RINGING IN THE NEW

OUR HOME HOLIDAYS IN THE UNITED STATES - LESS EFFORT - MORE TIME

This holiday season we have decided to cut back on not so much because of finances but because we find ourselves with not enough time. 

This year our outdoor lights are just around our front door. 

We have two very small trees indoors with ornaments; we've left most of our decorations unpacked.

We are sending Christmas cards today, in paper envelope with stamps.  We won't be e-mailing or electronically transferring greetings. We are not participating in any business oriented holiday gifting.  There is plenty of time throughout the year to remember people, especially on their birthdays, and to do networking and promotions.  We're not afraid we will loose anyone.  We figure they are just as tired and in need of down time as we are. 

We've decided not to deal with Fridays or Mondays or Purchasing on Line for bargains.  We decided that we can and should buy any and all food, drink, and gifts for this season within walking distance to our home.  We get the dog, walk to the store, walk back with what we can carry.

We went to the library and brought home some wonderful holiday music on CD's.  Some classical music, a jazz Christmas album, and one by Josh Groban.  We have these playing  We love the original Grinch Who Stole Christmas and Charlie Brown Christmas television shows but we aren't going to bring home rentals or library films with Christmas themes.

Our simple gifts are not stockings but REAL SOCKS.  We're buying nice ones that will last (finding ones made in the USA and local hasn't been easy) and filling them with the Old Fashioned and Simple things like fresh oranges, rolls of Life Saver candy, Real Money, but not gift certificates or cards.

Some time between Christmas eve and Christmas night we will call a few long distance relatives to touch base.

We are not depressed just stressed and cutting back on our participation in what has become a materialistic rather than spiritual time of year.

If you're reading this, it is our hope that we can all look forward to something so sadly rare in today's world; PEACE and with that, QUIET!

SHOPPING AGAINST THE WIND

FOR PEACE and PLENTY OF PROSPERITY

ECOSMART ANT and ROACH KILLER - SAFE but does it really work as advertised?

ECOSMART.COM  Manufactured in Rosewell, Georgia, USA
Active ingredients are peppermint oil, rosemary oil, and 97% other such as water, 2 propanol, wintergreen oil, white mineral oil, etc....

 

We bought a can of this stuff.  We wanted to kill the insects and not sicken and die ourselves.  We didn't want our dog to get sick either.  

 

Unfortunately the "INSTANTLY" part about how it kills ants and roaches is NOT TRUE.  We targeted them and sprayed and watched them flip over and try to live.  Some of them managed to keep running and disappear.  We did spray around the underside of the sinks but have no reason to believe this was a deterrent since a spray can later, we still have the problem.  The INSTANTLY mattered to us.  We wanted the least suffering.  We didn't really want to kill anything but damn, TALKING to the tiny critters about how they had to live OUTSIDE didn't seem to work.

 

When you spray all this OILY stuff out, it smells good if you like intense minty smells.  It also slightly coats your finger from the button.  You can feel the tingle and YOU MUST WASH YOUR HANDS RIGHT AWAY - thoroughly - or you will possibly touch your face, your mouth, your eyes, just as human's do, unthinking.  So we would walk into the kitchen or bathroom at night, grab the bottle, spray, and then wash our hands.  We thought, OK it's only temporary.  But other than the smell, we think this product is a pain in the butt and doesn't really deal with the problem.

 

By the way, before we tried this, we tried the cheap $1 for two boxes of glue attractant, and watched as the insects went into shock that they were so stupid to be stuck and tried to pull their limbs out.  Looking in there, all dead or dying is awful.  Some actually got away amputated... that's how much they wanted to live.  We also mixed up simple boric acid with powdered sugar, but it soon lost it's powder due to humidity.  So what we have now are those "hotels" that say that the insects go in, eat, and take it back to the nest. 

 

We shall see!

We're actually hoping that all the SPIDERS who moved in this summer will eat the other bugs for us, or at least scare them.

 

Review by PATRIOTIC PURCHASE BLOGSPOT

All Rights Reserved

OUR PILE OF CHEAP BROKEN CHINESE CRAP - IN THE LANDFILL FOR HUNDREDS OF YEARS

We're tempted to start piling up all the cheap broken Chinese crap we've bought, take a photo of it, and then set it on fire. 

But we won't.

