I came across a website today that I thought was interesting. The name of it is Green Living Tips.
I guess what caught me was an article entitled Composting Human Waste. I think I’ve got quite a bit of er… evolving to do before I seriously consider that option.
For you more advanced green individuals, take a read. If nothing else, it makes you go hmmmmm……
(Given the contents of this post, I think it’s better that I forgo adding an image to enhance the experience.)
On a whim, I decided to mix hydrogen peroxide with my dish washing liquid.
Normally after I get through washing the dishes, I clean the sink with a little hydrogen peroxide. It scrubs the stainless steel sink clean, leaves a great shine and it also disinfects the sink, sponge and counter top area.
One day while washing the cutting board after cutting chicken, I wanted to disinfect it, so as usual I poured the hydrogen peroxide on it, let it fuzz, foam and disinfect, rinsed it off then washed it as usual. Then I had a thought, being a busy mom, why not kill two birds with one stone. I had ¾ of a bottle of dish washing liquid left in the bottle so I filled it up with hydrogen peroxide and shook it.
Quite a bubbly mixture until it settled down, but I noticed that I don’t have to use as much dish washing liquid because the hydrogen peroxide seems to help the soap do its job better. Using a smaller amount of soap on the sponge produced much more suds and the dishes are just as clean if not cleaner.
The mixture is a great way to disinfect and clean the dishes at the same time. Not only that, the sponge gets disinfected too. A quart of hydrogen peroxide costs about a dollar a bottle (it used to be 85 cents but with the way prices are rising, it’s more expensive now).
Mixing hydrogen peroxide to a generic brand liquid dish washing detergent, not only stretches the mileage on the detergent, it boosts its cleaning power. Why not give it a try? You’ve got nothing to lose and all to gain.
Note: Even though the sponge gets disinfected using the liquid detergent, I still disinfect the sponge the old way when cleaning up after handling raw meat.
It looks like pepper works. In my last post I ranted a bit about squirrels reeking havoc with my plants so I peppered them (the plants, not the squirrels).
This morning, I was hard at work on my laptop and I happened to look up and I saw my archenemy, the squirrel stalking (in that predatory manor that they have when they see a flower box to demolish), towards my flower box. I almost jumped up to get the broom to shoo it away, but I remembered the pepper.
I watched it as it approached the first flower box. The squirrel looked in the dirt, appeared to sniff around a 
little, then it walked thorough the flower box along the deck railing until it came to the second flowerbox. The squirrel repeated the same behavior. It sniffed, stood there for a while then turned around and slowly retraced its steps.
I’m not sure what the squirrel was thinking, but it sure seemed to be deep in thought. It slowly walked then stopped. It spied other plants I had on the deck. (Darn!!! I didn’t pepper all of the plants, I missed one or two of the smaller ones). I knew for certain this flower box demolisher was going to destroy the two small pepperless flowerpots.
I started to creep towards the broom closet. I knew I was going to have to shoo it away.
The squirrel stood there moving its little head from side to side with its nose in the air. It seemed to try to detect which pots had pepper and which ones didn’t. I don’t think the squirrel could tell. I guess it’s a good thing that I just about emptied an entire can of pepper in the plants.
It could be my imagination, but I thought I detected a look of defeat on the squirrels face. I mean, those little beady eyes lowered, the body posture seemed a little less defiant, and the flower box destroyer walked away.
Whooo hooo! Score one for mom!!!
I’m so annoyed with those tiny four-legged garden destroyers that I’m about to scream!
They chew up the lawn, they overturn all of my flowers and they constantly toss the dirt out of my flower boxes. I caught one squirrel mid dirt toss and I sprayed it with the water hose. The little bugger took
off, and I was left with mud all over the deck.
I’ve read that squirrels don’t like pepper, cayenne or bitter substances. I guess their palate can’t stand the spicy stuff. I’m not sure if it works, but I pretty much emptied a can of black pepper in two of my flower boxes. Hopefully I wont go into sneezing fits every time I play with my flowers.
Although squirrels may look cute, they’re really a gardener’s nuisances. If you’ve had any luck in deterring squirrels from chewing through your garden, please share your remedy. I’m just about a wits end.
I keep saying that living green isn’t always easy, but it doesn’t have to be this frustrating.
For pet owners who don’t compost, maybe you should consider recycling your fruit and vegetable peels for your dog.
The other day I was making a batch of carrot, apple, and raisin salad (the only way I can get a vegetable into my daughter). I used untold amounts of organic carrots. After thoroughly washing the carrots, I peeled off the outer skin and proceeded to make the salad.
I looked at the heap of perfectly healthy carrot skins and decided to recycle them by running the skins through the food processor so that I could mix some in with the dog’s food. Fido, being the dog that he is, thought he was having an early Thanksgiving meal. He lapped it up looking for more.
There was such a large amount of carrot skin that I put some of the chopped carrots in the freezer for a later date and some in the fridge for tomorrow’s meal.
Fido was happy and so was I. So, before you throw away certain fruit and vegetable skins, think about recycling them to mix it in your dog’s food. Recycling your peals not only helps to stretch a bag of dog food, but the fruits and vegetables are healthy for your dog and dogs love it.
Word of Caution:
Give Fido a little at a time. Their short digestive tracts can wreak havoc in your household if the food upsets their stomach.
