FROM STAFF REPORTS

The Concord-Afton Sunset Rotary Club is sponsoring the Cabarrus County WSOC-TV 9 SchoolTools project for the fifth year.

All supplies collected benefit Cabarrus County Schools and Kannapolis City Schools students and staff. In the first four years, over 108,000 items have been collected and provided to schools.

On Saturday, Aug. 13, from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m., Rotarians will be hosting a drive-and-drop supply collection in Afton Village near the gazebo on Village Drive. School supplies, including facial tissues and disinfectant wipes will be collected. Financial donations to the “Rotary Club of Concord-Afton Sunset” will also be accepted and will be used to purchase the most-needed items.

Staples is selling supply boxes of 19 items for $5 which can be placed in our 9SchoolTools barrel at Staples. The Ashley Home Store in the Afton Ridge shopping center (Kannapolis Parkway) is a corporate sponsor for the overall WSOC Channel 9 School Tools project for the 22 counties in the Channel 9 viewing area. Target and Harris Teeter have also generously provided donations.

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Staples is selling supply boxes of 19 items for $5 which can be placed in a 9SchoolTools barrel at Staples.

Submitted photo

Visit the 9SchoolTools page at https://www.facebook.com/Cabarrus9SchoolTools or email the Club at [email protected] for more information.

Most needed items include earbuds and headphones, 2-inch or larger binders, No. 2 pencils and mechanical pencils, highlighters, composition and spiral notebooks, loose leaf paper, crayons, colored pencils, colored markers, glue sticks (not scented), and copy paper. Only new items can be accepted.

Last year’s SchoolTools campaign promoted a lot of supplies for students in need. This shows some of the collection from the 2021 drive.

Submitted photo

Donation sites through Aug. 14 include:

St. James the Greater Catholic Church

Gilwood Presbyterian Church

Team Honeycutt/Allen Tate Realtors

Churn Buddies Creamery & Coffee

Donations after Aug. 14 can be made by contacting the Rotary Club through email.

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Originally Appeared Here

Schools across Allen County will begin the academic year this week in a way they haven’t since 2019 – with regular operations in place.

Boards for districts including East Allen County Schools and Southwest Allen County Schools have approved plans confirming as much. The COVID-19 policies and procedures that affected the last two years are largely gone, including mask mandates and social distancing.

“It’s not as much a focus on COVID,” EACS Superintendent Marilyn Hissong said while summarizing changes to the Return to School Plan for school board members last month.

Rather, she continued, the protocols are good to fight any disease, such as the flu: “You know, taking the normal precautions, cleaning and disinfecting.”

Mark Daniel of Fort Wayne Community Schools told his school board in July that he looks forward to being “as much back to normal as possible” and seeing the gains students will be able to attain.

“I think this is a pivotal year,” Daniel told The Journal Gazette last week. “We have to reenergize, which means we have to be able to focus on the things we do well, and we’re truly trying to be intentional in our literacy, our numeracy and our well-being.”

Reducing learning gaps in literacy and numeracy – another term for math – is a priority at the nearly 30,000-student district, Daniel said. One student achievement measure – the state’s standardized test, ILEARN – showed less than 18% of FWCS students in grades three through eight performed this past spring at or above proficiency standards for both English/language arts and math.

“We’ve got to move these metrics because our teachers have to see that they are – they’re impactful,” Daniel said, explaining low test scores can also affect teacher morale. “We get in education because we want to make a difference.”

Daniel said the past 2 1/2 years have been draining, both emotionally and physically. “And now it’s like, let’s get back to our purpose and our focus.”

Statewide, foundational learning in English and math is stabilizing or recovering for most students, Katie Jenner, the Indiana secretary of education, said upon the July release of ILEARN scores.

“At the same time,” she said in a statement, “we must continue to aggressively pursue innovative solutions to best support all of our students, especially our students who are still overcoming the challenges posed by the pandemic, as well as students who were underperforming prior to the pandemic.”

Daniel said the work isn’t just on FWCS educators.

“We need community support to make that happen,” he said, suggesting businesses could provide employees a few hours a week to help as instructional assistants or substitute teachers.

In a back-to-school video for SACS families, Superintendent Park Ginder encourages parents to have conversations with their children about proper behavior in the school setting, including on the bus, in class, in hallways and in the cafeteria.

“I hope there’s a rebound in positive behaviors and academic approaches that we definitely saw across the state, influenced by a large number of our students being home,” Ginder told The Journal Gazette.

This academic year also marks the return of a school supply that’s been shelved in recent years – lunch money, Ginder said.

A federal waiver has allowed schools nationwide to feed every student for free since the 2020-21 year, but that ended last academic year.

“Families that think they might qualify for free and reduced lunch and textbooks need to make sure they work with their schools to get registered,” Ginder said.

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Originally Appeared Here

Many of us have been there. Your kid is sick with a runny nose or a cough that wakes you up at 2 a.m. You think maybe the humidifier will help, so you stumble around to get it, refill it, and turn it on, mumbling something reassuring to your kid about trying to go back to sleep.  

Or maybe you like using a humidifier every night for yourself. Personally, I find one helps me sleep better, especially during allergy season. 

