Month: June 2021

Walk-In Showers Are Perfect for Seniors 

Not all seniors want to live in a nursing facility. Others want to be independent. If your loved ones wish to stay independent and live in a house, try to make it as safe as possible. Usually, injuries happen when they take a bath. A bathroom is a slippery place. The good thing is that you can install a walk in shower. It has features that are perfect for seniors living independently. 

Walk-In Showers

Grab bars

The first feature of a walk-in shower is the grab bar. It’s close to the shower, and it allows safety when stepping in and out of the area. Even for elderly people who are strong enough to walk without the grab bars, their presence is still useful. You can never predict when an injury can happen. If the person using the bathroom slips, the grab bars can be of significant help. 

No-slip flooring option

You can also find a walk-in shower that has a no-slip flooring option. It means that the floor used a slip-resistant material. Another strategy is to use a no-slip mat above the standard floor. 

Non-scalding taps

You can also find a shower with anti-scald taps as a feature. With their presence, scorching water won’t exit the valves. The problem is that older people have more sensitive skin. The level of heat that we can tolerate might be too much for them. Set the temperature to an acceptable level. There’s also a risk of slipping after running away from the flow of hot water. 

There’s a shower seat

The presence of a shower seat is another excellent feature. It’s perfect for seniors who struggle with balance. They don’t have to worry about it anymore since it’s easy to enter the shower area and sit. They also don’t need anyone to assist them while bathing since there’s no need to stand. 

Going in and out won’t be an issue

With a walk-in shower, there won’t be a problem going in and out of the room. Again, for seniors who live independently, it can be challenging. This bathroom feature is also easy to operate. It won’t take time for seniors to learn how it functions. You can also write the steps or label the parts when appropriate. 

Buy one now

Since you already understand the benefits of using a walk-in shower for seniors, it’s time to buy one now. Compare different choices first and go for an option you can afford. It should also be suitable for the available space. Seniors might want to downsize and live in a small house. If the place isn’t big enough, you should look for a smaller walk-in shower. Involve your loved on in the process of selecting an appropriate shower. 

It’s a good thing that some seniors still try to live independently. There might be benefits in living in a nursing facility, but it’s also good to be alone. It helps stimulate brain and body functions. When you already kept the place safe, you have nothing to worry about. 

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Hiking and Fishing on Center Hill Lake, Tennessee

About an hour’s drive southeast of Nashville, TN, is a beautiful lake known for its warm water, state parks and waterfalls. With 255 miles of shoreline, the pristine waters of Center Hill Lake provide excellent conditions for any water activity: swimming, waterskiing, wakeboarding, jet skiing, kayaking, paddleboarding, scuba diving and fishing, as well as on shore hiking. 

 

Take the whole gang on the 80′ Family Paradise Houseboat that sleeps up to 14 people. Even though you’ll be nestled in nature, you will be more than comfortable on the Family Paradise; it features 6 private staterooms and 2 full baths. You’ll cook your meals in a full kitchen complete with two refrigerators, or on the gas grill on the patio. Unwind in the hot tub on the top deck after a full day of play, or watch movies on the flat panel TV in the living area.

 

Hiking

There are three state parks that touch Center Hill Lake. Closest to Hurricane Marina is Edgar Evins State Park, where there are seven hiking trails ranging from easy to difficult:

  • Hillside Storybook Trail (.5 miles) easy/moderate
  • Millennium Trail Loop (2.3 miles) moderate
  • Merritt Ridge Loop Trail (5.5 miles) moderate/difficult – water by trail, rises up on the ridges from an intersection along the Millennium Trail Loop, you can combine the two trails and enjoy 8 miles of terrain.
  • Evins Ridge Nature Trail (.6 miles) moderate
  • Cemetary Trail (.1 miles) moderate
  • Highland Rim Loop Trail (2 miles) moderate/difficult – water by trail, an abundance of wildflowers in the springtime
  • Marina Trail (1 mile) easy/moderate

