I know that this might seem elementary, but I learned a few things from
my Basic Patient Care class. With Flu season starting to get wound up,
this would be a good time to review hand washing procedures.
Prepares for handwashing removes jewelry and exposes wrists.
Uses paper towel to open faucet to provide continous running water, wets hands, keeps hands lower than elbows.
Lathers cleansing agent in hands uses friction, washes wrists,
palms,back of hands,fingertips and under nails for at least 15-20
seconds.
Rinses under flowing water allowing water to flow down over hands.
Use paper towel to dry thoroughly from fingertips to elbows.
Turns off faucet with paper towel and disposes of paper towel.
Inside of basin avoided at all times.
This is a direct copy from my "comp" sheet that has to be demonstrated.
I'll add a few notes from the lecture ( yes, we had a lecture on hand
washing ). Be sure that the webbing of your hands are dry when finished
washing your hands. Water is an excellent medium for bacteria. The
killing of the bacteria/pathogens has more to do with the friction
rather than then soap. The underside of the nails is an excellent place
for bacteria to hide, so don't neglect them. Open the public bathroom
doors with a paper towel - Joe Blow probably didn't wash his hands after
doing his "paper work", and this would cancel out any hand washing
you've just done. A word about nail polish, as the nail grows, the area
between the cuticle and the nail polish is an excellent place for
pathogens to hang out. The same goes for clipped chipped nail polish, hence the reason nurses and health care professionals nix the nail polish and long nails.
Okay, I'm going to expose some dirty laundry today. I absolutely hate cleaning the bathtub, but I like clean bathtubs. So, there is always an internal conflict or some kind of Zen Ying Yang balance between the two extremes.
Recently, I have also been exploring natural homemade cleaners. Not so much for the "green" or environmentally friendly stuff, but more the effective frugal type of household cleaners. I ran across this recipe and gave it a shot.
RECIPE:
8 oz ( 1 cup ) Dawn dish soap
8 oz ( 1 cup) white vinegar
I actually used 9 oz of the Dawn because that is the size that I had on hand, and it's a one-to-one ratio, so it's easy to figure out.
Heat the vinegar in the microwave until hot ( about 123 seconds ).
Pour into an empty spray bottle, then slowly add the Dawn into the spray bottle too.
TIP: Let the mixture get to room temperature before tightening it down.
Pretty hard, huh? It does have a strong vinegar smell, but it doesn't burn like Tilex.
The above picture is the actual bathtub being tested. It is the original bathtub from the 1950's and solid. I'm hoping that the grime is visible ( don't think less of me ). You can click to enlarge if you like.
This second photo is taken after the mixture was applied onto the dry surface and allowed to sit for 10 minutes. A light scrubbing was applied with a bar towel or terry cloth. I really hate cleaning the bathtub, so the less elbow grease the better. You'll also notice the recipe on the spray bottle, and it is clearly marked.
I reapplied another coat of the bathtub cleaner, and let it sit for another 5 minutes. Another light scrubbing was applied, and hopefully you can see the difference. I am very impressed with the cleaning ability of this cleaner.
Final Thoughts:
I was hoping that the cleaner recipe was a little cheaper, but I'm going to use a 100% vinegar spray as maintenance, and for mold/mildew control on the bathtub. In the past, I have used all sorts of bathtub cleaners: Comet, Scrubbing Bubbles, Tilex, Limeaway, etc. I've also tried them in various combinations, one after another. This cleaner has outperformed all of them in less than 20 minutes.
Mohave Rat recently had a post dealing with contrails, and I offered an explanation for them, hence this new post. I first learned how to read them from Larry Williams, an extraordinary outdoors man.
First, we need to define contrails. Contrails is short for condensation trails. They are those long or short lines behind the jet airplanes that appear in the sky. The condensation trails are formed by water vapor that condenses or turns into ice crystals depending on the air temperature of the jet's altitude. Armed with this knowledge, you can mostly predict the weather. It isn't 100% accurate, but reliable enough when backpacking on extended trips.
Air can contain no more than a certain maximum amount of water vapor at
any given temperature. The higher the temperature of the air, the more
water vapor it can hold. When it is cold enough and there is moisture in the air, the exhaust of a jet engine "seeds" the water vapor making contrails. Snow and raindrops are also formed around a speck of dirt, which explains why the car gets so dirty after a rainstorm. If the
temperature of the air at which condensation takes place is above
freezing, water droplets form. If it is below freezing, ice crystals
form.
Some contrails are short and some are long. On days
when the contrails are short there is little moisture (cold) in the air at high
altitudes. When the contrails are long, there is more moisture in the
air (warm) at that altitude. You can take note and notice the rate at which the contrail disappears to determine the amount of moisture in the atmosphere.
You can predict the weather by taking advantage of this information in the sky. If the contrails are short, and there are few or no clouds in the sky, then there is little moisture in
the upper atmosphere. The chances are very good that the next twelve to twenty-four
hours will be clear. If the contrails are long, the
moisture content of the upper atmosphere sky is high and more clouds
or even a storm is on the way.
