Gary LakeGary R. Lake (272)   Gary R. Lake   Indoor Environmental Control Reminiscing Thanksgiving Today and YesterdayPosted Thursday, November 22, 2007 (244 days 10 hours ago.) Viewed 1,519 times. The days of my 20s seem to reflect strongest in my memory, as they were days of early adulthood with few cares, sorrowful maturity, and freedom that every young person yearns for. I was married, had a successful business, and being of dubious ancestry, a wild nature. A country boy, I loved hunting and fishing, and always had my favorite buddies on Thanksgiving morning, for that annual duck-hunting trip in the marshes of eastern Long Island; a ritual we looked forward to year after year. Back then, the winters were cold, the bays and ponds frozen over, the early snow drifted high, and the hunter/gatherer instinct ran high. I worked my dog faithfully every week, all year long, in anticipation of this special day. My brother, my best friend Jeff and I were off in the boat long before sunrise. Before noon, we were frozen to the point of frostbite, we bagged our limit, drank too much, swapped way too many lies, and were ready for the feast we knew awaited our return. This we did for more years than I can remember. Sadness overcame me today as I remembered “the good ol’ days." My brother has long since passed away and my best friend now resides 700 miles away. Thanksgiving today didn’t seem as special to me today as it had in the past. Where had the years gone I wondered, and how had things changed so much. For a short time a tear came to my eye and a longing for those days to return held a tight grip on my heart. The changes that life brings us abound in so many aspects, and all things change. Some of these changes are very subtle, others come on like cannons resonating. My sadness subsided as I woke my family for the festive day. I saw my beautiful wife awake in her ever so attractive oversized tee shirt, my daughter giving me that ever so loving sneer through bleary eyes and I realized just how comfortable life had become. A beautiful home, two successful businesses, quality friends, a warm sunny day, and a bright future were the only curses that have be-felled me What more could a person want. At that moment I realized how lucky I was and how thankful I should be. Not just for what I had at the moment, but for the memories of fun and friendship I held of the past. Today I said a prayer for my brother and called my best friend. We planned a fishing trip for the Spring -- back to our old stomping grounds of Long Island -- and bragged of our successes of late. Life’s been good to me in so many ways. Today was a good day. 
Permalink Comments (3) How To Make Your Home More Energy EfficientPosted Monday, October 15, 2007 (282 days 9 hours ago.) Viewed 1,399 times. There are dozens of ways to make your home more energy efficient. The costs range from no more than a little effort to “the sky’s the limit." Many options require little or no skill and very little time. You, as the homeowner, have a responsibility to keep your home as energy efficient as possible. Many energy saving projects you can perform are little more than preventative maintance items. Start by putting yourself on a schedule of replacing your heating and air conditioning filters. They should be changed monthly and replaced with a good Merv 11 rated pleated filter. Never again purchase the inexpensive see through fiberglass filters. They allow tremendous amounts of dust, pollens, molds and dirt to pass through them. The result is a clogged or restricted cooling coil reducing your airflow and robbing you of CFM’s (cubic feet per minute) making your unit less efficient. A dirty heating and air conditioning system causes also many costly side effects. A homeowner suffering from allergies may find their home is no longer a safe place as its indoor air quality is more polluted than the air outdoors. For an allergy sufferer, this means more medication, loss of work, and possibly more visits to the doctor. A forced air system with improper filters allows more dust, dirt, skin cells, molds, pet hair and thousands of other impurities to circulate throughout your home. The result is more cleaning products, more vacuuming, and more painting. Replacing air filters regularly requires no skill, very little money, and increases efficiency. During the cooling season, go out to your condensing unit once a month and hose out the fins. When these fins are clogged or dirty, your unit runs longer and hotter. Don’t worry about getting water in it, its made to run in the rain. With a brisk spray, remove the accumulated dirt and grass clippings from it. While you’re there, make sure you have at least one foot of free space around it to breath properly; if not trim the bushes and grass away from it. Insulation of your hot water heater is another inexpensive way to increase your home’s efficiency. It requires no skill and very little time to perform. The material is available in most every hardware store. Most every water heater is equipped with a drain valve at the base. Flushing your water heater yearly will remove the build-up of mineral deposits that actually act as an insulator preventing the heat from being transferred to your water. This saves running time therefore making it more efficient. If either your heating and air conditioning system or your water heater is over ten years old, it is now inefficient compared to the newer models. Newer models can save you up to 40% on your utility bills. At today’s utility costs, this could be a tremendous savings. Your refrigerator can run as much as twenty hours a day. Most refrigerators today incorporate a condenser in the bottom of the cabinet. This condenser becomes clogged with dirt causing the compressor to run hot. A hot motor consumes more electricity. Purchasing a radiator brush at your local hardware store along with your vacuum cleaner will make cleaning it easier. Remove the bottom front kick plate from the refrigerator. It’s not hard to find, it’s the thing that’s clogged with dirt. Turn on your vac and run the brush through the coils until clean. Your refrigerator will run less and cooler. This requires no skill. The brush, which costs less than five dollars, will serve other purposes as well. Speaking of that new brush, go to your clothes dryer and slide it away from the wall so you can get behind it. If you can use a screwdriver or a pair of pliers, you can clean the lint clogs from this also. Your lint filter does a fair job of trapping lint but a multitude of it will bypass it and collect in the rear of the dryer and in the discharge line causing a restriction in the air flow. When this happens, you have to run your dryer longer to dry your clothes, not to mention the