But when was the last time you cleaned yours? Have you wondered what kind of bacteria is living in there and ultimately going into your lungs?

How to clean a humidifier

The best thing you can do for your humidifier is keep it clean and use clean water. Simple as that. But knowing how to clean it effectively is important. Always consult the humidifier manufacturer’s instruction manual on assembly and cleaning.

Materials needed: 

Estimated time:

• 15 minutes of cleaning
• 20 minutes to soak
• 1 hour to dry

Step 1: Take it apart

Image: Maria Diaz / ZDNet

Take apart the removable pieces on your humidifier. If it has a disposable filter, this is a good time to inspect it and make sure there’s no mold growing on it. If there is mold, it’s time for a new filter.

Step 2: Wipe down with white vinegar

Image: Maria Diaz / ZDNet

Soak your cleaning cloth or paper towel in vinegar and wipe down all of your humidifier’s parts. Clean the base without getting the motor wet. Wipe down the tank and any other pieces.

Step 3: Give the vinegar time to soak

Image: Maria Diaz / ZDNet

Carefully add about two cups of vinegar to your humidifier’s tank, put the cap on, and swish it around. 

Humidifiers can get limescale buildup pretty much anywhere that comes in contact with water, so you can put the vinegar-filled tank on the base without the filter and let the vinegar soak for about 20 minutes.

Don’t turn on the humidifier with vinegar or any other cleaning solution inside it while you are indoors. The resulting fumes can irritate your eyes, nose, throat, and even your lungs.

Step 4: Rinse out the vinegar

Image: Maria Diaz / ZDNet

After the vinegar has soaked in the humidifier, rinse the tank with plenty of water to clear all of it from the machine.  

Step 5: Disinfect the humidifier

Image: Maria Diaz / ZDNet

To disinfect the humidifier, we’ll use bleach. 

It’s important to completely rinse out the vinegar as you don’t want to mix it with bleach. Now that you have cleaned your humidifier with vinegar, disinfect it with a 10% bleach solution (1:10 solution of 12.8 ounces of bleach per 1 gallon of water). 

Wearing gloves, repeat the process to wipe down your humidifier with the bleach solution to disinfect it. You can use an old toothbrush (that you’ll never put in you mouth again) to get into the nooks and crannies. Always avoid getting the motor wet.

Step 6: Thoroughly rinse with water

Image: Maria Diaz / ZDNet

Thoroughly rinse your humidifier with water — and I mean thoroughly. You don’t want any bleach in the unit the next time you turn it on; you or your family could inhale it. 

Fill and rinse the tank several times over and rinse any part that you wiped with the bleach solution. Be careful not to submerge the motor in water. 

If your humidifier has a reusable filter, rinse it a couple times using clean water.

Step 7: Air dry and assemble humidifier

Image: Maria Diaz / ZDNet

Dry the humidifier parts to prevent the water from seeping into the base. Let your humidifier parts completely air-dry to remove any moisture before putting it back together.

Reassemble your humidifier once it’s dry. Now your humidifier is ready to be refilled with clean water and operated.

FAQ

Unfortunately, yes. Consider you’re putting water into this machine and eventually inhaling some of the vapors it produces. We know moisture is a breeding ground for bacteria and mold, so it’s only natural that it could make you sick.

Several studies have noted what has been called humidifier lung and humidifier fever, which are pulmonary inflammation and/or flu-like symptoms with fever caused by bacteria, mold, or yeast that could call your humidifier home. So the importance of keeping your humidifier clean goes beyond simply having a clean home in general. It’s about your health and that of your family.

It’s important to let your humidifier dry completely every now and then between cleanings. This will prevent moisture from sitting in the inner parts of your humidifier, effectively avoiding bacteria growth. So if you use your humidifier at night, empty it out in the mornings, give it a rinse, and let it completely air-dry for about 45-60 minutes, this will help keep your humidifier clean.

Aside from letting your humidifier air-dry, you may want to add a water treatment to prevent bacteria growth and mold. These come as a liquid bacteriostatic, drops, or even a fish.  

Every time you refill your humidifier, empty out the tank and base completely and rinse the tank before refilling it. Refilling the tank by adding fresh water to the water remaining in it potentially can leave any bacteria that has taken hold of your old water in your humidifier. A good, quick rinse is a simple way to prevent biofilm buildup as well.

If your tap water is safe for drinking, then it should be fine to use in a humidifier. A humidifier with a filter provides a layer of cleansing for the tap water. 

With filter-less humidifiers, I prefer using filtered or distilled water. This helps prevent limescale buildup, which can happen with tap water, and helps keep the humidifier cleaner and running smoothly. 

A humidifier filter typically lasts three to six months, depending on frequency of use, the care you give it, and the type of water used. 

A filter may have a brown tinge when you take it out, but many manufacturers say this is normal. It is important to always follow the filter manufacturer’s instructions on when to replace it. 

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Originally Appeared Here

Walls are often neglected when it comes to household cleaning, but these large surfaces can harbour more dirt, grime, and odours than you think. Whether you’re looking to blitz your home or are preparing to add a fresh coat of paint, washing walls is essential to get the best results – so how can you do it quickly? According to one TikTok user, all you need is baking soda, disinfectant liquid and a paint roller to quickly clean an entire room. Here’s how to do it.

