Tag Archives: travel

Stopping Common Indoor Bugs

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The common indoor bugs we see anywhere in the world are flies, spiders, fleas and beetles. No-one likes to have insects indoors, so most people go to just about any extremes to eradicate these common indoor bugs. Less common indoor bugs may be woodlice, earwigs, scorpions and millipedes or centipedes, although they are no less unwelcome.

No matter where you are in the world, it is very hard to keep these common indoor bugs outside, unless you go to the extremes of keeping all your windows and doors shut at all times, which is quite impossible. I now live in Thailand and I know for certain that this is not an option.

So, just what can you do about it? Well, let’s sort out all the flying insects first, because of all the common indoor bugs, I think they are the most unpleasant indoor bug. They are very irritating, buzzing around your head and mosquitoes and other flies can produce irritating sores and besides that, all flies carry disease. I cannot bear to see them walking on food, knowing that they have more than likely just come off some dog’s muck somewhere and now they are spitting on my food to taste it with their stinking feet!

My first line of defence is fine-mesh door and widow screens. They are not dear and can be fitted retrospectively to any window. My window meshes slide, so they can cover only one half of a window at a any one time, but I do not think that’s a problem. You can still create cross-winds, by opening two or more windows at opposite sides of a room. I love to see the flies on the mesh struggling to get in by day and the mosquitoes doing the same by night. At night, it is best to switch on as little light indoors as possible so as not to draw these common indoor bugs.

My second line of defence is natural predators – lizards, like Geckos (Jin Jok, in Thai). Some people don’t like them in the house much either and I can’t say that I’m all that keen on them indoors myself, but they are hard to keep outside and they do eat hundreds, if not thousands, of indoor bugs every day. I particularly like to see them lying in wait on the outside of the mesh, ready to jump on any bug trying to struggle its way through the wires.

My third line of defence is a handheld bug zapper. You know, the electric, handheld bug zapper that looks like a toy tennis racquet. The come in two forms: battery and rechargeable kinds. They are brilliant at catching and destroying any flying indoor bug. The bug literally explodes and vaporizes on contact with the fully-charged wires of the indoor bug zapper. If you haven’t tried using one, you really should. They are most gratifying. These three defences keep our house quite much free of flying insects.

The creeping common indoor bugs are less of a problem really. Door screens on self-closers will keep 95% of them out and the Geckos will help too. Spiders can get in fairly easily, but then, I don’t mind them too much as long as they keep out of my way, as they eat other insects too. They are on our side to be honest. However, for those who can not bear to trap them and throw them outside, the handheld indoor bug zapper works well on spiders too.

Fleas can sometimes be a problem, if you keep cats or dogs, but then if you wash or dust the animal once a month, you should be able to keep these common indoor bugs under control fairly easily. However, there are two final measures that we employ. Every week, before we go out for the day, we spray every room with fly killer and every six-months we spray any rugs or carpets with a bug killer containing permethrin, which will survive washing and vacuuming for that long without losing its ability to kill common indoor bugs on contact. If you stick with these methods, you will be able to keep your home or office quite free of the most common indoor bugs and the less common indoor bug as well.

Have you ever heard of an indoor bug zapper? If you haven’t, or if you want to get an indoor bug zapper, just click one of the links to our website or blog.

The Premier Charter Yacht To Cruise In Alaska: Choose Alaska Yacht Charters:

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Alaska Yacht Charters is “quite simply the best crewed yacht charter in Alaska.” While viewing the wildlife of Alaska, seals, sea otters, sea lions, eagles, orcas, deer, brown and black bears and perhaps even wolves and mountain goats, you will not only eat salmon, halibut, crab and shrimp, but if you choose, you will catch them. With Alaska Yacht Charters is you will see whales and dolphins so close that you will reach out as if to touch them- all of this in luxury, comfort and safety.

Alaska Yacht Charter’s Alaskan Story is large and comfortable with great visibility and spacious, comfortable common areas for sightseeing, reading, visiting, listening to music, viewing videos, or just relaxing. The four guest staterooms are below deck, each with head and shower ensuite. All of the staterooms have hanging lockers and ample storage. The aft two staterooms have walk-a-round Queens and the forward two each have two twin beds.

The Alaskan Story can comfortably seat 10 persons in the enclosed aft deck. The covered side walkways lead to a large forward decks where there is additional seating. The Alaskan Story is powered by powerful diesel engines, which allow her to cruise at 10 – 12 knots and considerably more if necessary. She has two of everything to make certain that your experience will not be affected by mechanical malfunctions. Her broad beam and Naiad stabilizers make her a very comfortable yacht. The Story has a 17-foot Boston Whaler and a 14-foot inflatable and each is powered by new four- stroke outboards. The Whaler is equipped with downriggers and a fish-finder. For those who prefer to fish from the Mother ship the Alaskan Story has a cockpit, which also has downriggers.

