authordlfisher.com
Month: April 2019
Sometimes You just need some new ones
vibequotes.com
How to Improve Your English
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Each learner has different objectives and, therefore, different approaches to learning English. But some tips and tools are likely to help most English learners. Let’s begin with the three most important rules:
Rule 1: Be Patient—Learning English is a Process
The most important rule to remember is that learning English is a process. It takes time, and it takes lots of patience! If you are patient, you will improve your English.
Rule 2: Make a Plan
The most important thing to do is to create a plan and follow that plan. Start with your English learning goals, and then make a specific plan to succeed. Patience is key to improving your English, so go slowly and focus on your goals. You’ll speak English well soon if you keep to the plan.
Rule 3: Make Learning English a Habit
It’s absolutely necessary that learning English becomes a habit. In other words, you should work on your English every day. It’s not necessary to study grammar every day. However, you should listen, watch, read or speak English every day – even if it’s for a short period of time. It’s much better to learn 20 minutes a day than to study for two hours twice a week.
Tips for Learning and Improving Your English
- Have patience: Remember that learning a language is a gradual process—it does not happen overnight.
- Define your learning objectives early: What do you want to learn and why?
- Make learning a habit: Try to learn something every day. It is much better to study (or read, or listen to English news, etc.) 10 minutes each day than to study for 2 hours once a week.
- Choose your materials well: You will need reading, grammar, writing, speaking and listening materials.
- Vary your learning routine: It is best to do different things each day to help keep the various relationships between each area active. In other words, don’t just study grammar.
- Find friends: Finding friends to study and speak with in invaluable and learning English together can be very encouraging.
- Keep it interesting: Choose listening and reading materials that relate to what you are interested in. Being interested in the subject will make learning more enjoyable – thus more effective.
- Relate grammar to practical usage: Grammar by itself does not help you USE the language. You should practice what you are learning by employing it actively.
- Use reading to help with other English skills: Reading can be used to help with vocabulary, grammar, pronunciation and much more.
- Flex your mouth muscles: Understanding something doesn’t mean the muscles of your mouth can produce the sounds. Practice speaking what you are learning aloud. It may seem strange, but it is very effective. Exercises like tongue twisters can help improve your flexibility.
- Communicate: Grammar exercises are great, but having your friend on the other side of the world understand your email is fantastic!
- Use the Internet: The Internet is the most exciting, unlimited English resource that anyone could imagine and it is right at your fingertips.
https://www.thoughtco.com/how-to-improve-your-english-1210369
14 Low-Maintenance Plants for Easy Landscaping
Shrub: Barberry
Barberry (Berberis thunbergii) is deer-resistant and deciduous, with thorny stems that make it a good foundation plant for increasing home security. Once established, this compact, dense shrub is drought tolerant. We like the variety Sunjoy Tangelo (shown here) for its bright orange new growth that turns chartreuse on the leaf margins as the season progresses.
Some barberries are invasive and may not be grown in some states. Check with your local extension service office before you plant.
Plant barberry in spring in part sun or full sun for the best foliage color, and in moist but well-drained soil. Sunjoy Tangelo grows to 3′-4′ high and wide and is hardy in USDA Zones 4-8. Prune to shape in summer, if desired, and fertilize in spring after the last frost and when new growth appears. In all zones, mulch in fall; in Zones 4-5, mulch heavily after the first frost and pull back the mulch in spring.
See all 14 plants at:
Describing People
Just Wondering if You are into This ?
(I’m not. It’s my lack of emotion I suppose)
revivezone.com
Other Ways of Saying Garbage
I’m sure there are more ways……This is why English is so darn hard to learn.
Yes it is, just keep at it !
These Vegan Recipes Are Packed With Plant-Based Protein
And nope, they aren’t all made with tofu.
If you’re vegan, there are two things you’re probably worried about at any given moment: the price of avocados and if you’re getting enough protein.
I can’t help you with avocado sticker shock, but if you need more protein in your life, you’ve come to the right place.
“The Institutes of Medicine recommend 0.8 grams of protein per kilogram of bodyweight for a sedentary woman,” says says Marisa Moore, RDN. Meaning you’ll need a minimum of at least 50 grams of protein per day—and it’s a good idea to take in more if you’re active.
That might sound like a lot, especially when you’re living your best vegan life, but there are plenty of plant-based sources of protein—and ways you can make them taste totally delicious (here for it!).
Each of these recipes has more than 15 grams of protein—and some have more than 25 grams. Plus, since they’re plant-centric, they come with tons of other health bennies.
The only issue? Which one you’ll make first.
Easy Vegetarian Chili
Two “secret” ingredients give this veggie chili its distinctive flavor: peanut butter and cocoa powder, which, FYI, has a surprising amount of protein (1 gram per tablespoon).
Per serving: 363 calories, 7 g fat (1 g saturated), 59 g carbs, 577 mg sodium, 10 g sugar, 16 g fiber, 19 g protein
Click here for more dishes and their recipe’s:
https://www.womenshealthmag.com/food/g27157249/high-protein-vegan-meals/
Garden Tool Maintenance
by Chicagoland Gardening
Story & Photography By Jeff Rugg
A Clean Tool is a Safe Tool
In the garden, everything has its season. Fall is the season for cleaning and preparing tools for spring. Dirt and rust are harmful to just about everything, but especially to garden tools that are often wet and dirty. We depend on our tools to be safe and effective. Dirt and rust make our tools less safe and make us work harder. Water may be great for the garden, but it is the enemy of our tools.
Oil to the Rescue
Water on metal promotes rust, and on wood it promotes mold and mildew. A thin coat of oil on wood or metal will protect them from moisture in the air.
