Buying used is often an easy way to find inexpensive, high-quality, and one-of-a-kind pieces. But in some cases, preowned or old items can be unsanitary, more expensive, and—in worst-case scenarios—dangerous. So the next time you scour your favorite thrift shop (or an antique store or garage sale), think twice about these items.
Yes, they’re adorable, but they’re probably dirty—or worse, infested with bed bugs or fleas.
Pet Furniture
You’ll never know what previous pets were up to on secondhand pet beds, houses, crates, blankets, and toys. To prevent stinky smells from overtaking your space, and to ensure your furry friend has a clean place to sit or sleep, buy ’em something brand new.
Pillows
Bringing home any sort of used textile or item covered with fabric puts you at risk for a bed bug infestation. In fact, bed bugs can survive up to one year in upholstered pieces. And with cute throw pillows available for just $10-$20, it’s both affordable and wise to go for something new.
The U.S.D.A. updated its Plant Hardiness Zone Map last week for the first time in more than a decade, showing that about half the United States had moved into a slightly warmer zone. The hardiness map is considered the gold-standard resource for understanding which perennials thrive and where. The map divides the country into color-coded zones, each indicating the average low temperature of the year for that area.
While Christopher Daly, who is the director of the PRISM Climate Group at Oregon State University and the map’s lead author, said that climate change may be a factor, he pointed to other changes in how the data is collected to explain the shift.
“It’s not a forecast,” he said. “It’s what happened in the past as best as we’re able to describe it.”
Below is the newest hardiness zone map.
The new Plant Hardiness Zone Map issued by the Agriculture Department. Credit…U.S. Department of Agriculture
The map is based on the 30-year average of the lowest annual winter temperatures for specific places. It is divided into 13 zones, each reflecting a 10-degree temperature range, and each zone is divided into two half zones, designated as A and B.
The coldest area, as low as negative 60 degrees Fahrenheit, applies to remote regions of Alaska. The warmest, as high as 70 degrees, covers coastal areas of Puerto Rico.
Dr. Daly said that the greatest changes came in and around Arkansas, Kentucky, Missouri and Tennessee, where temperatures warmed as much as 5 degrees.
Some zone changes reflected how data was collected, he said, which included the use of more weather stations and increasingly sophisticated mapping methods, right down to the ZIP code.
Art DeGaetano, the director of the Northeast Regional Climate Center at Cornell University, said that it can be hard to use an extreme number, like a historical average of a region’s coldest winter temperature, to model climate change over time.
The warming reflected on the updated map, however, is “very much in line with, over the long term, what we would expect to see from climate change,” he said. “Not every cold temperature is going to get warmer, but on average, things will get warmer.”
This is not the first version of the map to show planting zones shifting northward as winters become milder. When the Agriculture Department released a 2012 version of the map, most areas of the country had shifted one half zone from the 1990 version.
Among other uses, the plant hardiness map has applications in commercial agriculture and is used by the department’s Risk Management Agency to set some crop insurance standards.
But gardeners are its most frequent users, and for good reason: They need to know which zone they’re in because winter temperatures will play a major role in determining which perennials will survive to spring, which ones should be taken inside and which ones should not be planted in the first place.
Signs of adaptation are easy to find. In the New York metropolitan area, for example, some native plants, like sugar maples, are becoming less prevalent as temperatures rise. At the same time, some plants from the South, including camellias, the state flower of Alabama, have started to bloom at the New York Botanical Garden.
Jason D. Lanier, an extension specialist at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, said the shift in the map, while minor compared with the one a decade ago, reflects longer and larger changes.
“If you talk about this in increments of a hundred years, based on what we’re seeing now, we’re seeing significant differences in these hardiness zones,” he said. He suggested looking at the hardiness zones as “a handy, sort of guideline.”
“We’re dealing with living things so nothing is hard and fast,” he said. “This is an attempt to get as close as we can to some real sort of go-to useful advice.”
