CD-ROM disk that has the rainbow pattern on BOTH sides. CD’s that have printing on one side are not as effective. Drill a small hole (1/8″) about 1/2″ to 3/4″ from the edge of the disk. Be sure to wear safety glasses when drilling because they can shatter. Then, get about 2 feet of monofilament fishing line and place it through the hole and tie the two ends together. Hang this fly ornament right outside your door and for some reason it “seems to” keep the flies away. The theory is that the rainbow pattern mimics a fly eye and the movement confuses the flies brain into thinkng it’s a BIG fly, and little flies prefer to avoid big flies or predatory insects, like mud daubers, which eat flies for breakfast. If nothing else, the sun shining on the disc will keep them flying and make your dog bark. The effectiveness also varies from morning to evening with morning working better. Combine this with other hair brained methods for better effectiveness.

In Part II we will examine some other wacky methods for controlling those irritating flies.

As the DOW continues it’s descent, people start to worry about their retirement and investment portfolios. No need to panic, just kick back with a cocktail and relax. Your home bar will get you through any crisis be it fire, flood or famine. The one time expenditure gives the home improvement sector of the economy a small kick start, but then your completed bar gives you a place to retreat when times get tough, plus it’s a great investment in your home. Stop the insanity, save money by entertaining at home rather than spending $5.00 for a beer at your local watering hole. Join Today!

We own an HP 7100 Deskjet printer and recently when trying to print, I received a “supply expired” message for my nearly new Type 14 color ink smart cartridge.
Due to some apparent faulty thinking in the HP engineering department, they decided that they would protect consumers from bad ink damaging the printer mechanism. The cartridges have a built in expiration mechansim that consists of a tiny microchip on the back of the cartridge.
Ok, so why can’t you simply set the date back a few months? Well, I tried that but it still did not work. The cartridge was still 62% full but totally unusable, what a crock! There have been hacks for third party refill cartridges, but some may  or may not work for you.

It’s bad enough that you pay nearly $40 for a so called smart ink cartridge, but then to have them expire the ink on you really bites the big one.
Since when did a consumer product give a damn whether or not the item broke? It’s obvious the REAL reason is that they don’t want you to use the “black & white” setting or “draft mode” to conserve ink. If you conserve ink, then you’re not buying ink, or not enough ink to suit their sales goals. I would probably not buy another HP for this reason alone. So, when you are shopping for a new printer, check with the salesman or customer reviews to be sure the ink cartridges do NOT expire. Ooops! My customer loyalty to HP just expired!

One of the biggest wasters of energy in your home is the incandescent light bulb. But there is an easy way to replace this outdated power sucking relic.  

New low energy consumption compact fluorescent lighting technology can shave a considerable chunk of money off your electricity bill. The bulbs which can be easily identified by the swirly tube appearance are a bit more expensive that conventional bulbs, but they will help reduce your carbon foot print, and help to reduce CO2 emissions which contribute to global warming.

The new Compact Flourescent Light Bulbs (CFLs) now come in designer shapes, so you can replace the six or seven 60 watt (or 100w for some) bulbs in you bathroom vanity with 12 or 15 watt CFB’s. Reducing power consumption from 360 to 700 watts down to 72 to 105 watts. Now THAT’s a smart idea! 

If you have a bunch of kids, do them a favor and replace your outdated incandescent bulbs this weekend. The reduction in global warming will help to brighten their future. 

The week before Memorial Day and gas prices continue to soar.
My local station is at $3.44 for regular, but I just paid $3.47 for mid grade to fill up my Goldwing.
It was only $11.50 to fill ‘er up, so I guess I know what I’ll be driving this summer. People will not change their ways until it really hurts, and apparently it does not hurt enough, yet. At what point will drivers slow down, car pool, and plan their trips better? I do it all right now, are you?

The question is, what will you do for fun if gas prices keep going up? Are we all expected to sit home and wait?
When life gives you lemons, make lemonade! If, you have a yard, or an unused space in your home, consider a remodeling project that brings entertainmnet back home.
In the mean time, find the best gas prices in your area.