Rain and cooler-than-usual weather so far in June may have dampened demand for summer items such as sandals, swimwear and beer for retailers already hard put to counter sales declines during the recession.
-June in the Midwest so far is the coldest in six years and has been wetter than normal, but still not close to last year when it was the second wettest in 50 years.
-It is the wettest in 4 years in the U.S. Southeast and U.S. Southwest and the coldest in 42 years in the Southwest, the weather tracking firm said.
-With 15 days of rain in the first 21 days of June, New York City is on track for an all-time record in days and amount, Planalytics said. June is also set to be one of the city's coolest in 50 years, Planalytics added.
Grenon, Andre. ed. Rain, Cool weather dampen U.S June retail sales. 22 June 2009. 22 Mar. 2010
- To date, (June 16, 2009) 34 people have died be lighting
- In 2008 28 people died by lightening strikes
-Hundreds of others were permanently injured. Of victims who were killed by lightening in 2009:
-100% ouside
-82% male
-71% males between the ages of 10-50
-21% doing yard work
-18% going toward a safe shelter
http://www.weather.gov/om/lightning/fatalities.htm -Some good stats...
GOOD SITE:
http://www.weather.gov/om/lightning/index.htm
- Longest lightning bolt: 190 km (118 miles) 2001-10-13.
- Most strikes per year: More than 70 per km² in parts of Central Africa, especially the Democratic Republic of the Congo.[83]
List of weather records. n.d. 22 Mar. 2010 <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_weather_records>.
Picnic Basket-
GOOD WEBSITE INFORMATION: PRICES AND RATINGS OF PICNIC BASKETS
- http://www.picnicrecipesandgames.com/map.php
-http://www.medicinenet.com/script/main/art.asp?articlekey=55654
-http://reviews.macys.com/7129/361666/martha-stewart-willow-picnic-basket-reviews/reviews.htm
-http://www.google.com/products?hl=en&client=firefox-a&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&q=affordable+picnic+baskets&oq=&gs_rfai=&um=1&ie=UTF-8&ei=vD6oS-OjF4aotgPi141s&sa=X&oi=product_result_group&ct=title&resnum=4&ved=0CC0QrQQwAw
-More than 1 in 4 of the hot dogs and sausages consumed on the Fourth originated in Iowa.
-6.8 billion pounds is the total production of cattle and calves in Texas in 1006. There's a good chance that the meat, hot dogs, steaks and hamburgers served at the backyard barbecue comes from Texas. Texas accounts for about one sixth of the nations meat production. . They are followed by Nebraska, which produced 4.8 billion pounds or Kansas, 4.1 billion pounds.
-6 States are the number of states that had a revenue from broiler chickens of $1 billion or greater between December 2005 and November 2006. These six states are Georgia, Arkansas, Alabama, North Carolina, Mississippi or Texas. There's a good chance that the chicken on the grill comes from one of these states.
-About 50 - 50. Are the odds that the beans in the side dish of baked beams coma from North Dakota or Michigan. These two states produced 49 percent of the nations dry, edible beans in 2006.
-Over Half Corn on the cob is another popular Fourth of July side dish. About 60 percent of the sweet corn produced nationally comes from the states of Florida, California, Georgia and New York.
-Nearly half of the nation's potatoes were produced in Idaho or Washington in 2006. Potato Salad and potato chips are popular at summer picnics
Nyholm, Christine. Fourth of July by the numbers Interesting Census Statistics. 23 June 2007. 22 Mar. 2009
ANTS-bugs in food
-The Red Imported Fire Ant builds mounds that are, on average, 10” - 24" in diameter and 18" high.
-They also may extend 6' underground.
-A newly mated queen lays about a dozen eggs. When they hatch 7 to 10 days later, the larvae are fed by the queen. Later on, a queen fed by worker ants can lay up to 800 eggs per day. Larvae develop 6 to 10 days and then pupate. Adults emerge in 9 to 15 days. The average colony contains 100,000 to 500,000 workers and up to several hundred winged forms and queens. Queen ants can live 7 years or more, while worker ants generally live about 5 weeks, although they can survive much longer.
-http://www.safe2use.com/pests/fireants/factoids.htm
How Ants find food. n.d. 22 Mar. 2010 <http://mute-net.sourceforge.net/howAnts.shtml>.
PICNIC PEST POINTERS
Most of us look back on family picnics and outings with fond memories. But let's face it, we also can recall an incident or two when someone got stung by a wasp or routed by an agitated nest of ants. Somewhere in the excitement of our escapes to the great outdoors-stuffing our wagons and campers with a host of supplies-we often forget to pack even a tiny ration of caution and common sense.
So, here are a few tips to remember:
• Give the area a walk-through before unloading. Most serious insect infestations will be obvious.
• Paper wasps and their close relatives live in large paper-like nests usually attached high in bushes and trees.
• Yellow jackets generally make their nests in the ground.
• Remember, wasps, hornets and the like are scavengers and are attracted to food. Keep supplies covered whenever possible and, if necessary, put some "bait" in an area away from where you eat or play.
• With the recent concern about Lyme disease, be more conscious of protecting against ticks. When hiking, consider tucking in pant cuffs and/or using repellents. And, at the end of the day, check each other for ticks.
• Remind the children that any "cute little" squirrel, chipmunk or whatever that seems willing to be picked up is undoubtedly sick or wounded and should be left alone!
• In the unlikely event that you see a snake, leave it in peace. Snakes are among nature's best "pest control operators."
