Straight from the
September/October 2018
PIPES
The Great Pumpkin Experiment — No. 001 Growing a Pumpkin Patch
adolescent pumpkin stems. They eat the inside of the stem, leaving behind an empty drinking straw, so the highway of nourishment to the vine is cut off. Terrible creatures. One-third of my plants were too far gone, and it really isn’t worth the surgery to save the plant at that point. I am now on vacation for a week in New Mexico. I may get home only to find a total failure. We have a family friend feeding the dogs and watering the crop, but I won’t know until I see it for myself. I’ll keep you posted if I get a pumpkin, but unfortunately, it’s not going to be the bumper crop that I had hoped for. Do you know why the penetrating oil is named WD-40? Well, WD is water displacement, and 40 is the 40th attempt on the formula. Hopefully it doesn’t take me 40 times to get it right, because I’ll be 83 years old, and those giant pumpkins are going to be a challenge to carry around.
that these guys were thirsty, so I ran drip irrigation to my 20 plants to keep them well-watered. They were growing like champs! For a week. Then, guess what? The stems started getting pale and weak, and some of the leaves started to turn yellow. They wilted away, and when it hit 100 degrees, they almost disappeared in one day. I got to researching — I wanted to know what happened.
My family knows I’m crazy. One of my dreams is to have a pumpkin farm in a river valley. I’d haul the big round pumpkins to town and sell the best pumpkins for display on porches of happy homes. Well, I figured if I’m going to have a pumpkin farm, I should probably start out small. I’m a gardener and have more than 20 years of experience growing backyard crops of my own on some scale. My mom is a master gardener, and my grandfather is from a lineage of Polish farming blood. My grandfather fought the Texas heat and clay soil every year, planting his tomatoes, beets, onions, and peas, all the while cursing the mockingbirds and bugs. He would say, “Ohhh buggars,” which was the equivalent of a well-placed curse. Long story short, I counted back the days from Halloween and planted a wide variety of pumpkins — Dill’s Atlantic, for example. I know from experience that Texas is bigger and better, except with some vegetables and flowers. With the mid-summer heat, it would be a challenge starting plants off in the hottest and driest part of the year. I started the seeds, and they grew so fast on our patio that I had to scramble after work to get them into the ground. I strategically placed them in different spots around the yard where the soil was semi-shaded and not as hard. I realized
Turns out that there’s a creature named a squash vine borer moth, which looks like a big wasp, which had been visiting. She lays her eggs, and these grub-looking creatures grow in the middle of my
-Jeff Longspaugh
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ClearWater Plumbers | 817-296-0670 | clearwaterplumber.com
Are You Wasting Water, Time, and Money? We’ve all walked into our kitchens, looked at the dishes stacked high in the sink, and asked, “Is it better to throw those in the dishwasher or wash them by hand?” The dishwasher would certainly save you some time, but many people believe that washing dishes by hand uses less water and electricity. In reality, however, washing your dishes by hand is one of the worst things you can do for both the planet and your wallet. It’s not just about water! Unless you have incredibly thick dishwashing gloves, you can’t properly clean your dishes by hand. Dishwashers heat water to around 145 The Environmental Protection Agency determined that using a dishwasher instead of washing by hand can save 5,000 gallons of water and $40 in utility costs a year.
single dirtiest item in your house. Soap and water aren’t enough to sanitize your sponge, which is left damp next to your sink after each use. Have you ever noticed that stagnant sponge smell? That’s bacteria growing. And when you wash your dishes by hand, you rub that bacteria all over your plates and silverware. Yum. If you have just a single plate or cup, you obviously don’t want to run them through the dishwasher alone; that would be incredibly wasteful. But the drawbacks of washing by hand are too great to ignore. The best option is to wait until your dishwasher is full, then start up the washing cycle. All your dishes will be clean and disinfected, and you’ll use less water in the process.
degrees Fahrenheit to ensure your dishes are disinfected. Even if the water from your sink could get that hot, you wouldn’t want to stick your hand in it. Which brings us to the science experiment that is your kitchen sponge. Dr. Philip Tierno, a clinical professor in the microbiology and pathology departments at NYU Langone, determined that your kitchen sponge is the
Dishwashers use less water than washing by hand. A study conducted in Europe found that individuals who wash dishes by hand tend to use 27 gallons of water to clean just 12 place settings. Meanwhile, modern dishwashers only use 6 gallons of water, and Energy Star appliances use as little as 4 gallons during their wash cycle.
‘Learn to Be Difficult Where It Counts’ Stubbornness Can Be Helpful! Jeff Longspaugh talks about a life lesson taught by Timothy Ferriss.