Back in my grandfather’s time, garden shovels and rakes were often stored in buckets of oily sand. Used motor oil needed to be disposed of by the mechanics of that time period. Used oil was poured into the bucket of sand. The shovels were cleaned of any dirt and then pushed into the bucket several times to polish the metal with the sand and to coat the metal with oil.
Few of us have used motor oil on hand anymore. Even if we did, recycling it would probably make more sense. Also back in the day, steel wool was used to scrub the shovel, but now we just use a green kitchen scrub pad. If there is a thick patch of rust on a tool, steel wool or a wire brush may be needed.
Another thing that every garage workbench used to have was an oil can. It had a long spout that could reach into hard to reach squeaky spots. I doubt that your house has a working oil can, but I would bet it has at least one can of WD-40.
WD-40 was invented by chemists trying to prevent rust on rocket parts. WD-40 literally stands for Water Displacement, 40th attempt. I don’t know if it will do the 2,000 household hacks as seen on the internet, but it will do exactly what we want it to do on our garden tools – stop water. It can be sprayed on the metal or wood of any tool, although don’t get it into the electrical components of a power tool. Even though WD-40 is petroleum based, it doesn’t take the place of oil. If you need to ‘oil’ a squeaky hinge on a pruning tool or ‘oil’ a slow wheel on the wheelbarrow, you should use actual oil, not a water displacement product.
Keep it Sterile
Even plastic tools need to be clean. Are your tools used in more than one garden location? Do you help friends or neighbors with their garden? Are the tools used in a community garden plot and in your landscape? If you answered yes to any of these questions, what do you do to prevent soil-borne insect and disease organisms from spreading from one garden to the next? After the tools are cleaned of any dirt, you can sterilize the tool with a solution of 10 percent bleach and 90 percent water. I find this solution damages the metal on some of my tools if I don’t thoroughly rinse it off and quickly oil the tool. I prefer to use rubbing alcohol straight from the bottle to sterilize the tools.
Types of Tools
Hand Tools
Wood is long lasting and durable when it is properly cared for. Tool and wheelbarrow handles dry out if not oiled occasionally. Dry wood cracks, creating splinters. Sliding your hand down a rake or shovel handle and hitting a splinter will ruin your day.
First, do a light sanding to get rid of any nicks or splinters. Wipe the wood down with oil, let dry and oil it again. Linseed or Tung oil are two popular oils for tool handles as they are designed for outdoor use. I prefer not to use paint or varnish on handles as they can wear off, and the chips can lift up like splinters.
Garden tools are made from several metals, including iron, steel and aluminum. All of them benefit from cleaning and oiling, but especially iron tools that rust quickly if not cleaned and oiled. Wash them with soap and water and then wipe them dry. Wipe or spray them with oil and lightly dry them so the oil won’t drip off.
As a young Boy Scout, I learned that sharper knives and axes are safer. For instance, a dull ax can bounce off of the wood and strike your leg. A sharp pruner or saw cuts with less effort. If you are struggling to make a cut, you can break the tool or push too hard and injure yourself. If you don’t sharpen the cutting tools before each use, do it at least once each year. Since you are cleaning dirt and sap from the blades before storing them, go ahead and sharpen them now. And then coat them with oil. Some pruners have replaceable blades.
Power Tools
Every power tool comes with a set of instructions on how to maintain it. If you are like me, you don’t remember reading them and don’t know where they are now. They may be online at the manufacturer’s website.
Every power tool will benefit from being wiped clean and having its blades sharpened. Check the cord for damage and replace it or the whole tool if it is damaged. As you are cleaning the tools, gently fold any hoses or belts backward. Do they show a lot of cracks? They may need to be replaced.
If the tool is powered by gasoline, you have two choices for winter storage. Run the tool until it is out of gas or store it with gas in the tank. Which way does the instruction manual say is best? Running the engine until empty can allow water, dust and debris into the engine, gas tank and fuel lines. Nothing good can happen here. At the same time, if the manufacturer says to store it dry, then that is best.
If you are going to leave gas in the tank or in the gas can, water can contaminate the gasoline over the winter. Old fuel in the gas tank can go stale. Who knew? Adding a fuel stabilizer to the gas and running the engine to get the stable fuel throughout the system will prevent the fuel from going bad over the winter.
Most gas-powered tools have an air filter and maybe a gas line filter. Both should be cleaned or replaced.
If you can’t do this power tool work, then take the summer power tools in winter to a good small engine mechanic who can clean, repair and tune up the tools when there is no rush to get them back. Even though a slightly handy person can sharpen a lawn mower blade or replace the spark plug on a lawn mower, a professional will probably do a better job. Prices can vary, so do a little calling around or ask your neighbors where they take their tools. Next spring when you pick up your mower, drop off the snow blower.
Watering Tools
Many people neglect their garden hose, but it is a very useful garden tool that will last longer if properly stored over the winter. After you finish washing the other tools, straighten it out and make sure water runs out as you coil it up. Water left in the hose can expand into ice and create weak spots in the hose. Store it out of sunlight. UV rays from the sun will ruin the plastic or vinyl if it is left in the sun. Don’t hang it on a single nail where it will kink over the winter. Make sure all of the nozzles and sprinklers are dry so water can’t rust and ice can’t damage them.m
Jeff Rugg is an Internationally Certified Arborist, an Illinois certified nurseryman and a registered landscape architect with a background in zoology, horticulture and landscape architecture. jrugg@sbsmags.com
I know it’s not fall in Chicago, but Australia, New Zealand, anyplace in the southern hemisphere, I think it’s fall. Anyway, a tool need not wait until fall to be cleaned, sharpened, etc. Do it if it needs it. MY $.02. Remember, gardening is good for the soul.
Just Do It ! (Sorry Nike)
casey