Create a plan of action in maintaining your dwelling. Here are some typical tasks to to tackle for the fall and early winter:

# Inspect all driveways, walkways, decks, porches, and landscape components for evidence of deterioration, movement, or safety hazards.
# Look at overhead wires coming to the house. They should be secure and clear of trees or other obstructions.
# Have chimneys inspected and cleaned. Ensure that rain caps and vermin screens are secure.
# Clean wood decks and reseal as needed.
# Check the grade of the land around the house: it should encourage water to flow away from the foundation.
# Turn off the shut-off valve on your outdoor water pipes before the first freeze and remove outside hoses and store away.
# Survey the basement and/or crawl space walls for evidence of moisture seepage.
# Look for obvious gaps around doors and windows and replace worn weather-stripping and caulking.
# Have the heating, cooling, and water heater systems cleaned and serviced.
# Review the location of all of the shut-off valves in your home with all your family members so you’ll be prepared for emergencies.
# Reset automatic light timers for the longer nights ahead.
# Replace smoke detector batteries.
# Create a plan in the event of a fire in your home. Ensure that there is an operable window or door in every room of the house.

Have to make a quick trip to pick up milk, mail a letter, or return a DVD? The NEV, or Neighborhood Electric Vehicle, is a small environmentally-friendly vehicle. A new “plug and go” solution, NEVs are lightweight and enclosed against inclimate weather. This ideal alternative accelerates up to a 25mph speed, perfect for those daily rides around town. Beware, however. The batteries are heavy and expensive, and the cars don’t drive far enough between recharges to make them a long-distance commuter’s choice. However, for commuting longer distances, many models do include the built-in charger to plug in and recharge upon reaching destination. The driver can then start again, fresh with a full battery to return home. The NEV industry is still new and growing; accordingly, it is still difficult to locate a dealer. But, while conserving energy, a driver can also conserve cash! For those considering purchase, there are rebates available for the Neighborhood Electric Vehicle. Safe and legally allowed on streets posted at 25mph, (do check local restrictions), cruising down the road in one of these new vhicles is sure to turn more than a few pedestrian heads.

The Space Needle in Seattle, Washington was the home to the 1962 World’s Fair. The 605-foot tower was built in less than a year and was conceived by Eddie Carlson as a doodle on a napkin in 1959 and given form by architects John Graham Jr., Victor Steinbrueck, and John Ridley.

The Seattle Space Needle boasts the following:

# A revolving restaurant where you can enjoy Pacific Northwest cuisine that is matched only by the view served with it. The restaurant is 500 feet up & revolves one full revolution over a 58 minute period.
# A 360º observation deck with a “safety grid” installed. The trip to the top takes less than a minute and travels at 10 mph, and the view is fantastic.
# 85 million candle-power lamps atop the needle which provide a beacon light

It sits on the Seattle Center, a 74-acre site with such attractions as KeyArena, Memorial Stadium, Seattle Opera House, Pacific Science Center, Science Fiction Museum and Hall of Fame, Experience Music Project, and more. You can catch the monorail to all of Seattle Metro and from there to the Waterfront & Ferry Terminals, the Train Station, SeaTac International Airport, & all points beyond.

The Seattle Worlds Fair, also known as the Century 21 Exposition, really started something there. The area surrounding is very accessible and tourist friendly, with restaurants, hotels, and motels all within walking distance.

SMS: Short Message Service is a revolution in mobile communications. Most new cell phones and PDAs are capable of using this technology. Just ask your retailer about your cell phone.

Sending and receiving text messages with your telephone has gotten very easy to do, and a lot of your own labor at typing on your telephone has been replaced with pre-set messages and icons. This is a great way to send a reminder to stop for something at the store, send your address to a visitor, or just to check-in and say hi. PC to SMS is also being used more. This is a way to type a message onto a web page and have it sent to a SMS-enabled cellphone or PDA using the person’s telephone number instead of a web address.

Some email programs will let you automatically send an alert to your cell phone/PDA when a certain letter/document arrives or when a person emails you using the SMS technology.

Born 480 in a tiny village near Spoleto, Nursia, a son of a wealthy nobelman of Rome and had a twin sister named Scholastica,(St.Scholastica). When he died in 543 it is written he was aware it was his time and was standing with arms reaching upward in prayer; and was buried along with his sister in St. John the Baptists’ oratory that he had built on the spot that he had overthrown the Alter of Apollo at Monte Cassino. While it seems that the life of his sister had been dedicated as a small child to our Lord, his own calling and doctrines were formulated later in his life. His boyhood was spent in Rome, in a life of studies at the great libraries and in preperation of a career as a Roman nobelman, but took an abrupt turn in his late teens or early twenties. Leaving and taking his nurse as a servant along he settled in some mountains near a church dedicated to St. Peter some 70 or so miles from Rome where he is said to have worked his first miracle, the first of many.It is said he was gifted with prophesy,as well as having the ability to stop the attacks of satan. It is written than monks once tried to poison him, yet he blessed the cup rendering the poison harmless. His influence is still strong today, as well as his sisters’ with schools and monastories named for them. Different from the Franciscans’, the Benedictines’ do not take a vow of poverty, yet vow obediance according to the words of our lord. He is know for the writing of St. Benedict’s Rule which were written for the people, the laymen and not so much for the clerics. His memorial day is celebrated on July 11th. Said to be the Patron Saint for Monks, schoolchildren, farmers and farmworkers, and against temptations, witchcraft, poison, and fever, The Medal of St. Benedict, a sacrament, is the only medal that has an exorcism prayer on it. Wearers of the medal have made claims of a calming feeling and tranquility.