Grubby walls can leave your home looking dirty and in some cases, leave it smelling unpleasant.

While removing odours from smoke and cooking may seem like a chore, one TikTok account has shared a clever cleansing hack to speed up the process.

Instead of spending hours scrubbing painted walls with sugar soap and water, the social media user showed her followers that a clean paint roller is much more efficient.

READ MORE: Britons warned against vinegar cleaning chore in summer

To make the cleansing liquid which banishes grime and odours, the user who goes by the name of @tanyahomeinspo, mixed together a pink disinfectant product and a generous spoonful of baking soda.

Any disinfectant product would work as long as it is in liquid form.

Simply pour enough to fill a large bowl and add in a few heaped scoops of baking soda.

Mix the cleansing ingredients together and leave a clean paint roller to soak in the bowl for a few seconds.

The social media user demonstrated the quick hack on a dirty wall in her children’s play room.

She mixed together baking soda and disinfectant until the products formed a thick, exfoliating paste, before scrubbing the grubby marks away.

Instead of using a paint roller, the TikTok account used a yellow sponge to target the stains.

While baking soda is a coarse ingredient, the small granules are still gentle enough to keep painted surfaces intact.

How to clean wallpaper

Painted surfaces are often easy to wipe clean but it isn’t always as simple to remove stains from wallpaper.

Sponging the paper down with water and baking soda can often be too harsh and could cause long-lasting damage.

According to Good Housekeeping, the best way to clean wallpapered walls is to mix distilled white vinegar with fresh water.

This method works best with warm water and a clean cloth rather than saturating the paper with a wet sponge.

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Originally Appeared Here

AT THE BEGINNING of the pandemic, everything, it seemed, was about food — ordering it, storing it, even following an extensive 27-step disinfecting protocol for boxes of cereal. Food as security, as sustenance, as comfort. Food as fuel for rage-induced baking sessions. No longer are we competing for yeast and flour, but pandemic or not, it’s hard to find a turkey in October.

I don’t need a whole turkey, just legs to roast in the oven with herbs, wine, and stock — to collect enough drippings for pan gravy. Whether I’ll roast a turkey or order it precooked on Thanksgiving remains TBD, like so much else now. I can’t find drumsticks, so instead I go with a four-pound whole breast with skin on; my husband can use it for sandwiches now that he’s taken over the duty of packing lunches for our third- and ninth-grade boys. Leafing through the Manila folder of dog-eared recipes splattered with wine and butter from Thanksgiving meals past, I add sage, potatoes, and a dozen other items to my cart. I pay the extra two dollars to have it all here in an hour because time feels of the essence.

¤

When I found the mass in my right breast, we were — my two boys, husband, and I — ascending from darkness. The country was still seeing high case numbers and surges in the Delta variant, but our county had low transmission and high vaccination rates. We were not yet in the light at the end of the tunnel, but we could see it, and it was a hopeful thing. After a year of home learning, my kids were returning to school in less than a week. The thrill of normalcy, for once, overshadowed the angst of the previous 16 months. The promise of bustling hallways, bell schedules, and after-school playdates filled our house with joyous anticipation. And for me, a few kid-free hours to write, see friends, and reconnect with my prepandemic self — someone I barely remembered.

¤

Thanksgiving is a complicated holiday, but one I enjoy despite my childhood memories lacking the Hallmark card images of cousins and grandparents gathered around a table filled with pies. It’s not so much Thanksgiving I look forward to as it is November. The change of season and pause from busy schedules. The streets lined in fiery amber hues. The chill in the morning air. Another year overlapped on itself with a promise of closure and renewal.

Before I was a mother, Thanksgiving — the Hallmark version — often felt unbearable, lonely, and othering. A brash celebration of a thing that never came easily to me: family. There was one once, a kind of family. A father, a mother, a brother. Then, after my mother’s cancer and my dad’s departure, I became a stray consumed with longing to belong to someone. For a while there was another kind of mother. Almost mine, but not really. To be with her was to rearrange the past, erase parts of myself. She would say there are two sides to every story, and I know it’s true.

Over the years, my husband and I have taken our boys to coastal cottages and communal lodges for Thanksgiving, thinking it may infuse “big family” energy into our holiday. But we’ve found that, while the sunset s’mores with strangers are lovely, we prefer a kitchen filled with the smell of turkey roasting in the oven and the four of us together at home with our dogs faithfully begging underfoot.

Now, when I think of our family, the persistent question haunts me.

Is it —

Are we —

Enough?

What of a small thing that becomes smaller? Does it vanish?

¤

During the biopsy, I tried to hold them in, but silent tears slid down my cheeks as I looked into the radiologist’s eyes and told her I’d lost my mother to cancer when I was my youngest son’s age.

“I know it’s scary, but one step at a time,” she said as she marked the edges of the hypoechoic mass in my right breast with metal clips, each marker announcing its arrival with a small explosion.

After the biopsy, I came home, sat on the deck overlooking the creek behind our house, and howled into the trees for this not to end me. Please not like my mother. Guttural and pleading, I begged the universe for more of everything and nothing at the same time. All the small things: hands in mine on morning walks to school, shrieks on splashy summer days, Band-Aids on skinned knees, eye-rolling, slammed doors, piles of dishes in the sink, more, more, more of this life.