In 2006 the Story, a 90-foot Westport, got an all-new teak interior and most of the machinery was replaced or rebuilt. She is “better than new.” She has two new generators producing 110 and 220v AC and a water-maker, which makes up to 1200 gallons of water a day. Alaska Yacht Charter’s Alaskan Story truly provides all the comforts of the nicest of homes.

After a lengthy evaluation process Alaska Yacht Charters has been awarded a permit for Glacier Bay National Park. The Alaskan Story is one of only four yachts over 65 feet allowed to charter from June through August within the waters of the crown jewel of the our national park system. The National Park Service made its selections based on the financial strength, experience and environmental sensitivity of the competing charter companies. We are honored to be able to offer this experience to our guests.

Southeast Alaska is what we do. It is all that we do. We know where the whales, bears, sea lions, dolphins, puffin, eagles, salmon and halibut were last year and where they will be your week. Alaska Yacht Charter is simply the best and most experienced charter company in Southeast Alaska. If you have any questions please give me a call. I would be pleased to provide you with references from former clients, including some from your area. If you are looking for a charter yacht in Alaska choose us.

Is it time for an unforgettable Alaska Yacht Charter adventure? Let us help you discover the unique beauty of Alaska right before your eyes. Visit http://www.alaskanstory.com right now for more information on your ultimate getaway.

Caribbean Cruises

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People work harder these days than ever before. If not physically harder then longer hours and we deserve a break from that once in a while. The majority of us go on holiday and we look forward to it months in advance and we plan for it even further ahead. Where do you like to go or what do you like to do? I personally prefer to go on a cruise and a Caribbean cruise is a good option.

People think a cruise, specially a Caribbean cruise as being expensive, and cruise operators want to maintain that elite image, but I see the cruise as being an up-market all inclusive holiday. Probably, it is the first all inclusive holiday, because once you walk up and off that gang plank, everything aside from drinks is free. Everything and everything is first class hotel style too! We are not talking pizza and chips here, but five or six course meals and five or six times a day.

It is common knowledge, that if you go on a cruise you can expect to gain a pound or two a week (I put on five pounds on my last cruise), unless you do some exercise. What exercise? Cruise liners have swimming pools and gymnasiums! Not only one but several. Some even set aside a deck for jogging at certain times of the day. There really is no justification for not exercising on a Caribbean cruise.

Caribbean cruise liners provide more sports facilities than just gymnastics too. In fact, except for horse riding, I think that most sports are catered for. Basketball, volleyball, swimming, clay pigeon shooting, fishing, bird watching … You name it. Caribbean cruise liners also have Internet connections, games machines and full office amenities. During the evenings there are first class shows, often two a night, films in a cinema and a casino.

If you have never been on a Caribbean cruise, it is difficult to explain the amount of luxury that is on offer. It is more than a first class hotel. In a first class hotel, you pay first class prices for everything too, but on a Caribbean cruise liner, everything but drinks is free and even drinks are cheap because they are duty-free. The cruise liner will have a store too where everything it sells is duty free!

Some Caribbean cruises are themed and it is worth remembering this fact. Also some times of the year, especially early February are foreseeable. I once naively went on a Caribbean cruise for a fortnight which spanned St Valentine’s day. I was a single man then and the other 1200 were amorous couples. There was only one single woman on the cruise and there was no rapport between us. I did not not enjoy that Caribbean cruise, because people took we under their wing, but it made me think about the time of year when I next booked up.

Caribbean cruises, especially the better ones, will fill up quickly, so this is one holiday that you really ought to book well in advance. A year in advance is not too early. I like to book my Caribbean cruise a year in advance, but put my name down for any last minute cancellations, in case I can pick up a bargain.

Owen Jones, the writer of this article, writes on many subjects, but is currently involved with St Croix Hotels. If you are interested in St Croix Vacation Rentals in the US Virgin Islands, please click through to our site.

The Ancient Roots Of Barry, South Wales: Part 2.

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In the 18th. Century evidence of Neolithic man was discovered in the form of dishes, saws, knives, flints, a scraper, a prehistoric horn celt with obscure markings, a spokeshave and some arrowheads, amongst other things. Unfortunately, although these things reside safely in the Museum of Cardiff, no one thought it worth excavating at the time and now residences stand on the sites.

