Do Not Throw Away Your Old TV's Yet

If you have Comcast for your TV (this idea may apply to other cable providers also), you no longer supposedly can get TV reception via your cable connection unless you have an adapter box attached between the cable and TV set.  The adapter is provided by Comcast for a monthly fee after getting 2 adapter boxes for free.

If you reprogram your TV via auto programming feature on most TV sets, you might be able to restore TV reception to your TVs without an adapter box.  I did the auto programming process on 2 TVs and restored TV reception to those 2 TVs which happen to be rather new TVs.  I am able to get at least 60 plus TV channels on each of those 2 TVs.  I have an older TV and tried the auto programming feature, and even though I was able to access the auto programming feature, the procedure did not work for that TV apparently due to its age.  I cannot tell you how to access the auto programming feature since the access procedure to this feature is different on different TVs.  After doing the auto programming procedure try to access a TV station by punching in the channel directly on your remote, and if that does not work use the channel up/channel down on your remote.  On one of my TVs, I could not access a channel by punching in the channel directly on to the remote.  However, when I did the channel up/channel down on the remote I was able to access channels on that TV.

If that does not work, you can buy a converter box and an antenna from Best Buy or other electronic stores for a total price of $70+.  This supposed to give you TV reception, but not to all of the available channels.  This does not seem to be an economical option.

If you really want to access TV reception on that old TV, you can take the adapter box off of one of your TV sets and hook it up to the TV in question.  The adapter box is what gives you access to the TV channels and not the TV set itself.  The adapter boxes apparently can be moved to whatever TV you want to get reception.                                                                                             

The adapter boxes are proprietary to Comcast, and apparently cannot be replicated, and that is why there seems to be nothing in the market place to buy to make the old TVs work other than the adapters.  However, the auto programming procedure mentioned above could be of some help on TVs that are not too old.

So, before throwing away your old TVs due to lack of reception, do try this auto programming feature and see if your TV reception is restored.

SUMP PUMPS

If anybody has a sump pump with no moving parts (like the Rigid brand that you can get from Home Depot) and the pump shuts off and then goes back on almost immediately and continues that cycle for quite some time, there is a fix for that.  You just need to take vinegar and clean the glass prism (it is installed vertically along the side of the sump pump),  and after cleaning the prism with vinegar wash the vinegar off with clear water.  If the prism is hard to get to, get yourself a fairly long stick and attach a dish sponge dish scrubber to the stick and get vinegar on the sponge head either by putting the vinegar on the head or by putting vinegar in the reservoir (if there is one) and make sure that the vinegar gets to the sponge head.  I attached a toothbrush to another stick, and I wash/scrub the vinegar off with water in the sump pump pit.  The problem is that the prism gets dirty over time and thinks that it should start to run due to the dirt on the surface of the prism.  Once the prism is clean, it no longer gets this false signal, and the continuous running stops.  I just had this issue yesterday, and did the above steps, and the pump works just fine now with no more starting and stopping.  You might have to do this about every 6 months to keep the prism clean and stop this continuous on and off running.

Alternative Uses for Materials

I was tickled wit my new blog.  In an effort to keep up your confidence in me finding neat stuff and upholding my reputation, here is some more to add to our blog.

I found an article that discusses alternative or added uses for certain materials.  I will not give you all of them. but I have gone through the list and I am reporting what I think are the best of these ideas, and they are as follows:

• DRYER SHEETS - Use as wipes for kitchen and bath since some of the chemicals  in them are the same as used in various kitchen and bath cleaners - use them instead of mothballs in closets or in boxes of clothes - use them between books on shelves to keep them from becoming musty.
• WEEDS - Use vinegar or boiling hot water  instead of pricey liquid weed killers to kill weeds.  Pickle juice can also be used for weed control.
• PEELS - Use lemon, lime, and orange rinds to shine copper and brass.
• FOIL - wad up tin foil into a ball for cleaning the outdoor grill and stuck on food from pots and pans.
• MESH BAGS - Plastic mesh bags (the kind that oranges and onions come in) make good pot scrubbers.
• DRYER LINT - Use the dryer lint as a fireplace starter.
• SODA CAN TAB - Use them as a picture-hanging hook.
• PLASTIC NEWSPAPER SLEEVES - Use them as disposable work gloves or dog poop bags.

For more ideas, you can go to www.realsimple.com,  www.thedollarstretcher.com, and www.frugalliving.about.com.

                                                      Love,

                                                      Dad

Battery Saving Idea

A friend of mine liked this tip.  If you have a battery in a device that drains the battery when you are not using it (like a clock on a portable radio) and you do not care about what the battery is powering, just reverse the polarity of the battery in the device.  When you need to power the device again, you just reverse the polarity.  This idea does not drain the battery when it is in the device, and you have the battery readily available when you need it.                                                             Love,                                                             Dad

Migraine Medications

Consumer Reports had an article about migraines and  listed prescription options to prevent them including:
Propranolol/Inderal
Timolol/Biocadren
Topiramate/Topamax
Valproate/Depakote
Butterbur - a herb and not a prescription drug
Thought that you might be interested in hearing the latest about migraine prevention..

Have a nice rest of your weekend.

                                                          Love,

                                                          Dad

Keeping Produce Fresh Longer

Mom weighs in!

Recently heard about this from a friend and just found several sites on google which confirm it. Thought you would be interested in this as a way to keep produce fresh longer.
Hope you are having a lovely week-end.
Love,
Mom

http://www.foodlushblog.com/2011/07/the-key-to-preventing-moldy-berries-vinegar.html

Yellow Dot Program

Hi: I do not remember whether or not I told you about this program.  If I have already told you about the program, please excuse the repetition.  We just got our packets and have filled them out, and will mount the yellow dot on our back windshield and put the narrative in our glove compartment today. The program sounds like a good idea.  See links below for how it works.  The program is free, and could save a life. SS, you could put the yellow dot on the back of your motorcycle helmet.  You can get as many packets as you want.  We are putting a copy of mother's and my information in each car since constant passengers in a car should have information about them available also.  There are at least 23 states participating in this program. I picked up our packets at our village hall.  The police departments may also have them. If you have any questions about the program that I can answer, please do let me know. http://www.dot.state.il.us/press/r112211.html http://www.oglecountynews.com/2011/12/30/yellow-dot-program-could-improve-emergency-care/ap4mob9/                                                  Love,                                                  Dad