But I swallowed all of it whole, climbed the stairs to the kitchen, and packed a cooler of Goldfish and string cheese for the back-to-school picnic.

I sat on the field with school mom friends next to the playground where our boys have swung and climbed and grown inches over years of playing together. We talked about signing up for soccer and getting a baseball team together, but in my head I thought things like, What if I don’t get to be here for all of this growing up? I watched the golden hour blanket the school grounds in ethereal dappled rays and wondered, What if my disappearing has already begun?

¤

The Instacart shopper texts a picture of a turkey breast: “7lbs, the only one. Do you still want it?”

That’s a lot of sandwiches, I think, but: “Yes, I need it.”

When the bags arrive, I spread everything out on the counter and start by tearing up the crusty loaves of Pugliese for the dressing. I usually use day-old bread, but since I’m short on days, I’ll improvise by drying it out in a low-heat oven. I’ve finally tweaked enough recipes so things taste like hers did — my almost-mother who passed her love of cooking on to me. All those years of lining baking sheets with bread and chopping thyme side by side, and I didn’t write anything down. I didn’t know I’d need to. But then again, didn’t I?

The grief of estrangement is not linear. In some spirals of time, she is nowhere to be found. In others, I loop through memories of another life. Who I was with her, who I am without her. Better, I’m better now. But she’s always in my kitchen, in my hands when I chop onions, or in the glass of wine I sip while I sear tenderloin in my well-seasoned cast-iron skillet. In the way I show love through food. On Thanksgiving, I am two selves: my grown-up/mother/wife self and the heavily eyelined, flannel-wearing teenager seeking approval with every strike of the potato peeler, willing it not to slip and cut my knuckle, which it inevitably always does.

¤

I got the diagnosis on a video call: small, curable, not the worst kind of cancer. “It’s early-stage. You have a choice: lumpectomy or mastectomy,” my surgeon told me.

I only pretended to believe her. “I want a bilateral mastectomy. I’m not going to change my mind.”

After the call, my first thought was, How can I do this to my kids who have held on, followed rules half the adult population couldn’t follow, and lost nearly two years of their childhood inside a computer screen? And now this: cancer. My second thought was one I pushed away into the darkest, deepest part of me. Do not come back, for you could be the death of me two ways, I told it.

On the night I told my kids, my youngest was worry and fear — the baby I grew inside me spilled into my lap, arms around me with “Will you get betters?” My oldest was pale-faced stoic understanding of what a trickster cancer is because he’d seen it before, already having lost a friend. He wanted reassurance I’d always tell him the truth about my diagnosis. On both of their faces was the worry of something too big to carry. I answered questions. Give them only what they need now, one step at a time. Don’t make promises I promised myself — fingers crossed.

The moment I said the word cancer, it became a real thing living with us, an uninvited guest, and we could not go back to how it was when it was not here.

I am the cancer. I am the cause. I brought the uninvited guest.

¤

It is my mother self who tears the bread and peels the potatoes in October, two days after having a port implanted in my chest to deliver the chemo I will receive for the first time the following day. I burn the bread twice and have to order more. My head is fuzzy from the port implant. My body is still recovering from the mastectomy I had six weeks earlier — one day before my 47th birthday. I splurge on another two dollars for fast delivery, deciding it qualifies as self-care. When he is between meetings, I ask my husband to peel the potatoes because, though it’s unlikely to happen, my “Your Guide Through Chemotherapy” information packet says to be careful of cuts.

I place the turkey in the roasting pan and add chicken broth and wine — a thing I have not touched since I found the lump. I stir in heavy cream and butter to the potatoes. Over my wooden spoon flow rivers of estrogen and progesterone that I’ve read will fuel my kind of breast cancer, which feeds on hormones. Everything is organic, promising to be non-GMO and free of bovine growth hormones, but I have become distrustful of food, of my body, of my future.

¤

When the postsurgical pathology came back, I found out I’d need eight rounds of chemotherapy followed by radiation, that it wasn’t a not-scary kind of cancer but, in fact, a fast-growing, invasive tumor with plans to spread. My second thought crawled out from the darkness and sat on my chest until I couldn’t sleep at night, couldn’t breathe.

I did this. Me. It’s my fault.

I offer the monster on my chest another version of this story. In this version, I do not submerge myself into pandemic family life until I drown. I am balanced and rational. I don’t fear the world outside. Instead of only scheduling essential dentist and doctor’s appointments for my kids, I take care of myself. In this version, I schedule my mammogram, and it finds only tiny calcifications. In this story, I am the protagonist. I am the poster girl for mammography. Early detection saves lives! Moms, remember to put on your oxygen mask!

But the story is fiction, and the monster knows this, so I offer it excuses disguised as evidence of my worth. Here is the calendar where my son and I marked 180 days of second grade inside our home. Here is our family room with shelves of books labeled and organized by genre. Just like school! Here are the stories my youngest wrote (notice the letters sitting nicely on the lines instead of floating off the page). Here is my firstborn, who nearly drowned in stormy waves of puberty and shed his boy self and his affinity for me while the pandemic raged and the president tweeted. Here is the black hole that tried to suck him in. Here are my arms, weary from holding on. Here is my marriage, hollow and worn from over 500 days of being under the same roof with two children and no childcare. But we are still here. I am still here. Let me stay.

