Category Archives: Health

DIY - Do It Yourself, Health

Do It Yourself Resources For Protective Face Masks – Use Shop Towels!!

Everyone is scrambling for face masks to protect themselves and it makes perfect sense. On one hand we want to protect ourselves and our loved ones and on the other, we don’t want to spread the illness either. At this point, if you are going to the store or other area with people, you really should be wearing a mask. Particles will float in the air and that is bad news for everyone.

The recent CDC guidance to wear face masks seems to be mainly aimed at capturing droplets from the wearer so as to not infect others. It’s not really aimed at protecting the wearer from inhaling. I would recommend you do some reading about what amazing people are figuring out in terms of making your own personal protective face masks using shop towels and other materials. In general, if you can see light readily through it, such as a basic T-shirt or bandanna, you really aren’t stopping anything. I’d like to help improve your odds and want to share some resources with you.

  • A study found that denim, 80-120 thread count bed sheets, paper towel, canvas and shop towels are the top 5 materials for face masks combining both filtering and breathability.
  • There is a new material called “Filti” that can hit N95 filtration that you can buy. Click here to learn more.

Buy the shop towels at stores such as home improvement, hardware, automotive and industrial supply stores. Blue shop towels are *not* regular kitchen towels. If you try to buy them online they will likely be insanely expensive. You will probably pay $3-4 from a store for a roll with 50 sheets. They often come in single rolls, doubles, six packs, 12 packs and boxes. Don’t go nuts and hoard them please.

The following are shop towelas and 1/16″ bungee/elastic cord for making masks at Amazon

The following is a great how-to video. By the way, the accordion folds help with fit and increase the surface area which will make breathing easier. The larger the surface area then the easier air flows.

By the way, there are tons and tons of designs as media and bloggers share advice. Google and read by all means – educate yourself. Always ask – does this make sense? Also remember that you need to both be able to inhale as well as exhale.

Quick test to see if your mask has any chance of helping you – Dr. Gady Abramson

Cleaning Face Masks For Re-Use

With face masks, assume they are contaminated when you remove them with your hands. Immediately wash your hands and do not rub your eyes, touch other surfaces, etc.

Now, you can disinfect these things and other PPE using an oven. Heat them to 70C/158F for 30 minutes. Be sure not to touch other surfaces around your oven. Clean all surfaces just to be safe.

Making Your Own Hand Sanitizer

We now have a blog post with lots of information and videos for you – click here.

Disinfecting Surfaces

Lastly, are you running out of disinfectant to clean surfaces? Use bleach and water.

I hope this helps you out – we’re all in this together.

If you find this post useful, please share the link on Facebook, with your friends, etc. Your support is much appreciated and if you have any feedback, please email me at in**@ro*********.com. Please note that for links to other websites, I may be paid via an affiliate program such as Avantlink, Impact, Amazon and eBay.

Photo of people wearing surgical masks in Hong Kong is from Wikipedia. Posted By Studio Incendo – DSCF2199, CC BY 2.0

Health, Miscellaneous, Prepping

Supplement with Zinc and Multivitamins to Help Boost Your Immune System

You might want to start supplementing with zinc and a good multivitamin as a hedge against the COVID-19 corona virus from Wuhan, China. It’s not going to absolutely prevent it but it might give you an edge and/or lessen the impact some. This post is not a magic cure claim. At my age, I’ll take any cheap advantage I can get.

Wash Your Hands Frequently

#1 prevention tip – wash your hands with soap and water frequently – the virus has a lipid coating that soap breaks down fast. Take the time to wash your hands before you eat, rub your eyes, go to sleep, after you go to the bathroom, etc.

I used to say “or use hand sanitizer if you must” but finding commercial hand sanitizer is almost impossible these days unless you try to make your own and even then finding the ingredients is very difficult but not impossible.

Supplementing with Zinc, Multivitamins and Vitamin C

Do be aware of any drug interactions before you start. For example, some antibiotics are negated by zinc supplements – I learned that first hand.

Now you may be thinking this is a crock, but there really are studies that show that zinc can help ward off and/or reduce the impacts of viruses, including corona viruses.

Here are some resources for you to look at in addition to the video above:

Do some reading and decide. My family and I are doing a multivitamin, 50mg Zinc and 500mg of vitamin C per day to try and help prevent the flu. We’ll see how it goes.