An ancient Roman kitchen, complete with remains and utensils underwent a similar fate. In 1533, Leland was made the Kings Antiquary and was directed to make a tour of all places where records were held. This took him nine years and his description of the island was:

“It is about a mile in circumference and has good corn, grass and some wood, and there is no dwelling on the Island, but in the midst of it is a fair little Chapel of St. Baruch which is visited by many pilgrims. It took the name Barri from this holy man who was buried there and whose remains are yet on the Island”. (The Welsh name for Barry is Y Barri).

Vikings ravaged the coast of South Wales in the tenth century. They often took hostages from the monasteries, but they did not seem to want to live in the area. For a long tim, the island was known as the “Saints’ Retreat” or the “Island of Saints”. Afterwards, in the sixteenth century, it was inhabited by smugglers and pirates and was called the “Smugglers’ Fortress”. This became serious as it grew simultaneously with the rise of Bristol, Britain’s second largest port.

Barry Island soon became the centre of piracy and smuggling in the Bristol Channel. In 1784, the island became known as the “Fortress of Knight”. Knight was the most prolific pirate and smuggler in the channel and people were to terrified to speak out in court against him., although he was also considered a bit of a local hero. His armed ship was called ‘John O’ Combe’. He was eventually forced out to Lundy, which he also fortified. He and his successor, Arthur, returned to Barry so frequently that H.M. Customs asked the government to station a cutter in Penarth and 60 troops to Barry.

The small seaside village of Rhoose, five miles from Barry, was so well-known for its wreckers that George II sent troops to break up them up. They landed at Aberthaw, just up the coast a bit further, “the Rhoose men’s favourite landing zone, from where they could easily transport the contraband along Port Road to Cardiff, the main market for such things”. While digging out for the docks at Barry in the late nineteenth century, several large caves were filled in. They had probably been used by the pirates who were moved on in about 1850.

If you are interested in Welsh corgi puppies, or Wales in general, visit our website at Welsh Products Online

Electric Bug Zapper

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If you aren’t already acquainted with the hand held bug killer, you are really going to like it and if you have had one before, I’m sure you’ll welcome it back like an old pal! The electric bug zapper does just what it says it does: it zaps bugs. But it does it really, very well.

Any insect that comes into contact with the hand held bug zapper is fried. Smaller bugs like gnats and mosquitoes are vaporized with a very satisfying flash and a crack. Larger bug, like house flies and wasps die, but don’t explode like the smaller ones.

Think about it, how many times have these flying insects taken the edge off an otherwise enjoyable evening in the garden? Or how many times have you not been able to get a decent night’s sleep, because you know there’s at least one mosquito in the bedroom. It has happened to me hundreds of times, I know! It is very gratifying to get your own back with the electric insect zapper.

I don’t relish killing anything without just reason – I’m married to a Buddhist- but mosquitoes? I’m sorry, they have to go. And the hand held insect killer does it without any more ado. No waiting and hoping they’ll fly into the ultraviolet light and then into the mesh. No, one swish of the handheld insect zapper and the mosie’s gone and you can hear whether you killed her or not. (I say her, because the sucking mosquitoes always are females – honest, I wasn’t being sexist).

There are two basic sorts of hand held bug killer. There’s the battery operated bug zapper and the rechargeable electric bug zapper. Both work on the same principle, but I prefer the rechargeable type, although I guess you could use rechargeable batteries too. (I bet they would be more expensive that the bug zapper in the first place). Anyway, I have been using a electronic insect zapper of the rechargeable sort for five years and I am ecstatic about them.

Now-a-days, I spend a great deal of time in northern Thailand with my wife, so you can bet your life that I give my electric bug killer a good work-out almost every evening. We usually eat in the garden in the evening and all socializing is done outside by tradition, especially in the rural areas, where we live, so it comes in very handy. I also use my electronic insect killer to ‘sweep’ the bedroom for bugs before we retire at night, just like a CIA agent.

The handheld bug killer just seems to improve every time I buy one, which makes it hard to give you definite specifications. The electric bug zappers I had four or five years ago, often failed after six to nine months of purchase, although their ability to store a charge reduced a lot after four or five months.

However, the new electric bug zapper will last 9-12 months and still be very pokey after nine months. My latest one even has a powerful light called a headlamp built into it. I’m not sure what it’s supposed to be for, but if you feel that vengeance is sweet, you can attract mosquitoes with it and then kill them with your hand held bug zapper.

Have you ever used a handheld bug zapper? If you haven’t, or if you want to get a handheld bug zapper, just click one of the links to our web site or blog.