You can take two viewing of the contrails in the day and extrapolate a more accurate weather prediction. Short contrails and a clear day in the morning, then long contrails and clear in the afternoon most likely means that it will be clouding up tomorrow. You get the idea.
You can also get an idea of the direction and speed of the upper atmosphere winds by watching the contrails.
The planes most likely crossed from right to left, and the winds are blowing from bottom to top of the picture. I say most likely because the contrails are thicker on the left side, and it dissipates on the right side. The upper atmosphere winds are pushing the contrails towards the top of the picture as the bowing of the contrails suggest. The winds don't move in nice fronts like the weather maps show on tv.
Have fun with this knowledge, make some notes, predictions, and observe the results.
Oh, and that sprained ankle from a few years back is an excellent barometer too!
We have been using our own homemade laundry detergent for 6 months, and here is the original post, if you are interested. The results have been very good, with a slight learning curve. Some of the early loads came out a little soapy and had to be re-rinsed. We started using warm water instead of cold, and putting the detergent into the water after about 2-3 gallons had filled the tub. This solved the problem.
The four cup batch before it got mixed. The paint bucket from Lowe's has been a great place to keep the detergent.
The results have been very good, and the only noticeable difference has been the savings. The last batch ( 11 cups ) was made on May 11th, and cost us $7.99. So a little over a dollar a month for laundry, and we need to do at least one load a day to keep up. I made another 4 cup batch today, the only change has been that the Fels-Naptha has been grated to a fine consistency.
I have also been using a little white vinegar on occasion as a fabric softener, whiten the whites, and remove the sweat stains from my undershirts.
I prefer the scent of the homemade detergent over some of the store bought brands. The scent is best described as a lack of artificial scents.
The last six months has included clothes from yard work,restaurant level dirty, and workouts. I haven't seen any difference between Tide and our homemade detergent. Sweetheart would like a occasional scented version, perhaps a little oil concentrate could be added to the recipe? She does a vast majority of the laundry and has been rather indifferent to the change in detergents.
Our six month experiment has been a success. We will continue using our homemade version, and save some serious money for other preps. I ran the numbers and $32.00 will provide enough laundry detergent to last two years, with a load being done everyday. Not too bad.
In a long term situation, the ingredients do need to be safe guarded against moisture, since I had
some minor clumping of the Borax and Super Soda. Clean clothes would be a huge morale booster and a possible way to barter services for goods in an economic collapse. Any thoughts?
Keep Right On Prepping - K
UPDATED:
On the first batch, I ran out of Fels-Naptha and used Ivory soap to get the right ratio. Here is a little trick to save some time instead of grating it. The ivory soap scent is rather strong after it is microwaved, just as a warning.
MM - If you could comment on the acceptability of using Ivory soap for allergies, it would be greatly appreciated.
I know that this might seem elementary, but I learned a few things from my Basic Patient Care class. With Flu season starting to get wound up, this would be a good time to review hand washing procedures.
Prepares for handwashing removes jewelry and exposes wrists.
Uses paper towel to open faucet to provide continous running water, wets hands, keeps hands lower than elbows.
Lathers cleansing agent in hands uses friction, washes wrists, palms,back of hands,fingertips and under nails for at least 15-20 seconds.
Rinses under flowing water allowing water to flow down over hands.
Use paper towel to dry thoroughly from fingertips to elbows.
Turns off faucet with paper towel and disposes of paper towel.
Inside of basin avoided at all times.
This is a direct copy from my "comp" sheet that has to be demonstrated. I'll add a few notes from the lecture ( yes, we had a lecture on hand washing ). Be sure that the webbing of your hands are dry when finished washing your hands. Water is an excellent medium for bacteria. The killing of the bacteria/pathogens has more to do with the friction rather than then soap. The underside of the nails is an excellent place for bacteria to hide, so don't neglect them. Open the public bathroom doors with a paper towel - Joe Blow probably didn't wash his hands after doing his "paper work", and this would cancel out any hand washing you've just done. A word about nail polish, as the nail grows, the area between the cuticle and the nail polish is an excellent place for pathogens to hang out. The same goes for clipped chipped nail polish, hence the reason nurses and health care professionals nix the nail polish and long nails.
All information is intended for your general knowledge only and is not a substitute for medical advice or treatment for specific medical conditions. I cannot and do not give medical advice. You should seek prompt medical care for any specific health issues and consult your physician before purchasing any product(s). The information should not be considered complete and should not be used in place of a visit, call, consultation or advice of your physician and/or other health care provider. I do not recommend the self-management of health problems. This Information may not be complete. Should you have any health care-related questions, please call or see your physician or other health care provider promptly. You should never disregard medical advice or delay in seeking it because of something you have read here.
===DISCLAIMER===
Now, with the legalities out of the way. This is what I have found in regards to fish antibiotics and the hypothetical human use for when IT hits the fan.
