1:5:10:197 EcoTip: Ultra Violet Light (UV) has some uses for killing bacteria as a part of water purification. Think of it as an alternative to chlorination. Unlike chlorine it has no residual effect.

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 Additional Information:

Suggested Review: :190, :191, :192, :193, :194, :195, :196

UV has been used for helping to achieve low bacteria levels in spas, hot tubs, wells and water purification units. The UV light needs to be shielded so it is concentrated on the water and avoids causing damage to people's eyes and skin. UV is rendered useless when "shadowing" occurs. In order for it to be effective the bacteria must be exposed to the UV light. Sediment, hardness, minerals, iron, manganese or turbidity will also make the UV system ineffective because the bacteria is shielded from the UV.

This information was paraphrased from the third edition (released in May 2008 ) of Prescriptions for a Healthy House: A Practical Guide for Architects, Builders & Homeowners which I wrote with architect Paula Baker-LaPorte and physician Erica Elliott.

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Earlier today, I was chatting on AIM with a soldier friend over in Iraq whom we'll simply refer to as Military Guy. When I met MG in college, he was majoring in business, living in a house notorious for boho parties full of crazy scene kids, where the next day there would be inevitable conversations about the guy with the taser, or who punched out Bill and stole all his DVD's.

MG was incredibly laid back and easygoing, the type of guy who'd rather listen to "clean" stand up comedy or go play pool at the bowling alley than participate in some of the more eccentric diversions of our little crowd of film kids (whom he was connected to through his roommate, the guy who was throwing the parties).

So, obviously it was a big surprise to all of us when he decided to enlist. Since his entry into the Military, he's become a lot more conservative and a bit harder to have good conversations with, though it's a wonder we're able to chat it up online while he's supposed to be roughing it in the desert. Whatever.

So, I was ranting about Guitar Guy, and how he doesn't really need to make a grand gesture, he just needs to go wait for me in the abandoned stairwell, and MG expressed, first surprise, and then an admission that he'd always wanted me in college, but that he was afraid to make the first move.

Considering MG and I went out on a number of what could be considered dates, this infuriates me. There was even an occasion once, where he fell asleep on my couch, and the next morning, I crawled onto it with him with two cups of tea, and we spooned for like 30 minutes without him ever making a move. Later, he admitted (online) to wanting to have made a move.

This extreme display of passivity has completely turned me off to MG, whom now, I don't think I can ever be attracted to again. I mean, for God's sake, I crawled onto a couch with you, if that isn't enough of a green light, I dunno what is. His whiny response was that guys shouldn't have to do all the work, but as far as I'm concerned, there should at least be a meeting halfway.

And, after all, how do you misinterpret spooning? Defensively, he said, "Well, after a while, I thought you were just getting comfortable."

Honestly, MG? After a while, I was just getting comfortable.

Maybe that's unfair, but one of the most attractive traits a guy can have, in my eyes, is to be proactive. Earlier this summer, I found myself attracted to someone I'd never have given a second glance to because he decided to express interest and pursue me, after being impressed by my thesis film. That he was attracted to my talent and not my breasts was already some brownie points, but that he took initiative was really the deal closer.

Unfortunately, upon viewing a few more of my projects, he became attracted to the talent of the lead actress in one of my music videos, and is now dating her. Oh well, I suppose irony happens.

We never made it to the roller coasters date we had planned, but I at least had confirmation of his (temporary but extreme) interest when he showed up to a completely dead party to hang out with me after graduation, and then came into the hot tub with me, after I fell in, fully clothed.

Anyway, we never got to kiss, because I just never get to that coveted make out session or beyond. But, I didn't give him the flashing green lights that I gave to MG or Guitar Guy, or a variety of other men in my past.

Sure, maybe I should just lean in and do it, but pulling all the weight makes the guy seem emotionally flaccid to me, and I no longer want to. Plus, I'd like to have a little more experience before having to be the initiator.

Are the slightly cocky, charming, first-kiss initiating men of my fantasies simply lore?

Probably.