Be sure to also visit Burgess Falls State Park…

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EPIC Tells Court Not to Weaken Enforcement of Illinois Biometric Privacy Law

EPIC Amicus Filing White Castle

EPIC Tells Court Not to Weaken Enforcement of Illinois Biometric Privacy Law

EPIC has filed an amicus brief in Cothron v. White Castle, a case about when violations of Illinois’s Biometric Information Privacy Act (“BIPA”) can be vindicated in court. Cothron alleges that White Castle collected and disclosed her fingerprints for a decade in violation of BIPA. White Castle is trying to scuttle the case, claiming that an individual is only able to sue the first time a company violates their BIPA rights because it is only then that an individual “loses control” of their biometric data and suffers a legal injury. White Castle argues that, even if the company continued to violate BIPA to this day, they shouldn’t be held liable because the first violation was long enough ago that it falls outside the statute of limitations. But the Illinois Supreme Court held in Rosenbach v. Six Flags that every violation of BIPA confers the right to sue. The district court accordingly rejected White Castle’s argument, but certified the question to a federal appeals court. EPIC filed an amicus brief in the appeals court and argued that White Castle’s proposed rule would effectively “overrule the Illinois Supreme Court on a question of state law” by attempting “to import arguments about Article III standing into the BIPA statutory injury analysis.” EPIC also argued that White Castle is “mistaken about the underlying purpose of BIPA” and that White Castle’s rule “would in fact undermine BIPA’s purposes” because it “would remove the key incentive for companies who previously violated BIPA to come into compliance, adopt responsible biometric data practices, and seek informed consent.” EPIC has filed amicus briefs in other BIPA cases, including Rosenbach v. Six Flags and Patel v. Facebook, and regularly participates as amicus in cases concerning the right to sue for privacy violations.

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Fencing Out Deer Requires Effort—But It’s Worth It

It might be too early to claim a complete and total victory—there are probably a couple more isolated “battles” left to fight. And I know the opposition may never completely surrender.

But that’s okay. Because on the whole, I think my fencing has finally allowed me to win the war against deer in my orchard.

Initial Invasion

The process began in 2018, when I planted a bevy of young plum and apple trees to serve as the foundation of a new orchard. The chosen locale was at the top of a sunny hill, in an open field surrounded on three sides by forest.

It’s here where the snow first melts in the spring. The ground warms quicker here than the surrounding lowlands. And I often see deer here, sometimes in herds of 20 or 30, grazing on the brown turf as winter transitions into spring.

Deer have roamed in large numbers across my farm for years. They make themselves at home in my gardens and orchards.

In the past, the luckiest fruit trees have survived their annual winter prunings from the teeth of the neighborhood ruminants. But others just gave up the fight, either from over consumption or from antlers scraping off bark.

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Read more: Learn how to use graph paper when planning your orchard!

The Battle Begins

Suffice to say, I wasn’t about to let my new orchard become a preferred stomping grounds for the local deer population. The first year, I put up temporary fences around every tree, using T-posts and welded wire to do the job.

The results pleased me. Deer still roamed between the trees, but they couldn’t actually reach them to inflict damage.

During the second year, I continued to build temporary fencing around each new tree. I also began work on a formidable perimeter fence to enclose the entire orchard. Across the front of the orchard field, I used wooden posts and welded wire to create an attractive entrance.

Then I ran black plastic deer fencing through the three woodland sides of the orchard. I used trees as fence posts in order to reduce costs.

Read more: Learn more about the author’s early fencing endeavors against invading deer!

Fixing the Fencing

My perimeter fencing performed reasonably well during its first winter. But an ice storm caused some damage, and a deer did get in at one point—I found the tracks.

So in year three, I threw my full attention into improving and strengthening the perimeter fence. In any location where the fence sagged or suffered damage during the winter, I added T-posts. I reinforced the black plastic with welded wire and made sure everything was as strong and tight as it could be.

And I also took a gamble. I planted over a dozen new trees during the third year, but I didn’t erect…

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3 Practical Ways to Avoid Pecking In Roosters

How To Avoid Pecking In Roosters?