Sufficient to say, we too, though we try NOT to, have bought cheap things that are made in China, even from American based companies and other European countries that import manufactured goods from China.  Sometimes you have to look at the packaging real hard to find out that some or all of the product was made in China.  For instance we've found notations that something was made in China of American made parts.  Or something was made in the United States from China-made parts.  Or something was made in the United States but one part of it - say the lids of a pot - were imported from China.

But whatever it is, the Chinese-made part or the Chinese-made whole, it breaks or falls apart quickly.
And belongs on our pile, for photographing, and setting on fire.

We won't set the stuff on fire.  We won't even make a pile.  WHY NOT?

Because we DO CARE ABOUT THE ENVIRONMENT which means that we put everything we can in the proper recycling bins.  We take batteries to a drop off at the library.  We wait for special events to turn in light bulbs, nail polish, small electronics, etc.  So no smoking toxic fires for us or our neighbors to breath.  And no clutter waiting in the basement.

BUT WHAT HAPPENS WHEN YOU BUY SOMETHING THAT LASTS ONE USE OF A FEW WEEKS and you throw it into the recycling bin?  At best it gets segregated out and is possibly sold to those who can use some or all of it's parts or remake the plastics and metals.  (In our neighborhood old TV sets are often broken into and smashed before the garbage pick up comes.)  

THE REST GOES INTO LANDFILLS where it can take hundreds of years for the buried items to turn into something resembling dust.  This is true of newspapers.  This is true of hot dogs.  This is particularly true of PLASTICS.   So when you buy crap, it also costs us all in garbage related fees.

SOME THINGS WE BOUGHT, made in CHINA, that broke fast.

A plunger.  It had a sturdy wood turned handle and we couldn't imagine that the rubbery head of it would break after the second use.  (We're trying to find a garden use for the handle.)

Hair clips - the kind with a spring and teeth - to keep hair back when swimming.  The set of 12 broke the teeth easily.  We got about 2 uses for each clip before it broke.  So badly made actually using them broke them.

Umbrellas.   We lost our $40 at purchase, heavy duty old fashioned American made umbrella.  So after having a few break after one good wind or rain that we had purchased for under $5, we bought $1 ones that did the same.   We're trying to figure out a way to reuse the fabric.

C 2015  Patriotic Purchase BlogSpot  All Rights Reserved

IS IT TRUMP VERSUS SANDERS? : RUNNING FOR PRESIDENT FAR AHEAD OF THE ELECTION

We wouldn't be patriotic citizens of the United States of America if we had no interest in the election of our President, if we had no idea who are elected officials are, or if we didn't bother to reach out to them once in a while.

Over the last few months we reached out to a local representative of our City Council over a myriad of problems from street services to graffiti, to the ecology of local parks, and other matters more personal.  This is a City Council member who we elected, someone who we have heard speak at patriotic holiday events and a police picnic in a park.  He's a likeable fellow but his staff must be overwrought.  After we typed out a list of our concerns and personally presented them to a staff member who appeared to be interested in going over the list, making some phone calls that we could not, and a promise of getting back with us in a couple months to go over it, we were stunned when our next visit went so badly.

We had feared that our own business had delayed us in getting back with her and we hoped that all that extra time would mean a better report, but instead IT BECAME CLEAR THAT NOTHING MUCH AT ALL HAD HAPPENED.  She told us to become a member of a local neighborhood watch type web site - a social networking deal - where, apparently, neighbors complain and comment (but don't roll up their sleeves), and claimed (though we have a photocopy showing it right there) that she didn't even have our e-mail address.  First of all referring people out to a social networking community web site EXCLUDES ALL THE PEOPLE - particularly seniors - who do not have typing or computer skills (or whose arthritis prevents them from typing) - cannot afforded or do not have access to computers - and people who simply do not have the time to do so.  Further, she told us to call 311.  We've called 311 and gotten referrals that turned out to be incorrect - real time wasters.

So we are totally turned off.

But we did call back with this one question:  "WHAT IS THE PURPOSE OF A CITY COUNCIL OFFICE and STAFF.  WHY WOULD WE CALL YOU?"

When we originally asked to speak to this elected official in person we were told his office was downtown and he only met with people one day a week.  We feel as if his office staff is not following through and keeping us from him.

SO NO MORE EVENTS WHERE HE WILL APPEAR FOR US... and... we'll see who is running, but we may not vote for him again.

