Water The Clear Choice
by admin on Aug.26, 2010, under General, Water
Summer in Canada doesn’t last very long so when it comes to water we try to get in as much fun time as possible. This year your 2 Green Monkeys have been spending as much time in, under and by the water! We’ve come to really appreciate all that water has to offer. Like:
- Cool clean thirst refreshment.
- Fun with friends participating in your favorite water activities.
- Getting away from it all on while floating on a comfy air mattress.
- Watering your lawn and garden.
- Washing your car.
- And let’s not forget that rejuvenating shower we take to start or clean up after a day’s fun!
There are so many ways to enjoy water; in fact, there aren’t many activities that don’t involve water in some shape or form. We loved the water so much and really began to see how important is to us in everyday life, that we have decided to focus on the second most important thing to life. In case you’re not sure what the first thing is, its air. Stay hydrated and stay tuned. We’ll be bringing you plenty on water and how it affects you!
Draining and Backwashing your Swimming Pools Wastewater
by admin on Sep.02, 2010, under Water
Remember the old days when you could dump almost anything into the street sewers? I remember growing up and seeing everything from paint to motor oil being dumped at the curb, right into the sewers. Where it went from there wasn’t really our problem. I mean how many actually thought about where it went and what happened to it?
To homeowners with swimming pools, water was always thought of as a safe and natural product easily disposed of anywhere. Streets, drainage ditches, ravines, parks and valleys were common favorites. We never had to consider things like: alkalinity, ph, chlorine and chloride levels, or trace metals.
Lowering the pool water, to proper levels, to winterize your pool and protect your investment is an essential part of pool closing. If you live in Southern Ontario, special precautions have to be taken before draining your pool water. Municipalities now require you to dispose wastewater in an environmentally responsible way.
Salt water pools have been increasing in popularity over the years. Their combined environmental impact on our lakes and rivers has been of great concern. Leading the way, the city of Toronto has imposed strict guidelines for disposing of your wastewater.
- The first step is to balance all your chemicals ensuring all including ph are within acceptable limits. Generally if you follow the guidelines on your test kit and make sure your water is swimmable you’ll be fine.
- Next you need to ensure chlorine levels are neutralized. This can be easily accomplished using de-chlorinating tablets with a de-chlorinator. Your de-chlorinator can be permanently installed in-line with your backwash line or temporarily setup at closing time with sump pump used to lower your pool.
- Keeping your backyard oasis from going green all summer is traditionally accomplished by adding Algaecides and Fungicides to your pool water once per week. These products require special concern as they may contain copper, Nonylphenols (NPs) and Nonylphenol Ethoxylates (NPEs). Don’t sound like fun do they? Check your label as they can be toxic to aquatic life.
An alternative this season instead of using harsh chemicals when closing your pool, consider using Eco-friendly products from manufacturers like Natural Chemistry.
Closing your pool properly and ensuring it’s done in an environmentally conscious way is every pool owner’s responsibility. If you’re looking for some professional help, PoolBoy can prepare and close your pool when its time.
Freedom from Bad Habits
by LilyMonkey on Jan.18, 2010, under Personal Development
Freedom from Bad Habits
A big part of Personal Development is identifying your weaknesses and bad habits and focusing on improving or changing them. You know exactly what these are; it’s that mental list in the back of your head, that inner voice telling you, “this isn’t serving you in the most effective way”, and it could be just the thing holding you back from experiencing Full on Freedom.
Like so many of you out there, I’ve struggled for many years with my bad habit – smoking. I started back when I was 18. I never smoked full time, just at the bar, with friends while having a few drinks. I dedicated 10 years of my life to “social smoking”. Since I could maintain this for so long I felt that I was never really addicted. I didn’t think it was much of a problem until I started getting closer to my thirties and noticing that my energy level wasn’t as high as I would’ve liked. I seemed to get sick more easily. I had a nasty cough right after the weekend. That’s when I decided enough is enough, and it was time to quit completely. However, once I started trying to quit, I quickly realized how addicted I actually was. I tried several times without success, got discouraged, tried again, failed and so went on the cycle.
One day I ran into a friend who told me about this amazing book he read and that made him quit smoking for good 15 years ago. At the time I dismissed the advice and continued smoking.
The book is “The Easy Way to Stop Smoking” by Allen Carr. When I actually picked up the book and started reading it, I noticed that my desire to smoke began dropping off quickly, so much so that I knew that if I were to continue to read the book I would quit for sure. I got scared and stopped reading the book for a little while. I needed to be mentally ready to say “that’s it, I am done with this”. So a month before my 30th birthday, I decided it was time! I picked up the book again and started reading. I read it and smoked while reading, just like it tells you to, and when I finished the last chapter and put the book to rest on my night table, I knew for a fact that I would never ever smoke again. This was truly the most liberating experience I’ve ever had in my life. I knew for sure it was over.
Now, some of you might think “yeah right, like a book is going to do that!” Trust me, Yes, it will! So long as you are really ready to quit and you finish the book. It will happen! I was completely fed up, I knew I wanted to quit, I just didn’t know how. I was always able to stop for a week or two or even a month, but then I would go out to the bar and have a terrible time because the only thing I could think of is how badly I wanted to smoke and who I could bum a cigarette from. What a horrible feeling!
The beauty of this book is that you will never have to feel like that ever again. It explains why we smoke, explains our fears and tells us why we haven’t been able to quit. It reprograms your brain from feeling that you’ve given up something you really enjoyed to wondering why in the world you ever smoked? What did it ever give you and why didn’t you quit sooner?
It’s been three years for me now since I quit. I haven’t had a single craving or desire to smoke. I’ve even ran into old friends that knew me when I smoked and was offered a cigarette which confused me, because I had forgotten that ever smoked at all. It seems so strange, so foreign to me now. You know the saying “ex-smokers are the worst”, well I am not an ex-smoker, I am just a non smoker, it’s like it never happened. I feel free and overjoyed that I was able to finally break the habit. The freedom is wonderful! I have bought this book for many of my friends and family members and I wanted to share my success with the rest of you.
Check out our website Full on Freedom, it focuses on various resources to help your personal development. We have included the link to Allen Carr’s book “The Easy Way to Stop Smoking”, as well as many other self help books and tools to help you start changing your life and regaining total.
Smoke-free Lily Monkey.