Pecking hens is a natural habit of roosters. Roosters pull out the feathers from the neck and wings of hens. This pecking is often safe for hens, but sometimes it can be vicious and may cause death. It is observed that some roosters usually pluck out all the feathers from the neck and tail of the hens, which causes infection or severe injury. In this short blog post, you’ll learn 3 practical ways to avoid pecking in roosters.

Ways To Prevent Your Farm Roosters From Pecking Hens

You can prevent your rooster from pecking hens by considering the ways discussed below:

1 Provide Suitable Space:

To avoid pecking in roosters, you must provide an ample space for your farm roosters. Inappropriate space is the primary cause of this problem. When the flock is kept in a small space with improper room to wade free, farm owners notice this pecking. Roosters need an enormous space where they can roam freely with no obstruction. So, you need to provide enough space to your flock where they don’t get overcrowded.

2 Provide a good diet:

Photo by Alexandr Podvalny from Pexels

Roosters with nutritional deficiencies usually peck hens because of anger and aggression. You need to provide a proper diet to your roosters, including oats, dietary fibers, multivitamins, and enough calcium to keep them healthy and treat their deficiencies. It also plays a vital role in reducing the aggressiveness and the hostile behavior of the rooster. This tip will avoid pecking in roosters.

3 Use chicken saddle:

Photo Credits: Sweet and Peachy Frills

Pecking can also result during over-mating by the roosters. Using chicken saddle is a good option in this concern, which can protect the hens from the rooster’s dangerous behavior while mating. This saddle will keep the rooster restricted from pecking.

Signing Off!

By following the above ways, you can avoid pecking in roosters. If the situation persists even after using mentioned preventions, keep the rooster away from your flock for a couple of weeks. This will surely help the rooster in overcoming its viciousness.

Read how to build chickens pecking order in the homesteading chicken coop here.

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What to Know About Adding Animals to Your Homestead – reThinkSurvival.com

Homesteaders everywhere choose to add animals to their property. Animals make excellent pets, companions, workers and even food sources. Sometime along your own homesteading journey, you may think about adding your own animals to your homestead.

There’s a lot to know before adding animals to your homestead, though. Multiple animals mean that you have numerous more mouths to feed and water. Plus, they need proper attention and care, especially if you’re using them for sustenance.

An important factor in homesteading is the ability to sustain yourself. You learn to provide for yourself while limiting your carbon footprint on the environment. However, suppose you don’t consider everything there is to know about adding animals to your homestead. In that case, you may end up back at the grocery store purchasing animal products, selling your animals or making a larger carbon footprint than you intended.

Animals deserve to have healthy homes with reliable owners, whether they’re on a homestead or not. If you’ve been considering adding animals to your homestead, then you have probably thought about the various questions that come with it. Whether you’re a beginner homesteader or are a professional homesteader looking to add cattle or chickens, this guide will help you understand what to know about adding animals to your homestead.

Know Your ‘Why’ for Wanting Animals

First, you need to know your ‘why’ for wanting animals. Farm animals are undoubtedly cute, but you don’t want to purchase farm animals for their cuteness. Eventually, they get bigger and grow older, and they’re no longer the baby animals they once were. That’s what happens with pets, too, when families purchase a puppy or kitten as a pet, but then no one wants it because of the responsibility and care that goes into it.

Why do you want animals? Is it for food purposes? Do you want them to be productive, or are they for show? Do you plan on keeping any as a pet? Will you sell any of the animal products to other people? Consider these questions before purchasing animals for your homestead.

Ensure You’re Allowed to Have Animals Where You Live

Some places may have restrictions as to what animals you can keep on your property. If you live in a more urban area, like a town or a city, there are likely rules on which kinds of animals you can own and keep on your property. Check with your local homeowner’s association (HOA). You should be able to call, email or read up on animal regulations.

If you’re not allowed to have large farm animals, there are still plenty of options! Most urban areas are loosening their restrictions on having backyard chickens. Plus, you could have rabbits or even a beehive to get your animal farm started.