But wow. Hot tub. Not big, not small. For the wedding I suggested including a note on our wedding website or something about collecting a fund for the hot tub. "Stay Hot In Tub" fund, or SHIT fund. Sounds good right?

Friday morning at 6:00 a.m. we loaded kids, food, clothes, some reading materials and the must-have electronics into the van and headed east.  Saturday evening around 5:00 p.m. we arrived at a lovely cabin on a lake 30 minutes or so outside of Asheville, N.C.

We stayed in a Motel 6 in the 'hood in south Nashville Friday night. The mattresses were about as comfy as something you'd find... well, in the 'hood of south Nashville.  I have to say, though, the pool was crystal clear and warm and the fact that we were directly below the approach pattern for the Nashville airport was a big plus as far as the 3-year-old was concerned.  We just chose to find it "quaint" that a woman at the pool set up an appointment with a couple of *ahem* gentlemen in room _____ for later that evening.  Oh, and the guy that hung over the 2nd story railing in front of his room all evening went to bed by midnight... so maybe he wasn't really a drug dealer or a pimp or something... he was probably a neighborhood watch representative.

Vacations are for seeing things you don't see at home, right??

Before we left Tennesee, we made sure to buy lottery numbers for Saturday night's drawing, but we haven't checked them yet.  If you have heard that the winning numbers were bought in a gas station in Eastern Tennesee and the winner hasn't come forward yet, let me know!

As soon as we got to the house we made ourselves at home nosing around the property.  The kids and Rick headed for the water and the girls jumped in the paddle boats.  After about 2.73 minutes they decided that was way too much work, so they headed back to the dock.  Mom and I found blackberries and started picking.  Now we need to make some cobbler...

So we started the week in N.C. today with a road trip to Grandfather Mountain to the site of the 53rd annual Scottish Highlands Games.  Unfortunately, we spent an extra half-hour on the raod due to some direction and navigation mix-ups, and were only there about another half-hour before the lovely Carolina skies opened up and drenched us.  But before we all got soaked running back to the shuttle bus pickup site, we got to see a wide variety of characters wearing kilts and other bits of tartan.  We also followed the sound of drums and music to a little grove where a concert stage had been set up and the final set was being played by the Killdares, Barley Juice, and Coyote Run.  The piper from Coyote Run was wearing a Mother Grove shirt that said "Kilt Rock" on the back - it was great and I want one.  If you haven't heard any of these bands, you need to go find them right now.  Don't even finish reading this blog!

Well, maybe you could finish reading... but then, definitely go find them!!!

The cabin we're in and the lake and property it sets on was won in a poker game.  It's full of all kinds of interesting little things.  There's a collection of models of tall-mast sailing ships, some antique photos of someone's family, a hornet's nest hanging from the living room light fixture (made from a wagon wheel).  All the comforts of home, really.  The master bedroom looks over the lake, there's a hot tub on the deck, and there are paddle boats.  What more could we need?

Tomorrow we're going to have a "down-time" day to run around a little, or just swim and fish, then we have some gem-mining and touristy things to do.  I'll keep you posted, and photos will be joining the party soon!

2. This house has lots of storage. It has a 400+ square foot unfinished basement crying out to store your stuff.

3. This house has a good-size, insulated two-car garage. Your car will never be too hot or too cold parked in this garage! Plus, the garage has extra storage...see reason #2.

4. This house has new carpet. And that carpet is stain-resistant! Really - believe me, I know this on a first-hand basis.

5. This house has gorgeous hardwood floors. What, you say, both carpet and hardwood floors? Oh yes, that's right, it's got the best of both worlds.

6. This house has not one, but two offices. Work from home? Need a serious set-up for your desktop and your laptop? Look no further. And one of the offices can easily double as a bedroom.

7. This house has a good amount of built-in shelving. Got books? Got framed photos? Got a fish tank? One of the shelves has an electrical outlet right behind it. Let your decormagination shine through.

