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FLIES IN YOUR EYES, AIN’T NO BIG SURPRISE

  FLIES IN YOUR EYES, AIN’T NO BIG SURPRISE By: Mick Blankenship                It feels like Ethiopia outside, and my friends and I can’t stop the heat. Mosquito, gnat, ant, and fleas have reunited this black summer with unlimited love for you as the Red Hot Chilin Pests.  By the way, the bugs around here will eat you up so terribly, there’ll be nothing left of you but your soul to squeeze. Twisting and turning, your bug bites are burning, they’re biting your girl.  Forget about relaxing on your front porch swing, these bugs will make you want to give it away.  The mosquitoes will wait for you under the bridge downtown.  They’ll have you drawing blood, and it seems they just can’t get enough.  The dark necessities of the ant will leave you so bitten up that you are left with scar tissue.  The flea will have you sucking his kiss from the other side of your sock, no matter where you wear it.  The gnats will make you want to get in your airplane and head west for some Californication, o
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Don't Mess Up Your Bed Before You Make It

 Don’t mess up your bed before you make it. No, I’m not talking about the bed you sleep in. I’m talking about the bed you grow in, your gardening bed. Spring will be here soon and all the weekend warriors of gardening will be dusting of their gloves and shovels to get out and play in the warmer climate. In a previous article, I tried to convince Midtown’s urban farmers to grow year round. However, I realize it’s cold in the winter and harder to get out in the garden. Or maybe you meant to but didn’t get around to it this year. Your beds probably look depleted and the soil line has dropped a few inches. Maybe they are full of leaves or covered in weeds. Logic would tell us to start tilling, taking a shovel and digging up and turning over all the weeds and leaves. This will kill the weeds, aerate the soil, and mix the leaves in nicely for decomposition while you cover the bed in some quality store bought garden soil. While this seems to make perfect sense, I am going to try and convince
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DIY Lawnmower Maintenance

DIY Lawnmower Maintenance It's that time of year when your grass is growing faster than you can cut it.  Your lawnmower has been sitting in the shed all winter and hasn't been cranked in months.  Small engines need to be cranked regularly and after sitting up all winter, your lawnmower will likely not start.  Most people who own lawnmowers don't know anything about small engines and don't want to fool with repairs.  It's actually very difficult these days to find someone willing to work on small engines.  So they head to the store for a new lawnmower.  What these people don't know is that there are a few simple things anyone can do to maintain or repair their lawnmower.  So before you buy a new one, try these: 1.  Replace the spark plug.  The spark plug looks like a little space rocket that screws into the engine.  They are approximately 3 inches long.  It will have a black rubber hose connected to the tip.  Disconnect the hose, unscrew the spark plug (may requi
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Landscape Lighting

Landscape Lighting            If you drive around a neighborhood at night, the only yards you’ll notice are the ones with landscape lighting. It is a great way to accent your house, a tree, landscaping, or all of the above. Though the idea of electrical work can be quite intimidating, installing landscape lighting is actually very easy. The hardest part is finding an electrical outlet. If you don’t have one outside, you can inconspicuously run an extension cord. Landscape lighting kits come in three parts: the power box, the wire, and the lights. Follow these three easy steps to install: 1. Plug in the power box. Yep, that’s it. Just plug it in. You may need to mount it depending on where you want it, but it is not necessary. 2. Run the wire. The wire easily connects to the power box. Run the wire to every location you want a light. Don’t worry too much about getting it perfect. The wire and lights are easy to move so you can change the location or direction of each light with ease. On
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Make Your Own Organic Weed Killer

Make Your Own Organic Weed Killer The class action lawsuit against Roundup for the potential connection between the main ingredient glyphosate and non-Hodgkin's lymphoma has many people looking for other ways to kill weeds. As our weather warms up, weeds are popping up everywhere, and pulling them by hand hardly seems an option. There is an easy solution; make your own organic weed killer. All you need is:  One gallon sprayer One gallon of vinegar 2 cups of Epsom salt (or table salt) 1/4 cup of dishwashing soap Sunshine Mix the vinegar, salt, and soap in the sprayer. The cheapest soap and vinegar you can find will work. You can use table salt,  but Epsom salt is safer in areas where you may want other things to grow. If you don't care about growing anything in an area, use table salt. Pick a day when you don't expect any rain. Spray your weeds in the morning before the sun hits them so that you can get the advantage of as much sun as possible. The dish soap helps the salt a
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DIY: How to Replace a Toilet Flapper

DIY: How to Replace a Toilet Flapper Replacing a toilet flapper sounds harder than it actually is. In fact, most homeowners can replace the toilet flapper themselves, and save money in the process! This Blankenships’ Universal Supply guide gives you DIY step-by-step instructions to replacing your toilet flapper. Learn how below! What is a toilet flapper?  A toilet flapper is a piece inside of a toilet tank that lets water go out of the tank and into the bowl when the toilet is flushed. Follow these step by step instructions to replace your toilet flapper: Remove tank lid Remove the tank lid and set aside. Turn off water supply First, turn off the water by closing the shutoff valve. This can be found on the water supply line; turn the handle clockwise until it comes to a halt.  Remove water in toilet tank Flush the toilet to remove the majority of water from the tank. Soak up any remaining water using a cloth or sponge.  Remove old flapper Disconnect the lift chain to remove the old fla
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UNWANTED HOUSE GUESTS

  UNWANTED HOUSE GUESTS It’s that time of year again.  Your home feels different.  It is full of holiday decorations, ridiculous amounts of food, and houseguests.  While the holidays are a joyous occasion for most, they do not come without a price.  In the spirit of giving, you must include everyone on your invite lists including unwanted house guests.   It may be your in-laws, a judgmental grandparent, a kooky aunt, a creepy uncle, or some bratty cousins.  Most of us have some small percentage of invites we include out of obligation.  Unfortunately, I cannot help you with those.  However, I can help you with some uninvited houseguests which can be just as pesky.  These holiday crashers are coming in to get out of the cold and help themselves to whatever holiday food scraps they can find.  Like your creepy uncle, they will likely get into the cookies you were saving for your party the following day.  Like your kooky aunt, they have a tendency to scare away your desirable house guests. 
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