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We did it: We made it through the long COVID winter. And now that spring of COVID has arrived, we are seeing some changes. It’s getting a little warmer outside, the spring flowers are starting to bloom and the fire ant season is just around the corner. Along with autumn, spring is the time when these tiny, pain-inducing pests are most active thanks to the warming of the soil.

If you are unfamiliar with fire ants or their work, consider yourself lucky. Not only do their bites sting like hell, but they can cause a wide variety of damage in and around your home. Here’s what you need to know about these unwanted houseguests and how to keep them from messing with you, your family, and your property.

What you should know about fire ant stings

Before we dive into protecting your home from fire ants, let’s talk about why you might want to keep these pests at bay. In short: fire ants sting. Repeated. According to resources of Texas A&M University– specially a special project carried out by fire ants – you can not mess with these pests. Indeed, they put it: “Fire ants are aggressive, attack anything that disturbs them defensively, and can sting repeatedly.”

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Fire ant stings usually experience burning, itching, and white pustules that form after a day or two – which can also become easily infected and leave permanent scars. But at least in most cases the stings are not life threatening. Even so, they are not your friendly cartoon ants who march individually and live on a diet of stolen picnic food. Fire ants mean business.

How to tell if you have fire ants

The biggest cue that you are dealing with fire ants is loud Texas A&M Resources. Although most fire ant mounts are a few inches tall, undisturbed mounds in pastures can grow up to 18 inches high and become more visible a few days after a heavy rain.

The mounds consist of fluffy, well-worked soil and – unlike most anthills – have no opening in the middle. Instead, fire ants come and go from the hill via underground tunnels, like some kind of natural star.

How to protect your home from fire ants

While there is no “ideal” part of your home for fire ant infestation, parts with electrical appliances are among the worst. Here is the reason according to Texas A & M:

They chew on the insulation and can cause short circuits or disrupt switching mechanisms. Air conditioners, traffic signal boxes and other devices can be damaged. Fire ants also nest in enclosures around electrical and utility units. The ants move the soil into these structures, causing short circuits and other mechanical problems.

Now that you know what to look for and why to avoid them, here are some steps you can take to keep fire ants out of your home:

Aim at the hill

Once you find a hill, one option is to destroy it. It is best to do this either early morning or early evening when fire ants are searching for food, David Price, Technical Director and Associate Certified Entomologist at Mosquito joe explained in a current interview with Realtor.com. From here, Price offers three different strategies:

• Soak the mound with several gallons of hot water or several gallons of insecticide.
• Apply dust or granular insecticide to the top of the mound, which will then be watered into the ground.
• Scatter poisoned bait around the mound for ants to bring back to the colony and poison their family, friends and colleagues. Price notes that this method is slower than the first two, but also more effective “because the workers feed the bait to the queen and brood and thus gain effective control of the colony.”

Eliminate standing water and other moisture

Fire ants love water, so fill in parts of your garden that may have a tendency to collect (and hold back) water. Also, fix any leaks in, on, or around your home as the fire ants will find and use them to get into wall cavities and roofs.

Don’t try them with your garden

If you have a beautiful garden and want to keep it that way, you need to keep fire ants away from it. In the same article about Realtor.com, Josh Matta, senior biologist and insect expert Spectrum brands offers a few ways to do this, including:

• Have trees and bushes pruned
• Keep straw and mulch away from your home
• Remove ripe fruit from trees and pick up any fallen fruit

Fire ants aren’t the type of insect you want in your yard. Per Matta:

Fire ants can wreak havoc in a garden. This can occur year-round and cause significant damage to soybeans, citrus fruits, corn, okra, beans, cabbage, cucumbers, eggplants, potatoes, sweet potatoes, peanuts, sorghum, sunflowers, and more.

Eliminate other food sources

In addition to keeping your yard tidy – and not allowing the ants to feed on your crops – Price recommends getting rid of other food sources like insects, earthworms, and spiders. At home, Price says fire ants will also “gather honeydew and food for candy, protein, and fats.”

Fill in any cracks or entry points in your house

Fire ants are tiny and can squeeze their way into your home pretty easily through just about any crack, hole, or gap. Price recommends mending holes and putting door sweepers on exterior doors and garage doors to keep them out.