8. This house has a hot tub. So you can reeelaaaaaxxxx on those cool - or warm - nights.

9. This house has a gas fireplace. See reason #8. And no need to collect firewood!

10. The backyard has aspen trees. Ever seen aspen trees in the fall? Gorgeous colors. Ever seen aspen leaves shimmering in a refreshing summer breeze? 'Nough said.

One thing I have learned in cleaning out junkers is to never underestimate the value of an item.  Our first rehab had a refrigerator in the kitchen that could have been donated to science.  It was really bad (and yes we did open it on our first tour - big mistake!).  Would you believe that we put that old nasty thing out on the street with a "free" sign and it was gone within 30 minutes?!  One man's trash...  So, I decided to check out Craigslist to see if I might be able to actually get someone to come haul off the hot tub for free. 

I was surprised to find there were multiple ads for people wanting a free hot tub.  Three out of three people returned my emails.  Now if I can just get my direct mail marketing to return that kind of result!

I went over to the house to snap some pictures to email to my new best friends and hit a snag.  The hot tub probably isn't coming out all in one piece if we want to keep the decking in some kind of repairable state.  The hot tub is built into the deck and is quite large.  Superman will have to get into the covered porch area and lift the thing out of its hole.  We will then have to take off one entire side of the screened porch to get it out.  And did I mention the deck is about 4' off the ground and currently has very few steps left?  I think my new best friend will be a Sawzall.

Does anyone happen to know a repairman or maybe a pool guy who would be willing to come out and tell me if there's any hope in repairing the hot tub?

Dear DJ,
Exposure to heat impacts a man’s semen in primarily two ways:
1. It affects sperm motility. This is in part due to heat exposure damaging sperm as they mature in the epididymis.
2. It affects normal sperm production. (Men with fertility problems are often discouraged from submerging themselves in hot bodies of water).

Heat should not, however, be regarded as a form of birth control. Having sex in a hot environment, like a hot tub, does not prevent pregnancy of sexually transmitted infections.

Dr. Yvonne Kristín Fulbright is a sex educator, relationship expert, columnist and founder of Sexuality Source Inc. She is the author of several books including, “Touch Me There! A Hands-On Guide to Your Orgasmic Hot Spots.”

A few weeks ago, I wrote about how my life had changed since this blog became a reality.

We will continue to fight litter and especially plastic litter.

Our (meaning you, everyone in the world and me) dilemma is handling the plastic trash that we use in our everyday life. Plastic is everywhere. We can't live without it. Look around you and try to find something that isn't made of plastic.

We can reduce the amount of unneeded plastic as cups, plates and flatware. What do we do with our computer and other electronic components, automobile parts, etc? From just home and office use, I've used at least a dozen computers in my life. How many are in landfills? Worse, how many are floating in the Great Pacific Garbage Patch? Everything we buy is enclosed in plastic or is put into a plastic bag. Why?

Refuse to take plastic. Reuse or recycle it if you do. If you can't, put it into a trash can at the least.

Just don't use Planet Earth as a trash can. Please!

Keep reading and commenting.

The Chinchin Yu, also know as the 'Nibble Fish' or 'Doctor Fish' lives in fresh hot water (around 43 degrees) and when placed in a spa like the one pictured, will feed on the dead skin cells available to them (on you!) leaving the healthy cells behind to continue to grow.

The process is apparently not painful at all and feels more like a tingly sensation, though, I'd imaging that's a marketing word and it actually feels more like a nippy sensation.

So, if you fancy being grazed on by a group of school fish for a couple of hours each day - get a spa like this bad-boy installed in your garden. Alternatively, if you just want to give it a try, why not plan one of your next corporate events around taking a  trip to one of them!

De-cluttering for us involves aggressive freecycling.  Freecycle is this awesome community that we've been using for a couple of years.  It's sort of like Craig's List, but goods are free.  The concept to recycle your junk to someone who can use it, gratis.  We've freecycled lots of things including a busted mosquito breeding hot tub, crawl space shutters, a car eating futon, and (today) lots of out-grown toys.