That’s exactly how Mr. Reeves, who lives in Clarksburg, Tenn., is thinking about it. “Nothing has changed overnight,” he said. If gardeners want to push their limits on new zones a little bit, he added, they should do so in the spring and early summer, and give the plants a chance to take root before winter.
Even a newbie gardener knows that for plants to thrive, they need good soil, sunlight, and water. But that’s not all there is to a recipe for success in the garden: You also need to make sure the plants you choose will actually be happy in your yard.
While this sounds simple enough, things turn complicated the second you head to the nursery and find yourself completely overwhelmed by the selection. Big, beautiful flowering shrubs, promising saplings, and even those showy annuals all start vying for your attention.
So how do you choose the best plants for your garden? Check out this article, and future related ones, to help you make an intelligent decision.
Factor to consider: Climate
Source: Wisconsin Horticulture – Division of Extension
Title photo credit: usagardencenter.com
The first in a series of articles about plant choice in your landscAPE.
There’s lots of information out there on how to do specific procedures on your guitar, but there’s really no high level, bird’s-eye overview of what you can expect over the next 20+ years that you’ll own your guitar.
Before You do Anything Else
If you just bought a new guitar (and especially if you ordered it online), have your guitar set up properly by a qualified guitar technician or music store. If you don’t know what a “setup” is, check out my article:
“Guitar Setups: What They Are and Why You (Might) Need One”
Getting a setup will ensure your guitar is as physically easy to play as possible. That way you can focus on learning instead of physically fighting the guitar.
A setup will run about $40 – $60 depending on where you go.
If you bought your guitar in a music store, they may have already done a setup for you. If you’re unsure, call them and confirm by asking: “Did my guitar get a full setup before I brought it home?”
Good guitar stores will perform a full setup and install new strings as part of the purchase price. You’ll usually know if they’ve done this, because rather than letting you take the guitar home right off the wall, they’ll tell you they need anywhere from a few hours to a few days to get the guitar ready. Most of the time, that means they’re doing a setup for you.
Every Time You Play
Before Playing…
Wash your hands. Even if you think your hands are clean, wash ‘em anyway. It’s okay if you occasionally forget, but the more diligent you are about washing your hands before you play the cleaner your strings, fretboard, and frets will stay and the less work you’ll have to do later.
Check yourself. If you care about your guitar’s finish, double-check yourself for things that might scratch the guitar like buttons, bracelets, rings, zippers, belt buckles, etc.
Tune up. Check the guitar’s tuning, and tune it if needed. It’s easy to be lazy and settle for playing a guitar that’s slightly out of tune but, it’s a bad habit to get into. Just tune. It only takes a minute and the more you do it, the better and faster you’ll get at it.
After Playing…
Wipe the neck and strings. With a clean, soft, dry cotton rag or microfiber cloth, give the neck and strings a quick wipe. Keyword: quick. This shouldn’t take more than about 30 seconds. To see exactly how this is done (and how easy it is), see my article:
How to Clean Guitar Strings
Wipe the body. With a different (soft, cotton or microfiber) rag, wipe the spot on the front edge of the guitar where your forearm was resting during play. No guitar polish is needed–simply fog the area with your breath and wipe… repeating 2-3 times. If you like to play guitar with your shirt off, you’ll want to wipe the back of the guitar too. Basically, wipe anywhere there was skin-to-guitar contact.
Wipe metal bridge components. If you’re playing an electric guitar with a tremolo or metal bridge parts, it doesn’t hurt to give them a quick wipe as well, to prevent buildup of corrosive sweat and salts that our hands leave behind. If you have metal volume/tone knobs, wipe those too if you touched them. Even if the metal parts are black or coated in some other color or finish, wipe them anyway.
