Saturday, March 21, 2009

Theme post: Cheap Gadget I had to Buy

Today is a theme post called 'Cheap Gadgets I had to Buy'.

Please check out my other two blogs to see what cheap gadgets I bought for the house and kitchen.
These are called 'watering cones'. You attach a 1 or 2 liter plastic bottle filled with water to the 'watering cone' and it is suppose to slowly water the 'root zone' of your plant. I thought these would be great for fertilizing my tomato plants. I use fish emulsion which you mix with water and then pour onto the soil around your plant. As you might guess, it's not the best smelling solution, but given the choice I would rather smell composted manure than fish emulsion. But nothing works better than fish emulsion and an added bonus is that it is a non chemical organic fertilizer.

The price was $3.99 for 6 'watering cones' and I purchased 2 packages. Why did they name them 'watering cones'? I think 'watering spikes' make more sense. I bet I know. Look closely at the bottom left corner.I think they felt 'spikes' sounded too dangerous. And of course one cannot be too cautious so they added yet another warning on the back.
Wear safety goggles when setting up the product? And notice not just any goggles but ANSI goggles. And if that is not enough warnings to scare you off they add that last little line...SAVE THESE WARNINGS.

So far none of those warnings scare me. Goggles, well if I must, I'll throw on a pair of cheap sunglasses. SAVE THESE WARNINGS??? Yea right, I'll add it to all the mattress tags I've ripped off.

What I find REAL SCARY is MADE IN CHINA. I wonder what poisonous materials these 'watering cones' are made out of????? Malamine or maybe lead?

Sunday, March 1, 2009

Time for Spring

Time is the theme of my three blogs today.

It is time for spring. This winter has been brutal. So looking forward to tulips and daffodils.

If you live in the eastern time zone do not forget to 'spring ahead'. I prefer to 'fall back' rather than 'spring ahead'. 'Spring ahead' sounds like too much work. 'Fall back' sounds like gravity is doing all the work and you are just along for the ride.

The actual time for the start of daylight saving time is 2am March 8th 2009. Also don't forget to change the batteries in your smoke detectors and programmable thermostats.

Personally I wish they would leave the time allow. Here in the Midwest we have 2 time zones and with some states not fully participating in daylight saving time. In the state of Indiana certain areas have daylight saving time and some do not. This makes traveling to a race and arriving on time very difficult.

Daylight savings time has destroyed the drive in movie theater industry. We still have several in this area and R and I try to go once a summer. Every time we go the drive in it is packed. People set up lawn chairs, some picnic, kids have sparklers, and of course there is always someone with a few illegal fireworks (surprisingly not R!!).

Back in the day...R and I could sit through both movies. Now it is 1 movie and afterwards one of us usually has to ask the other how the movie ended because one of us was asleep for the ending. But if they had not enacted daylight savings time I can guarantee you that we both would see the ending. Of course making it through a second movie without falling asleep is not going to happen no matter what they do to the time.

It the mean time until spring arrives I look at photos in books of plants, gardens, and garden ideas.

Here's my latest garden book acquisition.