Face Masks – Making Your Own Is An Option

The CDC is now recommending face masks when you go into public settings such as to get groceries. The problem is in finding good masks and a huge community effort is under way with people sharing information about designing and making face masks. I recently added a blog post to help folks learn more – click here.

COVID-19 Resources

In Conclusion

I hope this helps some. You need to read and keep up on what is going on. You will also need to figure out what makes the most sense for you and your family – mass media isn’t always the best source so try and confirm information from more than one source before you act.

If you find this post useful, please share the link on Facebook, with your friends, etc. Your support is much appreciated and if you have any feedback, please email me at in**@ro*********.com. Please note that for links to other websites, I may be paid via an affiliate program such as Avantlink, Impact, Amazon and eBay.

Image source: By https://www.scientificanimations.com – https://www.scientificanimations.com/wiki-images/, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=86358105

DIY - Do It Yourself, Fixing Stuff, Health

Waging War On Mosquitoes – Got a My4Sons Sprayer To Apply Talstar Pro Insecticide!!

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We’ve had a crazy amount of rain this year in Southwest Michigan. It seems we can’t go more than a day or two without rain. The photo at the top of our yard shows how everything is a lush green plus it shows the standing water that won’t go down because everything is so water logged due to all of the rain. We have friends and family complaining about the huge amount mosquitoes that are attacking them as a result – we don’t have that problem. I declared war on mosquitoes last year and upped my attack plan even further this year.

The ground is so wet and soft that my tractor got stuck and I had to pull it out. It’s sldo so wet that the mosquito population has just exploded and folks are saying that ticks are booming as well.

Last year, we started using Talstar Pro insecticide sprayed from an 18 volt two gallon Ryobi sprayer and I wrote a blog post about it because I was so happy with the results. It took me four batches (8 gallons in other words) of spray with 1 oz of Talstar per gallon to get control. It also took over an hour to apply. It definitely did the job but it took a long time and my arm ached from holding all the Ryobi sprayer unit as I walked around.

To be honest, the Ryobi far exceeded my expectations it was just too small, didn’t spray as far as I would like and holding it was killing my elbow, shoulder and back. I decided in April to buy a better sprayer and started researching on the Internet and reading reviews on Amazon. I happened across a vendor on Amazon called “My 4 Sons”, their features looked great and they got very good reviews so I decided to order one.

My 4 Sons Sprayers

First off, they really are a family owned business started by Lance and Lisa Ensign in 1998. Yes, they do have four sons. At any rate, they started with carpet cleaning and eventually branched into battery powered sprayers. I’m no expert but I think they fill a middle niche between little light use sprayers and the big dedicated units that you pull by a tractor or ATV.

It Arrived

In typical Amazon fashion, the unit showed up a few days later in a big box. What surprised me were parts everywhere and very limited instructions. The guide said to call Lance and listed his number. I left a message and he called me back a short while later and I got everything squared away. He and I then exchanged a few text messages also and they replaced a couple of accessory parts no hassle at all.

Here’s the tank, charger and caddy fresh out of the box. Some of the parts were in the tank to save space.
It just slides in and is retained by a velcro strap then there is a door that snaps in place to seal it.
Here’s the battery.
the battery has terminals on the top and simply slides into the compartment and makes contact at the end. A velcro strap allows you to snugly keep the battery in place.
Here’s the assembled unit with everything attached – the backpack straps and the extended hose. I removed the backpack straps shortly after.
Here’s how it looks now with just the tank assembly, extended hose, wand and caddy. Note how I had to tie the top bungee strap. I need to go over uneven ground and the tank can tumble off the caddy if the bungee can stretch too much. I’ll probably replace the bungee straps with just plain straps at some point. What you see above works for now – I just am not a huge fan of the looks.

Mosquito Control Results

When the mosquitoes first started this Spring, it was brutal. We were getting crazy amounts of rain and even at 1.5oz of Talstar per gallon of water and weekly applications, we couldn’t stay on top of them. I’m pretty sure the Talstar was getting washed off. Normally, Talstar is really good about leaving a residue that kills the mosquitoes but not when it is getting poured on almost every day. I tried to time my re-applications with at least one following dry day and the more the better. I like to apply at dusk when the mosquitoes are active by the way.

The sprayer and adjustable tipped wand worked wonders. With the My 4 Sons system I could really reach out with the spray -maybe 20-30 feet depending on how I adjusted the jet. Plus I could open up the spray and broadly apply it to the underbrush, leaves, grass by the house, bushes, eaves and so forth.

