Mosquito Dunks kill Honey Bees

The City of Dallas is spraying for West Nile again this year. It kills bees too as do the mosquito dunks placed in standing pools and bird baths. With Honey Bee survival often in the news these days and everyone wanting to help save them I would think it would be easy to find a beekeeping specialist to remove the hive and insects. However, it is costly leaving extermination the only option for most.

Texas Honeybee Guild, save residential colonies from extermination, but what if the bees are in the wall of a brick home?  Friends of mine paid $500 the first time to have the wall torn into to get the hive. When the bees returned a second year they had the the bees exterminated and were not happy about having to do that. This week the bees are back for a third time in the same spot on the brick wall as previous years. I decided to investigate and this is what I found.

"After the comb is removed, wash the walls with either ammonia or bleach to remove the pheromones the bees have put on the wood and in the wax left in the wood. The removal of these pheromones reduces the potential for attracting the bees back to this wall."

Lets hope this works to help the bees to make better choices ; )

Repel Mosquitos Naturally

I simply cannot stand Mosquitos buzzing around me, drives me crazy. Last year I tried the Deet Free Mosquito Patch from AgraCo.  Basically it is 300 mg Thiamin B1. Mosquito's do not like it. It stays in the system for 36 hours (you can remove the patch after 24 hrs.) I do not know how much Thiamin B1 you would have to consume if taking the vitamin orally. I thought I read somewhere last year that the U.S. military used this patch in jungle situations because that is what convinced me to try it. It worked for me. Granted it was the end of the season, but I did not have a swarm buzzing around my head (and that drove me crazy) in the garden.

"AgraCo Technologies' new Mosquito Patch is a unique, safe and natural way to repel mosquitoes, gnats and flies. There are no chemicals, pesticides or insecticides in the patch. It contains 300 mg. of Vitamin B1 (Thiamin)."

Spawn Till You Die

Today I was searching through my closet for some T-shirts that were 100 percent cotton with NO spandex. All cotton shirts can be difficult to find nowadays with skin-tight fashions that add polyester and spandex for a close fit and easy care. You cannot imagine how hot just a few percent of tight synthetic fibers can make you feel when it is already 103 degrees Fahrenheit and humid outside. Then I found them, the art shirts, the shirts we can't part with.  All designed by Alaskan Artist Ray Troll.

"About “fin” artist Ray Troll:
From his tree lined studio, high on a hill above the Tongass Narrows in rain-swept Ketchikan Alaska, Ray Troll draws & paints fishy images that migrate into museums, books and magazines and onto t-shirts sold around the planet. Basing his quirky, aquatic images on the latest scientific discoveries, Ray brings a street-smart sensibility to the worlds of ichthyology & paleontology.

 Ray moved to Alaska in 1983 to spend a summer helping his big sister Kate start a seafood retail store. The fish store is long gone but Ray is not. There's something about Alaska that has led four of the Troll siblings to call the state ‘home’. . ."

His first T-shirt from handmade silk screens, "Let's Spawn."

Turned into this . . .

To setting up a gallery and selling billions of shirts and art posters. The designs below are my favorite from the early 90's when our friend T.J. Tremmel had a T-shirt Gallery down the street from us and we discovered Troll's beautiful art of nature and humor.

Troll says of his Amazon mural the "Natural History magazine used the mural on its  cover in September of 2001. It was my very first national magazine cover, but as fate would have it the tragedy of 9/11 happened and it got lost in the chaos of those times."

What is cool now? Helicoprion Exhibit this summer in Pocatello, Idaho. Here are a couple of design examples. The others are much more bizarre.

Lastly, I love getting to read the descriptions of how a design came into being.

"HAPPY HOUR IN HELL
100 percent cotton, pre-shrunk, heavyweight T-shirt. Front print.

Shirt color: Black

I’ve had the immense pleasure of playing music with my band in the Voodoo Room down in Astoria, Oregon over the last few years as part of the annual Fisher Poet’s Gathering. A couple of year’s ago I did a poster for one of our gigs there depicting a flaming human skull sporting a top hat.

A couple years before that Tony Martin had come out to give a few lectures at Emory University in Georgia. While I was there Tony and his wife Ruth regaled me with tales of the dark legend of Emory University and Dooley, the Lord of Misrule.

So that’s how this one came to be spawned. I adapted to the poster to fit the mood I’m in when I need that one last drink very badly!"

Good idea.

Cat Breading (?)

Is this better than cat bearding? Another cat fad from Europe. It does frame the face of the feline. These pics are from Portugal (I think). I don't know why, but I really like these.

Here is a tutorial.

Tortillas work, especially when made to look like a hat. You can "bread" any animal I suppose. No one would think twice if you breaded a bird (see below).

To me this looks more natural. My birds receive a piece of 9-grain seed bread, toasted, every morning (or they will remind you all day if you forget). I have seen them chew through the middle of their toast but not stick their heads through. This is a Bourke's parakeet and they have a lovely sound.

Cat beards

I keep trying to ignore them but I can't. Using a cat to look like you have a beard is bothersome to some, but when they work and you know the person and their cat they can be quiet - well an roll-your-eyes moment if nothing else. These are some examples from Hauspanther.com.

It might be that someone saw this photo and it was inspiration for a cat beard.

The beard images keep on going in search, they are much more creative and creepy.

Somewhere in Europe . . .

Okay, I need to stop now.

TED Talk - Creative Inventor Video Heartwarming

There is a TED video, "How to Give a Killer Presentation" on the Harvard Business Review and I found it not so much about giving a Powerpoint presentation, but the story of creativity and invention.

TED video link

Richard Turere

A little more than a year ago, on a trip to Nairobi, Kenya, some colleagues and I met a 12-year-old Masai boy named Richard Turere, who told us a fascinating story. His family raises livestock on the edge of a vast national park, and one of the biggest challenges is protecting the animals from lions—especially at night. The whole articles is in the Harvard Business Review or you can view it on TED and read Richard's bio on TED Talks.

I was looking for lightening inspiration and insight through the diagrams search on Google Images.

This caught my eye in an article about group formations. So I looked for other interesting looking articles.

I found a lovely site called boxesandarrows.com. As a creative person I was caught by this title of an article by Dave Feldman. As a visual person I look for pictures - Dave you need more pictures for us visual communicators.

A Truly Ambitious Product Idea: Making Stuff for People

I am always looking for a tool to organize myself and Dave has an app called "Stky." It looked good, and then came the kicker "It is now available for iPhone or iPod Touch." Okay, that leaves me out even thought I have always wanted an iPhone I can't justify the expense of any smart phone in my life right now. Every time I buy something I have to read a manual and that doesn't happen. I did continue reading the article and found that Dave put down in words something I have been trying to describe for months. "Do we want to add additional management overhead to an app for disorganized people? Probably not." That is me, I am the disorganized people he is talking about in the Product Mantra portion of his article. It takes me more time fussing with the technology of organization and reminders than if I use a Post-It. I enjoyed the blog and I never finish reading anything all the way through.

When Dave wraps up he does say that technology is great as long as it is made so people can use it.

"It’s important to make stuff. But it only matters if we make stuff, for people."

My collies are smart, they would probably use an app that dispensed dog biscuits.

(Excuse for another picture)

Maggie & Gracie

I get it now, Stky (Sticky). Ugh.