I highly recommend Freecycle.  It's a great way to keep your junk out of the junk yard.  Most of the items Laura posts there are picked up from our house in just hours.

I hope you enjoyed our spa girls, we certainly did!

What is one supposed to do?! I guess I could maybe buy a plane ticket to northern Canada. It wouldn't be that hard.... for me. Maybe I could hop a northbound train and make my way to Maine! Ocean breezes sound good. And of course, there's always diving. The cold tub.

The cold tub is notorious; no one can sit in it for longer than 10 seconds. If you do, you risk hypothermia, extreme cramps and pain with a number of side effects, and maybe death. Who knows. I've never been in it longer than 5 seconds sitting down. You can't get back in the water after doing it, either. Any part of you that has touched the cold water (arms, feet, legs, hands, etc.) will sting. Not sting... more like feel as if millions of needles have simultaneously jabbed you and you've lost all sense of thermal control. Which makes you feel like you're on fire on the outside and frozen within. Not. Good.

Maybe I just have to make a new way to be cold. I have many, many ideas.... here comes the Red Neck Cold Tub!!!

Of a man named Brady.

Well, not really. It's more about a pool. In fact, I don't think I know anyone named Brady. I did once, but technically we didn't "know know" each other. I think his mom knew my mom for some reason or other, and at some point the name got tossed out and I heard it. Of course, at that point, he wasn't in what most people would consider "man" stage yet. He was maybe two years older than me. But even that is irrelevant, considering that the original man named Brady was actually named Mike. Brady was his last name, not his first. I can't say that I've ever known anyone with the last name Brady. That's not to say that there aren't stories about men named Brady, or men with the last name Brady, or even just men. But the story that I'm telling today has nothing to do with any of those things.

Okay, I suppose that technically, some men are involved in the story. But certainly no Bradys of either variety.

This is an overplayed story about a pool that was started while I was in Italy, and due to be finished before I returned home. This is a story chronicling great joy, and also immeasurable anguish. Viewer discretion is advised.

Now, for the beginning.

Whilst studying in Italy, it was brought to my attention that my family had gone cape-split crazy. By the time I was reunited with these crazies, the asylum in which we reside was supposed to be fitted with a brand-splashin'-new pool, hot tub, and "deck house" (for lack of a legitimate term).

I realize that the phrase is often overused, but it seems that everytime you go, they put in a pool. I go to Italy, they put in a pool. I go to the grocery store, they put in a pool. I go to sleep, they put in a pool.

Once they tell me this, I - still in Italy - am definitely on (diving) board. (Though in all actuality, there isn't a diving board, and probably won't be. Don't make me no nevermind.) This way, we can all be crazy together.

I hear stories of large prefabricated pools being hauled down the street of our residence. People must think that we're the unlucky site of the first giant TV dinner landfill.

Italy waved goodbye to us, the Departed, whilst I, in my swimsuit already, dreamed of can-opener-ing into the pool the instant I got home. (That sentence is the biggest lie I've ever typed. I don't know how to do a can-opener. The pool was the last thing on my mind [see: Jessica] I didn't take my swimsuit to Italy, and most certainly wouldn't wear it to travel. We weren't the Departed, that was Nicholson and Leonardo and Jason Bourne and Marky Mark. And Italy can't wave. It's a boot. Duh.)

I arrived home, and was greeted to a backyard full of...basically nothing. It seems everyone was waiting on everyone else to get started. How very ridiculous. With some doing, the deck house finally managed to get built, after the rain filled our hot tub with all manner of twig and dirt and grime. Soon after I setteled in, the hot tub was up and running. Glorious. Nothing better than sitting in the hot tub, then getting in the pool to cool off a bit. (Another lie. I like the hot. I just needed to set up the next joke.) Unless the pool is filled with nasty water with all manner of twig and dirt and mud and grime and cat and whatever else managed to fall in and stay in.

The pool guys are waiting on the concrete guys who are waiting on the weather guys to stop sending the cloud guys to drop the rain guys on our site...guys. So nothing gets done for a very long time.

