The Greenhouse Hasn't Collapsed. Yet.

Hi Friend,

Oh, another day, another puddle for Andy in the park. Lots of rain has provided many opportunities to cover oneself in mud on the way home.

This week we did get the storms, but very little tree damage, thankfully. Now its in the 90s, going to make sure the bees on the roof have water in their rooftop bucket.

We will have a small harvest of honey, but missed out on a larger one because one of our hives decided to swarm three times. The hive was queenless after that, and we put in a frame of fresh eggs from the better-behaved-hive for them to raise a new local mongrel queen. Which thankfully they did, thanks to the fact that across the street in Green-Wood Cemetery my friend Nick has 15 hives full of male drones ready to mate with a new queen.

So no honey from that hive. At that point, all you can do is feed them sugar syrup through the summer to build them up to get through the winter.

I made some vids for you:

Watch Here: Greenhouse Fix - No More Motion Sensors - Tarp Your Veg Beds - String Trimmer Fix!

Fixing the greenhouse has been on my mind for way too long. It was finally one of those moments when I could actually get myself to start a project I knew would take forever. But I managed to get my brain to realize I could do the big project in small pieces (aka Tiny Steps) All I had to to was Just Start. Which sounds simple enough, but some days I am really stuck, my brain feels like glue, and I want to go eat chocolate chip cookies.

I'm replacing all the glass with UV stable plastic in the short term, and will probably clad it in corrugated plexiglass next year. Or I might look into some actual greenhouse coverings. So plan on seeing about 6 or 7 videos on this one.

Motion Sensor LED Light Update: The outdoor GE LED motion lights I used worked, but also turned on during the day and sometimes stayed on for hours. After some digging, I did see this issue on some of the reviews of the GE LEDs. Because I bought these lights a few months back, GE would not replace them or refund me. Amazon did follow up on my return request and asked if GE had resolved the issue. Maybe Amazon will go back to GE and tell them to make good on these defective lights.

I found an LED Motion Sensor light, a Sunco LED Par 14.5 watt (150 watt equivalent), 2 lights for $21, that has better reviews on Amazon. I am ordering these and will report back. It will be a few weeks before I can install these.

Dog & Mouse Smells From The Podcast

This week on the podcast with Nicole we talked about getting rid of that wet Labrador smell from our rugs and the mouse waste smell from the Subaru. Both problems are perfect for an enzymatic deodorizer. Both of the deodorizers above are a powder, so they last forever and don't take up a ton of space in your cabinet. Measure out how much you need put it away. The Active powder has some laundry soap added. Do not use hot water with these powders. Neither of these products has a secret ingredient, these are the ones I bought and find to work well. You can find others, just search for "enzymatic cleaner"

I use the Nature's Edge to deodorize our car and mopping our floors. Add a teaspoon of liquid soap to mop bucket. For our foam dog beds, I wash the liners in the washer with the Active and spray the foam with the Nature's Edge. About 1 tsp of powder in a spray bottle works well. It takes a few days to work and you will have to re-apply it the first few times you use it.

If you car has cloth upholstery you could get a pump sprayer and spray the whole interior with the Nature's Edge. Also works on cloth couches, chairs, etc. If you have mice waste in your car, remove as much waste as possible and spray this down the Heat-AC vents, spare tire space, anywhere you see mouse signs.
Nature's Edge on Amazon Active Laundry on Amazon

Other People's Cool Podcast Episodes I'm trying out these universal podcast links from Plink here, let me know if they don't open up these podcasts on your phone podcast app.

I've very politely spoken of this before on the podcast, but there are so many of these "Things You Should Know" type podcasts where the two hosts are clearly just reading off a page of notes from Wikipedia. The hosts have no background or experience in the topic that week, yet some of these shows are very successful.

What am I doing wrong here?

The Queen's Spymaster - Elizabeth I vs The Catholics The Rest Is History Six episodes
I find many history podcasts to be boring. This one isn't. The two hosts have a very good on air vibe, complete with polite put downs, and are friends in real life. Clearly both these guys know what they are talking about. They do multi episode deep dives on all sorts of history from around the world.

GardenFork Radio: I recorded new podcasts for you Phone app link here, website link here.

• Best Time In Portugal & Odor Eliminators
• A Wood Porch In The Woods
• Dropping Stones makes people happier with Bob
• Decaf Coffee Explained Kinda Sorta

THx! Eric.

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