Old Home Foundation Repair

As a house ages, it will eventually need repairs and maintenance. One of the most important parts of an old house in which you need to pay extra attention to is the foundation. If damage develops on this part of the home it can turn into a very expensive repair job.

Possible Causes:

As a house ages, so does the materials they are created from. These will get weaker with age, causing them to be more susceptible to damage. These damages can be caused by many different factors, all exacerbated by the age of the house. Routine maintenance to this part of the house is essential in order to save you from the aggravation of going through with the repairs of the foundation.

Another factor that might cause damage to an old home is water damage. If you have any leaks from your pipes or sewage lines, they might cause harm to your foundation. Sadly, water damage can sometimes be difficult to detect until it is already too late. As soon as you suspect any damage within your foundation your first step should be to have your pipes and sewage lines looked at by a professional plumber. This will help the contractors you hire to repair your foundation find a way to fix your home.

Cost:

The cost to repair foundation damage could be very expensive depending on the extent of the damage and the size of your home. A typical house with moderate damage can possibly cost you up to $30,000. Te cost will include labor costs, initial visit from the contractor, and materials used in the repair.

Even though the cost to repair is very high it is a cost you cannot get away from. If you ignore structural damage in the foundation you are only asking for potential disaster. The cost to rebuild a home will be significantly more than to repair an existing one.

The Last of a Dying Breed

What does the term "newsboy" mean to you?

Right here in downtown Seattle are half a dozen old-time newsstands, the kind that tend to be made of wood and painted green or brown, with a simple roof for shelter in a downpour, and a hard-edged lean-to look. Spare and Spartan, such booths have existed here since at least 1919. But the news hawkers are in deep danger of disappearing forever...potentially overnight.

Just as he closed for the day I met with one of the men in the downtown newsstands, peak-chinned and hawklike, green-eyed, small, lithe and sharp as a news hawker should be.

We sipped two dollars worth of coffee at the Turf near First in the Market's part of downtown as he told me about his particular newsstand at Third and Union in front of the old Woolworth's building.

"My name is Pat Hickey. I've been here since August of 1975." Twenty-eight years hawking papers from inside an old run-down newsstand. "I manage the stand. My boss is Dennis Hogan.

"It was put up in 1919. The legendary Frank Turco opened up the stand. He ran it until his death in 1966. There have been 85 years of continuous service on this corner.

"Some of our customers are wealthy men who own horses and depend on us to sell their racing forms. We make most of our money selling the racing forms.

"When they built the bus tunnel and narrowed Third Avenue, we lost most of our car trade and never got it back."

Times and PI sales have fallen off pretty badly over the years on account of so many vending racks on all the downtown corners.

"You see, people don't depend on newspapers anymore, because they get their news off the television. The truth of the matter is that the downtown newsstand, for decades a fixture in all the major American cities, is going the way of the dinosaur."

I interrupted Hickey with "I caught you just in time!"

"Well, sort of. Due to the fifteen cents profit per paper. It goes to the dealer or the owner of the vending rack. Ten cents is the wholesale price. We buy it for ten cents and we sell it for twenty-five, hence the fifteen cent profit."

To clear fifteen dollars one would have to sell 100 papers.

"In the old days selling that many papers was nothing. Now to sell 100, one would have to have hot headlines or a great day."

Frank Turco, Hickey told me, was middle-aged when he founded the first downtown newsstands.

"He came out from Pittsburgh, PA and he lost a leg in a train accident in Montana. He was quite an industrial entrepreneur. In not too many years, he had newsstands over a good portion of downtown Seattle."

For a long time, he was one of downtown's most recognizable faces; people in the thousands knew him by sight. In the 1940's he ran for city council as a reform candidate.

"A reform candidate is one who's going to, you know, radically reform the whole system. Politics in the 40s were very corrupt," Hickey stated significantly. "Frank Turco was very involved in union politics. He was the head of Seattle's newsboy union.

"It was sort of a closet union...it was set up for the benefit of the union to make money off the newsboys who made peanuts for money. Turco was a newsboy and believed in justice for the working man. You gotta handle that with a little more skill. He was exploiting the newsboys."

Too soon, Hickey had to get back to his beloved newsstand.

"The idea is, you're in a dinosaur, and you may be catching the tail end of something that really has a very long history."

Downtown newsstands are almost as old as the cities. Over the years there have been hundreds of colorful newspaper vendors, such as PI Mary, an eccentric old lady who sold papers down on First. She went back to the Second World War. She would boldly go right into the First Avenue bars, and directly sell papers to the customers.

"We've definitely been a part of the fabric of downtown life. Unfortunately, most of the newsboys have been pushing up roses for a long, long time," Hickey sighed.

When I left the newsstand, an unknown gambler in the booth, whispering to Hickey, "I.M. Anonymous" by name, closed its green doors at me as a definitive sign-off.