Fast becoming Americas’ new ‘wonder drug’ and seems to be replacing our old standard…asprin. With a shelf-life of about 2 years, Diphenhydramine hydrochloride is an antihistamine with drying and sedative side effects. If you have hay fever and allergy problems you will see this ingrediant in most over the counter medications for the runny noses, sneezy and sniffles, colds and flu-like symptoms.

It is being used for a varity of ailments including but not limited to: treating throat irrations,itchy and watery eyes, in the teatment and prevention of motion sickness, and as a gentle sleep aid. Available in a cream ointment it can also relieve sunburn, poison oak & ivy, stings and insect bites, as well as other minor skin irrations. Diphenhydramine hydrochloride is also included in many of the over the counter sleep aids.

Diphenhydramine hydrochloride generally available in 25mg. caplets and capsules; and available in the generic forms as well. There are minor side effects, not felt by everyone and you should exercise caution when trying any ‘new to you’ over the counter medications.
–User:Aegis1|Aegis1 04:28, 25 February 2006 (EET)

The traditional American Native wooden flutes produce the most soothing and peaceful voice a woodwind can give. Hand carved from cedar, spruce, redwood, walnut, birch, red cedar, and more, you will find the end of most of these has a woodblock carved as a bear, eagle, horse, bird; or your own animal spirit can even be carved for you to order. Using stone inlays, wood carving, feathers and more, the modern flutemaker will strive to provide you the instrument of your dreams. This timeless piece of our history and tradition is now easily available for you to enjoy and participate in. There are websites to buy pre-carved flutes, webrings to advertise and share the music, and commercial recordings and concerts make it easier to find and enjoy this traditional music. Still considered to be healing, spiritually up-lifting & meditative, many of these songs have been shared and passed down thru generations.

Many of the flutemakers belong to groups that play regulary and get together with other artists and players. This is your own chance to learn from the carvers and musicians how to use this wonderfull tool.

No matter what kind of software you use (including construction accounting software), networking matters.

The connecting of two or more computers in a home, school or business is called “networking”. We do this to easily share files, software programs, and printers on a ‘remote’ computer. The network is created using software installed on each computer system in the new network, and hardware that will vary depending on your own requirements and needs. There are special home network creation programs and kits with a CD you can easily buy online or in a store that will walk you through each step. Windows XP does include a ‘network setup wizard’ that will help an experienced computer user easily set up the network. There are various ways to connect the network: patch cabels, wireless WiFi, Power-line Networking, and Phone-line Networking.

Sitting Bull, named so after a brave charge into battle as a teenager against the Crow Indians. Born in an area named ‘many caches’ by the Sioux, Grand River in South Dakota sometime between 1831 & 1834. With a given childhood name of Hunkesni, meaning slow, he was certainly ready to prove himself a worthy brave & warrior.

He was not the Chief of the Teton Sioux who defeated Lt. Colonel G.Custer at the Battle of Little Bighorn, but Medicine Man and Spiritual advisor of the Sioux. In 1876, he invited the Benedictine Monks to Standing Rock, South Dakota to set up the first of many schools which have evolved into the American Indian Culture Research Center at Blue Cloud Abby, South Dakota today. Sitting Bull had a reputation as a peacemaker among his people and was a gentle and deeply spiritual man. Having many visions he did predict his death by the hand of another Indian.(Shot by Standing Rock Indian police,1890,two weeks prior to the massacre at Wounded Knee Creek) He helped to start the “ghost dance” that he hoped would rid their lands of the oppressors, which deeply disturbed the Army & Washington D.C.; with gold having being discovered in the Black Hills of the Lakota Nation it was necessary to protect prospectors and settlers regardless of their trespassing on the Lakota Nation Lands. Unknown to many, the battle at Little Big Horn was a defensive reaction to the trespassing on lands ‘given’ to them in a treaty with the American Government.

Chief Sitting Bull joined Buffalo Bills’ Wild West Show where he toured with them and put on a brief appearance daily. This allowed him to raise badly needed money by posing for pictures, postcards and signing autographs.He met and shook the hand of then President Cleveland, and took this as a sign of acceptance and respect.

There was a time that he and a band of followers fled into Canada, and some consider him a grandfather of modern day Turtle Island. One of many quotes attributed to Sitting Bull: “Let us put our minds together and see what life can make for our children”

Firewalls have become a necessity to protect your PC and privacy. The popular sci-fi expression: “Shields Up” has become the mantra of Web surfing.

Many PCs have doors wide open to crafty hackers who can send your PC encrypted requests and commands. The firewall acts as the doorman or hostess by: welcoming your guests, checking for any reservations or passes you may have left for a guest, and denying entrance to the unwelcome or un-announced.

Like a good doorman/hostess your firewall can be trained to allow ‘exceptions’ to the guest-list…this you will set while installing and running your new firewall software the first few times.

Choosing a firewall, and applying the software correctly is important, and something time should be put into. There are many different levels of firewall protection available and many programs to choose from.

Depending on your own operating system, and virus programs installed, you may have a firewall installed on your machine and are unaware of it and you just need to enable it. Take a few minutes and explore what you have now before installing new firewall programs that may potentially create a conflict, you may need to uninstall or disable some items.

Having a basic firewall enabled will turn away the attacks that are constantly probing the web. Having a basic firewall will not stop BHOs’ from taking over your start page, nor will it prevent pop ups.These features are available in firewall program software, you choose the level of protection, firewall software that you need.