¤

The gravy is a bust. Even with skin on, the breast proves a meager alternative to the dark meat and bones of a whole turkey. I reduce the remaining broth on the stove so I’ll have something to doctor up in a pinch if chemo leaves me too sick to cook on Thanksgiving. I put everything in containers and tuck them into a drawer in the freezer — a promise in the form of side dishes.

When I lost my mother as a child, the fear of my own mortality became a shadow that followed me around. Decades later, the truth is I barely remember her. Not in the visceral, core-memory kind of way. When I became a mother, I started marking our life with proof of me just in case: photo collages, memory books, lengthy handwritten cards, and holiday traditions like cutting down our Christmas tree and peeling potatoes for Thanksgiving dinner. When I learned I had cancer, I could imagine my story playing out no other way than how my mother’s did — dying within months of her diagnosis. But it’s been three decades, and cancer treatment has come a long way. I am not my mother.

In the maelstrom of months since I discovered the lump, I am sometimes consumed with fear and guilt. On those days, I remember how — midway through lockdown when our survival parenting bar had sunk so low our kids had nearly morphed into iPads — my husband and I would toast glasses of sweet, lemony bourbon and say, “Our only job is to make it to the other side of this alive.” A bargain I hope to uphold. On other days, I remember the only part of this story I know for sure is the page I’m on now. The one where it is almost Thanksgiving, and I am here — to chop the thyme, mix the potatoes, whisk the gravy, see the leaves change, feel the air shift, witness another year overlapping on itself.

¤

Jacque Gorelick is a California-based writer whose work has appeared in The New York Times, Salon, and The Washington Post. She recently finished a memoir about family lost, then found. Visit her website at jacquegorelick.com.

¤

Featured image: “Amazing Autumn Trees in the Hexham Abbey Garden” by somaliayaswan is licensed under CC-BY 3.0. Image has been cropped.
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Originally Appeared Here

As I write this, I can hear a cardinal trilling in the backyard. I don’t have to look out the open window to confirm the source of the sounds that come through it; I’ve come to recognize the songs and their singers. I know it’s the mourning dove whose cooing wakes me in the morning and the sparrow whose repetitive chirps complete the sunrise chorus.

Watching birds perched on a branch or visiting a feeder imparts a certain connection to nature that little else does, and, for me at least, listening to their melodies alleviates stress.

Birds are also the most cost-effective way of reducing the number of pests in your garden. Their young are ravenous consumers of insects, including aphids, whiteflies, cabbage worms, cucumber beetles, grubs, earwigs, stinkbugs and, especially, caterpillars.

According to Doug Tallamy, a University of Delaware professor of entomology and author of “Bringing Nature Home: How You Can Sustain Wildlife with Native Plants” (Timber Press, 2007), one clutch of chickadees, for instance, requires 6,000 to 9,000 caterpillars, delivered by their parents, to sustain them from birth through first flight, which is just over two weeks. That’ll clean up the garden, to say the least.

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To attain these pest-control benefits, you don’t have to be an expert birder. All you need to do is create a bird-friendly habitat.

A bluebird rests on a deck post in this June 15, 2022, photo.

Jessica Damiano via AP

Using native plants in your garden will feed native insects, which, in turn, will attract hungry birds. Select a mix of plants to provide berries, nectar and/or seeds year-round. The Audubon Society’s Native Plants Database is an excellent source of bird-friendly plant suggestions for your region. Just plug in your zip code to get started.

Allow flowering perennials to stand over winter, when food is scarce; their seed heads will feed non-migratory birds. As a bonus, your garden will retain vertical interest through the winter.

Push autumn leaves under shrubs and trees instead of placing them at the curb. The insects that buckle down under them during winter will sustain ground-feeding birds. And as the leaves decompose, they’ll enrich the soil to give spring plants a nutritional boost.

To supplement the plant buffet, set a bird feeder in the garden. Select one that comes apart for easy cleaning and that is constructed to keep seeds dry.

To avoid spreading diseases that can sicken birds, provide only enough seeds to last a couple of days, and clean feeders at least twice a month with a bottle brush and 1 part bleach diluted in 9 parts water. Rinse well and allow to dry completely before refilling.

Use only high-quality birdseed; as with everything, you get what you pay for. Choose high-energy seeds high in fat and protein, like unsalted peanuts or black-oil sunflower seeds, especially as summer winds down. Migratory birds need to store calories to prepare for their end-of-season journeys.

Avoid seeds that include artificial colors and flavors, and never set out old or rancid food.

Suet, a nutritious cake made from animal fat and often mealworms, seeds or grains, can be hung in a specialized cage feeder designed to keep out other wildlife.

Rotate the location of feeders to avoid the accumulation of discarded seed shells — and bird droppings — on the ground in one area.

Remember to provide fresh water for bathing and hydration, whether in a pond, birdbath or another container. Be sure to clean and disinfect baths and other vessels every week.

Avoid using chemical insecticides, which won’t necessarily kill pests immediately. Insects that consume or come in contact with the product could go on to be eaten by birds, which can be poisoned as a result.

