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Weed Control Facts - Winning the Battle of the Weeds
 by: Michael McGroarty

Keeping your landscape plantings, flower beds, and nursery crops free of weeds is a battle, but if you approach it with a strategic plan, you will prevail. In order to develop a plan, you first must understand how weeds work, and what kind of weeds you are dealing with.

Basically weeds grow either from seed, or they reproduce from their roots. As the roots grow outward from the parent plant, new plants sprout up from the lateral roots, creating more parent plants and the process continues and the weeds thrive. Weeds that tend to reproduce from the root are usually more difficult to control.

Weed control facts? Weeds are plants, and they function just like the desirable plants in your yard. They need water, sunlight, and nutrition to survive. Of these three key survival needs, the easiest one for a gardener to eliminate is sunlight. Through proper mulching you can eliminate the sunlight.

Wood mini blinds are one variety of wood blinds for covering doors and windows. The smaller increments of a narrow slate dimension, wood mini blinds are better able to control the amount of light coming into a room and the view seen through a window. Wood mini blinds provide light and privacy control within the room apart from giving it a beautiful look. They also provide a warm and cozy look to any room, whether it is the living room or the kitchen. Wood mini blinds are available in various colors and styles, in various shades and in several models. Most designers agree wood mini blinds are ideal for offices.

The most important things to consider when choosing wood mini blinds are appearance, privacy offered, light controlling ability, insulating value, and the ease of operation. Although mini blinds are available in vinyl and aluminum materials also, wood blinds are most preferred for their style and look despite being more expensive compared to the other types of mini blinds.

Figures from the Council of Mortgage Lenders show that in July gross lending in totalled £25.2 billion, with fixed rate deal mortgages are at their most popular for nearly six years.

Nonetheless, “July’s growth in lending to individuals slowed from the recent trend,” said British Bankers Association (BBA) spokesman David Dooks, "this could have reflected consumers waiting for the widely anticipated cut in interest rates.”

Miles Shipside, Commercial Director of Rightmove, comments, "The belated but welcome drop in interest rates will be a real boost for sentiment in the market and a springboard for a better 2006."

However, more than half of all mortgage lenders have failed to pass on the full Bank of England interest rate cut to borrowers, and those that haven’t done so already look unlikely to do so in the future.

"How these things usually work is that if the lender is going to pass on the full cut they announce so fairly quickly", Ray Boulger of John Charcol mortgage advisers.

Several lenders stated the rates on fixed mortgage deals from some providers had already started to drop in anticipation of the cut in interest rates earlier this month, while others argued that replicating the rate cut is not necessary because they did not pass on past increases.

Home Improvement - Don’t Exceed Comps In Your Area
 by: Raynor James

For most homeowners, the pride of ownership includes a consistent home improvement effort. While this makes sense, be careful you don’t improve the property so much that you can’t recover the costs when it is sold.

Home Improvement

You’ve picked up a heck of a deal on a home in a nice neighborhood. The purchase price was $200,000 and you put twenty five percent down [$50,000]. The comparable homes, “comps”, in the neighborhood appraised for $300,000. Yes, your home is a bit run down, but that’s why they have Home Depot and weekends! You’ll just fix the ugly ducking up and pocket a quick $100,000 in equity when all your projects are done. What a country!

This situation definitely has potential. The value of the home is so low when compared to the comps that a relatively quick equity grab certainly looks possible if the home can be fixed up. Off to Home Depot we go

There are a few patterns to consider when looking for a Lake Tahoe home rental. You’ll pay more for the houses near the ski areas in the winter time no matter the size and you’ll always pay more for lakefront properties no matter what time of year. But if you can decide what you need (or want) and what you want to spend there are a multitude of choices for house vacation rentals in and around the beautiful lake.

High up on a hill, overlooking the western shores of Lake Tahoe sits an 8,000 square foot home visited by presidents, dignitaries and the merely wealthy. Built in the 1930s by a noted steel magnate, the house is now available for rent, ranging in price from $3,000 per night to $50,000 per month depending upon the season. It comes fully equipped with a full staff of cook, housekeeper, maid and butler, a choice of automobiles to use, a pool and down on the lake, the private boat dock with what can only be described as a "lake yacht" complete with a skipper who will gladly ride you to any point on the lake ? all at no extra charge.

