Getting Rid of Soap Scum

     What can I say?  We like our products - soap, shampoo, regular conditioner, heavy conditioner, body wash, shaving cream.  There's a greasy film of soap scum on the shower floor, and the shower door develops a white coating.
     I've tried to dissolve it with vinegar.  No luck.  Lemon oil worked like a charm on the glass door, but it is a poor choice for the floor - too slippery.  I tried the daily spritz-when-you-are-done-showering spray.  That loosened the gunk so that it was easier to chisel off during a weekly cleaning session, but it didn't loosen it enough so that it washed down the drain on a daily basis.  A product called Kaboom got good reviews.
     I stood in the supermarket aisle reading the ingredients in Kaboom: inorganic acid and surfactant.  Examples of inorganic acids are sulfuric acid, hydrochloric acid, and phosphoric acid. Nasty stuff.  A surfactant is a compound that lowers the surface tension between two liquids or a liquid and a solid.  An example of a surfactant is detergent.  Surfactants are usually organic, and organic is good, right?
     What about an organic acid?  Organic acids are weak acids.  They can be used to preserve food.  Acetic acid is an example of an organic acid, and a solution of 4%-8% acetic acid and water is common white vinegar.  
     In the case of the shower, I was hoping to lower the surface tension between the solid tile and the gooey soap scum.  I found a recipe for homemade shower cleaner - 50% Dawn dish detergent and 50% white vinegar.  I put it in a spray bottle and went to work on the shower.  I thought the dish detergent might make mountains of suds that would be slow to wash down the drain, but the vinegar seemed to  greatly decrease suds production.  The Kaboom label advised the user to wear gloves (easy) and work in a well ventilated area (not so easy when you are working in a shower stall).  My homemade combo-cleaner didn't release toxic fumes, and gloves were optional.  I used a stiff bristled brush and did a general scrubbing, nothing excessive or back breaking.  After the shower dried out the tiles were clean and film free.

A clean shower and a chemistry lesson.

  

Hats Off to Homemade Spray Starch

     It's really important to stay out of the sun.  Besides using sun screen, it's a good idea to cover up and wear a broad brimmed hat.  My cute raffia hat got wet, and the brim lost it's stiffness. Would spray starch restore the hat?  Can raffia (paper) be starched?  Since the hat was already a lost cause, I decided to give spray starch a try.
     The problem was that the can of spray starch and the bottle of liquid starch that I thought I had were gone.  I probably threw the stuff out long ago since I never starch anything.  I decided to look online for a homemade starch recipe.  There couldn't be a simpler concoction to make - just a heaping tablespoon of corn starch and 16 ounces of hot water shaken vigorously.  Pour the mixture in a spray bottle.  Spray the item you wish to starch and iron with a hot steam iron.
     Here's how it worked on my floppy hat:

Droopy!

I sprayed and ironed the inside.  I put an old dish towel under the hat to keep the starch off the ironing board cover. 

I sprayed and ironed the outside.

No gunk on the bottom of the iron - that's good.

I left the hat on the counter to dry overnight.

Nice and crisp - almost as good as new.

Yep, it'll do.

   

Ghetto Cowboy and the Fletcher Street Urban Riding Club

     I grabbed a new Kindle library book titled Ghetto Cowboy by G. Neri.  It's a children's book, but I didn't realize that when I checked it out.  I read it anyway, and I'm glad that I did.  Cole, the young protagonist, is shipped to from Detroit to Philadelphia by his desperate mother.  She can't handle his increasingly delinquent ways, especially since (we learn toward the end of the book) she is struggling with depression.  At age twelve, Cole is going to live with a father he has never known. Lucky for young Cole that Dad is a central figure in his neighborhood's horse riding club.  That's the fiction.
     Then Mr. Neri weaves in a lot of fact.  He tells the story of the black cowboys and the riding clubs they established and maintained in Philadelphia.  Though the names have been changed, it's pretty clear that Neri is telling the story of the Fletcher Street club.  The details are all there from the city's desire to reclaim the land on which the stables sit, to the bogus charges of animal abuse, to the city's inspection right after the stables were damaged by a severe storm - right down to the dead horse lying near a mountain of manure.
     Everything in the book turns out glowingly in the end for Cole and his parents.  Back in the real world the future of the Fletcher Street Urban Riding Club is not so rosy.  They have established themselves as a non-profit 501(c)(3) organization, and they  have a volunteer veterinarian who regularly tends to the horses' health needs.  Photographer Martha Camarillo has raised awareness of the group through her book, Fletcher Street.  http://www.amazon.com/Fletcher-Street-Martha-Camarillo/dp/1576873285  Fletcher Street is an oasis of peace in a crime ridden, gang infested area of Philadelphia, and the presence of the horses is given the credit for this.  In spite of this, the city continues to apply pressure to close the stables.
     So, read more about it: http://www.pennsylvaniaequestrian.com/news/urban-stable.php and check out the videos.



          
     

My Cell Phone Went Through a Wash Cycle!