Until this weekend. Suddenly, the planets aligned and someone decided to work. Concrete was done by Sunday. The pool guys set everything up Monday. We were filling by Monday evening.

We even got in for a while. It was FRIGID. I got in for sibling's sake. We always manage to have fun. And we did. So there.

So today, now that it's all topped off, and ready to go...

...clouds and rain. Touché, weather. Touché.

FIN.

I'm just in a long winded prosey-cheeks mood today, I suppose. Granted, the faster today cheeses it, the faster I get to cheese it to Austin.

I GEDDA SEE JESS.

So with that as my driving force (Get it? Driving to Austin? ha HA.), anything that bids today "Siyonara" gets a thumbs-up in my book. (I've got to find this book. Or "the record". Just for the record, the record must be full of awesome. I'd bet the book is kinda cool too. Wonder if it comes in paperback?)

And it's only 11:00am.

Soon, and very soon.

Charles

Then Saturday was Kelsey and Jerry's Wedding. I'd been sitting on the fence about coming for some time and then decided I would come and Finally RSVP.  Well getting here was tough. Terre Haute is under water. Atleast most of it is. While the wedding was in Farmersburge and Sullivan IN, I had to drive throught TH to get here.  My normal 2 1/2 hour drive turned into almost 5 hours of driving.  Most of which was spent sitting in the car stopped.  I have never before used a full tank of gas to just come to school until today. 

After the wedding I decided I didn't feel like driving home, So I got myself a crashpad and now here I sit about to get ready for church and then off to church and then going to head home.  That has really been the extent of my weekend.  Pretty EXCITING so far! 

Last night it was fun to get to see people, but at the same time it was REALLY weird being back in town.  Sarah, Kelly and myself grabbed some food at Applebee's Very weird to eat there and it not be dark outside and there with 8+ people.  Then a hot tub which started out more like a bath tub temperature wise was due.  Cait, Libby and myself were able to enjoy the uses of the hot tub.  It was nice to be able to sit down and chat with people. Sit down and really talk about what's going on in life, how things are going, and talk out some problems or what not.  It helped out alot. 

Last night, we all piled into the hot tub & it felt great! We have to wait til after 9 pm so the weather can cool down some. We have to run fans when we go outside & on the porch now . . . sizzle, sizzle.

If you go over to The Association of Pools & Spa Professionals (APSAP), you can find information about the benefits of ownership and responsible use of industry products, including maintenance and safety tips for pools, spas, and hot tubs. They have a link to a fun site for kids called Splash Zone USA featuring interactive games and activities designed to teach kids and families about spa safety. Some important spa & hot tub rules to remember are:

• Step into a hot tub -- never jump. This makes sense, because most public pools don't encourage kids to jump near or on the pool stairs. Spas and stairs are way too shallow for safe jumping.
• Have an adult with you. Because the spa is small doesn't make it drown-proof, just as the Red Cross reminds us just because a child can swim doesn't make him/her completely water safe.
• Everyone out after 15-minutes. Temperatures in the spa can cause small bodies (and even big ones) to feel faint after long exposures.
• Don't go in completely until you're four. Many parents find this one inconvenient to follow, but just so you know, the cases of heat exhaustion I witness typical happen to kids under four. Let them put their feet in and call it enough.
• Lock spa covers. All spas should have a cover or the area be locked in by four adjoining fences.

Do you have a spa or hot tub? How do you make it water safe? What are some other rules you enforce?

Pappa bjöd på fika sen med bullar och kaffe. Jag drack saft eftersom jag inte dricker kaffe.

Det här inlägget blir helt hjärndött, ungefär som jag känner mej just nu, godnatt :)

Smarriga tandoorikycklingnuggets..

Åka bilfärja..

When I swim I look like I am drowning, but somehow manage to stay afloat. And I have to hold my nose. On second thought, I wouldn't look so ridiculous if I didn't have to hold my nose. For example, I can do a perfectly acceptable dive . . . with a face mask on. And I can float on my back for hours.

Still, I prefer hot tubs to swimming pools anyday.