My daughter got bitten by a tick. First, she reported something itchy on her scalp. Upon inspection, we noticed this tick: Rather than looking online to see what to do, we removed it with our fingernails, removing a small piece of her scalp with it. You shouldn’t do that – you should remove it with a sharp pointed tweezers, grabbing as close to the skin as possible and gently pull… Read More »American Dog Tick Bite – Northern Illinois
Updated 4/26/20 at 17:15. I hadn’t updated for a while as other websites are getting better at also tracking this data. Overall, tracking numbers of cases is only slightly useful, as there are clearly many more cases that are not being identified. Tracking deaths is much more accurate as we are probably tracking most deaths related to COVID accurately. Tracking the ratio of positive tests to total number of tests… Read More »Illinois COVID-19 Tracking with Graphs
One of the big unanswered questions is whether someone is immune to reinfection with COVID-19 after they’ve recovered from a positive case. The current thought is that people are most likely immune. But what is the evidence? Unfortunately, it is still not a confirmed finding. There was a recent report giving some information about four cases in Wuhan China where the individuals initially tested positive for COVID-19 and then recovered. … Read More »Coronavirus COVID-19 – Can you get re-infected after recovery?
Update March 28, 2020 – On March 24, 2020, the FDA released a more detailed statement about novel coronavirus COVID-19 testing which includes the following statement: The FDA has also seen unauthorized fraudulent test kits for COVID-19 being sold online. Currently, the only way to be tested for COVID-19 is to talk to your health care provider. The FDA has not authorized any test that is available to purchase for… Read More »COVID-19 Home Test Kits – Reviewed
Update March 28, 2020 – the FDA posted more detailed information on March 24, 2020, clarifying that they will not be authorizing any home testing under the emergency use authorization, but they are still exploring home testing once it has been fully reviewed as accurate. ——————————————— The FDA issued a warning letter about fraudulent COVID-19 test kits on March 20, 2020. I read the letter and unfortunately it is not… Read More »Fraudulent Covid-19 Test Kits – FDA warning misleading?
<TLDR: I increased the power being provided to the Ring doorbell but using a different AC adapter (similar to a transformer that most doorbells use) and the device started charging> I have one of the original ring doorbells, installed it around November 2015, making it 4 years and 3 months old. I had temporary issues around July 2018 with our wired door chime buzzing whenever someone rang the doorbell. It… Read More »Original Ring Doorbell Hardwired But Not Charging – Fixed
I didn’t do an update last year, but I’ve been documenting the progress of my raspberry plants over the years. Each year does seem to get better, but there are a few general observations. The plants with the most sunlight markedly outperform those plants with partial shade. I planted two rows of raspberry canes. I believe the Anne raspberries planted in partial shade did not survive. The Joan J are… Read More »Bare Root Raspberry Canes – 3 Year Update
About 1.5 years ago, my furnace stopped working. At the time it was due to an inducer blower having burned out, causing a warning of “Pressure Switch Stuck Open”, with the warning of a green light blinking twice. Today, we came back from a week vacation where we had the thermostat turned down. When we turned up the thermostat, nothing happened. Uh oh. I went down to the furnace to… Read More »Rheem Furnace Green Light Flashing Four Times – Pressure Switch Stuck Closed
First, what is a sink aerator and why have it? As explained in detail on wikipedia, a sink aerator is the wire mesh cap that typically is screwed onto the end of the faucet. It’s main purposes are to reduce splashing, create a more uniform stream, reduce water usage, and increase the water pressure (yes – it increases the pressure while reducing the amount of water used). Here’s a basic… Read More »Bathroom Sink Aerator Can Not be Removed – or Can It?
I’ve had a Ring video doorbell for about two years now. All of a sudden, last week, after someone rang the bell, the chime started vibrating and making a humming noise. I removed the cover for the indoor chime and noticed the metal rod that strikes the plate was vibrating rapidly, causing the whirring, humming noise. It was like it was stuck between trying to ring and not ringing. It… Read More »Ring Doorbell Chime Buzzing