First and foremost, I would make sure that the pills have a United States Pharmacopeia, or USP. " This is a compendium recognized officially by the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act that contains descriptions, uses, strengths, and standards of purity for selected drugs and for all of their forms of dosage."
Secondly, I would make sure that it is an antibiotic that I have taken for a previous reason. This greatly reduces the risk of an allergic reaction.
Third, I would start my stockpile of medicines for the most common ailments for your family. For my clan this would include ear infections, upper respiratory infections, strep throat, and Urinary Tract Infections.
For the purpose of this exercise, I'll choose strep throat, since that is why I am currently taking medication.
Open new page to Google.
In the search box, type "webmd.com" and your ailment. Ex:"webmd.com strep throat" ( link for example)
According to webmd.com, "Antibodies such as penicillin, cephalexin, or amoxicillin are used to treat strep throat infection." ( http://www.webmd.com/oral-health/tc/strep-throat-medications ).
Next, I'll need to figure out the dosing schedule for amoxicillin for an adult. This is very important since the dosage will vary from an adult to a child.
I plugged "drugs.com dosage amoxicillin" into Google and got this : Dosage Schedule (http://www.drugs.com/dosage/amoxicillin.html ).
After a lot of research and personally buying the medicine, I would recommend this site medicine. This is the direct website from where we purchase our antibiotics. It has the USP and is also an American manufacturer.
Make sure to printout any information in case of power failure.
I added The Doom and Bloom (tm) Survival Medicine Handbook to the recommended list onto My Amazon store. Link Here
As always, comments are welcome and encouraged. Keep Right On - K
UPDATE POST ON 09-04-2012
I have provided a link to Fish Antibiotics.org .They have Youtube videos of the actual pills and descriptions so that you can further research the medicines. This website is an excellent resource.
I have also removed the link to My Amazon store, since Amazon no longer carries any aquarium medicines.
I delved into more homemade laundry detergents recipes, and narrowed it down to powders. The liquid recipes make over 2 gallons, and I really didn't wanna fool with cooking the bars of soap. The liquid recipes are a longer process of letting the liquid cool, stirring the ingredients into it, and finally adding two gallons of water. I'd rather use my cookware for dinner. This is the recipe ( HE compatible too ) that I decided to make:
1 Cup Borax ( 11 Cups per box )
1 Cup Super Washing Soda ( 7 Cups per box )
1 Cup Fels-Naptha ( 2 Cups grated per bar )
This seemed rather straight forward and easy to prepare. The Borax Box has 11 cups. The Super Washing Soda box has 7 cups. The 2 bars of Fels-Naptha once grated made 4 cups...so I grated 2 bars of Ivory bar soap ( acceptable substitution from the research ) which made 3 cups. Some this was gonna be a super batch of 21 cups.
Cost Analysis:
2 Fels-Naptha @.97 each = $1.94
1 Box Borax.....................= $3.38 (with 4 cups left over) final recipe cost is $2.15
1 Bx Super Washing Soda= $3.24
2 Bars Ivory @ . 33 each = $0.66
=======
Total $7.99
This makes a total of 21 cups and the measurement for each load is 2 TB (Tablespoon).
There are 16 TB in a cup...so there are 336 TB in this batch.
336 Tb / 2 TB equals 118 loads this batch.
$7.99 / 118 loads equals $.0677 per load.
Time to prepare took less than 15 minutes.
Most of the major brands run around 20 cents per load to wash your clothes. This is close to a 66% savings. I'll post updates with before and after shots! This ought to be fun with the kids.
We try to keep the house clean, but even the cleanest houses can get roaches. They often travel from the store to your house via groceries. I talked with my pest control guy at work and learned quite a lot from him. Here's a brief lesson.
Roaches like warm moist places to nest and breed.
A egg poach will take 30 days to hatch.
Most roaches use eggs to hitch a ride from place to place.
The other way is from crawling in from outside.
If you see one, chances are that there are hundreds.
We also talked for a few minutes about how to combat them at home. He said that the safest way to fight them (with kids and animals in the house) is to use Combat Roach Gel. (Pictured Below).
These are the steps:
Clean the area really good.
Apply a thin bead in the area that you saw the cockroach.
The area should be undisturbed for a few days - also make sure that it can be recleaned.
Under the lip of the counter, along the back splash, and around the sink are good areas.
They will seek out the bait and take it back to the nest.
Let bait stand for about three days.
Clean up the gel bait.
Reapply in 30 days to kill newly hatched roaches.
Follow procedure again if any more are sighted.
I followed his directions and it worked great. I will be reapplying tonight under the refrigerator since I saw a little baby roach today. I will mark the calendar to reapply another dose. The tube should last me a very long time since a lot is not used each time. FYI - A bead of gel for me was about an inch in length and I used three around the area that the offensive pest was seen. Last time that I did this was around 6 months ago.
Future posts will deal with ants and rodents. Sanitation will be a big issue in an emergency that I haven't seen a lot of sites discuss.
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