Every 4 – 6 Months
Remove Old Strings
To be clear, 4-6 months is really just a “ballpark” time frame for changing strings. How often you should actually change strings depends on how much you play and other factors. For a more precise guide on how often to change your guitar strings, have a look at my article:
How Often to Change Guitar Strings
Wipe the Fretboard, Frets, and Back of the Neck
While all the strings are off, take this opportunity to give the fretboard, frets, and the back of the neck a quick wipe with a clean, soft, dry cotton rag. Keyword: quick. This is not meant to be a deep cleaning. We want to get through this string change and get back to playing asap. You should be able to do all these tasks in under 5 minutes.
First, lay the cloth on the fretboard and run it quickly up and down the fretboard a couple times, end-to-end. If there are any spots that are especially dirty, wrap the cloth over your finger and give those spots special attention, rubbing with the direction of the woodgrain. If you can’t quite get it all off, don’t worry. You’re going to do a more thorough fretboard cleaning at the 1-year mark anyway. Next, quickly buff each fret. Lastly, give the back of the neck a quick wipe as well.
Brush Dust & Dirt Off Body & Headstock
Next, carefully brush or blow off any loose dust, dirt, hair, etc. that’s sitting on the surface. If you use a brush, don’t use a standard paint brush–most aren’t quite soft enough for a glossy guitar finish. My favorite brushes for sweeping away surface debris are a women’s powder brush or a specialized tool like the Music Nomad String, Body, and Hardware Cleaning Tool.
If you don’t have a very soft brush, you can get by with just blowing in really short, hard bursts. The key is to remove the big nasty stuff first, so you don’t just smear it around and potentially scratch your glossy finish.
Give the Body a Quick Wipe
Using a different rag than the one you used to wipe the fretboard, frets, and neck, give the body a quick rubdown. A soft microfiber cloth is my first choice for this, but my next-favorite type of cloth for general cleaning and polishing are 100% cotton cloth baby diapers. No joke. Wash and dry baby diapers 2-3 times before you use them on your guitar to ensure maximum softness (never use fabric softener when washing any guitar rags).
You can follow-up with a good guitar polish if you choose, but guitar polish really isn’t necessary at this stage.
Install New Strings
Once the basic cleaning is done, string it back up with a new set of strings, and don’t forget to stretch them thoroughly so they’ll stay in tune. If you don’t know how to stretch strings you can read my tutorial:
How to Stretch Guitar Strings
If it’s an electric guitar, set intonation if necessary. If your intonation was fine before the string change and you’re using the same brand and gauge fo strings, then you’re probably fine and don’t need to set intonation.
Located in Winter Haven, FL and just 45 minutes from the Orlando theme parks and downtown Tampa. LEGOLAND is a brand of interactive theme parks dedicated to families with children between the ages of 2 and 12.
LEGOLAND(R) Florida Resort is a 150-acre interactive theme park for families with children between the ages of 2 and 12. With more than 50 rides, shows and attractions, LEGOLAND is another reason to visit Florida.
What is so special about Legoland? You can explore 11 themed lands filled with more than 60 kid-powered, kid-friendly rides, shows, and attractions built for fun and geared for families with children.
Rides include pink-knuckle roller coasters, the Imagination Zone, Miniland USA and LEGO® City where youngsters can learn how to drive by freely navigating their own boats and LEGO cars.
Pharaoh’s Revenge Land of Adventure, an indoor play area where kids can climb, run through tunnels, and load foam balls into tubes is just one area to find relief from summer’s heat and sun.
But it’s Florida and sometimes you just need to beat the heat. That’s why it’s awesome that LEGOLAND Florida is home to its very own water park. Your kids will “ooh” and “ahh” over the water-themed LEGO® models created from more than four million LEGO bricks!
There’s a restaurant at the hotel that’s fully decorated with Lego characters which kids love. The food is good, but you will appreciate that you can get a quick bite after a long day of playing without having to leave the premises.
Legoland Florida reminded some visitors of Disney parks in a few ways, like its larger size and wide range of activities. Its gift shops had a bigger variety of items to purchase.