Consider Your Space

Next, consider your space. Homesteaders fortunate enough to have multiple acres of land should have little to no problem sheltering a herd of cattle or flock of chickens. They still need to ensure the land is…

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How to Find the Perfect Place to Anchor Your Lake Mead Houseboat Rental

Cruising and navigating the open lake is only part of the full houseboating experience. When the sun sinks low and evening sets in, houseboat operators must find a good spot to anchor or stake their ship. Once an ideal shoreline is established, you can set up camp for the night (or day).

Here at Forever Houseboats, we’ve drawn up a few steps to help you find the perfect place to anchor your Lake Mead houseboat rental.

Step 1. Observe from a distance

Does the bank have plenty of sand? Will this beach provide enough shade and protection from prevailing winds? These are two common questions to ask yourself before settling on the perfect place to anchor your Lake Mead houseboat.

Step 2. Send out the scouts

If you’ve rented a small watercraft, have someone go ahead of the houseboat and scout out the beach in question. If they have determined the beach is suitable (ex: not too shallow), they’ll be able to help guide the vessel into position. 

Step 3. Check below the surface

As you cruise up to a sandy bank, pay close attention to the water directly in front, underneath and to the sides of your boat. Be careful not to park too close to any large rocks.

Step 4. Park near deep water

All of our houseboats come with a built-in water slide located on the back of the vessel. Before you beach your houseboat, it’s important to check behind the boat to make sure the water is deep enough to jump in and there are no large rocks in sight.

Step 5. Stay clear of other boats 

This is especially true when there’s a fair amount of wind present. Even if your houseboat is tied down, there’s still a chance it could drift several feet to the left or right. With…

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A Defense Against Attacks on Negative Liberty

ABSTRACT: Isaiah Berlin made the distinction between negative liberty and positive liberty. Since then, prominent contemporary philosophers including Charles Taylor and Martha Nussbaum have declared negative liberty insufficient or incoherent. This is a critique of those declarations, which have been unduly accepted to a large extent. The critique primarily focuses on Taylor, who made the most direct and complete argument against negative liberty. His argument is shown to be ineffective. And further, his conception of positive liberty is shown to be incoherent.

Keywords: negative liberty, positive liberty, isaiah berlin, martha nussbaum, charles taylor

Stuart Doyle ([email protected]) is in the US Marine Corps and holds a M.S. degree in criminology from the University of Pennsylvania.

Many conceptions of freedom have been formulated over the centuries. As Isaiah Berlin (1969, 4) pointed out, there are two basic contrasting categories into which most of these conceptions may be seen to fit: theories of negative liberty and theories of positive liberty. Negative theories define freedom exclusively in terms of the independence of the individual from interference by others. Lockean theories are prominent examples. In contrast, the positive theories contend that freedom resides at least in part in collective control over common life toward some positive goal. Theories descending from Rousseau exemplify this category.

In the decades since negative and positive liberty were clearly delineated, the most lauded contemporary philosophers, such as Charles Taylor and Martha Nussbaum, have categorically denounced all concepts of negative liberty. In an essay titled, “What’s Wrong with Negative Liberty,” Taylor argues that a negative definition of freedom cannot be adequate and that we should understand freedom as a positive ability to fulfil our purposes. Nussbaum has not dedicated an entire writing to the topic per se, but in her book Creating Capabilities she declares the idea of negative liberty to be “incoherent” (Nussbaum 2011, 65). Though she does not form an argument in support of this claim, I bring it up only to emphasize a blind spot needing attention. Denouncing negative liberty seems to have become so fashionable that when it is done in a work of philosophy apparently no substantiating argument is needed. This is a strange state of affairs considering that the best arguments which have been made against negative liberty are severely defective. I see Taylor’s essay as the most prominent example. So, my goal here is to show that Taylor’s conception of freedom is incoherent. After we briefly observe the conspicuous absence of Nussbaum’s argument, I will address Taylor’s argument, which seems to have made philosophers comfortable in dismissing negative liberty out of hand.