possibility of fire. Using your vacuum and the brush, clean everywhere you can get the brush in. This requires very little skill, a little muscle, maybe a half hour, and why not, you already have the brush. Other practical energy saving ideas that are cost effective and easily done by anyone are: • Replacing your old filament light bulbs with the new florescent bulbs. They use 40% less electricity and last for years. • Putting motion sensors on your outdoor lights is a money saving project. • Installing an attic exhaust fan reduces latent heat in it that would be transferred to the inside of your home. It’s inexpensive and requires little skill. • Purchasing a humidifier will make your home more comfortable and easier to heat during the winter months, not to mention, it helps keep your woodwork from separating. • Insulate, caulk, or re-glaze windows and doors. A novice with virtually no experience and a tight budget can perform all these things. Most everything I have mentioned requires very little time and gives you a lot of bang for your buck. These things also help your homes appliances operate longer and trouble free. For just a few dollars you have made your home more energy efficient, less problematic, healthier, and more enjoyable to live in. Gary and his wife, Judi, have co-authored the book, 7001 Forgotten Secrets of the Ages , due for release in mid October. To learn more, visit: http://www.7001forgottensecretsoftheages.com
Permalink Comments (4) I’ll Take A Redneck Chef Any Day!Posted Sunday, October 07, 2007 (290 days 14 hours ago.) Viewed 135 times. There are countless food specialists in the marketplace today; all experts in their respected fields of authentic cuisine. There are thousands of famous ethnic chefs, French, German, Italian, you name it, that nationality and its particular cuisine is covered by someone. Pastry chefs, seafood chefs, cook/entertainment celebrities, and specialty food chefs, all receive national television coverage, receive awards, write best sellers and travel within that famous clique. God bless them all as they have studied and worked hard promoting themselves and their personalities to get the notoriety and respect they deserve. One segment of that industry that has been totally ignored is the Redneck Chef. If you look at some of the specialty foods prepared by some of these famous chefs, I must say, they’re not for me. Ever eat at a fancy French Restaurant? No self-respecting cook would put that little bit of food on a plate to serve someone for dinner. Now I’ll admit, it’s pretty to look at but it sure falls short of even a good appetizer! The Italians know how to cook and eat and always supply plenty of wine to soak up the food, or is it the other way around? That’s always confused me. Manners and tradition follow these ethnic cooks as they present their creations in such majestic style. The Oriental chef always presents an outstanding meal of exotic spices and vegetables blended together and pleasurable to the pallet for most all of us, but in short order you’re looking for more soon after leaving the restaurant. My grandparents were German and I grew up eating hearty sour foods that you never dared comment on for fear of stimulating that ‘German temper of Grandmas.’ Each nationality deserves its own place in culinary mortality but, given the choice, I’ll take a Redneck Chef any day. Let me explain the Redneck Chef to you if you don’t already know. A Redneck Chef can cook anytime, anywhere, on anything. From fillet migion to squirrel, venison steaks or fish, he’s prepared to spice them to perfection. He can cook with gas, charcoal, wood or on the manifold of his truck. He cooks with wine too, but usually of the Boones Farm vineyards or another popular brand called Mad Dog. He knows better than to waste a fifty dollar bottle in a frying pan and is usually quite content to use the half drank bottle of warm beer sitting on the tailgate of his buddies truck. A Redneck Chef’s tools are simple and adaptable: a skinning knife, a garbage can lid, and a little tin foil works wonders to fashion an outstanding meal. Expensive cuts of meat are of no interest to the Redneck Chef. He knows full well, if you cook it long enough with enough BBQ sauce on it, no one will ever know the difference. Assisting a Redneck Chef can be quite a rewarding experience. Aside from some certain precautions you need to take such as ducking as he lights his stove, keeping the ashes of his cigarettes from the stew, or holding him upright because he put one too many ice cubes in his beer, his many talents and instruction may amaze you. A Redneck Chef doesn’t need expensive cookware; a screwdriver from under the truck seat will stir as good as a thirty dollar spoon. After an afternoon of cooking, I’ve learned twelve songs, all with reference of what your mother-in-law can do with her opinion, how to get run over by a train and wonderful things about a faithful old dog. They weren’t particularly inspirational but they were entertaining. I had no idea that the theme song from the movie Deliverance was a love song. The three-second rule of food falling on the floor was of special interest to me. I found that it takes over five seconds for germs to get on it so if you grab it up within three you’re safe. I learned a very important secret that being a Redneck Chef requires large amounts of beer to be consumed. He never really explained the reasoning but it was very evident that the beer was the catalyst for his creativity and adaptability. Did you know that an old suede shirt makes a great apron and won’t catch fire nearly as fast as those store bought ones do. Beer is a good fire extinguisher, just shake and point. I was amazed to find out that a certain bathroom appliance makes a great cooler and that you can leave it outside without worry of someone stealing it. In a pinch, it doubles as an extra chair. Standing side by side with the Redneck Chef, I was truly amazed with his unorthodox manner and culinary expertise. With some reassurance to my reluctance I feasted on his masterpiece. After that case of Old Milwaukee, I viewed him “a chef among chefs." In a matter of hours he created dishes, no, huge bowls, of stuff that smelled great, slid down easily and gave me enough gas to power a car. He created such an awesome ambiance among his guests with dancing and singing; I’ve never heard anyone belch the melody of She’ll Be Coming Round The Mountain before especially while cooking. I’d have to crown him king of the trailer park. Gary and his wife, Judi, have co-authored the book, 7001 Forgotten Secrets of the Ages , due for release in mid October. To learn more, visit: http://www.7001forgottensecretsoftheages.com
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