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The US government maintains a database called VAERS that anyone can file a report on if they think something bad has happened to them after receiving a vaccine. It’s an important tool for keeping tabs on vaccine safety, but it’s also being broken down by anti-vaccine activists to make vaccines seem more terrifying than they are.

VAERS is the abbreviation for Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System. “Adverse events” are literally things that happen (events) that are bad (adverse). Scientists and doctors prefer this term to something like “side effects,” which implies a cause-and-effect relationship that often cannot be established. For example, if you have a headache after being shot, it is an adverse event. Was it caused by the vaccine? Maybe, but that’s a separate question and it can be difficult to answer definitively.

How VAERS is actually used

As the CDC explains hereThe VAERS database was established in 1990 as part of a package of vaccination safety reforms. (The same law put a Vaccination dish without errors Compensating people for vaccination violations without having to sue drug companies.)

Everybody can send a report to VAERS: You, your doctor, your family member, even your lawyer. (Doctors have to report certain adverse events, but submission is largely voluntary.) In a sense, it’s a bit like Wikipedia: the things in it may not all be true, but probably many of them are and you can still get a lot out of that learn what it contains.

The idea is that if there is a problem with a vaccine, reports will appear in VAERS. Investigators will deal with events that appear serious, common, or interrelated. Here’s how HHS describes the program’s objectives:

• Identify new, unusual, or rare adverse events in the vaccine.
• Monitor the increase in known adverse events.
• Identification of potential patient risk factors for certain types of adverse events;
• Assessing the safety of newly approved vaccines;
• Identify and address possible reporting clusters (e.g. suspected localized clusters) [temporally or geographically] or product / batch / batch-specific reporting of adverse events);
• Recognize persistent safe use issues and administration errors.
• Providing a national security surveillance system that extends to the entire general population to respond to public health emergencies such as: B. an extensive vaccination program against influenza pandemics.

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The reports in VAERS can provide an early indication of problems related to a vaccine, or even a particular batch of vaccine. It is One of many ways regulators said they were keeping an eye on security how the new COVID vaccines hit the market.

How VAERS is abused

Anti-vaccine activists have abused and misrepresented VAERS for as long as it has existed. The reports are publicly available so anyone can, and they do, search the database.

Before searching the database, be sure to click through a massive disclaimer screen that explains that the reports have not been reviewed and lists other important restrictions. ((Vice reported recently A group of activists created a search portal for VAERS that allows you to view reports without seeing this screen.)

You can probably see the problem here. Pulling out a number of reports that say “death” that mentions a particular vaccine does not mean that the vaccine killed those people. It just means that the person died at some point after receiving the vaccine. In fact, a recent adverse event analysis in the COVID vaccine, both from VAERS reports and from another surveillance system called V-SAFE, found that most deaths occurred after vaccination were in elderly residents of long-term care facilities and were likely not caused by the vaccines.

So if you see information that allegedly links deaths, miscarriages, or other frightening reactions to the new COVID vaccines, Use your critical thinking skills with common sense and find out where the data came from. There could very likely be safety issues with these or other vaccines, but if there were, serious issues would be front page news – so be wary if you only find out about them from a viral Facebook post.

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A dog who loves to dig can destroy your yard pretty quickly. With warmer weather along the way and an improvement in the yard on the spring to-do list, here’s information on how to fix these holes (as well as some ideas on how to stop your dog from digging in the first place).

How to fill in holes your dog is digging

The first thing you need to know is that you shouldn’t just push the excavated dirt back into the hole. You probably wouldn’t be able to do this anyway because dogs that dig usually make a big mess by stepping dirt all over the place.

Instead, you’ll need to bring in topsoil and, if you have grass, seeds and a patch of lawn. Family craftsman suggests these steps to repair holes dug by dogs:

• Fill the hole with topsoil and water, adding just enough soil to be level with the soil.
• Add seeds and water according to the directions on the bag.
• Fill the soil underground as needed, with the gap equal to the thickness of your patch of lawn.
• Roll the turf over the hole and trim the edges to fit.
• Remove the sward and shovel out the hole as necessary so that the sward is flush with the surrounding soil.
• Put the lawn in and water it daily until it takes root.