So we note the state of our next Presidential Election here in the United States of America.   We've read hundreds of news reports off our cell phone news aps and in the newspapers and magazines to be as well rounded in our reading as we can be.  It sometimes seems as if the vote will be for Donald Trump or Bernie Sanders.  We're not socialists, but we do think this Capitalist Country, if it really were being run on "Christian" principals, would take care of the entire population including those poorer than us. Is it really going to be CAPITALISM versus SOCIALISM?

We were cheered to see some CITIZEN ACTIVISTS holding signs "Honk if you're for Bernie" on a busy intersection.  We were glad SOMEONE WAS OUT THERE.  But we didn't hear much honking.

Along with DONALD TRUMP it seems that POLITICAL CORRECTNESS is coming into question.  The ultra-rich Trump seems to be unconcerned with what saying something unpopular or in an unpopular way is doing to his reputation.  He's theme seems to be "You can't argue with Success."



C 2015  Patriotic Purchase BlogSpot  All Rights Reserved including International and Internet Rights.

BUYING PUMPKINS

FREE SEEDS and PLANTS -- GARDENING and HARVESTING IN A TIME OF DROUGHT - GLEANERS

There are so many people here applying for money to let their grass lawns die and instead plant drought tolerant plants, along with putting down gravel, stone, and wood chips, in order to save water, that our Water and Electric companies have closed the list for lack of enough essential funding.

Some people are still allowing some or all of their properties to go unwatered, thinking that if God intends there to be rain it will rain and save what plant (and animal?  and human?) life He intends to let live, others are praying for rain as a kind of Mass-Mind-Metaphysical experiment (and we keep thinking pray for just an inch or so at a time so that we don't have landslides, house slides, and road slides!).  When a sprinkler extends over the sidewalk and into the street and a pond forms, we think what waste, but we also see that the birds, especially crows, are landing and making use of it as if it were a pond.

While we have cut our shower time and are flushing not as often, we are still watering our small flower and herb garden, much of which exists because of FREE SEEDS, every other day.

Seems every time we go to a mini convention about LIVING GREEN, be it about drought tolerant gardens or solar panels, or whatever, some booth is giving out packages of free seeds.  Some of these seeds are from NATIVE PLANTS, and we're having some success with those.

It's not just that the blooming plant is a reward, it's that our little garden has been found by bees, hummingbirds, crickets, grasshoppers, and various caterpillars (which we hope will become butterflies) that are dining out on our plants, probably because they are desperate.  Other yards have been more lush in the recent past, and are now dead or dying.

The other day, one of our neighbors decided to uproot his decorative bulbs, because he is going to plant some version of a Victory Garden.  While he contemplates what vegetables will love his naturally sandy soil, we wonder if his water bill will make planting one's own vegetables an act of reason.

Here in California the lack of water resources is being blamed on two crops - almonds and medical marijuana.  But citrus trees have always taken a lot of water to grow and result in fruit and most yards have one.  Many yards have one grapefruit, one lemon, one lime, a cumquat, an avocado, and some have olives or apricots.   These trees were planted back in the day when people from colder climates moved to California and imagined having their own orchard, never having to buy from a store again.

AND NOW A LOT OF THESE YARDS GO NEGLECTED, so a volunteer harvester group is willing to come and take away the fruit to food banks!  A wonderful idea, wherever you are, so that food (and water) do not go to waste.

VILLAGE HARVEST ORG  is one such organization.

FREE PLANT NET is another organization that intends to spread plant life around FREE.

ARE YOU A CITIZEN ACTIVIST IN YOUR OWN TOWN? CONSERVING WATER IN DROUGHT IS PATRIOTIC!

We consider to be Citizen Activists here at PATRIOTIC PURCHASE.  We wonder how many of our readers also consider themselves to be Activists for their own town.  Besides attending City Council Meetings and so on, there are always little things you can do to support your community that don't take as much time or responsibility.  Like most people, especially with children, you may find yourself always trying to catch up, weeks behind on your lists of things you should do.

We find RECYCLING to be an activity that contributes to the well being of our country and our planet, as is COMPOSTING, having a small vegetable "Victory" garden, and CUTTING BACK YOUR WATER USE IN THIS DROUGHT.

  This video mentions desalinization as a very expensive possible answer.

In our area the public swimming pools are filled, but most of the water fountains are shut down.  People are reporting their neighbors who are wasting water by hosing down driveways and sidewalks and are letting their grass lawns die off.

You can still have some green around you for we and the insects and other animals still do need water - or they will come into your house seeking it.  We can water plants in pots and trees around their base.