Jessica Damiano writes regularly about gardening for The Associated Press. A master gardener and educator, she writes The Weekly Dirt newsletter and creates an annual wall calendar of daily gardening tips. Send her a note at [email protected] and find her at jessicadamiano.com and on Instagram @JesDamiano.

Photos: Pest-reducing birds a boon in the garden

Birds visit a backyard feeder in Glen Head, N.Y., in this July 14, 2022, photo.

Jessica Damiano via AP

This May 25, 2022, image shows a mourning dove perched on a deck post in a Glen Head, N.Y.

Jessica Damiano via AP

A Bananaquit hangs upside down to peck at a flower at the Cleveland Botanical Garden in Ohio on Feb. 15, 2012.

AP Photo/Amy Sancetta

A male American robin perches itself on a blooming maple tree in Beverly Hills, Mich., on March 24, 2012.

AP Photo/Carlos Osorio

Birds gather at a feeder in a Johannesburg, South Africa, garden Sept. 22, 2013.

AP Photo/Denis Farrell

A hummingbird flies in a garden near Bogota, Colombia.

AP Photo/Fernando Vergara

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Comparing today’s world with yesterday’s years looks much more inviting every time!

Of course those times were hard times, but they were more simple times. Today’s world is in such a hurry — rush, rush, rush! All in a hurry to get where? Nowhere! 

Growing up in Tin Top was a memorable time in my life. My Dad, Everett Young, founded the baseball team in Tin Top named The Tin Top Eagles. I found a clipping from the Weatherford Democrat dated June 1, 1944 saying “Manager E. W. Young took the mound for his Tin Top Eagles last Sunday afternoon and hurled a 5 to 3 victory over the Baker Sluggers, the game being played on the Baker Diamond.” I had forgotten, but my son, Doug Smith, told me taking the mound meant Dad was the pitcher. I was only 13 but also kept score for the teams.

I really enjoyed the phone call I received from Roberta, the daughter of Carlos and Bertha Jones, who were the founders of the Plaza Theater in 1941 and the Jones Drive in Theater in 1948. We recalled old times and talked about how we missed them, and also, regretted the Plaza Theater being torn down. As a little girl of about 5, she would curl up in one of the seats on the back row of the theater falling asleep waiting for her mother and dad to close the theater and go home!

Balch School only went to the sixth grade, and then closed. My brother, James Young, was bused to the South Weatherford School and I started my junior high years in Weatherford, beginning with the seventh grade. Keep in mind, I was just a very naive farm girl straight from the country and did not know “city” ways. At first, I did not think anything different until I started noticing that the city girls and the city boys seem to be more knowledgeable about worldly things than I was. 

Being a farm girl, we did not have electricity, so therefore, had no radio or even received a newspaper until news was old news. I rode the school bus to school, so I did not get to hangout with other students after school. But I was about 13 or 14 when I had my “first date.” This is what my first date consisted of and how it came about. This boy asked me to a movie at the Plaza Theater, and don’t remember what was showing. Of course, we had to get permission from both his parents and mine. We were to meet at the Theater at a certain time, probably around 7 p.m. Since he did not drive, his parents drove him to the theater and my parents drove me to the theater, and after the movie, they would pick us up and we would go to our individual homes. Believe me, we were chaperoned, which it should have been and should be today. 

I got through the seventh, eighth and ninth grades without any earth shaking events. But things began to change when I entered senior high school. Going through my yearbook annuals, I found many things that were back then, not now, popular eating places, grocery stores, movie theaters, five and dime stores, drug stores and the Square where the teenagers hung out. The courthouse on the square was a very busy place back then. When Dad and Mother came to town on Saturdays to shop for supplies and groceries that were needed, the only public restroom that was available was in the basement of the courthouse. My mother was very conscious of our safety and carried a small brown bottle of Lysol in her purse and would disinfect the restroom area before we were allowed to use it! Creamland Cafe was a very popular hang out for high school students. We would walk from the high school to Creamland and get an ice cream cone. Of course, it was only three or four blocks. Cell phones, of course, were not even thought of then, so notes were passed back and forth in class, keeping the teachers busy.

We had the neatest high school principal, Mr. J. E. Granstaff. He stayed busy going to the square and bringing back those who had decided to skip school. And more often than once, you would see him on the square “herding” kids back to school. He was such a nice person. As seniors, some of us were chosen to work in the high school office for a period of time, I suppose as a training program, and I experienced how nice a person he was. I never understood and still don’t understand, why a school was not named for him. Some of our schools here are named after one or two I personally do not believe deserve that honor. In my opinion, he very much deserved that honor! He cared enough about the students to make sure they were in school. 

There is a lot to talk about during my high school years, not only during those times, but in the good old days of Weatherford. Until next time!

“It’s not the mountains ahead that wear you out, but the small grain of sand in your shoe.”

Nancy Ann Young Cearley is a Parker County native and graduate of Weatherford High School. Contact her at 817-594-7055.

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Being a Janitor may not seem like an inspiring career that tops the list of most school leavers; however, this career has gained a new respect since the Covid pandemic swept the world.

Janitors and other cleaning staff have enabled businesses to continue through and after lockdown, and the people in these roles have literally been at the frontline in the battle against Covid.

