Imagine living in a country where a mosquito bite might not just cause itching but give you a dangerous disease.  Unfortunately, you don’t have to imagine anymore as that could be a possibility in Black Hawk County.  Some chickens were discovered to have West Nile disease and encephalitis and that could mean that mosquitoes are carrying it around right now.  You’ll want to do what you can to protect yourself and your family.  Here are a couple of things that public health officials suggest, courtesy of the Waterloo-Cedar Falls Courier:

•Use insect repellent with DEET, picaridin or oil of lemon eucalyptus.

•Avoid outdoor activities at dusk and dawn when mosquitoes are most active.

•Wear long-sleeved shirts, pants, shoes and socks whenever possible.

•Eliminate standing water around the home, which is a common mosquito breeding ground.

Posted: August 26th, 2009 under Health News, Local News, Show Notes.
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Back in March, I let you know about defects in some Maytag Refrigerators that could cause them to burst into flames.  Fire is definitely the last thing you want in your fridge.   Now that recall has been extended.  More refrigerators have the same electrical defect and are being recalled.  The recall affects some Maytag®, Magic Chef®, Performa by Maytag® and Crosley® brand side-by-side and top freezer refrigerators sold between September of 2000 and May of 2004.  Check out the full recall details here.

Posted: August 26th, 2009 under Recalls, Show Notes.
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Bobbi shares how she was able to support her husband after surgery through the support and help with her kids she received from Mary.

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Posted: August 21st, 2009 under Friend for Life.
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Schedules for kids are a good thing.  You know that when the kids get off the schedule, especially for sleep, things just go crazy.  Yesterday, Amy took our 9 month old Bekah with her to work at the church office.  While Bekah had fun, she didn’t get her regular nap schedule in.  Instead, she and Mom crashed out on the couch when they got home.  And later that evening, Amy put her to bed.  The problem was the an hour and half later, she woke up, thinking her nap was over.  This wasn’t just confusion; she was convinced and wide awake.  So while Amy and I were just crawling into bed and tired, we hung out with Bekah and read some books.  She was full of energy and fun, laughing, playing, and crawling over everything.  So while I was frustrated that I wasn’t asleep, I couldn’t be mad at her.  This doesn’t bode well.

Posted: August 20th, 2009 under Life at the Lansers', Show Notes.
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It’s easy to dread going down to your basement.  There’s all that stuff down there that you don’t have a use for, but have no way of getting rid of.  And you know every time you go down there, that broken treadmill is going to stare you down.  Thankfully, Waterloo holds an annual cleanup day, where they cut down the charges and allow you to haul a wide variety of odd stuff to the dump.  This year it’s on September 12th, which now that I think about it, might be a good time to get rid of that oven with a broken glass stovetop that’s sitting in my basement.

Posted: August 20th, 2009 under Local News, Show Notes.
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