Using Grey Water to water outdoors is a great idea.

Grey Water is rinse water that has biodegradable detergents or just a small amount of detergent left in it. 

When we rinse out or coffee or tea pot we take that water and pour it in one of our outdoor plants in pots.  When we change out the water in our dog's bowl, we take that outside as well.  We are hand washing more since the clothing can dry out easily in the summer heat.  We don't want to leave the clothes soapy but the 3rd rinse goes out under the lemon tree.

Try not to flush your toilet each and every time you use it.  There's an old saying, "If it's brown flush it down.  If it's yellow let it mellow."  In our house we flush the yellow down after three uses.  The plumbing pipes do need to be flushed out with water.

We aren't taking tub baths.  Since it's hot out we have lowered the temperature of our hot water and when we shower we get wet, shampoo our hair and rinse it, shut the shower off, put in the conditioner, soap up, and then turn the shower back on to rinse off.

We are also resorting to sink baths also known as "Washing the smelly parts," more often.

Sometimes shampooing your hair in the sink and washing your face, hands, and feet is all it takes to feel refreshed.

We are using our public swimming pool, grateful to have it available to us.

We are also drinking MORE PLAIN WATER to stay hydrated, or adding lemon juice or fruit for an infusion rather than buying soda.

ANY OPINIONS?  IDEAS?  Let us know!

AMERICA IS BLESSED

THE STAR SPANGLED BANNER

WE WERE SHOCKED WHEN OUR NEIGHBOR ASKED US WHY WE FLY THE FLAG OF THE UNITED STATES

US FLAG ORG - ILLUSTRATED INSTRUCTIONS ON HOW TO FOLD OUR FLAG


We don't have a flagpole but we do fly a small American Flag by our front door most every day.  We bring it in when it's pouring down rain or the winds are brisk enough to bring down palm tree fronds.

One day a friend of ours blurted out , "WHY DO YOU FLY THE FLAG?"

We said, "Because we love our country!"

We were shocked that our friend didn't understand this intuitively.  All he said was, "You do?"

It wasn't a challenge to our patriotism.

Truth be known, we're not blind to the fact that our country has problems.  Rape in the military has had us very upset.  We think that's terrible.  Still, we're glad that our country endures and has processes for discussing and working out issues and that our country is flexible enough to change, so long as it never changes into another country, or a country that no longer could be called the United States.

Remember to only buy flags that are MADE IN THE USA!

THE HIGHWAY MEN - JOHNNY CASH - RAGGED OLD FLAG

OKABASHI SANDLES HAS MOTHERS DAY SPECIAL - MADE IN THE USA

OKABASHI SANDLES  MADE IN THE USA
as the ads say, they have arch supports and are recyclable.   They also have garden clogs.

We buy ours at our local stores, preferring not to buy on line.  Why?  Because we like to preserve retail worker jobs, we like to try things on rather than wait for boxes to arrive and maybe have to ship things back.

Image from the OKABASHI WEBSITE and owned by them.

 

We bought a couple pairs locally.

LINCOLN MEMORIAL INSIDE and OUTSIDE ARCHITECTURE

WE JUST BOUGHT 6 NEW STERILITE STORAGE CONTAINERS - PLASTIC MADE IN THE USA

STERILITE STORAGE CONTAINERS

Ours have snap handles...   There are a huge variety of products at this site including items that are not for storage like shelving and waste cans.

Sterilite storage containers.

We just bought six of  this type with a handle that locks to keep the lid on..

MADE IN THE USA

 

MOUNT RUSHMORE PUZZLE

REMEMBER CHECK THOSE LABELS - AND THE FINE PRINT - for MADE IN THE USA!

We have found products that at first glance appear to be Made in the USA because they have an American Flag, and American Sounding name, or some other logo or seal that appears Patriotic, but when we read the fine print we find out that the item is actually made in China or another country, or we find that it is only being IMPORTED by a company that is headquartered in the United States - which can be a post office box address.

WE WANT MADE IN THE USA!

FOUR STATES PUZZLE

MILK BONE DOG BISCUITS - TRADITIONAL and MADE IN THE USA (CHECK BOX!)

MILKBONE.COM

Our dog just got a new box of the Milk Bone Flavor Snacks, which keeps her interested in what treat she's going to get today.  Sometimes if she isn't ready to eat it already, we find she has hidden it for later under her bed or in the folds of her blanket.  Our local stores don't carry the fancier options you'll see on the website.