Buying Sports Gear

Many sports enthusiasts rely on their gear to perform at their best. For instance, female softball players would rely on their womens fastpitch bats for enhanced performance. If you enjoy badminton or baseball, you need to buy the right sports clothing and equipment to enhance your performance and keep you safe. No great athlete has made their way to their current status without the aid of some nice sports gear.

There are different kinds of sports gear and equipment. Each type requires a set of clothing and equipment. Some pieces of equipment are quite obvious. For instance, you need a racket and shuttlecock if you are a badminton player. However, there are items that you only become acquainted with as you go for more serious training.

Serious players would soon realize the need for a whole set of gear, not only because it is required, but also because it is for their own performance and safety. For instance, if you are a hockey player, you need a whole set of gear that includes hockey pads, catchers, hockey skates, masks, neck protectors, chest and arm protector, thigh guards, knee protectors, and so on.

In most cases, you will have a limited range of choices. There are a few trusted brands out there, and most buyers would balance their choice between quality and cost. Thrifty customers would go for low cost items, but heavy-duty players must invest in high quality equipment, so that they last long.

Doing good research on the products is important. Ads of all brands of sports apparel and gear will tell you that they are the best and that you should get them. But what really matters is what previous buyers say about them, which is why reading reviews are necessary. Through reading reviews, you will find out which brands offer the best quality, the right comfort, and the longest life.

Another way to know if a product can be trusted is to ask friends if they have tried it. You could also ask your fellow teammates if any of them has experienced wearing or using the equipment.

For most sports gear buyers, following a budget is necessary, as not everyone can turn their pockets inside out just to have the best one. Some would have to settle with items at a reasonable price. For example, looking at different stores to see who offers goalie hockey sticks at the lowest price is a common practice.

While you would want to save on gear, be careful when buying cheap, protective ones. Low-priced helmets, pads and gloves may turn out to have the worst quality. You never know, they may have been priced cheaply because of the poor quality of the items, which could put you at risk.

Size is a very important factor to consider as well, when buying sports apparel and gear. No matter how good the quality of the chest and arm protector is, if the protective kit does not fit, it's useless.

If you are buying from an online seller, make sure that they can be trusted, as well as have a reliable courier. The product should be delivered at most three days after you have placed your order and paid for the item. When the product arrives, see if it has defects and flaws. Use it and test it if it functions according to its specifications.

Free Weights Vs Machines

There are endless amounts of people who assume themselves to be serious within their "sport" yet they opt for the most ineffective method of training.

The use of machines, whether be a multigym at home or a specific machine in the gym has no use above that of a free weight counterpart unless the trainee is using the equipment to train whilst injured or they are training to fix a weakness which prevents them from handling free weight or bodyweight.

The use of a fixed plane machines eliminates the need of stabilizer muscles, places load upon the joints and programs incorrect movement patternS. The limbs using to push or pull are not given the freedom to articulate naturally, overall muscle tissue utilisation is hindered as is the reflective hormonal response.

A novice trainee who is aiming for overall muscular growth will always benefit from using free weights. They will benefit even more if they are used correctly.

Using Free Weights Correctly

It doesn't make sense for someone to claim that they are using free weights confident that they are handling all weight themselves whilst they unload a light bar from a rack.

Using free weights in training is more than loading up a free bar on a rack, performing the movement then re-racking it.

If a bar is light enough to be lifted from the floor then it should be lifted from the floor.

Why would you want to press something overhead that you can't lift from the ground? The answer is; you can and you should. Everyone should posses the ability to use their posterior chain (hamstrings, glutes and lower back) to move a poundage from the floor slowly via a deadlift or explosively via a clean.

To put this into a tidy example; in the case of an overhead press the bar is loaded on the floor, cleaned, pressed overhead then lowered to floor.

Jugling Plates

Training shouldn't be about laziness. This is a given. We visit the gym to do one thing - move weight, yet it is surprising to see how many people are unwilling to put in the effort to prepare the bar. Some people will even go as far as avoiding a movement unless the previous person has left a convenient loaded bar in the rack - at waist height no less.

What needs to be realized is that training isn't just about moving weight from an elevated position from a rack. The loading of the bar isn't a burden. The loading of the bar is part of training - as is lifting the bar into position.

A plate lifted from the floor is deadlifted working the posterior chain. The pinch required to hold the plate is a grip dependent execution where fingers and forearms are worked. The entire experience of the gym is a workout.

Once the trainee comes to this realization they can begin to play with this principle making fun of what was previously seen as a tiresome chore.

If you load 10kg plates, squat down and pinch it with a single hand. Swing it to load it onto the bar with one hand to work the grip, wrist and forearms. When you miss try again.

When you adjust the catcher pin of the power rack, do it one handed and lever the pin with the wrist working it onto the rack holes to stress the wrists. Make a game of it. Try to do it on one fluid motion. Try to beat your previous weeks attempt.

