EcoFriendly Home Extermination/The Shack/Heat Advisory

HURRICANES AND WEATHER
Tropical Atlantic is quiet. In the Pacific, there is Hurricane Felicia and Tropical Storm Enrique. Felicia is forecast to head toward the Hawaiian Islands (but weaken to a tropical storm or weaker before it affects the islands late Monday). More to come.

Louisville was hit hard by heavy rain on Tuesday. There was a record 4.5 inches. Today, the rain is over but more rain is possible for the end of the week. Area rivers, especially in southern Indiana are rising with some moderate flooding forecast. Some homes will be impacted.

Excessive Heat Warning is in effect through Thursday for Phoenix again.

On Thursday, the ridge which was parked over the central US will slide eastward eventually setting up the southeast US with a moist flow off the Gulf. That means rain will be more likely in Texas and the southeast by late in the weekend.

Thursday's highs will be in the 90s and 100s in Texas and the southwest. There will be a few 90s in the southeast as well as some thunderstorms. Along the west coast, Great Lakes and northeast, there will be highs in the 60s to 80s. Look for severe weather in the northern Rockies and northern Plains to the Midwest.

Houston is under a Heat Advisory until Thursday evening. There is a slight chance (10 to 20%) for thunderstorms, but the ridge should prevent any major outbreaks. Highs will be in the upper 90s to near 100. Highs in Houston on Wednesday and Monday were 100. Look for scattered storms started Sunday.

SPANISH WORD OF THE DAY
Let's do book or libro, pronounced LEE-broh. Find out what I think about the libro, The Shack, in the AND MORE section.

Speaking of reading, one of the things we do in our award winning DVD, Let's Learn Spanish with Frank & Paco is show the words as they are introduced. This way the kids can see the word while learning it. Order your copy from www.frankandpaco.com/. You can also order from http://www.venturaes.com/, http://www.dololanguages.com/, http://www.carlexonline.com,www.thecuriousmindstore.com/, http://www.amazon.com/, http://www.bestbuy.com/, and http://www.barnesandnoble.com/. For our English as a Second Language (ESL) version, go to http://www.frankypaco.com/.

AND MORE
Today was a day of celebration!!! Megan graduated as a Veterinary Paramedic from the program offered by HCC. This program is 12 months (3 semesters) with quizzes or tests almost every day. It is very intense. Words can not explain how very proud we are of Megan. She worked so hard. Factor into that her learning disabilities and you can believe that she worked very, very hard. She is very passionate about animals and she is going to make a wonderful employee for some clinic. Her interest area is mainly dogs and cats. If you know of anyone looking to hire for this role, please let me know.

I won't belabor this, but I will share a brief anecdote about something that happened to Gordy and me. Last fall, we were contacted because someone with Gordy's name wrote a hot check at a Beall's in another city. Gordy has never even shopped at a Beall's. XPressChex sent us a letter demanding payment. When I called they insisted that it was my husband as they had his driver's license number. After numerous phone calls and a couple months, we wrote a letter explaining that they had the wrong person and to check my husband's signature against the one on their check. We copied a letter to our attorney. All of sudden yesterday, we are contacted by a collection agency/attorney and they insist that we pay up. After many hours of phone calls and searching, we were finally contacted today by XPressChex and they had re-looked into the matter. They said that the cashier at Beall's had written the driver's license number down with one number incorrect...and that incorrect number just happened to be the one belonging to Gordy. Because there is a publicly available database where you can look up someone by their DL, we were located and blamed. There is more, but you get the idea. Make sure to question the DL accuracy if this ever happens to you.

A few days ago, I mentioned that when we got back from vacation, we had ants in the master bath. My good friend Peyton said they have also noticed more bugs getting into their house. This brings me back to doing home exterminating. I have some wonderful eco friendly stuff. I started treating my own home when I got curious and did some research. I use a product called EcoExempt, produced by EcoSmart. This stuff is safe for humans--deadly for insects. It is made of 10% Rosemary Oil, 2% Peppermint Oil, and 88% Oil of Wintergreen, Mineral Oil USP, and Vanillin. The directions say that if swallowed, do not induce vomiting, but get medical help if you feel nauseated. The only complaint I have is that the peppermint smell is very strong. After I do an application, I always see dead bugs for several days. Just get a home sprayer and mix with water according to directions. Check out their web site:
http://ecosmart.com/

I finished the book, The Shack, over vacation. It was a fairly quick read. I think this is book is very good for anyone who has had a terrible tragedy. I recommend it. I am not gushing about it, but I think it was healing.

Have a terrific Thursday!
Cecilia Sinclair
Wonder Weather Woman