Plus, Legoland Florida being next to Peppa Pig Land is a huge plus for those with younger kids. Another reason to visit Florida.
Did you know that formerly known as “Florida’s First Theme Park,” the world-renowned botanical gardens of Cypress Gardens are now located inside the gates of LEGOLAND Florida. Developers took great care to preserve the integrity of Cypress Gardens, keeping the great Banyan tree that was planted there in 1939.
Attractions within the Park
THE LEGO MOVIE™ WORLD
THE LEGO MOVIE™ WORLD features three new rides and numerous attractions inspired by the themes and characters of THE LEGO MOVIE™ and THE LEGO MOVIE™ 2: The Second Part.
LEGO NINJAGO® World
LEGO NINJAGO World is an immersive land filled with several hands-on, outdoor activities where kids can sharpen their ninja skills before the ultimate showdown on LEGO NINJAGO. The Ride blends 3D computer animation, “4D” special effects such as heat, fog and strobe lighting, and groundbreaking interactive technology never seen outside a LEGOLAND theme park.
DUPLO® Valley
The park’s latest expansion was built just for the little ones in your family. Ideal for toddlers aged 2-5, the interactive DUPLO Valley features a herd of cows, goats, chickens, and sheep amid farm-themed attractions that include a mini tractor ride, water play area, and air-conditioned indoor play area.
Heartlake City
Based on the popular LEGO Friends toy line, is most popular with female LEGO fans and features a disc coaster ride themed to LEGO Friends Mia’s love of horses called Mia’s Riding Adventure.
Dining
You’ll find traditional theme park food options throughout the park, as well as gluten-free, vegetarian and vegan options.
I-Zone Panini offers four different paninis, including a vegetarian option, as well as two different salads and panini kids meals. The park map also identifies which restaurants featured nutritious choices, like salads, gluten-free and fresh wraps.
Thanksgiving Day in the United States is celebrated on the fourth Thursday of November each year. Traditionally it is a time to give thanks for all the sacrifice and hard work done for the harvest. In modern times people take time off work (4 day weekend starting Thursday) and spend time with family and friends over a large feast held on Thanksgiving Day.
What better way to prepare for Thanksgiving than to do an easy crossword. Let’s do it now!
Small talk can be awkward, uncomfortable, and stressful — but it can also lead to meaningful conversations and relationships down the line if you know how to do it the right way. There are a number of small talk habits that can draw people to you instantly, and although it might take some practice to nail them down, you can start incorporating them into your conversations and stop worrying about discussing the weather over and over again with people you just met.
Not all small talk is created equal, so if you really want to engage someone in a conversation, you’ll want to make sure you’re paying attention to what you’re saying. Here are nine small talk habits that will make people instantly drawn to you.
1 Having A Comfortable Opener
Beginning a discussion with someone out of the blue can feel like the most awkward part, so practice how you open up conversations with others. “This will make you look and come across more confident and encourage more people to talk to you,” says communications expert Michael Blakely over email. “It also shows you are happy to start the conversation, putting people at ease and allowing you to lead.”
2 Sharing Relatable Information About Yourself
Conversations about the weather or what someone is wearing can die out quickly. “The best ways to engage people are to share some information about yourself that other people can relate to, appreciate, or learn from,” says Deena Baikowitz, co-founder of Fireball Network, a coaching and consulting firm, over email “For example, talking about where you grew up, your family, why you chose your career. Talk about the things you are most passionate about – your hobbies, volunteer work, job, family.”
3 Asking Open-Ended Questions
Avoid questions that can be answered with yes or no and ask a person something that allows them to talk in-depth about their thoughts, dreams, and opinions. “By asking more of the ‘how’ and ‘why’ questions, you get people talking,” says Korobov. “And the truth is that most people love talking about themselves even if they won’t admit it. Open-ended questions create the space for people to feel safe doing so and provides a vehicle for them to feel heard.”