Ask yourself why you should take interest in these insignificant practices. Ask yourself why you should squat down to lift that plate or bar from the floor then consider this:

Lifting a bar into position from the floor 5 times twice per week gives a grand total of 520 deadlifts per year.

The very same factor is applicable to handling plates to prepare the bar and every other movement carried out to prepare equipment.

The cumulation is huge.

Training isn't dictated to us to the last letter. It's up to the individual to style their training to their own requirements - to keep stimulus constant and functional. Laziness breeds laziness. Until people break out of the conventional rut and spark a light of creativity with unorthodox practices of their own all chores will remain chores.

Go juggle some plates!

The 3 Essentials to Mastering Your Mental Arena

The 3 Cornerstones For Mastering Your Mind

Ever heard the axiom that golf is 90 percent mental? While sports psychologists, hypnotherapists and assorted mental gurus delve into the convoluted depths of the unconscious, their esoteric information often overlooks 3 basic beliefs that are critical for improvement.

Belief Number 1: The Odds Are Against You

Every consistent player understands the game is inherently unfair. Compared to other sports where the player uses the same bat, racket or stick under controlled conditions, the golfer has to adjust to 14 clubs of various lengths in a constantly changing arena.

Tour players need to be constantly reminded of this axiom, which explains why the majority of them have a renowned sports psychologist at the top of their speed dial list.

No matter how much you practice, there are aspects of the game that are beyond your control.

You can hit a perfect Drive 250 yards down the middle of the fairway, then watch in dismay, as the ball caroms off a rock and bounces out of bounds. A sudden gust of wind could lay claim to a towering wedge shot heading right for the pin, and deposit the ball 3 feet short of the green into a demonic pot bunker.

Understanding that the game is capricious, will help you deal with the inevitable "slings and arrows of outrageous fortune".

Belief Number 2: There Is No Absolute Correlation Between Practice and Playing

This could be the hardest axiom for most of us to accept.

The natural assumption, is that the more we practice, the better we play. How often have you hit excellent shots on the practice range and then played like a neophyte lumberjack?

A good practice session will certainly boost your confidence, but results on the practice range (either good or bad) have no direct relationship to how you play.

Your ability to control expectations, is the essential element in making sure you "stay in the present". The true value of practice will be the topic of the next article.

Belief Number 3: Your Game Is A Work In Progress

How long will it take?

I can't count the number of times a new student poses this question. Biting my tongue, I answer with a vague response, like"... it depends on how much you practice". A realistic answer would be "forever".

The best players in the world are constantly working to improve. A good coach will help you avoid detours and dead ends, but the construction is never-ending.

Your ultimate goal is to shrink the roller coaster of inconsistency, to speed bumps that you can negotiate.

Summary

This article briefly touched on the 3 cornerstones for mastering your mental arena: (1) The odds are stacked against you (2) Practice and playing are not casually related (3) Your game is a work in progress.

Keep these beliefs in the forefront of your golfing mind or, better yet, write them down (in your own words) on a card and keep them in your wallet. Review them every time you practice or play.

Next month, you will learn the true value of practice. Thanks for your time.

See you soon!

Easy Home Style Meals For Show Families On The Road

After a while, eating out every night can get tiring when you're on the road with your show horse. Some nights, you may be tired after a long day of eventing, or you may be miles away from the nearest restaurant. Carrying along some homemade foods doesn't have to be difficult, and can provide some comforts of home, and an option to constantly eating on the run.

Since most RV's or travel trailers have modest kitchens, it's easy to reheat or prepare a simple meal that your family will appreciate. Basic cooking supplies are all you will need, along with a little preparation before you leave home, as well as optimizing your grocery shopping ahead of time. Depending on how long you will be away, usually a weekend, to a week, you can tweak your meal plan to accommodate your needs. Consider purchasing supplies that can be used for more than one meal to optimize storage space in your trailer refrigerator.

If you're going away for a weekend show and will be gone 2-4 days, consider pre-made meals that can be quickly heated in your trailers microwave or oven. For longer trips, consider ready made meals or utilize store packaged products that make cooking a bit easier. Since time is often in short supply during show season, the better prepared you are, the less time you will have to spend on putting a meal together.

Quick Breads for Breakfast:

Quick breads are easy to prepare ahead of time and freeze. Or, make the batter and keep in your fridge for baking when needed. They not only taste wonderful, but are a comforting way to start a chilly Show morning! Serve with hot cocoa or coffee on a crisp morning.

