imafan26
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Posts: 13947
Joined: Tue Jan 01, 2013 8:32 am
Location: Hawaii, zone 12a 587 ft elev.

What do you do when its' raining or snowing and you can't work in the garden?

It rains mostly at night. But today, I am off from work. I ran my morning errands and at 11 a.m. I was starting to water the yard and it has been raining since then. Now, a slow rain is not a bad thing. This has been a dry year. The news reported cattle roaming yards in a neighborhood, because the grass really was greener on the other side.

However, this is my day off. I was planning to do some more things in the yard. Now, I have to find other things to do inside.

I baby sat the vacuum cleaner and actually cleaned the vacuum cleaner. Unfortunately, it is not self cleaning.

I tried to clean the bath tub. It looks better, but it has a long long way to go. I used a product others recommended and it actually did a great job on the hard waster stains and soap scum, not so much on the red dirt in the tub. That will take more elbow grease, but it is not as bad. I have to recaulk the tub, but that is definitely not for a rainy day because it will take longer to dry. I did some research and although I knew vinegar does remove hard water stains.

I did not know that bar soap reacting with the minerals in the water is what causes soap scum. I found out that by changing to a body wash there will be less soap scum. Soap scum happens because the soap reacts with the minerals (calcium, magnesium) in the water. Body washes don't have soap, they are actually detergents so they leave less scum. It is a cheaper alternative to a whole house reverse osmosis water system. Apparently zest is the only bar soap that is not supposed to leave any soap scum.

Hard water stains: The best and cheapest cleaners for my porcelain and ceramic tile shower are still
vinegar, baking soda, borax, lemon juice, dawn dish soap, hydrogen peroxide, and espsom salts. Not all together, but these basic household ingredients are the basis for making cleaners to clean everything from hard water, soap scum, glass, refrigerators, laundry boosters, deodorizers, cleaning the disposal, and cleaning the washing machine, and tile.

In fact most of the baking soda I use is for the laundry, deodorizing the frig and garbage disposal, mold prevention, and for putting out small grease fires (I have had to do that more than once).
A paste of vinegar and baking soda can clean a lot of stuff.

There is special cleaning vinegar, but I use regular white vinegar more for cleaning than for cooking.
vinegar cleans mold, hard water stains, glass, grease,and cleans the washer.

Boraxo is good for cleaning as well as ant control. It does have to be kept away from children and pets.

Wiping some shaving cream on the mirror keeps it from fogging. At least for awhile.

I haven't gotten my shower clean enough yet to use the car polish on the walls.
Of course, for maintenance, I have to make sure I wipe down the walls and tub after taking a bath to keep the hard water stains from coming back. I admit, sometimes I don't do it. After I spend hours cleaning the tub, though, I remember to do it more often.

I am glad I don't have acrylic, marble, granite,wood, natural stone, or a glass shower. They would be even harder to keep clean.

I would rather work outside than clean the bath tub.

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TomatoNut95
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Posts: 2069
Joined: Sun May 26, 2019 11:11 am
Location: Texas Zone 8

If I can't or don't need to go out then I just stay indoors cleaning, drawing or watch a good movie. Last week when it was extremely windy I did a major dusting job. I dusted places and things that looked like it hadn't been dusted in a year or more.

Lately since its been cooling off I have brought my crochet stuff out again. I found two unfinished afghans I probably won't finish so I started a new one that may not get finished either.

PaulF
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Posts: 910
Joined: Tue Nov 09, 2010 5:34 pm
Location: Brownville, Ne

Inventory and arrange seeds alphabetically in their storage containers, make decisions on the next season's choices, reread information on those choices in the several websites visited, read fiction, write short story fiction, read the letters of refusal for that fiction from publishers, listen to music, do crossword puzzles and generally vegetate waiting for better weather.



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