Instead of just 8 gallons, I’m applying about 12 and it takes me about 30-45 minutes to do so. This is because of the bigger tank and that I can spray a higher volume with the new system.

I’d say it took about three weeks to get on top of things and now I am spraying the normal 1 oz per gallon of water about every 4 weeks. We’ve just made it through one of these normal cycles and will spray again near the end of June – so we have another week to go as of my writing this and the mosquitoes are under control.

The Bottom Line

We can go outside safely now but we do hear of folks fighting tons of mosquitoes. I recommend Talstar Pro to anyone who will listen. If you have small urban property, you can start with a pump sprayer and move up from there.

Note, we have dogs and treat them for fleas and ticks. I hate ticks but they don’t bother me much unless I am in the woods. Talstar Pro is great if you need to get rid of ticks and a variety of other insects as well – read the label below.

I’d guess I’ve applied about four batches with the My 4 Sons unit now and am very happy with it. If you need a bigger sprayer for whatever it is that you are doing, I definitely recommend them.

Here are some links on Talstar P Pro if you want to learn more:

PS – The 18 volt Ryobi Sprayer is still going strong even after a ton of use last year and is now being used to hose down plants with fungicide. Since stuff isn’t drying out, we are seeing a lot of fungus development on our roses and vegetables. I’m experimenting between Immunox (which is not impressing me) and Daconil for fungus control. Point being for people with smaller areas, the little Ryobi is still a solid choice.

5/21/23 Update: My older sprayer is still working great. They have a new model that should be just as good or even better. Also, you are better off buying Talstar P Pro from eBay. Amazon has stopped carrying it or allowing sellers to list it.

2/25/20 Update: The My4Sons sprayer worked fine all last year. One of the wheels fell of the cart and they promptly sent me a replacement. I poured out all of the remaining liquid and ensured the pump was empty going into the winter. I’ll definitely be using the unit again this year.

May 2, 2020 Update: If you are having trouble finding the sprayer or Talstar P Pro – read this blog post.

If you find this post useful, please share the link on Facebook, with your friends, etc. Your support is much appreciated and if you have any feedback, please email me at in**@ro*********.com. Please note that for links to other websites, I may be paid via an affiliate program such as Avantlink, Impact, Amazon and eBay.

DIY - Do It Yourself, Fixing Stuff, Health

Sick and Tired of Mosquitoes? How I Got Rid of Them With Talstar P Pro

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Our home is in a former swampy area that was drained in the 1980s and a subdivision built.  In short, you dig down and can hit water fairly soon – usually within 10 feet.  At any rate, we’ve had a very wet spring and summer and had standing water in our lawn until late-June and the mosquitoes have been the worst I ever recall in the 20 years we’ve been here.  We could not stay out at night or we’d get attacked unless we hosed ourselves down with Deep Woods Off.  In short, something needed to be done.

This hedgerow is right by my garage and ensured the mosquitoes had a perfect base to attack me from and rings our property:

When I was at Ace Hardware, I saw Off! brand’s Backyard Pretreat that was supposed to kill mosquitoes and leave a residue to repel them.  I thought they would know what to do given their experience – as it turns out, this product is a rip off.

I’m sad to report that after three jugs of this stuff and my getting bit over and over while applying it, I can’t say it did anything at all even several days later.  I really had high hopes – I dragged a long hose all over the place spraying stuff down over and over with no noticeable improvement.

On Facebook, I posted my woes with Mosquito control and a friend, Allan, suggested Talstar P Pro and a Ryobi cordless electric sprayer to help with evenly spraying a ton of solution.  I had never heard of Talstar so I did a search and it is very well regarded.  Allan told me they live on a wooded ravine and he’s been using it for 10 years to control mosquitoes and it worked exceptionally well for him.

Talstar P Professional

Every once in a while on Amazon, you see a review score that is mind blowing.  FMC’s Talstar P Professional 96 oz has 2,263 customer reviews and a combined score of 4.6 out of 5 stars.  That is one heck of a score and is only possible if something works really, really well.

5/21/2023 You will no longer find it on Amazon – you need the liquid Talstar and I tend to find eBay the best source to buy it. Click here for a current list on eBay.

So, based on what I read and Allan’s recommendation, I ordered the 96oz bottle.   I then read up on the Ryobi sprayer.  It gets good reviews, uses the 18volt Ryobi batteries (it comes with one battery and a charger) and it has a three year warranty.  I ordered it off the Home Depot website [Click here]  as they had free next day home delivery and since I had to wait for the Talstar, I figured it would save me a trip.