Cinnamon Quick Bread

1/3 cup white sugar

2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

2 cups all-purpose flour

1 tablespoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 cup white sugar

1 egg, beaten

1 cup milk

1/3 cup vegetable oil

DIRECTIONS

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Lightly grease a 9x5 inch loaf pan. In a small bowl, mix together 1/3 cup sugar and 2 teaspoons cinnamon; set aside. In large bowl combine flour, baking powder, salt and remaining 1 cup sugar. Combine egg, milk, and oil; add to flour mixture. Stir until just moistened. Pour half of the batter into pan. Sprinkle with half the reserved cinnamon/sugar mixture. Repeat with remaining batter and cinnamon/sugar mixture. Draw a knife through batter to marble. Bake in preheated oven for 45 to 50 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean. Let rest 10-15 minutes before slicing. Best if kept overnight before slicing.

Banana Bread ( Courtesy of Taste of Home)

2/3 cup sugar

1/3 cup shortening

2 cups all-purpose flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/4 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 cup mashed ripe bananas

DIRECTIONS

There are NO eggs or milk in this recipe. In a large bowl, cream sugar and Shortening for about 5 minutes (mixture does not get smooth). Combine flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt; add to creamed mixture alternately with bananas, beating after each addition (the batter will be thick). Spoon into a greased 9- in. x 5-in. x 3-in. loaf pan. Bake at 350 degrees F for 40-45 minutes or until bread tests done with a toothpick. Cool in pan for 10 minutes before removing to a wire rack.

Lunch Recipes:

Turkey & Ham wraps

1 pkg each thin sliced deli turkey & honey ham

1 large sliced onion

1 large sliced green pepper

1 large sliced tomato

Lettuce

Ranch dressing

1 pkg shredded mozzarella or cheddar blend cheese

1 pkg tomato basil, or garden herb tortilla wraps

DIRECTIONS

Simply fill a tortilla with desired amount of meats and veggies. Add ranch dressing and cheese if desired, and roll tortilla end to end. Serve with fruit or baked chips. These wraps can be made ahead of time and stored in a bag in the refrigerator.

Bruschetta Chicken Sandwiches: to prepare ahead of time, simply chop the veggies and place in a storage bag. Buy packaged chicken strips, or cook and cut frozen chicken breasts and store.

1 pkg hoagie rolls

1-2 packages prepared chicken strips or 3 large chicken breasts cooked and cut into strips

2-3 Roma tomatoes, diced

1 can black olives, diced

1 large green pepper, diced

Small bunch of green onions ( chives), finely diced

Small bunch of fresh parsley, finely diced

Olive oil

Salt & pepper

DIRECTIONS

Mix all the veggies and herbs together. Add a dash salt, pepper and about 3 TBSP olive oil. Mix all well. Open a hoagie roll and place a scoop of chicken inside. Top with a scoop of vegetable mixture. For added pizzaz, add a dash of parmesan cheese and broil or bake until the bread is slightly crisp around the edges and cheese is melted.

Easy Supper Meals:

Beef Stew:

To make life really easy and still get a wonderful homemade meal, purchase a bag of ready made stew for the crockpot. Betty Crocker has a delicious prepackaged beef stew that you simply put in your crockpot, add water and let cook while you go about your show day!

Chicken Fajitas

1 pkg cooked chicken strips

1 pkg flour tortillas

1 jar salsa

1 pkg dry fajita mix

1 large onion, chopped

1 package cheddar or taco blend cheese

Sour Cream

DIRECTIONS

Cook chicken strips and dry fajita mix according to package directions. Spoon finished meat into a tortilla. Add onions, sour cream and cheese if desired.

Hot Turkey Sandwiches & Mashed Potatoes

2 pkgs deli turkey

2 jars turkey gravy

1 loaf Texas Toast Bread or thick sliced bread

1 box instant mashed potatoes

DIRECTIONS

Simmer turkey and gravy in small pan until heated through. Prepare boxed potatoes according to directions. Serve turkey and gravy over a slice of Texas Toast and add gravy to hot potatoes.

Snacks

Show-Time trail mix

In a bag mix together: almonds ( any flavor), m&m's, raisons, craisins, salted peanuts, flaked coconut. Mix in a baggie and serve as a snack

Puppy Chow

1 box corn chex mix

1 cup melted peanut butter

2 pkgs hot cocoa powder

Powdered sugar

DIRECTIONS

Melt peanut butter in a large saucepan. Add the cereal to the peanut butter and mix until all the cereal is coated. Transfer the covered cereal to a large storage bag ( you may need to divide it into two bags). Add the cocoa packets to the bag, seal and shake until cereal is coated. Add 1-2 cups powdered sugar to the bag, seal and shake again until covered with the sugar. Transfer to clean bags and serve as a snack ( a little messy!)

Kitchen Supplies not to forget

Crock pot

Large wooden spoons

Mixing bowls

Whisk

Storage Bags or Tupperware containers

The key is sticking to recipes that are fast, using ingredients that have multi-purpose and are easy to store to make your life, and your meals, on the road a little easier.