MADE IN THE USA

(Image from Google Images)

Our dog likes variety so this is the box we bought.

DROUGHT IN CALIFORNIA - BUG INFESTATION EXPERIENCE

Spring has come weeks earlier than usual here in Southern California, and some of our Native California plant seeds have sprouted which we are very excited about after last years failed attempt to use Native Seeds to create a butterfly garden and habitat. 

We have also experienced our first bug infestation indoors, which we have been valiantly if not aggressively trying to combat with the least poisonous means.  We believe that the bugs are coming indoors in record numbers in search of water.  We found mosquito hawks hanging out on the walls of our bathroom waiting for mosquitos and what seemed to attract them was that we had socks presoaking in a small tub.  We also found fruit flies, roaches, water bugs, and other unidentifiable little insects, possibly babies.  These bugs quickly made it into our refrigerator where they seem to have frozen to death, into our stove, though we keep cleaning it, and into our microwave.  Although we know that West Nile Virus has been detected in the area, like anyone what we are most concerned about is the roaches. 

We have a dog who is very curious and loves to taste things.  We felt that, by making our own traps with boric acid powder and powdered sugar and putting them in places that would be difficult for the dog to get into, we would succeed.  It has been about a month now and our entire kitchen is closed off.  We think we are beginning to win but we do not want our dog to eat a dead roach full of poison.

Admitting to roaches is kind of embarrassing.  Reading about them, we know that they will eat anything, including the paste that keeps your wallpaper stuck to the walls and soap.   They are not an indication that you're a slob or have a filthy house.

But they don't have to eat much or that often and what they really do need is water.

What this means is that we cannot ever have any dishes drying, any water laying, any spills not cleaned up, including spills beneath the cooking surface of our gas stove. 

To be dramatic, one day I spilled some water, and before I could mop it up four bugs came running and were drinking at the edges of it as if it were a pond!

So when we change our dog's water, we started  taking her water bowl outdoors and throwing that water into the weeds rather than into the sink, in hopes that some of the bugs will stay out there!  As is, we already try to reuse very mildly soapy water, such as water from the third rinse of handwashables, to water our lemon tree.

If you're having the same problem with bugs...

The potion of boric acid powder, a poison, mixed with powdered sugar was suggested to us by an apartment building manager down the street.  She said that was what the Building Inspectors suggested.  Online there are a number of recipes and the suggestion that plain old baking soda can work too without the poison.  The idea is that it should be spread finely such as with an old toothbrush, in areas where the bugs are going to walk.  The idea is that some of them will eat other dead bugs or take it back to a "nest" where it will then kill  others.  Eventually the bugs get a heavy hint, give up, and take a hike?

But to where when they want water?

VINTAGE VALENTINE - CUPID and THE AMERICAN FLAG

FINDING AMERICAN MADE ITEMS IN DOLLAR AND DISCOUNT STORES - and FOOD INSECURITY IN THE UNITED STATES

We recently went to some local Dollar - Discount type stores looking for products that have been MADE IN THE USA and we did find a few, among all the imports from China and other countries.

This included a brand of contact-type paper that we hadn't heard about before.

Locally many of the Dollar-Discount stores have added FOOD purchasable using EBT-Food Stamps  and so we now have to look at labels to be sure that we are buying Pineapple from Hawaii and so on.

When it comes to food, having enough to eat, we have read that Americans throw out 40 % of the food they purchase.  We sure don't.  We make extra meals to freeze and we eat leftovers.  We hate to throw food out.

Once a year I go through the cabinets and look for expiration dates, anything we haven't gotten around to eating for whatever reason, put the stuff in bags and donate it to a local charity that feeds people once or twice a week.  Volunteer chefs there use what they have to create interesting meals.

We've heard about one local charity which picks fruit off peoples backyard trees and distributes it to food banks.

We encourage you to KEEP CHECKING LABELS!


We are especially concerned about cheap imports from China.  We have nothing against Chinese people.  In fact, we are concerned about the pollution and the working conditions of some Chinese who are worked like machines there.  We've heard that some Chinese workers have commit suicide rather than continue the work.  IF WE ARE SO AMERICAN... IF WE THINK SLAVERY IS WRONG... then why would it be OK to support inhumane treatment in the workplace of people in other countries by purchasing the product that is put out in these factories.

We will continue to seek out American Made Products when buying new, and seek used items in thrift stores and garage sales.