1. I learned exactly how the grader evaluated work, including his or her prejudices and pet peeves.
Well, use at your digression. It’s an interesting trick — or strategy. This comes from a book called the “The 4 Hour Workweek” by Timothy Ferris, in which he illustrates a great lesson. For all four years of school, I had a policy. If I received anything less than an A on the first paper or non- multiple-choice in a given class, I would bring two to three hours of questions to the grader’s office hours and not leave until he or she had answered all of them or stopped out of exhaustion. This served two important purposes:
2. The grader would think long and hard about ever giving me less than an A again.
He or she would never consider giving me a bad grade without exceptional reasons for doing so, as he or she knew I’d come a-knocking for another three-hour visit. Learn to be difficult when it counts. In school, as in life, having a reputation for being assertive will help you receive preferential treatment without having to beg or fight for it every time.
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ClearWater Plumbers | 817-296-0670 | clearwaterplumber.com
Grilled Ham & Cheese
What Is Your Hardness? The Reason You Have Hard Water
Ingredients
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8 ounces ham, thinly sliced 1/2 pound Swiss cheese, sliced 2 tablespoons Dijon mustard 1/4 cup apricot preserves
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8 slices of bread (Pullman works best) 4 tablespoons unsalted butter, room temperature 1/2 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese (preferably Parmigiano- Reggiano)
Jeff Longspaugh explains the hardness in water.
What is your water hardness?
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What does that even mean? Well, it’s interesting — it all comes down to where we live and minerals in the water. It’s so interesting to me that I took and passed a test years ago that licensed me as a Class III water treatment specialist. As plumbers, we don’t necessarily need this certification. Most plumbers know how water passes through pipes but not anything about that water or how to fix it if water breaks the plumbing. According to a 2017 water quality report, the total hardness of the City of Fort Worth’s water is 7–9 grains per gallon. The United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) considers that to be hard water. What does hard water mean? Well, when water is hard, it means that there are dissolved minerals in the water, like calcium and magnesium. If you have well water, your water hardness is anywhere from 1–40 grains per gallon. Hardness won’t kill you, but it does dry out your skin and leaves deposits that negatively affect the ability of your soaps to work on your dishes, laundry, and even your skin and hair. There are other minerals in your water that are worth mentioning too — trihalomethane, chlorine, chloramines, iron, sediment, and hydrogen sulfide. In our service area, I would guesstimate that 90 percent of our customers have hard water and don’t even know it. It would be classified by the EPA and United States Geological Society (USGA) as hard water. Guess what? We are water treatment specialists and are happy to help if you want to benefit from softer water.
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Directions
1. Butter each slice of bread on the outsides and sprinkle with Parmesan.
2. Layer ham and cheese evenly on top of 4 slices of bread.
3. Spread apricot preserves and mustard across the other 4 slices. Press sandwiches together. 4. In a cast-iron skillet or large sauté pan over medium heat, grill sandwiches until golden, about 3 minutes per side.
5. Cut in half and serve.
Inspired by Food & Wine magazine
SUDOKU
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ClearWater Plumbers | 817-296-0670 | clearwaterplumber.com
6954 Boat Club Rd. Fort Worth, TX, 76179 817-296-0670
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ClearWater Plumbers
Answer
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The Great Pumpkin Experiment — No. 001
Kitchen Cleaning Secrets
Tips and Tricks
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What Is Your Hardness?
Inside-Out Grilled Ham and Cheese
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Why You Should Consider a Media Detox
Do You Need a Media Detox? The Dangers of Overstimulation
dormant hobbies. Because most of us consume media in small chunks throughout the day, it’s easy to overlook how much that time adds up. All those hours you spend on Facebook could be used to start a garden, knit a quilt, or join a soccer league. Unless you have an unlimited supply of leisure time (and who does?), you need to be selective in the way you spend it. Remember, media isn’t the cause of all your ills. Used mindfully, it can actually increase happiness and satisfaction. The problem is that we are so mired in the media muck that we can’t get a perspective on how much is too much. A detox will allow you to reassess the media you’re consuming and build a better plan for the future. You can still keep up with your grandkids on Facebook, but it shouldn’t be the only way you interact with the world.
of it as a vacation from the overstimulation so many of us experience. Ask yourself which aspects of your media diet are causing more stress than they’re worth, and take a break from them for a little while. “In the same way we think about what we eat, we should think about what we read, what we’re seeing, what we’re engaging in, and what we’re interacting with every day,” Emma Watson told CNN in an interview about her selective social media use. If you’re not mindful of your media consumption and participation, it tends to pile up. When you detox, it’s a lot easier to identify which parts of your media diet are essential and which are only a burden.
With the current trend of getting TV, social media, and news alerts sent to our phones, we have access to more media than we could ever consume. While constant connectivity is a boon for many aspects of our lives, researchers are discovering that too much stimulation is cause for concern. One study in the Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology found that too much social comparison, spurred by the likes of Facebook and cable news, can lead to an increased risk of depression. If you find yourself pressured to live up to the public lives of friends and family, or if you feel like you’re being bombarded with too much news and entertainment, consider a media detox. A detox doesn’t require you to unsubscribe from social media services or unplug your TV forever. Instead, think
Another benefit of a media detox is that you’ll have more time to pursue new and
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