Schumacher Homes is described as an “on your lot” custom home builder.
I realize that folks are holding off on buying and selling and I would guess building homes right now due to fears about the US and even world economy. I’m not an expert but I do try to keep up with the news in general and it’s been hard not to know what’s happening to the United States economy in particular.
Just yesterday, I read that retailers are bracing for the worst holiday season in perhaps decades.
It is said that folks are going to cut back on their holiday spending. That might be a prudent move as we in the States tend to go really overboard at Christmas and it would be nice to get some perspective back. However stopping buying and in this case building a home is the worst thing you can do if you want to see the economy improve. That’s right. It’s important to keep in mind that individual decisions count and though cutting back–being a bit more conservative–will benefit you and is prudent, cutting things out completely can have a devastating impact on the economy. I would urge people that are on solid ground financially that if they were planning on building themselves a home that they go ahead and do so. Be prudent, don’t get in over your head, but keep moving forward–hopefully, each of us can help things from getting any worse by being sensible about the financial decisions we make.
My spouse has been an avid gardener for much of his life. He devotes as much time as he can and he does a fantastic job. One ongoing frustration for him about all others is squirrel infestation. Squirrels are among a gardener’s worst enemies–spouse calls them “tree rats.” Why so negative? Here’s a few reasons. Squirrels dig up flower bulbs, tulips, crocuses, you name it, they’ll eat it though spouse says they don’t love the taste of tulips so they only “half-eat” them. Squirrels do not contain their eating to just your garden though. They like to get in flowerpots too, and it matters not to them if they are hanging flowerpots. In the fall squirrels dig in your garden to bury their acorns and nuts and in the spring they dig once again to unbury their acorns and nuts. In other words, it’s a constant war between gardeners and squirrels whether it is spring, summer or fall.
My spouse was so upset one spring about the damage that squirrels did to his newly planted garden that he dreamed that night that there was a product–”poison peanuts”–that he could use to get rid of them once and for all. The dream was so real that despite the dangers if such a product existed he inquired about it at several garden centers. No one had ever heard of such a thing. I had to gently point out that not only would using “poison peanuts” endanger other animals but a child could come along and eat one and then–disaster.
Until now spouse has not been optimistic about ever getting our squirrel problem under control but there may be hope yet.
Havahart’s squirrel repellent has the following attributes: it has proven effective as a way ton to repel squirrels from bird feeders and gardens and it is organic so it is less harmful to the environment as was as safe for the animal. This is exciting news for gardener’s and it may help my spouse win the war of the squirrels versus his gardens.
I’m lucky. I’ve only needed extensive water restoration services once–back when I was living in the ground-floor apartment of a two-story building. The neighbour lady above me went on vacation and she left her bathroom fan on. At some point the fan overheated or short circuited and a fire broke out. In putting the fire out the firefighters used what must have been hundreds of gallons of water and all that water ran into my apartment below. I was not home at the time but returned to a scene of chaos with folks milling about and a tangle of emergency response vehicles crowding the front of the building. Once their job was done, they left but the job for me had just started. Without boring you with the minutia, the first thing that had to be done was to get the water out of my apartment and for that we needed a professional. After that came the salvaging which included using professionals to attempt to save as much of the wall-to-wall carpet as possible. It was a very stressful time but having the worst part of it taken care of by a professional water restoration service made it a bit easier to bear.
Sun Jar, Moon Jar Solar Jars--great at the cottage-sturdy!
I was just mulling over how when we go to Maple Lake, we are much more aware of our environment and how we impact it and visa-versa.
For example, cleaning products. At home I live in a condo in a big suburb and really don’t put much thought into what my cleaning products are made of. At the lake it’s a different story entirely. Any waste water that runs off does so just feet from our lake. Being aware of this, we go out of our way to use products that if somehow they do get into the lake won’t do significant harm.
The product I found myself using a lot at the cottage for older stains on ceramic and tile was baking soda. It was gentle but very efficient–even removing stains that I’d scrubbed with harsh cleansers that I’d previously used in desperation.
Another ecofriendly product I brought up to Maple Lake especially to keep at the lake was my sun jar. The cottage gets plenty of sun so the solar cells quickly powered the rechargeable battery which is then used to power the low-energy LED lamps.
My intent was to have another source of light if we were to lose power to the cottage which is quite common with severe weather. It did happen that the power went out one late afternoon, not returning until 11 p.m. and the sun jar was enjoyed greatly not just as a light source but as a object of beauty.
EDIT: I like it best as a portable nightlight. It kept it’s glow for several hours but it need to put in sunlight to be at it best. It rained almost the whole time we were there. I would like to test it out with a few bright, sunny days each week, maybe mixed with mostly sunny-with rain– when we need it–at night. 
:)
My favourite rock has been on this beach a very long time.
Now it is the bottom step.
Cool, no?
Both sets of stairs are wicked awesome. Spouse is very industrious and exacting whenever possible. This is repurposing these rocks back to what they were doing long ago.
Very pretty and through manual labour–lots of it–the steps have been re-built. I think they look great.
