Category Archives: Tips
How To Keep Electric Toothbrush Base Clean – a LearnByBlogging Quick Tip
Clean Coffee and Tea Stain from Mugs / Cups – A LearnByBlogging Quick Tip
Instead of using baking soda or other abrasive tool to remove coffee and tea stain, here is a quick and simple tip to keep the mugs and cups clean. The same technique can be used on cast iron pots with ceramic coating or even the smooth surface of the stove top / tiles, granite counter top.
Where to buy:
The Melamine Sponges can be bought from the below links or Daiso Retail Stores
http://www.daisojapan.com/p-26726-melamine-sponge-16-pcs-20pks.aspx
Mr. Clean Magic Erasers
DIY Codling Moth Traps – How I Made Them
Last year, I made some codling moth traps and I went from almost 90% codling moth infestation the year before to roughly 40% infestation. This year, I’m doing the same thing. In addition, I have sprayed neem oil a couple of times since the end of the last season. I’m hoping for 0% infestation this year. We’ll see.
I have learned from the below youtube videos:
Trap Recipes
Other options:
Sprays:
Wine Barrel Container Pot Belts Dropped – How I Fixed It
Woke up this morning and saw the belts for the wine barrel container pots have come loose and dropped to the ground. In this video, I showed how I fixed it with some help from an ordinary gardening tool.
DIY Curb Ramp – How I Made It
Two years ago, I made my first DIY curb ramp. See here. It worked well. Until now, I had that one and another one I made from concrete mix which is really heavy (> 35 lbs). I am tired of lifting it back and forth whenever I need to use it. So I decided to make another wooden one to make a set. In this video, you’ll see entire process of my making it; some portion were sped up 10x to avoid the boredom of repetitions. Hope you enjoy it. It was fun to be doing this in the pleasant weather of 70F under the sun.
Another Water Burst in My Drip Irrigation System – How I Repaired It
Last Friday (February 20, 2015), we drove out a big banquet right after work to celebrate Chinese New Year – the year of Ram/Goat/Sheep. Upon coming home and getting ready to sleep, I heard the sump pump underneath the bedroom was activated on and off. It hadn’t rained for several weeks already, how could there be enough water for the sump pump to turn on, I asked myself. My heart just dropped when I thought of the word: “burst.” Is it another water pipe burst? It’s the horror of most homeowners as the consequence is normally some kind of serious water damage and a huge water bill. I took my flashlight out to investigate in the cold night in my pajama.
To my relief, there was no standing water outside next to the house but the flower bed was very wet and the lead hose that connects to the drip irrigation valve came off – disconnected. The water had been shut off. Wonderful! The good news was that this happened outside the house – no water damage to the house. The bad news was how long was the water running before it was shut off.
Mmmm, did my good neighbor shut it off? I walked to the front door and saw a note attached to the door handle. Sure enough, my good next-door neighbor had shut it off after seeing the water flowing to the street, pumped out by the sump pump. On the next day, I walked over to thank my good neighbor of the good deed. I would’ve done the same for them too.
In this video, I went over how I re-arranged the sequence of the irrigation valve, the anti-siphon and pressure regulator. Hopefully, this configuration would keep me from encountering the dreaded water burst again, having learned the expensive lesson.