Here’s how to get your dog to stop digging

Of course, you will do this endlessly if you don’t address the reason your dog is digging holes in the first place. Dogs can dig up your yard for a number of reasons:

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• You are bored and need entertainment or a job.
• They were bred to dig.
• They look for prey, like digging animals or pests.
• They’re hot (or cold).
• They are trying to flee for or away from something.
• They are looking for attention.

It may be difficult to find the root of the problem at first, but it is there certain patterns and behaviors this can help you narrow it down. For example, your dog may be preying if it digs primarily in one spot, around tree roots, or in a path pattern. As they lay down in their holes, they may seek shelter from the heat. Dogs left alone for long periods of time may be more likely to dig for entertainment or attention.

How you stop digging depends on the underlying cause. In general, though, you should look for what your dog may need first, such as: B. a toy, a shadow or water. Frequent walks, minimizing unsupervised time, and your dog’s intervention in tricks or commands can also help. Punishing your dog is generally not the case. And when you spot pests, avoid toxic products that your dog may ingest too.

The internet is mixed on the strategy of Fill holes with feces to keep your dog from digging in the same place again. Most dogs won’t be looking for their own poop, but some could.

If digging continues, you may be able to exercise your dog dig in a specific area– A pit filled with earth or sand and your dog’s toy. Reward them for using their burial pit in place of other parts of your yard.

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Many people are uncomfortable with haggling, but there really is no need to be intimidated – the best scenario is that you are saving money and the worst scenario is that you are told “no”, which is just the case confirms the price indicated by the seller. To help you get a bargain, here are some general tips to keep in mind when trying out.

Know where to haggle

You have more leeway to haggle in more informal places that allow direct negotiations with the seller, e.g. B. at flea markets and flea markets, pawn shops and thrift stores or even on Craigslist.

You can bargain with large retailers sometimes too, but you will be more successful when it comes to items with large tickets like home appliances or electronics (a Study of consumer reports found that 59% of people who tried to trade electronics saw discounts averaging $ 84. However, in these situations, you will likely need to speak to a sales manager. It is best to try when the stores are not busy. Also, you need to make sure it’s worth the business too. Don’t expect discounts on inexpensive everyday items unless the store’s policies allow price adjustments and you are armed with price comparison information from other stores.

Don’t be an idiot

Negotiations shouldn’t be controversial. Remember that haggling is a conversation about price and that you are under no obligation to buy anything from a seller and the seller will not be able to get it (or demand from you) at a cheaper price ). . Getting emotional or aggressive only indicates the obvious – you feel uncomfortable negotiating and shouldn’t try. A salesperson is much more likely to help you if you are kind and sensible.

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Do some research

If you don’t know what to buy, asking for a discount won’t get you far. Personally, I like to look at things in the store before I buy them, especially large electronics like a television. But I won’t shop until I’ve read the customer reviews and compared the prices and I’m sure I understand all of the features of the purchase.

At the very least, you should determine what you think is a fair price. This also applies to impulse shopping in retail. A simple web search on your phone while waiting in line at the checkout may reveal that a competitor is charging a lower price that the retailer may get.

Use cash

Companies have to pay for that Fees up to 3.5% Credit card transactions are much more likely to fake this amount if the transaction is paid for in cash. And while technically illegal to do so, some smaller businesses prefer under the table cash transactions as well. Also, don’t underestimate the psychological power of a solid cash offer, as it signals that you are a serious buyer (a potential direct debit transaction doesn’t grab a retailer’s attention in the same way).

Ask about extras

Sometimes the price of an item is just non-negotiable and the seller’s hands are tied. Still, they could agree on other extras to make the higher price more palatable, such as upgrades, free shipping, or free delivery. The trick is to ask before you verbally consent to the sale.

Be ready to go away

A seller will likely ditch their luck and refuse to bargain if they think you are desperate to buy their product. So you want to show that you are ready to step back from business. The real advice here is to actually believe that if you don’t get the price you want, you are ready to walk away. Since making a purchase can be an emotional decision, determine your “walk away” price before you start haggling.