My Water Smells Like Rotten Eggs! - Solution
 by: 1-800-AnyTyme

What causes my hot water to smell like rotten eggs? My cold water doesn’t smell, what is the solution for this problem?

The most common cause of “smelly water” is a non-toxic sulfate reducing bacteria, scientifically termed Divibrio Sulfurcans. This bacteria often enters the water system through construction or a break in ground piping. The bacteria creates the energy it needs to survive by converting sulfate (SO4) to hydrogen sulfide (H2S) gas you smell in the water. Hydrogen sulfide gas is distinctive because of its rotten egg-like stench. Its presence can severely affect the taste as well as the odor of the water.

The simplest treatment available is the shock-chlorination of the system. This is a surface treatment, and often requires repeated trials in heavily infected systems. The chlorination of a system requires that you follow each step explicitly to avoid an un-treated portion of the piping system from reinfecting another part. Longer lasting solutions include chlorination or aeration of the water supply.

Want to learn more about plumbing? Visit our plumbing information (http://plumbing.1800anytyme.com) section that has free repair guides and answers to your most common plumbing questions that can help even the most experienced plumber!

One of my favorite plants is the large white-flowered Mystery Gardenia (gardenia jasminoides) that grows to about 5′ tall and wide. The perfume-like scent adds an exotic feeling to gardens. Plus, the large white flowers show up well in moonlight when many people more likely get a chance to take pleasure in their garden.

If you want to enjoy gardenias, plant them where they get sun. Most people plant gardenias in the shade because these plants love the same soil as shade-loving camellias and azaleas. However, gardenias can take full sun and prefer at least half a day of sunlight. Gardenias will not bloom well in the shade.

Don’t over water your gardenias. Keep the soil surface moist, but not soggy. Don’t let them dry out too much during flowering or they will drop their buds. To keep your plants from drying out, mulch well.

Gardenias also like rich organic soil, azalea/camellia fertilizer, and iron. If your gardenias get yellow leaves, they most likely need more iron. During the growing season, feed your gardenias every three weeks.

Buyer’s Guide to Shooting Glasses
 by: Brad Justus

Shooters of all kinds require eye protection, whether at the range or in the field. The majority of shooting activities take place in close proximity to the face. Facing the possibility of ricochets, flying objects (ejecting shells, etc), wind, sun and dust, it only makes sense to use good eye protection. Although everyday sunglasses are better than nothing, you’re much better off with a pair of protective glasses specifically designed for shooting activities.

But when searching for a quality pair of shooting glasses, what factors do you look at to help make an educated purchase?

For some additional in-depth information on shooting glasses, you might want to check out http://www.shooting-glasses-guide.com.

We’d recommend evaluating the following components when making your decision:

• Lens
• Lens Impact Resistance
• Lens UV protection
• Frame Coverage

Let’s look at each one in more detail:

Lens

A very important important feature to consider. For shooting applications, Polycarbonate is the best lens material available on the market today. Polycarbonate is a type of LEXAN® from G.E., the same material used for bullet resistant glass in autos. It’s such hard material that a special diamond grinding wheel must be used to cut the lens. In comparison, Polycarbonate lenses are lighter, more durable, more impact-resistant and more scratch-resistant than any other lens material in today’s market.

Okay, you’ve decided to buy a home and are trying to figure out what you can afford. Before you go home buying, you need to carefully consider what you can afford as far as a mortgage payment.

Mortgage Payments

The first step you should take in determining what you can afford is to talk to a mortgage lender. In fact, the best step you can take is to go through the loan process to the extent required to get a pre-qualification letter. A pre-qualification letter tells you and a seller how big of a home loan the lender will give you.

So, once you have the loan in hand, that must be the amount you can afford? The answer is maybe or maybe not. The prequalification letter is based on a number of factors such as your earnings and credit. It is not based on a picture of your life, which can lead to problems.

Other Expenses

There is nothing worse than buying a home and straining to make the monthly mortgage payments. This situation occurs when a homebuyer relies solely on the pre-qualification letter or their own wishful thinking. You may have purchased your dream home, but don’t let the payments be a nightmare.