Your driveway is more than a ribbon of pavement between your garage and the street. Your driveway is often the first thing visitors see when they arrive. Create a good first impression that will welcome visitors by making sure it looks its best.

The following tips stop short of actually replacing the surface. But it’s about more than the actual surface you park the car on. These Driveway Dress-up Tips include the surrounding area and can add a fresh look to a tired driveway:

Roadside Assessment. The first thing to do is to have a good look at what you have, what you like, and what you don’t like. But to be most effective, view it from the road at the end of your driveway – the way visitors will see it.
Widen it with Stone. A great way to add appeal and increase the surface area of your driveway is to add a border down one or both sides of your drive using natural stone, manmade pavers, bricks, etc. The added width can really make a difference.
Add Some Greenery. Foliage can create an interesting border for your driveway that's sure to attract attention. Mix plant types, add some colour and sweet fragrances – maybe even a rock garden. But stay away from high plants or hedges that can block little ones’ view and be a hazard.
Add Lights. Illuminate your landscape with some soft lighting. There are lots of designs available, but pay special attention to solar-powered options which can save electricity and the hassle of wires through your garden/lawn. Just be careful not too overdo it and leave it looking like a runway.
Display Some Art. A trellis, birdbath, water fountain or garden sculpture in a side garden can provide a fresh new focal point – much more inviting than the garage door.
Reshape it. Consider using more than one of the above tips to reshape your driveway. By breaking from the norm of simple borders that run parallel with the driveway, you can create visual curves and bends that add pizzazz and curb appeal.

Backyard pools, while providing hours of entertainment during the hot summer months, can be dangerous. Tragically, most drownings and injuries in backyard pools involve children and young adults, but often for different reasons …

Children who drowned usually gained easy access to the pool or were left unsupervised, while young adults are often injured while diving. In fact, one in three diving incidents happens in backyard pools. Spinal injuries occur most often when diving into water less than five feet deep and on the victim’s first dive. In most cases, neither the victim nor the pool owner recognized diving as a risky activity.

To avoid tragic incidents in your backyard pool, remember these simple guidelines from the Red Cross:
• Tell visitors the pool rules
• Always supervise
• Use personal flotation devices, not toys for support
• Encourage feet first entries
• No one should ever dive into an above ground pool
• Do not wear earplugs; they can add dangerous pressure as you descend
• Keep safety equipment nearby
• Alcohol and pools don’t mix

Good fences are just as important as pool rules. Check to make sure your fence meets your municipality’s requirements for height and safety. Remember, preventing access to your pool could save a life. www.redcross.ca

Barbeques are alight across our land, as backyard chefs don all manner of aprons and apply their tried and true methods to win the hearts of those they feed. Some say it’s an art, others, a science. Many won’t share their secrets – perhaps handed down through generations. Some want the whole world to know how they do it.

Whether you are a Beginner Barbecuer or a Grilling Grandmaster, check out these BBQ secrets for success:

Trim the Fat - Trim excess fat off your meat before grilling to reduce flare-ups from drippings and prevent charred meat.

Don’t Poke - Poking and stabbing meat while barbequing will cause the juices that keep your meat moist and tender to ooze out. Use tongs to turn food rather than piercing it with a fork.

Kebab Success – Cut your meat into even-sized pieces when skewering to make sure all pieces are done at the same time.

Prevent Toughness – If applied to early, salt can draw out the moisture in meat and make it tough and dry. Apply salt just before putting it on the grill.

BBQ Pizza – Start by letting the crust get a little toasted, then remove to add pizza sauce, cheese, etc. and put back on the grill until the cheese is melted.

Great Veggies - Lightly coat cut-up vegetables with olive oil and sprinkle with your favourite herbs and spices. Works well on squash, tomatoes, eggplant, zucchini, beets, asparagus, potatoes and others.

Juicy Burgers - Do not flatten burgers out with a spatula while grilling, as this causes flavourful juices to escape and results in dry burgers.

Sweet Sauces Last - When grilling meat, apply sweet basting sauces made with sugar, honey or syrup during the last few minutes of grilling to prevent burning.

Savory Sauces Anytime – When using mustard, teriyaki and other savoury sauces that don’t have high sugar content, apply throughout the grilling process for added depth of flavour.

No Twist – To help keep food from twisting as you turn your kebabs and ensure even grilling of each piece, use the flat bladed type of skewers.

Bake Bread - To make bread in your grill use the highest rack. But keep a close eye on it because bread cooks up to twice as fast in the BBQ as compared to the oven.

“Have a vision not clouded by fear.”
~ Cherokee proverb

Gas powered lawnmowers are the most popular choice for lawn owners across Canada. We know how conveniently and effectively they handle the task. But did j’a know about the many downsides of using a gas-powered mower?