They deserve just as many accolades as those in medical fields, although the take home pay may not be at quite the same level.

Janitor Responsibilities

Even before the pandemic, Janitors have always had a job with high responsibilities.

Whether an employee or a contracted service, Janitors are usually the first person entering the business each day or the last person leaving the business each day, depending on whether cleaning duties are performed before or after business.

This means they have the keys to the business, and the responsibility for unlocking or locking up the business location each day.

They also bring with them cleaning chemicals which can be dangerous if used or stored incorrectly. Or alternatively, they may use eco-friendly cleaning products, though these may be more expensive.

Health and safety are an important aspect of the Janitors role. Having a range of safety signs to be used to advise others of slippery floors will warn people to take care when needed.

But most importantly, their cleaning duties help to maintain the health of every individual who enters that location each day.

To be able to complete those responsibilities and carry out their job, they will need to have suitable janitorial supplies equipment.

What Does a Janitor do?

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They clean and maintain buildings like hospitals, schools, hotels, and residential accommodation. Most of the work in indoors, but it can include mowing lawns, sweeping footpaths, and emptying outdoor waste bins.

The work is usually before or after normal working hours, and their work description might include resupplying or restocking bathroom products like toilet paper, air freshener, towels, and soaps.

Jobs like waxing the floors, trimming shrubs/trees might be completed less regularly like monthly, while they also carry out seasonal inspections of items like smoke detectors, air conditioning units, fireplaces, etc.

Sometimes Janitors are expected to complete minor repairs like fixing leaky pipes, replacing bulbs, and possibly faulty doors and windows.

They must maintain a good knowledge of cleaning procedures and practice and keep an eye on their cleaning supplies/equipment are maintaining proper functionality, and also understand sound safety practices.

The job can be quite physical and can include lifting heavy objects, bending, and standing for extended periods whilst cleaning.

To be effective in this job you must have mechanical skills, good handling of tools, equipment and chemicals, and adherence to safety measures.

Janitor Supplies

Lightweight equipment – the three pieces of essential equipment all janitors need is a broom, a mop, and a bucket with a wringer device that enables you to squeeze the water out of the mop.

A long-handled dustpan will make the sweeping easier and avoid too much bending over.

Larger janitorial businesses might invest in an auto scrubber which is a walk-behind or ride-on machine designed to clean larger areas by injecting water with cleaning solution, scrubbing, and lifting the residue off the floor.

However, there will always be areas where an auto scrubber can’t reach, and a mop is the only tool for the job.

Microfiber cleaning cloths are more expensive than cotton cloths but will do a much better job of cleaning and last longer.

Scrubbing brushes will also be needed to clean around areas like sinks and basins, and a quality domestic vacuum cleaner should be suitable for smallish areas like offices.

Cleaning toilets is usually one of the less savory parts of the Janitors role. A long-handled toilet brush will let you get the job done without having to get too close to the contents of the toilet.

A duster with an extendable handle will help you get into those difficult to reach areas, both high and low, to remove dust.

Cleaning supplies will of course be essential too. A good all-round multi-purpose cleaner along with a good glass cleaner and scraper, toilet bowl cleaner, and disinfectant.

Because these cleaning solutions will constantly need replacing, savings can be made by buying in bulk, and refilling handheld spray bottles and containers.

If the role requires some minor repairs, a Janitor should also have a plunger for blocked drains, as well as a screwdriver and a monkey wrench.

Heavyweight equipment – for bigger jobs you will need bigger equipment. This is where an auto scrubber may be needed, particularly if you are cleaning marble and linoleum surfaces.

A bigger commercial vacuum cleaner will be needed for larger areas like conference centers.

Transporting equipment – carts are useful to enable you to easily carry all your equipment with you throughout the entire location. This needs to be big enough to carry all your supplies plus broom, mop, and bucket. It should include shelves and hooks.

What to Look for in the Best Janitor Tools

Having the right equipment is important but having the best tool for each type of required equipment is even more important.

Unlike cleaning equipment, you might use in the home, for commercial purposes, you want quality and durability. That doesn’t mean it has to be an expensive quality brand, but it does have to be something that is built to last, because these tools will be used for several hours almost every day.

The tools and supplies both need to be industrial strength. The brands and cleaning supplies used in the home are made for home usage, but commercial cleaning supplies come with much greater strength. Even the mop and bucket need to be more hard-wearing and longer lasting.

A janitor may need to take all of their equipment to different locations so they must be easily portable. Carts need to have sturdy wheels, and $1 mop buckets just won’t cut it, but then again, you want to bucket that is not too heavy, because the Janitor needs to be taking that with them everywhere.

Larger, more expensive equipment like auto scrubbers, floor polishers, and carpet cleaners represent a significant investment. Ensure you get a warranty at the time of purchase that covers realistic issues. Make sure the most expensive tools are covered by insurance in the event of theft or intentional damage.

A broom, a mop, and a bucket might be the three most used items used by a Janitor, but the role requires a range of other tools and cleaning supplies, responsibility and understanding of health and safety issues.

