Peter A. Klein's Blog, page 7

15 Steps – Semiannual Time Change Tasks for Your Home

Benjamin Franklin is credited by most people as the person who originated the idea of Daylight-Saving Time. It was first used in the United States during World War I. It has been praised and panned since then. Arizona appears to be the only state that does not observe Daylight Saving Time. However, you feel about it, Daylight Saving Time can be a useful trigger.

Each year I use the start and end of Daylight-Saving Time to remind myself to do a handful of chores around the house that are easily forgotten. With one exception, I do them in the Spring and again in the Fall. They are

On the Road Again – Using the Internet to Find Places to Visit

It is time for vacation. Exciting for sure, but then you must figure out where you want to go for the vacation. If you have no idea, or you want to get more information to help you make the destination decision.

Sometimes a location just falls into your lap. When I was a kid, vacations often revolved around my step-dad’s annual conference, which moved from year to year. Several years ago, a friend asked us to help chaperone a group of high school students for an exchange program with a gymnasium near Hamburg, Germany.

On the Road Again – How to Be a Good Passenger on an Airplane

Even before COVID arrived passenger behavior on airliners has been deteriorating. For some reason, COVID has brought out the worst in too many air passengers. Some are minor. Others boggle the mind by their audaciousness. To help you not be one of those bad onboard citizens, here are a few tips to make things easier for all concerned.

15 Steps – Are Home Inspections Needed for Newly Built Homes

Some time ago I posted a blog about home inspections. Home inspections are important to the buyer and seller of homes. Yes, even newly built homes need inspections by a qualified, independent inspector.

One would assume that because the home is new, that all is well with it. The builder most likely will do whatever they can to perpetuate that idea.

On the Road Again – Consider Travel to Fill in Gaps in Your Genealogy

On the Road Again – Travel and Genealogy

Several years ago, I was given an Ancestry.com DNA kit. For my immediate family, the DNA results were in line with what I knew of my heritage. Big deal I thought. It was a bigger deal than I realized. Since then, I have built a family tree of over 1,200 people, that has branches with ancestors dating back to the 1600s. so far.

The best things to come out of my trip through Ancestry.com was find a cousin I did not know I had and getting to meet her this year. Her grandmother and my grandmother were sisters! Add to that she sent copies of photos of my father from when he was a child. The only photos of him as a child I have ever seen.

Recently we traveled to visit one of my children. We did a side trip to a community where my father’s mother was born. I had known for years she was born there. The City of Leadville, Colorado had a large Jewish population in the late 1800s and early 1900s. Meyer Guggenheim, father of Solomon Guggenheim, and David May, founder of the May Company, both settled in Leadville in the 1800s.

Temple Israel was the main synagogue in Leadville during those years. Over the past few years, the building has been restored and is now a museum. (For those of you who are interested, the website is Temple Israel.) Even though I grew up knowing my grandmother well, visiting the synagogue/museum added a dimension to her that I did not appreciate before that.

My step-mother was born in Ireland. A few years ago, we visited Dublin and had the pleasure of meeting more of her family and seeing landmarks that were linked to the family such as the family home, the building were the family business was located, and the location of a bombing that occurred during The Troubles. Again, the visit brought that part of the family and Irish history closer to me.

In the 1980s, my father was in Germany for a conference. After the conference, he went to Hungary to find the town where his father was born. The town was what is known as a shtetl, a Jewish village. My father hired a car and driver, who had a broad knowledge of the area. The town no longer exists, thanks to the Nazis. It isn’t even a wide spot in the road. That means that any, and probably all, aunts, uncles, and cousins that I may have had, were killed during the Holocaust.

For many years I had a great resentment against the Germans for the Holocaust. After meeting and getting to know several Germans, and visiting Germany, I no longer harbor that feeling.

So, from which countries did your ancestors originate? Is it time to visit their homeland? What do you think you might find there that connects you to your genealogy? What might you learn from such a trip? If you are a fledgling genealogist, what might you learn about your family’s history?

I would like to spend more time in Ireland, Germany, and Hungary to see what bits of information I can find to expand the knowledge of my family history.

In your travels, I hope you can find what you are seeking.

Before you hit the road, check out Can’t Travel? Go Virtual! for ways to find places to visit.

Happy travels!

On the Road Again – Be Aware of Local Traffic and Events

Years ago, I had a business trip, and for a long-forgotten reason, I needed to fly out on Sunday. I live in San Diego County, so the San Diego airport is the logical choice for me. The airport is close to downtown and many of San Diego’s attractions, such as the bay, Balboa Park, and the Zoo.

San Diego is also the host of the Rock-‘N-Roll Marathon. The route of the marathon starts and ends in Balboa Park. The marathon is run on a Sunday.

15 Steps – Ways to Help the Earth and Improve Your Garden

A storm system swept it way across the South from Texas to the Atlantic, creating floods along its path. Up and down the West Coast there was a high-pressure area that parked itself over the Four Corners for over a week, which caused record high temperatures in many communities and many wildfires.

While lots of rain in the South, and high temperatures and fires are normal weather conditions in the West, this year’s weather was beyond expectations. Sacramento, California hit 117 degrees Fahrenheit, and Death Valley had flooding in the summer and set an all-time high temperature.