Check out these info tidbits about the pollution and health risks associated with gas powered mowers and some facts about alternatives:

• Each summer weekend, about 2.7 million Canadians mow their lawns, using 180 million liters (40 million gallons) of gasoline a year.

• Using a typical gas-powered mower produces 48 kilograms of Greenhouse Gasses in one season and as much air pollution as a car driven 550 kilometers.

• A gasoline-powered lawnmower run for an hour puts out about the same amount of smog-forming emissions as 40 new automobiles run for an hour.

• One old, gas-powered lawn mower running for an hour emits as much pollution as driving 650 miles in a 1992-model automobile.

• In an hour's mowing, twenty-six different polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) were found in the exhaust of the mowers, including 100 micrograms of benzopyrenes, which have been mentioned as a carcinogen in cigarette smoke.

• An EPA study found that approximately 9 percent of some types of air pollutants nationwide come from lawn and garden equipment small engines. In metropolitan areas, the concentration of lawns causes this percentage to increase, in some instances to 33%.

• The concern about toxic pollutants emitted by gas mowers is heightened due to the concentrations experienced by the operator.

• Avoid mowing your lawn with a gas-powered mower on hot summer days, especially when there is a Smog Alert.

• In Britain, more than 70% of lawn mowers sold are electric.

• The energy cost for an electric mower is typically no more than $5.00 per year.

• Cordless electric mowers offer noise levels about half those of their gas-powered counterparts.

• Push mowers available today are light weight at only 16 to 30 pounds versus the 40 to 60 pound models of the past.

Dog Days of Summer

Example – “There is nothing like lounging by the pool now that the dog days of summer are here."

Meaning – Dog Days is the name for the sultry period of summer from about July 3 to August 11 – the time of year generally considered to be the hottest days of the year in the northern hemisphere.

Origin – Early European star-gazers imagined and drew various images of animals in their night sky by “connecting the dots” of stars. These animal ‘star pictures’ are now called constellations, and they include bears, (Ursa Major and Ursa Minor), a bull, (Taurus), dogs, (Canis Major and Canis Minor), among others.

The brightest star in summer's night sky happens to be Sirius in Canis Major (the big dog). Sirius became known as the “dog star”. From the beginning of July to mid-August, Sirius rises and sets with the sun, and the ancients believed that its heat added to the heat of the sun, creating a stretch of hot and sultry weather, the “dog days” of summer.

Tea Games
Ben, age 12, says, “This site is full of sports and action games from skateboarding to mini golf and paintball! There is something for everyone! Plus the games are appropriate for all ages and there isn’t any blood.”

Pearl Hunt
Dougie, age 10, says, “You try and fill your treasure chest with pearls. It’s fun! I loved both the game and the characters, especially Woody, CC Boat and the Turtles. Try it for yourself.”

Summertime is Fun-time
Mom Joan, age (not saying), says, “We came across this site and have found that it was a great source of ideas for summer fun. There are a number of games and various activities. Really great selection!”

Fun at the Beach
Anne, age 8, says, “Mom and Dad and I and my brother Greg went to this site so we could make a list of the stuff we were going to do when we got to Cavendish Beach. But you can do these things at just about any beach. Some things you don’t even need a beach for!”

You can change how the files you have available appear in a folder by clicking on View then choosing between Thumbnails, Tiles, Icons, List or Details.

Thumbnail can be ideal for viewing image files – allowing you to see a small image of the file before opening. List is a great solution for a large volume of well-organized files. Try them all to see which one suits your needs.

Screws That Stay
Generally speaking, screws are better than nails when it comes to holding power and staying power – unless the screw works itself loose. Usually, a reoccurring loose screw is the result of movement in the wood it’s screwed into. Whenever possible, cure the source – find out what moves, why it moves, and fix that.

If the above doesn’t completely cure the problem, or if you want to make sure a screw can’t be removed for security reasons, try these options;

Non-removable Screws - Special screws are available with heads that can only be used to insert the screw. The reverse side of the socket on the head has been removed to prevent a screwdriver’s head from grabbing on anything.
Epoxy – Special two-part wood/metal epoxies are available that can be used in a pilot hole to firmly lock a screw in place.
Serrated Teeth – Special screws with barbed or serrated teeth are available to prevent a screw from backing out of a hole.
Strip the Head – After the screw is properly seated used a drill bit to remove the sockets from the screw’s head.
Lock Washers – Intended to be used with nuts and bolts, lock washers can do the same job with screws, too. Consider them when the application calls for a round-headed screw and washer.

“I didn't attend the funeral, but I sent a nice letter saying I approved of it.” ~ Mark Twain

“Don't play too much golf. Two rounds a day is plenty.” ~ Harry Vardon

“A vacation is what you take when you can no longer take what you've been taking.”  ~ Earl Wilson

“Reality is nothing but a collective hunch.” ~ Lily Tomlin