     After a bike ride and some sweaty yard work, I tossed my clothes into the washer then headed for the shower.  After my shower, I moved the clothes from the washer to the dryer and found my cell phone in the bottom of the tub.  The screen was full of water droplets.  It was dead.  After much swearing and self recrimination, I went to the Verizon store and explained my plight. The Verizon representative suggested placing the phone in rice to dry it out.  In the meantime, I activated an old phone.
     I removed the back panel from my phone and took out the battery.  I opened the little flaps on the side of the phone (where the charger and other stuff connects).  I loosened a bunch of itty-bitty screws, but I didn't remove the screws or try to pry the phone apart.  I buried all the parts in a big bowl of rice and left the bowl in our stifling hot garage.  The lady at the Verizon store recommended drying the phone for a couple of days.  Since I had a backup phone, I left my phone in the rice for a week or more.
     When I took the phone out of the rice, the screen was clear.  I tightened the screws and replaced the battery and back panel.  I attached the charger and plugged in the phone.  Amazing. It began to charge.  When the phone was fully charged, I trotted back to the Verizon store and activated my now functioning phone.
     Since this experience, I have learned there are other methods for drying out wet phones.  This guy says you can dry a phone in a few minutes by sucking out the water with a vacuum cleaner.  It sounds like a good way to get a hand hickey to me.


         

     Another guy also uses the vacuum cleaner method and adds centrifugal force.  Then he adds the rice method combined with a product called Damp-Rid.  Finally, he details the alcohol method (though he has not actually submerged his phone his phone in a 99% alcohol bath).




     So, before you run out and buy a new phone, give these things a try.  Also, keep an old phone as a back up.  The last Verizon rep who helped me explained that I can switch my service from phone to phone by dialing *228.  Select option #1 and follow the prompts.  The next time I soak my phone, and there's bound to be a next time, I won't have to run into the store for help.



   

True Blood and Kumihimo Dog Leashes

     Mike and I have discovered the HBO series "True Blood."  We binge watched Seasons 1 and 2.  All that artery biting, blood spurting, and demonic possession can make a body jumpy.  I find that keeping my hands busy and being a little distracted is a good thing when vampires can fly in your face at any moment.  My kumihimo wheel, not a silver bullet or wooden stake, has been my deliverance.  Check out the dog leashes I made during the first twenty four episodes.  I'd like to wrap any one of these around Sam Merlotte's neck!

Psychedelic colors for the Hippie Pooch.

My take on leopard for the Wild Animal.

Pretty pink.  This is Blingin' Bitch I.

Blingin' Bitch II.

Blingin' Bitch III.

Mama, I want it!

Act Your Age

     How many times was I ordered to act my age when I was a kid?  Probably several thousand.  When my mother issued the command to act my age (whether my age was 6 or 16 at the time), what she really wanted was for me to act older than my chronological years.  She wanted me to stop acting like the kid that I was.  I suppose that was a good thing, in the long run, since we all have to learn to grow up.
     It's ironic that once we're grown we celebrate "thinking young."  It's a fine line to walk between old fool and old fart, but if you have to chose, be a fool.  I was headed into Shop Rite the other day when I turned to check out the source of blasting Motown music.  I saw a bald and bearded seventy-something cleaning the windows of his spotless Lincoln Mkz.  Parking lot detailing is not usually undertaken by septuagenarians.  But why shouldn't we oldsters flaunt those rides we can finally afford by windexing the glass and Armor All-ing the tires at the local market?  Car pride shouldn't just be a nineteen-year-old's game.
     The Burlington County Amphitheater is another place to see the senior set shed a few decades.  You might be sixty five when you plop down in your lawn chair, but you feel twenty one after two hours of head bopping, foot tapping, and singing along.
     I'm not a big supporter of driving cars into your 90's or flying airplanes into your 80's.  I do however think you should get up and dance until the day you die.  Like this lady:

              

     Or this lady:




     Or this lady:

Visiting Longwood Gardens

     There's another reason to visit Longwood Gardens.  The Meadow Garden just opened on June 13, 2014.  There are 86 new acres with three miles of trails.  This is Longwood with her hair down and the breeze blowing through it.

You'll see open fields, woods, and wetlands.  Wear comfortable shoes.  Don't forget the bug spray because you might encounter ticks, flies, and mosquitoes.  There are restrooms and water, but it would be a good idea to carry water on hot days.  The trails are steep in only a couple of areas, so most people can manage.  

Could anything be cuter?

Downed trees provide habitat for many species.  The space under uplifted roots makes a good place for animals to dig a den.  Moss might grow in the soil on exposed roots.  If water collects in the depression left where the roots came out of the soil, frogs might lay eggs in the pool. 

Beautiful.

  

The Webb farmhouse, located at the edge of the meadow, has been partially restored and contains two galleries (and restrooms).  The house was built in the early 1700's.    

These are the birds you might see in the meadow.  These lifelike sculptures are made of paper.  The artist is Diana Beltran Herrera.  Her work is amazing.  http://www.dianabeltranherrera.com/

The fountain garden - back in "regular" Longwood.

The conservatory.  Do you believe this is inside?

Topiaries.  I love this dog. 

My favorite flower of the day.