Note:  You can use any pressurized sprayer you want – I have 1.5 acres and knew I would be applying gallons and gallons of it.  My shoulders and elbows hurt enough as it is and I didn’t want to incur the repetitive stress.

The sprayer arrived the next day and the Talstar the day after.  While I was waiting, I went to the FMC website to read up on Talstar to make sure I understood how to apply it plus I peppered Allan with his experience.

I would recommend you go to the website [click here] as they have recommendations on best practices for mosquito management and Talstar P Pro is actually interesting from a chemical perspective.

The active ingredient is Bifenthrin, which is similar to the chemical extracted from Chrysanthemums to kill insects.  Here are two links so you can read more at the National Pesticide Information Center.the user guide for the Talstar P.

Ryobi Model P2830A One+ 18-Volt Lithiu-Ion Cordless 2 Gallon Chemical Sprayer

Here are photos of the sprayer.   I charged the battery and screwed in all the fittings.  They are all lose so be sure to do that.  I didn’t have any loose plastic in the tank but I did rinse it out just to be safe.

Application

After reading the user guide, I planned to use one ounce of Talstar to one gallon of water to ensure I had residue to continue killing mosquitoes.  Since it was a two gallon tank, I increased it just a bit to 2.5 ounces per two gallon tank.  Note, a real nice perk is that the tank lid is a measuring cup!  I would use it, rinse it out and pour the mix into the tank before filling it with water.

While doing the work, I wore Nitrile gloves just to avoid contact plus I was constantly adjusting the sprayer tip from coarse mist to a stream to try and reach back over brush, through leaves, etc.

FMC recommends spraying at night or in the evening when mosquitoes are active.  I was busy the first night so I did it the following morning at 7am.   I mixed up two gallons and started spraying around the house, pool, garden and so forth.  I hosed down the bushes, the walls of the house and under the eaves.  I also sprayed the hedge – first using a coarse spray on all the brush, leaves and ground.  I found adjusting the tip to a stream was handy to penetrate the brush and also reach further back.  I’d just come back to the hose and what not and mix another two gallons of spray (2 gallons water and 2.5oz of Talstar) and kept spraying.

It took me aboput 30-45 minutes and 8 gallons, or four complete tanks, to do most of our yard.  I skipped probably a half acre of grass starting about 100-150 feet from our house but I did all of the hedge row, bushes, etc.  I was pleasantly surprised that the 2.0Ah battery was able to do the whole yard.  When I finished the first batch, I did plug the battery in and let it charge.

That night I still saw mosquitoes, but fewer of them, and applied a second dose around 7:30-8pm.  Same procedure – 8 gallons focusing around the house, all the bushes, etc.

Results

The next morning – no mosquitoes.  Whoa!!!  I did not see one single mosquito all day.  That night I worked on cars without being attacked!  I did so again yesterday and just had breakfast with my wife in her garden — something that would have been next to impossible.

I’d say the spray got a good number of them but when they landed in the residue, that got rid of a ton as well.  In other words, you might see a bit of a delay from dose to noticeable reduction.

In four weeks, I am going to do it again.  Even my wife, who always groans at me and my tinkering, was impressed and told me to make sure I apply another dose before the first one wears off!

It’s really not that expensive in the long run.  The bottle holds 96oz.  I use 10oz per 8 gallons (4 batches x 2.5oz/batch).  If I apply it twice per application, that means I’ll use 20oz per time, which means I’ll get just over 4 complete applications (so about four months of protection).  At $35/bottle, that’s about $9/time plus however you want to account for the sprayer.  For me, it’s worth it.  My wife really reacts to mosquito bites plus we can enjoy being outside again and I can go back to working outside without getting attacked.

I’d highly, highly recommend you skip the ripoff gimmicks and temporary fixes.  Spend the money and get Talstar Pro and a spray bottle (if you don’t have one).  It made a world of difference for us and wanted to spread the word that this stuff really works.

May 21, 2023 Talstar is no longer on Amazon but there are tons of sellers on eBay – click here to open eBay and see the latest Talstar P Pro liquid listings..

If you find this post useful, please share the link on Facebook, with your friends, etc. Your support is much appreciated and if you have any feedback, please email me at in**@ro*********.com. Please note that for links to other websites, I may be paid via an affiliate program such as Avantlink, Impact, Amazon and eBay.