One of those stories we hear that is worth looking into.  If true it may save a life and property.

A house burnt down… nothing left but ashes. Owners have good insurance so the house will be replaced and most of the contents.  That is the good news.

 However, they were sick when they found out the cause of the fire. The insurance investigator sifted through the ashes for several hours. He had the cause of the fire traced to the master bathroom. He asked her sister-in-law what she had plugged in the bathroom. She listed the normal things…curling iron, blow dryer.  He kept saying to her, ‘No, this would be something that would disintegrate at high temperatures’. Then her sister-in-law remembered she had a Glade Plug-In, in the bathroom.

The investigator had one of those ‘Aha’ moments. He said that was the cause of the fire. He said he has seen more house fires started with the plug-in type room fresheners than anything else. He said the plastic they are made from is THIN. He also said that in every case there was nothing left to prove that it even existed. When the investigator looked in the wall plug, the two prongs left from the plug-in were still in there.

The sister-in-law had one of the plug-ins that had a small night light built in it. She said she had noticed that the light would dim and then finally go out. She would walk in to the bathroom a few hours later, and the light would be back on again. The investigator said that the unit was getting too hot, and would dim and go out rather than just blow the light bulb. Once it cooled down it would come back on. That is a warning sign

The investigator said he personally wouldn’t have any type of plug in fragrance device anywhere in his house. He has seen too many places that have been burned down due to them.

Happy 4^th of July!!! 

I wish everyone a safe and happy 4^th of July as we spend time with our family and friends.  Here is a great

holiday recipe to make with your children that everyone will enjoy!!!  Ingredients:2 Cups blue Powerade, Gatorade or Kool Aid1 Cup frozen Cool Whip1 Cup Vanilla Yogurt2 Cups Cran-Raspberry Juice12 Craft Sticks12  5-ounce disposable plastic cups  1.      To make the pops, equally divide the blue juice among the plastic cups, then place the cups in the freezer until the juice is partially frozen, about 30 to 45 minutes.

2. Mix together the whipped topping and yogurt and divide this mixture among the cups.

3. Set a craft stick in the center of each pop and return the cups to the freezer for approximately 45 minutes.

4. For the final layer, add the cran-raspberry juice to the cups and place them in the freezer until solid.

5. To remove the pops, run warm water over the outside of each cup.    

Carpenter ants may seem small and look harmless, but they can do serious damage to anything wooden in your home, including not only furniture but also the very framing and walls that hold up the house. If you are seeing a lot of ants or small piles of sawdust-like material in random spots in or around your home, you are most likely suffering from a carpenter ant infestation.

Ants are very social beings and form large colonies before spreading out to find additional nest sites. They thrive by hollowing out wood, especially in moist or rotten spots, to build their nests and then use their new home in your walls and chairs as a base camp from which to forage for food and water in their nearby surroundings. Indeed, their very presence is a good indication of moisture or rot problems.

In the continental U.S. and in much of Canada, carpenter ants are the most common insect wood destroyer, surpassing even the mighty termite. But while many commercially available chemical pesticides will rid a structure of carpenter ants, homeowners are increasingly steering away from such toxins proven to impact the human nervous, respiratory and reproductive systems.

Perhaps the most economical and effective way to get rid of carpenter ants is by applying boric acid (also known as borax) to their nest sites and surroundings. This natural non-toxic element, mined from below the Mojave Desert in southern California, has a long history of use in exterminating brazen populations of cockroaches, palmetto bugs, waterbugs, silverfish, termites, and, you guessed it, carpenter ants. Beyond just being effective as an all-natural insecticide, boric acid is non-toxic to humans.

It seems like I have always loved to garden. I can remember working side by side with my parents planting groundcover when I was in the 3^rd grade. Maybe the joy was more in spending time with my parents, but the result became a love for being on my hands and knees and working in the dirt. Through the years it has become a place where I can relax, lower my blood pressure, pray and enjoy the sun. Imagine my excitement when we moved to the mountains and I now had 3 ½ acres of undeveloped dirt to plant!

I found out the hard way that gardening in the mountains is different! After planting 16 prized roses, watering, fertilizing, nurturing and awaiting those first gorgeous blooms only to see them stripped of all flowers, leaves, and thorns overnight…..I learned that roses are like candy to deer. They are better purchased from a florist and enjoyed in a vase in your home.

I’ve lived in the mountains of Oakhurst for 16 years and here’s what I’ve found in a nutshell: If it’s purple, there’s a pretty good chance the deer won’t like it. I know there are always exceptions, but here are some plants I’ve had luck with:

Purple Iris

Lilacs

Lily of the Nile

Society Garlic

Butterfly Bush

If you’re just starting a garden in the mountains, give these a try and I guarantee you’ll enjoy the blossoms and the deer won’t!

When you decide to build your dream home, builders usually have modifications or enhancements you can select from to embellish the base model. Always remember that whatever options you choose, a smart home owner always considers their house in the context of the neighborhood in which is sits.

Just keep in mind when making choices that it is possible to “over-improve”, which means that you will be potentially owning the fanciest house in the subdivision. While this might give you some personal satisfaction, it might not payoff when sales time comes around.

With a lot more enhancements than your neighbors, buyers might be willing to pay a little more for your house, but certainly not 30 to 50% more. Adding options offered by a builder like high speed Internet connections or recessed lighting, a furnished basement, additional bathrooms, or hardwood versus carpeting, will definitely add value to your new home and will make living there better for you.

Just keep in mind, though, that when buyers are looking for a home they are following that old saying “the best value is to buy the least expensive house in the best neighborhood you can afford”.

That said, living in a house with nice amenities and conveniences is more fun than living in one that is strictly barebones and generic. So, you need to strike a balance between what you think would really be great and what you would actually use or enjoy on a regular basis. For example, whirlpool baths with jets sound great; but, let’s face it, 99.9% of the time people use showers. Bath tubs, even the fanciest of them, are generally used once every two or three months, if that much unless there are small children in the house. So you need to decide if the cost is worth the use it will get.

There is an upside to having more, rather than less in terms of possible options, however. Keep in mind that, although too many enhancements or high end amenities might not provide as much additional value to the house as you may wish, they will probably make your house sell faster if it is priced similarly to other houses in the area that are going up for sale.