Nussbaum writes:

Fundamental rights are only words unless and until they are made real by government action. The very idea of “negative liberty,” often heard in this connection, is an incoherent idea: all liberties are positive, meaning liberties to do or to be something; and all require the inhibition of interference by others. This is a point that must be emphasized particularly in the United States, where people sometimes imagine that government…

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Detailed Instructions on Choosing Home Generator

Constant outages are a widespread problem for many areas. If you live in one of them, probably you are already looking for the 12000-watt dual fuel generator. The problem with electricity may appear suddenly, caused by storms or any other unpredictable situation, like the tree that fell down and damaged the wires. Most experienced householders prefer to keep the power generator in the storage, just to avoid lighting the candles or stuffing yourself with all the meat from your fridge to save it from spoiling. And what about life without the Internet in the current circumstances worldwide?

Home Generator

Suitable Generator for Home Use

Generators made for home use should be mobile, powerful, and simple to use. You have to pay attention to the features they all provide and choose which one you need the most. It is important to read reviews of other customers as well, since you may find helpful recommendations there. Pay attention to the next features:

  • Fuel. Pay attention to the wide range of fuel you may use for your generator. Standby generators use either liquid propane or natural gas. Still, many experienced users prefer diesel. Liquid propane and diesel fuels require big tanks. If you want to use batteries as the alternative, make sure they can be easily charged.
  • Power. Check out the power that your generator requires. The most popular option is several outlets of 240V.
  • Size. If you want to power your air conditioner with this generator, you need to provide it enough space. Some generators can be used outdoors; others are sensitive to rain and wind and are used in the basement or attic. You need to check the product details. Pay attention to the weight, as you will have to move the device occasionally from one place to another.
  • Run time. The bigger the fuel tank, the longer this generator works. Normally, the generator works up to 8 hours until it spends 50 percent of fuel. Some tools work even longer. You may want to refuel the tank less frequently, so find out how long the tool works half-loaded before you buy it.
  • Outlets. If your house does not have as many outlets as your generator requires, you may face a problem. Find out how many outlets you need before you buy a generator. You may also require USB ports.
  • Portability. If the generator is heavy enough, it must contain wheels and a handle so that you could roll it to the place you need. Make sure that the handle is not too low, and you don’t have to bend to hold it.
  • Affordability. You have to make sure that the price of the generator you pick meets its quality. Don’t go for a cheap generator with lots of negative reviews just to save extra money. However, don’t overpay for the generator you know nothing about.

The Best Generator for Your House

The market offers you a wide range of generators nowadays. All you need to do is pick the one that you find the…

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Adventures on the Everglades

Located at the southernmost tip of the Florida peninsula within the Everglades National Park, your houseboat adventure at Flamingo marina awaits you!

Everglades National Park is a 1.5 million acre wetland preserve on the southern coast of Florida where freshwater meets salt water and whose tropical and subtropical habitat offers one of the world’s most diverse ecosystems. Often referred to as a “slow moving river”, the Everglades are a network of wetlands and forests originating in Lake Okeechobee, fed by the Kissimmee River, and flows .025 miles per day into Florida Bay.

Your group of 6 or less will choose to stay dockside aboard your 42’ houseboat or captain it yourselves while exploring the exotic scenery and wildlife such as the West Indian manatee, the endangered Leatherback turtle and Florida panther, Blue herring, White tailed deer, Bobcat, Gray fox, American alligator and crocodile (the only region in the world where the two species coexist) and hundreds of species of birds, fish, reptiles and mammals.

 

Your charming houseboat will make you feel right at home offering queen and full size beds (models vary) a complete galley, air conditioning and your linens and towels (generator can be rented for additional fee). Anchoring is done in open water before nightfall, and suggested areas for safe anchoring will be given. Weather is warm year round making it a perfect getaway if you are ready to get out of your colder winter surroundings.  

 

 

A staff member will pilot you from the marina through Buttonwood Canal, as this is a narrow stretch difficult for some that will lead to open water. Just over 3 miles from the marina,…

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