Are you plugged in? If you have ever left rechargers or unused appliances plugged into the electrical outlet, you may be in for a bit of a shock. The U.S. Department of Energy tells us that not only do appliances continue to draw electricity while the products are turnecomputers, and kitchen appliances all use energy while not in use. You may have noticed how a cell phone recharger can be warm even when not attached to a phone. The best way to prevent unnecessary energy expenditures is to do a clean sweep of your home. Here at the office, we’ve gotten into the routine of unplugging our water cooler at night. The process is a bit of a hassle at first, but hassle quickly turns into painless habit.

 In the average home nearly 75% of all electricity used to power electronics is consumed by products that are switched off.

VCRs, televisions, stereos, products can’t be designed to prevent this sort of passive energy use? Is it simply laziness on the part of the manufacturers, or is there a real design constraint at work?)

The good folks over at Ideal Bite have previously tackled this issue and suggest the following:

·         Use power strips to turn off TVs and stereos. You’ll save the energy equivalent of a 100-watt light bulb that is always on.

·         Unplug chargers (think cell phones and iPods) when not in use. Only 5% of the power drawn by a cell phone charger is used to charge the phone. The other 95% is wasted when it is left plugged into the wall.

A while back I found a some books at a garage sale for 5 cents a piece and bought several. Most of them where gardening and  home project books. Several of the books where written by Jerry Baker. OK maybe I've been under a rock, but I don't have a clue who he is, but his books are great, LOL. So I thought I'd share some tips from his book  101 Great Garden Tips .

• To increase the organic activity in your soil, add 1 tablespoon of regular, not diet, cola to your plant food mix.
• Panty hose make great ties for tomato plants.
• Wash your hands, wrist and ankles with a heavy lather of Fels Naptha soap after gardening. This will help take the sting out of Poison Ivy and bug bites.
• Exercise your evergreens to keep them growing tall, full, and wide. Shake them gently from time to time to remove dandruff and older needles.
• Evergreens were "ever lucky" in early New England. A pair of evergreens were planted in the dooryard of newlyweds to symbolize health and long life.
• Hammer away a the ends of the stems of fresh cut flowers and branches of flowering shrubs before placing them in a vase. This allows them to quickly draw up water.
• To hold blossoms longer, spray cut flowers with hairspray.
• To dye white carnations, cut the stems and place them in hot water with food coloring added. Let them set for one hour.
• Garlic to the rescue: if you put 1 or 2 garlic cloves into your rose bushes, they will never be bothered by aphids or other insects.
• You can remove the faded flowers from bulbs, but the foliage must be left on to provide the bulb with food for next year's flowers.
• Yesterdays news make great garden mulch. Put down up to three layers of single sheets of paper and then add three inches of grass clippings over the top.
• To protect seedings from the weather and varmints, cut the bottom out  of a one gallon milk jug and place it over your tender young plants.
• For no-mess watering of your hanging plans, let a few ice cubes slowly melt into the soil.
• A dose of castor oil saves ferns: add one tablespoon castor oil and one tablespoon of childrens shampoo to a quart of warm water, and give each plant a 1/4 cup of the mixture.
• Always mix your plant food with warm water because plants will take it up faster.
• Recycle those foam packing peanuts by using them in the bottom of your clay pots when repotting. They are lighter than pieces of clay, and are particularly good for hanging plants.
• The best mouse trap bait is pumpkin seeds, you'll find that mice can't resist them.
• Trying to trap a raccoon? Use marshmellows as bait, they have a sweet tooth.
• Try using a mixtrure of coffee grounds and orange peels scattered arond your favorite plants to keep cats from using it as a litter box.

OK, I hope you found these tips handy, I know I learned a few things.

Pecan Pie Brownies

In saucepan, melt 1/4 cup margarine. Stir in 2 Tbsp. flour and mix until smooth. Add 2 eggs and 3/4 cup brown sugar, firmly packed. Stir over medium heat for 4-5 minutes. Add 1 teaspoon vanilla and 2 cups chopped pecans. Mix well and set aside.

In large bowl, combine 1 box fudge brownie mix (21 oz.), 1/2 cup very hot water, 1/4 cup salad oil, 1 egg and beat 50 strokes by hand.

Grease bottom only of 9x13 inch pan. Spread brownie mixture in pan and spoon pecan mixture over top. Bake 30-35 minutes at 350 degrees F until set. Do not overbake. Cool, cut in squares. (Also good with vanilla ice cream and hot fudge sauce as desserts).