Ice Storm

End of November 2007, Steve Hewitt is worried over rebuilding downtown with no money. A contractor meeting for the business incubator is held. The project will be a 9,300 square foot facility that will contain retail shops and professional services. And to initiate this going green project as quick as possible. Steve is hoping to get it out to bid, designed, and start construction in the spring, for completion in the summer. Before the storm Richard and Rhonda Engelken owned three commercial buildings, one rental house, four cars, and their own home. After the storm, all gone. Rhonda’s (more…)

A professor, at Rutgers University, has developed an inorganic paint called Ultimate
Paint.  This paint is displaying some very remarkable abilities.  Such as: graffiti
resistant; repairs concrete; mold resistant; fire proof; dries nearly as hard as a
diamond, and lasts 1,000 years.  How do they know?  The chemistry of the coating is
an aluminosilicate, the same formula used for the Chinese terracotta army which is
more than 2,000 years old. (more…)

I am sure that you have heard or seen these before, but I feel the need to share them
with you to help out in your everyday living.

- Peel a banana from the bottom and you won’t have to pick the little “stringy
things” off of it. That’s how the primates do it. Take your bananas apart when you
get  home from the store. If you leave them connected at the stem, they ripen faster.

- Store your opened chunks of cheese in aluminum foil. It will stay fresh much
longer and not mold!

- Peppers with 3 bumps on the bottom are sweeter and better for eating.
- Peppers with 4 bumps on the bottom are firmer and better for cooking. (more…)

Sometimes I wonder who our government really works for, the people or big business.
More precisely, Big Oil.

The U. S. Government sets gas pumps to 60 degrees F.  That means gas is being
dispensed as if it is always 60 degrees outside.  Since gas contracts in cooler
temperatures, this standard may work in Iceland, but here in the Tropic of Hades,
it is grossly unfair.  In places, like Texas, the temperature is alot higher in those
underground gas tanks.  Especially in the late afternoon, we are often in the mid to
high 90’s, even hotter.  There are 12 states (Texas included), which has average fuel (more…)

Protecting our environment in some ways is akin to saving an endangered species. For
instance, it’s really not a good idea to try to feed raw meat to a snow leopard from
your bare hand. Maybe I’m a little sensitive because I live in Tornado Alley, but
this guy, well never mind let me just tell you….

A former NASCAR driver in Charlotte, N.C. has spent tons of money building a car
called Tornado Attack, to drive head long into a tornado in the name of stupid, I
mean science. He says of the car, “Tornado Attack was designed to attack tornadoes,
that’s why it’s an attack. And we hunt tornadoes, we don’t chase them. We hunt (more…)

Insulated Concrete Forms

Yesterday in the Greensburg update ICFs (Insulated Concrete Forms), were talked about
as being the green building material of choice on at least a couple of projects. This
stuff caught my interest so I delved into it a little. Here’s what I found. (more…)

The Building Begins

The City Administrator Steve Hewitt goes to Kansas City to talk to BNIM about building
the downtown “Main Street Small Business Incubator” LEED’s platinum certifiable.

Getting back to his home in “FEMA Town” in time to take his toddler Trick or Treating
dressed as a skunk (cute!). (more…)

For anyone who has children or hunters or dogs or anyone who even steps outside
this summer!!

A pediatrician said she believes this is the best way to remove a tick from the body.

This is great, because it works in those places where it’s sometimes difficult to
get to with tweezers:  between the toes, in the middle of a head full of dark hair, (more…)

Standard home construction is extremely wasteful, 30-40% of the materials end up in
landfills. And 30-40% of landfills are construction waste. On the other hand,
pre-fabricated home construction on average have only 2% construction waste.

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Setting your refrigerator to 38-42 degrees will make it run 25% more efficiently. (more…)