 

 

 

 

 

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After two years of dodging COVID, it finally got me where I least expected it: at an outdoor garden party on a sunny afternoon. A friend of mine hosted a small group in her backyard to say goodbye before moving away. We did all the usual things one does at a goodbye party: we chatted, snapped group photos, and ate snacks she had cleared out of her pantry. Just as my family and I were getting ready to leave, a final guest showed up whom I hadn’t seen in some time. I hugged her, excited to connect before we headed home. After five minutes of catching up, my family and I left the party — and would find out later that I had contracted COVID from this final, extremely brief interaction.

I live with my husband and his 90-year-old father, a man born in Nicaragua who has survived a political revolution, a civil war, and a bout of typhoid fever which left him with partial lung function. Because of this, we have been among the strictest households I know when it comes to COVID mitigation. During the height of the pandemic before vaccines were available, we took it a step further than masking indoors; we actually stopped going inside any buildings other than our house for several months. I once quarantined at a friend’s cabin for 10 days after going to the doctor — just in case I’d picked up COVID. These days, my family still masks when we go inside stores. We always dine outdoors when we go to restaurants. But over 2 years into the pandemic, with all of us fully vaccinated and boosted, we were enjoying time spent outdoors with friends. We thought we understood that COVID spread far less rapidly in outdoor settings, and so we assumed our risk was low. But that was before the BA.5 strain.

Two days after the garden party, I started to feel a sore throat and a twinge of tiredness. It gradually grew into a 102-degree fever and a debilitating headache. Though it took a full 24 hours for my rapid tests to show up as positive, I suspected COVID and immediately quarantined myself in an upstairs bedroom at the first signs of fever.

Thankfully, we had taken others’ advice and prepared ourselves for the extremely likely scenario that we would contract COVID: we had purchased a pulse oximeter to test our blood oxygen levels, we had a stash of extra pantry items and over-the-counter painkillers, and we had a quarantine plan. Because we only have one bathroom in the house, we set up a HEPA air purifier in it. We sprayed everything we touched with a disinfectant spray proven to kill coronaviruses. I spent one lonely week battling COVID in isolation.

My husband developed COVID a few days after me, and — in what felt like either a miracle or hard work (or a combination of both) — my father-in-law never got sick. We are so grateful.

When we as individuals pay attention to COVID, we are helping ourselves to live healthier lives. Just as importantly, we are protecting the most vulnerable people in our community, including my father-in-law. At this stage in the pandemic, we have all heard the recommendations: Get vaccinated. Get boosted. Keep an eye on COVID numbers in your area via local news outlets and your social circle. Depending on your local numbers and your risk tolerance, mask indoors — and potentially outdoors, too. Order free tests from www.covidtests.gov.

Every household in the US is eligible for a third round of tests, and my family blew through twenty government-issued tests during this bout of COVID). If you haven’t already, sit down with your household members to develop a plan for what you’ll do if someone has an exposure or develops COVID. If you get COVID, make a list of everyone you came into contact with in the days prior, and reach out to them. This will help them minimize the damage if they too get sick.

I didn’t expect to get COVID at a small backyard garden party. But I’m glad my family had a plan when we did.

Julie Louisa Hagenbuch is a writer and photographer based in Milton. She is the owner of the photography studio CANISTER and the director of the storytelling project Stories on Tap.

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Scratching posts are a great way to harness your cat’s natural desire to scratch on things in a way that is constructive rather than destructive. Read on for more details about why cats love to scratch and how to set up cat-approved scratch zones in your home.

Why do cats scratch?

Cats scratch on things for many reasons: to help slough off the outer layers of their claws, relieve stress, mark territory (both visually and through scent glands located on their paws), as well as to stretch and flex their bodies, feet and claws. Scratching is an essential activity for a happy, healthy house cat.

Identify your cat’s scratch style

Pay attention to your cat’s behavior when choosing a scratching post. Does your cat prefer to stretch up to scratch or is your cat a horizontal scratcher? There are options for both. Cat-favored scratching posts have a rough exterior; for example, sisal rope rather than carpet.

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Placement is everything

The best spot for a scratching post is where your cat will find it to be most naturally useful. Think about areas of your house where your cat already likes to scratch. Is there a couch, chair or wall that your cat seems to gravitate toward? Placing scratching posts in these locales will deter your cat from choosing to scratch your belongings.

Another thing to think about are the rooms that your cat spends the most time in. Is there a spot where your cat likes to nap? This would be an ideal location to include a scratching surface. Picture your cat waking up from a long, luxurious nap and taking a good stretch/scratch against a pad or post when he wakes.

Some cats may also enjoy scratching a surface near where they feed. There’s nothing like a good stretch after feasting on the catch of the day. High traffic areas in your home can also benefit from scratching surfaces. Some cats get excited when their owners return home after a long day and like to show off their scratching skills. If this sounds like your cat, placing a scratching post near the entrance of your home may come in handy.

Don’t forget to “Like” The Cat House on Facebook and follow us on Instagram! We are always posting pictures of new adoptable cats and kittens, updates on recent adoptions, and fun cat facts and pictures to brighten your day. To receive updates directly to your inbox, send an email to [email protected] and ask to be added to the mailing list.

The Cat House is a 501(c)(3) organization; contributions may be tax-deductible. TCH is funded by donations and adoption fees and is staffed by volunteers.

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