On the Road Again – Travel Tips to Make Your Trips Easier

In late May I posted about our Great Lakes cruise. The first leg of the trip was Air Canada, San Diego to Toronto. The flight was late and immigration at Toronto Pearson Airport was a mess. Last week, a friend took the same flight. Even worse results. Our friend had to cancel the rest of the trip and return to San Diego.

For some reason, probably widespread delays at Pearson, the flight that we took to Toronto, is almost always late. On occasion it has canceled. For us it was about half an hour late. For our friend, it was two- and one-half hours late.

15 Steps - Helping the Planet with Your Plants

Like people, plants need care and attention. Here in Southern California, our plants will not do well if they are not watered, especially in the hot weather we are enduring in August.

Having a garden is more than planting various types of plants and watering them from time to time.

Trees

Trees are one of the most important species on this planet. They function as the Earth’s lungs. They take in carbon dioxide and emit oxygen.

With cities expanding and rainforests being cutback, we all need to plant trees. Please plant trees that are native to your locale. Planting a thirsty tree in an arid area is a bad idea.

Most people will recognize that planting a tree that needs a lot of water in an arid area is a bad idea and may kill the tree if it does not get enough water. Conversely, planting a tree that is native to arid areas is not good for that tree.

Nonnative Plants

Nonnative plants are not good for many areas because they may grow differently in the new area than in their native location. The difference could be choking out native species. Also, many nonnative species may need more water than locally native plants.

Nonnative plants may harbor insects and other pests that might run rampant in the new surroundings. Their natural enemies are no longer at hand to keep them under control.

Eucalyptus trees are native to Australia. They are now all-over Southern California. The Problem? They catch fire easily and burn hot, spreading wildfires that might not spread as fast nor as far if native plants had been used instead of eucalyptus.

Nonnative plants brought into the Southwest also are bad because they use too much water, of which there is a short supply. The federal government recently cut water from the Colorado River to Nevada and Arizona because the states that control the lower Colorado River can’t agree on the amount each state should receive each year considering the drought.

Nonnative plants may also be destructive to their new habitats. For example, several years ago, a person dumped the contents of their fishbowl/aquarium into a small lake near my home. Once the fish and the plants from the aquarium had grown profusely, and were discovered, it took years to eradicate both species. Considering that the lake is part of the water supply system, it could have turned out very differently.

Watering Your Plants

Plants, like people need water. A cactus requires much less water than many fruit trees. The Southwest is not an area for growing rice, almonds, or cotton.

Case in point: we recently had some work done in the front yard. I asked the landscape contractor to come to the house to look at a new project. As he was getting ready to leave, he looked at a couple of new plants he put in and told me that they needed less water.

If you have a sprinkler system, make sure that it gets water to the plants it is supposed to serve. Make sure that each sprinkler head is working properly. Do not water each section of the yard for too long a time. If possible put plants that need approximately the same amount of water on the same sprinkler line.

Many experts suggest that a drip irrigation system is the best for most yards. Drip systems definitely use less water than traditional sprinkler systems.

If the sprinkler system can be put on a time, that serves two purposes. First, once the length of time is set for each valve, the homeowner does not have to set a timer for each valve they turn on. Second, unless the power goes out, the system remembers when to turn on and off the various sprinklers. Many newer sprinkler time clocks have a device that sense rain. When rain is detected it does not turn on the sprinklers that day.

According to Consumer Reports,” Smart sprinkler controllers connect to the internet and use real-time weather data to adjust the frequency of watering so that you don’t overwater your grass, say, during an afternoon shower, or underwater on a dry, hot day. Smart controllers can save you money on your water bill, too.”

Other Ways to Protect the Earth

Most, if not all, flowering plants need a way to get pollinated. Birds and insects are the primary pollinators. We have a russelia equisetiformis (firecracker plant) outside the kitchen window. I call it Wild Thing. The plant has long narrow red flowers. It is a natural for hummingbirds.

The most widely known pollinator is the honeybee. Bees are being decimated by various pesticides. To help them, plant bee-friendly wild-flowers, clover, & native grasses. These plants help bees survive.

Another insect that needs our help are Monarch butterflies. There are two varieties of Monarch butterflies so please do your homework before planting plants for these beautiful creatures. In California the Monarch butterfly loves the milkweed native to Southern California. The plants that Monarch butterflies native to other areas of the country like are fatal to the Monarch butterflies in California. I do not know if the converse is true. (In Southern California, contact Rogers Gardens for more information,)

Plan your garden carefully to help the environment and save water.

For more information on remodeling and maintaining your home, please read 15 Steps to a Successful Remodel.

15 Steps – Getting Organized with Pegboard

My garage was a mess! Well at least my side was. Tools on the workbench kept me from using the workbench. Half the things stored under the workbench couldn’t be seen. Add to that, an armoire was parked in front of one end of the workbench, which was a pain. I was frustrated!

I had been kicking around the idea of putting up a sheet of pegboard on the back wall of the garage and moving the armoire and a file cabinet. So, I called my local Mr. Handyman, who is a neighbor and a friend, and had him do it.