I write to you in fear as there is an irrefutable threat to our homes and way of life.  The Queen is capable of such destruction that I can only hope heeding my warning will minimize the damage ahead.  I am NOT referring to Queen Cersei or Queen Daenerys.  My fear is of Queen Isoptera of House Rotting, First of Her Name, Ruler of Formosa, Destroyer of Homes, Breaker of Joists.  Her reign is tyrannical and her only objective is to destroy every home in Westeros.  Her ancestors have wreaked havoc across the world for millions of years.  They have vanished more wood than fire.  This Queen does not attack with the fire of three full grown dragons.  Her army consists of billions of tiny dragons most of us will never see.  They will destroy far more homes than high flying dragons that you can see coming from miles away.  By the time you realize they have attacked, the damage will have already been done.  The invasion is imminent. ...

Have you ever found yourself in need of a specific item to fix an issue around your house? Maybe it’s a specialty bolt, a hand tool, or an AC filter. The next thing you know, you find yourself wandering the aisles of a large hardware warehouse, scanning row after row of items that aren’t your specialty bolt, hand tool, or AC filter. After you finally give up searching on your own, you spend the next ten minutes hunting down an employee, searching aisle by aisle, hoping someone can direct you to your item.   That frustration and disappointment is a waste of time when you have the convenience and superior customer service that is offered at your neighborhood hardware store, Blankenships’ Universal Supply, Inc. in the Midtown community on Springhill Avenue. If you’ve ever walked into Blankenships, you know the welcome feeling you have as you enter the door. If it’s not Mike or Tommy greeting you at the counter, ready to help, then it may just be the friendly, store cat.   Blanken...

You’re a clean person.  You have a beautiful, immaculate home.  You always clean your kitchen floors and counter tops after dinner.  You never leave food open.  The dog food containers and garbage cans all have tight lids.  Then one night while going for a drink of water, you walk up on an intruder.  It scampers away in a flash and you are not even sure what you just saw.  Your thoughts are in denial, “Was it a rat?  It couldn’t be.  Not in my house.”  Well you shouldn’t be ashamed.  Rats and mice are everywhere.   They live in our trees, our yards, our sewers, and our homes.  We don’t realize they are there because they only come out at night.  While your cleanliness definitely helps keep them away, the litter bugs of our city who throw food trash on our streets keep these creatures well fed.  A mouse can have a litter of mice can be up to 14, and one female can have up to 10 litters a year.  Her babies ha...

While painting your home can be fun, it can also be very tedious.  The fun parts include picking out the colors and seeing the finished product.   Unfortunately, those activities only make up about 1% of the time spent on the project.  The other 99% is spent on the grueling labor of sanding, tedious brush strokes, and constant clean-up.   Since no one will pay me to paint my own home, I have to do it in my free time which I prefer to enjoy as much as possible.  That’s why it’s important that I always have two additional supplies on hand; music and beer.  I’m not talking about drinking and jamming out while up on a ladder painting my second story window frames.  I’m also not talking about throwing a keg party where I offer free beer to any friends willing to help me paint.  I’m talking about a few beers and good music making the tedious parts of painting feel more like relaxing on the porch on a spring afternoon.  But if drinking on the job is...

I grew up using non-stick Calphalon cookware.  While the non-stick feature was nice, you couldn’t use metal utensils on it.  One way or another it eventually got scratched and had to be replaced.  There were also heat restrictions on it, so its uses were limited.  I remember this one bulky, black pan that always sat in the back of the pan drawer.  It didn’t have the sleek look of a new Calphalon pan and the handle and pan were all one piece.  I figured it was something that my parents held on to for sentimental reasons, maybe their first frying pan.  I may have tried cooking with it once but didn’t know what I was doing and everything stuck to it.  It wasn’t until my twenties that I discovered the wonders of cast iron when used properly.  Today, whether I’m pan searing a steak, preparing gumbo in a pot, cooking bacon and eggs on a griddle, or frying stir-fry in a wok, I’m using cast iron.  I even found a lesser known cast iron piece call...

We all know the obvious reasons to shop local.  Keep the profits in your community.  Support your neighbors.  When you shop at a big box store, your money goes to a corporation’s shareholders all over the world.  But the general consensus is that prices are higher if you shop local.  So when it comes time to check out at a local retail store, you think, “Great! I’m doing my part.”  But a part of you would like to walk away with the extra jingle in your pocket.  You ask yourself, “Will I really see the extra money I spent come back to me?”  Why must it cost more to shop local?  Popular opinion would say that local stores have less buying power.  They have to pay more for their products.  Thus, they must charge more.  While this is true to an extent, the bigger truth is that big box stores came to market with a more sophisticated pricing strategy.  Traditionally, stores doubled cost on their products.  This allowed b...

Working at Blankenships’ Universal Supply, I have sold dog food to Mobile residents in the midtown and downtown area for nine years.  I obtained my expertise in dog food through research and years of customer feedback.  It is very difficult to find accurate and unbiased information.  Only through speaking with my customers over the years have I been able to identify information I can trust.   Most of my customers come to me looking for a better dog food because their pet is having issues.  But what about those of you with pets who seem to be doing fine on inexpensive, low quality food?  Or those of you who think it’s silly to spend money on premium food for your pet.   “Do I really need to feed my dog better food?” Pet owners who are health conscience in their own food choices are generally health conscience in how they feed their pets.  But what if you are not a “health nut?”  Do you have anything to gain from feeding your dog bett...