ROTTEN FOOD
-Changing the temperature at which food is stored can prolong the life of food because microbial growth is slower or stopped at high and low temperatures. Microbes grow best within a certain temperature range.
Read more at Suite101: Why Does Our Food Rot? http://www.suite101.com/article.cfm/microbiology/81014#ixzz0j37wJkTz
-The families tossed out an average of 470 pounds of food per year—about 14 percent of all food brought into the home—at an annual cost of $600. Every day, they discarded more than half a pound of fruits and veggies.
-Nationally, we dump $43 billion worth of food every year.
Spoiled Rotten. n.d. 22 Mar. 2009
- Avoid tasting canned food that is soft, deteriorating, fermenting, or doesn't smell right. Even a taste is enough to cause illness. Throw the food away: It is not worth a life-threatening illness. Never taste suspicious foods for any reason.
Food Poisoning and Safety. 2000. California Poison Control Center. 22 Mar. 2010 <http://www.calpoison.com/public/food.html>.
- No more recent figures are available. But the current numbers must be close to 87 million cases, 371,000 hospitalizations and 5,700 deaths, according to an Associated Press calculation that used the CDC formula and current population estimates.
-About 1 in 4 Americans suffer from food poisoning each year.
Food Poison strikes 1 in 4 American a year. 19 Feb. 2009. Associated Press. 22 Mar. 2010
SPILT WINE-
Top 10 Wineries from the U.S. n.d. 22 Mar. 2010 <http://www.americasbestonline.com/winery.html>.
-Top 10 most affordable wines
Chronicler. ed. Ten most affordable Wine, Spectator top 100 wines. 15 Dec. 2008. 22 Mar. 2010
-Best stain removers
1. Oxiclean
2. Tide Stain Brush
3.Tide to Go
4. Spray and wash Dual Power laundry stain remover
5. Oxiclean stain remover wipes
6.Zout Stain remover
7. Spray and Wash Stain stick
8. Shout Gel
9. Bio-Klee Bac Out Stain and Odor Elimation
10. Clorox Bleach Pen
Sarah, Aguirre. Stain Removers Top 10. n.d. 22 Mar. 2010
-In adults, clumsiness is most often acquired, and may reflect an underlying medical problem. Difficulty with vision or the middle ear many manifest itself as clumsiness, as may the onset of neurological diseases or other medical problems with neurological components.
http://www.healthline.com/hlc/clumsiness
Attacking Birds-
- If threatened, a bird will attack anyone or anything adults, children, pets, other wildlife including other birds, even buildings with windows that reflect the bird’s image.
Sprott, Patricia and Frank Mazzotti. “Bird Attacks.” June 1991: N. pag.
Poison Ivy
- About 15 percent of the 120 million Americans who are allergic to poison oak, poison ivy, and poison sumac are so highly sensitive that they break out in a rash and begin to swell in 4 to 12 hours instead of the normal 24 to 48. Their eyes may swell shut and blisters may erupt on their skin. This is one of the few true emergencies in dermatolgy says William L. Epstein, MD. Get to a hosipital as soon as possible. A shot of corticosteroids will bring the swelling down.
-Homeopathic. n.d. 22 Mar. 2009 <http://poisonivy.aesir.com/view/homeopathic.html>.
-Treating Poison Ivy Exposures
If you are exposed, according to the FDA, you should quickly (within 10 minutes):
• first, cleanse exposed areas with rubbing alcohol.
• next, wash the exposed areas with water only (no soap yet, since soap can move the urushiol, which is the oil from the poison ivy that triggers the rash, around your body and actually make the reaction worse).
• now, take a shower with soap and warm water.
• lastly, put gloves on and wipe everything you had with you, including shoes, tools, and your clothes, with rubbing alcohol and water.
-Symptoms of Poison Ivy
After exposure to the leaves, stems, or roots of a poison ivy plant, children develop symptoms of poison ivy within 8 hours to a week or so, including:
• an intensely itchy rash
• red bumps that often are in a straight line or streaks, from where the poison ivy plant had contact with your child's skin
• vesicles and blisters that are filled with fluid
Keep in mind that children exposed to poison sumac and poison oak, other members of the genus Rhus or Toxicodendron, can get these same symptoms that are generically referred to as poison ivy symptoms above.
(Using medical terminology, these children develop rhus dermatitis or allergic contact dermatitis, an intensely pruritic, linear, erythematous, papulovesicular rash after exposure to the urushiol oil in poison ivy.)
Other characteristic signs and symptoms of poison ivy are that the rash will worsen over days or weeks without treatment with steroids, the rash may not go away for up to three weeks without treatment, many children will have worsening symptoms with each exposure, and that some areas of a child's skin that had less exposure to the poison ivy plant will get the rash later than others.
-Identifying Poison Ivy
To identify poison ivy, it is most helpful to look at pictures of poison ivy plants. These pictures demonstrates a lot of things you should look for to help you identify and avoid poison ivy, including:
• three leaflets ('leaves of three, let it be')
• the middle leaflet has a longer stalk (petiole) than the other two
• leaflets are fatter near their base
• elliptical leaflets with slight lobes
• leaflets are all about the same size
• no thorns along the stem
• clusters of green or white berries may be present
• aerial roots may be visible on the stem
Ianalli, Vincint. Poison Ivy Treatment Guide. 1 June 2008. 22 Mar. 2010
Amazing facts! Thanks for taking time in collecting all these information. I so love the bird attacks info. I never knew it's possible.
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