Karen’s Opinion

There is a monument down the road from our house that is always well maintained. Someone has planted pretty flowers in red, white and blue colors around the base of the monument which makes me think that this memorial means something to someone. I did some research and discovered that it pays tribute to the U.S. armed forces. These monuments were placed as early as 1945 after World War II. The blue star was used on service flags to denote a service member fighting in the war. After reading an article on Wikipedia, I am interested to know why our area was chosen for such an honor. What is the criteria? The original signs were placed by the National Council of State Garden Clubs. I have a friend who is a member of our local garden club. I am going to ask her if she knows anything about the sign in our county. Anyway, it is honoring our servicemen and our county is honored by those who have and are serving.

It is so sad that many people are having trouble paying their utility bills. In fact, some have resorted to using space heaters to keep smaller areas of their home warm. Use of these types of heaters is a dangerous proposition.

My regular readers know that my husband and I own a carpet business. I have been online in search of some carpet cleaning information for a client who has fire damage. I ran across a restoration service company that had some interesting information besides information on carpet cleaner products Austin.

Did you know that much of the material found in furniture, flooring, and appliances is synthetic. When burned, synthetics create a variety of complex chemical reactions. After a few days, these items go from cleanable to unsalvageable. One should not rely solely on fire damage insurance Austin but prepare their household to ward against accidental incidents such as fire.

If one is forced into a situation where running a space heater is your only option, it is wise to keep curtains and other combustible items away from space heaters.

While getting information on how to clean carpet, I also found useful information on how to tackle the horrible job of getting rid of pet urine. Their recommendation of a carpet cleaning extractor Austin is one of which I agree. They readily admit that at best, this may not solve the problem. Pet urine is the worse problem I come across in my daily dealings with carpet. I love my animals as much as the next person though so I know that it is a problem that is not easy to solve.

I hope that gives everyone some helpful information with which to start the new year.

Have you ever heard of Duckpin Bowling? I never had until a friend was telling me that she and her family played. There is only one place in Indiana where you can play and that is at Fountain Square.

As described at Fountain Square’s website:

the game was born in Baltimore, Maryland in 1900 and it was one of Babe Ruth’s favorite games! Ten-pin bowling used to strictly be a winter sport and most alleys closed during the summer except for a few that remained open to play odd bowling games using the smaller balls. Summer bowlers suggested that it might be interesting to trim the standard pins down to match the size of the small ball. Because it was much harder to get strikes and spares, the rules were changed to allow three bowls on each turn but only counted as a score of ten if all ten pins were knocked down with the third ball. Duckpins became so popular that during the 1920′s duckpin bowling spread along the east coast, from New England to Georgia. Today duckpin houses are still found only in the eastern states with the exception of our two locations here in Fountain Square, the only authentic Duckpin Bowling in the Midwest!

We might have to try this after the Butler ballgame this afternoon.

We do not have earthquakes very often here in the mid-west so it was a real shock to feel one this morning. I was helping my daughter in-law assess the situation of a sick dog and the mess on the carpet when the house began to shake. At first we thought it was a big truck going down the road in front of the house but when it lasted longer than a few seconds, we thought it was a sonic boom. The news caster on the local radio station said we had just experienced a 4.2 earthquake. That was later revised to a 3.2. No damage has been reported. Shew!

As for the mess with the sick dog; our son and daughter in-law’s dog had eaten some bones out of the kitchen trash on the day after Christmas. He was feeling the effects from the food and was experiencing diarrhea and vomiting blood. It was a horrific mess. I got the award for being the only one able to clean it up without loosing her cookies. My husband was gagging. He is a wimp. The dog got a trip to the vet who said he would be fine. The kids came home with the dog, cans of soft dog food and Pepto Bismol tablets. The dog is very energetic now and the kid’s wallet is a bit lighter.

Oh yeah, the carpet came out good as new. I love my Green Machine!