Use tea to control bleeding

I read an article yesterday or today about some new research that uses
shrimp shells (ground up, or maybe an extract - I don't recall) when
making bandages. Some ingredient in the shrimp shells apparently stops
bleeding, and so the military is quite interested in the research.

Well, shucks. I've used regular old tea as a key component of first aid
kits for decades. We typically keep a large box of Lipton or other
inexpensive black tea bags on hand. I first heard about this over 25
years ago, when I'd had some oral surgery and the stitches opened up. I
went to the hospital, and after 4 hours - and they were unable to get
the slow bleeding to stop - I went home! Yup, they gave up. OK, it was
the middle of the night, and I probably wasn't going to die, but still
you would have thought they'd do better than a few gauze packs and then
give up! Well anyway, my roommate then suggested I slap a tea bag or
two on the wound. I did and in a few minutes the bleeding had stopped.

Ever since then, if I ever need to stem the flow of blood from a wound,
I grab for the tea. Heck, a few times I've done a little minor
self-surgery to remove a wart (slap on some alcohol, use a nail clipper
or pocket knife to remove the wart and dig out the roots, slap on a
little more alcohol, then put some tea on the wound and a band-aid.
Standard disclaimer: do not try this; if you do, you are an idiot.
Anyway, for theses instances, or other times when I've received a gash
from an errant elbow in a soccer match or other good fun, tea has done
the trick for me. In the case of the elbow to eyebrow gash, I found
that disinfecting the cut and using some black tea and butterfly
closures was, for me, preferable to a trip to the hospital for stitches
...not to mention avoiding hours of waiting around.

Yup, yet another benefit of tea. 'Tho coffee is still my preferred source for caffeine.

Govuhnator gets one right

I heard on NPR this evening that Governor Ahnold (California) is sponsoring a program called the Million Solar Roofs Initiative. If I heard the story correctly, the goal is to have one million solar-powered homes in California by 2010.

More states need to be getting on the stick and taking real action to
implement renewable energy generation. Gosh, Here in Florida (and in
Arizona, New Mexico, Texas ...) we have a pretty fair amount of sun.
Yet in my neighborhood, even though a number of us have solar pool heat
systems, I've also heard some folks state that they hate the look of
solar panels. Come on folks, would you rather see an oil derrick in the
neighborhood?

The report on the radio suggested that the cost for solar power adds
$10,000 to $15,000 to the cost of a home. One person in southern
California in a home that was recently built (about a year ago), stated
that their monthly electric bill is about $15. I'm in a fairly small
home (about 2,000 square feet, which is the smallest plan in the
neighborhood) and our monthly electric bill is about $200. So even if
one allows a lot of wiggle room in the calculations, a solar system
would pay for itself in under 10 years. Given that the cost of solar
technology is expected to continue to decrease, I think this is pretty
darn nice. Bear in mind that this is not even getting into the whole
issue of reduction of greenhouse gases, getting away from our
dependence on fossil fuels, allowing homes to produce their own energy,
etc.

This could be very cool.

Florida residents: Are termite warranties worth $200/yr?

We are in a new house. We moved in at the end of January 2005. As
required by Florida law, termite protection was applied during
construction, and a one-year warranty issued by the pest control
company. The warranty expires in about a month (since the treatment was
applied in August 2004, early in the construction process).

Today I received a notice from the pest control company that we can
renew our warranty for another year for $200. So my question for any
Florida residents who might read this, is this: Is it worth it to
renew? The pest control companies, of course, all state that it is not
a question of whether a Florida home will have a termite problem, but
rather a question of when the problem will arise. That's what I'd
expect them to say, since the more fear is out there, the more folks
will pay for warranties and treatments. The State of Florida maintains
a web site about
termite control, and they recommend renewing the annual contracts. But
I wonder how much money was spent in lobbying ...not that I'm cynical,
mind you.

So does anyone have any experience with this sort of thing? Apparently,
the approved termite prevention chemicals can only be applied by
properly-licensed contractors, so Joe Homeowner (that would be me)
can't go out and buy the stuff and lay a perimeter around the home.
Given how little some seem to care for the environment, that's probably
a good thing, as I could see some schmuck tossing unused pesticide down
the drain and further polluting the water table. I may just send the
money in, but I'd like to be educated first. Of course, I'm also tempted to take matters into my own hands, being the control freak that I am :)

Looks like Dennis will stay west of us

With
the skies clouding up, the lightening starting to flash, and the rain
starting to dump, I finished drilling and preparing the last holes
needed for the last of the steel storm panels to protect that last of
our windows. In other words, we are finally ready to cover and protect
all of our house's windows ...in about an hour total to install all the
panels ...whenever the hurricanes threaten. I've posted more pics and
instructions for installing tracks and steel panels.

It does appear now that Hurricane Dennis will stay to the west of the Florida Gulf coast, so we will most likely only get some strong winds and plenty of rain. Whew!

We do still have plenty of other prep on which we are working - and will be for weeks yet. Shirley has
caulked all of the windows (it's a new house, but
our caulking standards are
much higher than what the county lets through
inspection). We've both been working on caulking where the soffits meet
the wall, the gutters and downspouts are installed now - with splash
blocks to direct the water away from the house, we're adding bracing
inside the garage doors. Lots more. But the main
part of prep is now - thankfully - complete.

Peeping Tom Pulled From Outhouse Tank

Apparently Florida does not hold a monopoly on pervert freaks. From New Hampshire:

A 45-year-old man was arrested after a teenage girl found him staring at her from below an outhouse seat...

The full story is available via many news sources. What I really want to know is how my buddy JL (happens to have the same initials as me, and we went to high school together, and he's almost as short as I, ...but he still lives up in the northwest USA) ....anyway, I do wonder why JL always seems to be up on these stories :-)