The results have been very surprising. The kids are very excited about their chore charts. My daughter is even finding new things to help with so she can fill in another square. My daughter was the first to ask about helping with laundry. At first she helped sort the clothes which she had no problem doing. Next she wanted to fold the laundry. This was a little more problematic. But, we had a solution.

A month or so ago, I saw a t-shirt folding machine. There are several places online that have instructions to make one. They are very simple to build (my 4 year old helped me) and cost next to nothing. They are fun to use and work quite well.

Materials

• Scrap cardboard or foam core
• Packing tape

The machine is made from 4 pieces. Since I was trying to involve the kids, I made the folding machine small enough for their clothes. They are both in shirts in the 6 – 7 size range. If your kids clothes are smaller or larger just size the middle section up or down accordingly.

Cardboard Pieces

• (2) 12″ x 22″
• (2) 8 1/2″ x 11″

Construction is simple, just tape both sides of the joints with packing tape. The side pieces are only attached at the top so the bottom of the center can flip up. To tape the seams, you will want to leave a small gap. The easiest way to leave the gap is to lay the pieces on top of each other and wrap the tape around the stack. When you flip the top piece back down, you can tape across the seam from the other side.

Using the folding machine is also easy. Just lay the machine so that the center portion that is not attached completely is away from you. Lay your shirt face down centered in the middle of the machine. Fold one side towards the center. Repeat with the other side and lastly fold the center flap towards you. You should end up with a cleanly folded shirt.

Have fun.

Here is the first video that we came across for a folding machine. This video also has dimensions for a folding machine that is sized for adult shirts.

Some Common Myths

1. Bats carry rabies. Bats don’t carry rabies, but they can like other animals contract rabies. Less than 1 half of 1 percent of all bats actually contract rabies. Raccoons continued to be the most frequently reported rabid wildlife species (34.9% of all animal cases during 2008), followed by bats (26.4%), skunks (23.2%), foxes (6.6%), and other wild animals, including rodents and lagomorphs (1.9%).
2. Bats bite people. Bats like any animal will protect themselves, if threatened, but the thought that bats are interested in people is silly. There are over 1100 species of bats and only 3 are vampire bats. Even vampire bats don’t feed on humans, instead feeding on animals.

Why do you need a bat house?

Mosquitoes! Bats can eat up to 1000 mosquitoes per hour. Since mosquitoes can carry nasty viruses such as West Nile virus besides being just plain annoying, I consider this a very green solution.

For more information, visit, http://www.batworld.org/

Click here for the project details.

It is a plastic strip that allows our snow blower to slide along the ground. It is meant to be replaceable but the part is $15.00 and isn’t available locally.

Our scraper bar had worn over time and broke in half. The remaining half still provided enough support to keep the snow blower operational, however, the snow sprayed backwards through the gap left by the missing half. We used it in this condition for a year or so, until the remaining half broke. This left the snow blower in an unusable condition. It left a metal surface which immediately dug into the concrete making it impossible to push.

The scraper bar is a wedged shaped piece of plastic. In the beginning I thought this was critical, because the wedge acted like the front of a snow shovel, lifting the snow into the blowers paddles. Turns out, it really isn’t necessary. The rubber paddles on our snow blower actually contact the ground making the wedge inconsequential.

So, how did we fix it? 1/2 inch pvc.

The concept is simple, make a slit the length of the pvc and slide onto the bottom edge of the snow blower. My first attempt ended in my hands being cut in multiple places and a cut too small to put the pvc onto the snow blower . Ends up that pvc actually wants to pinch in on itself. The housing of the snow blower also makes the bottom edge considerably thicker for about an inch on both ends. The center has a ridge on the bottom side which holds the pvc in place once it is slipped on.

I had access to a router table with a straight cutting bit. This proved to be the perfect tool for the job. If you want a perfectly straight cut, I would recommend making a jig to hold the pvc. I did not make a jig and just held it as straight as I could. It ended up in a fairly wobbly slot. However, it ended up fairly straight after running it through for a second pass.

Last job was to clip it onto the bottom edge of the snow blower. Even with the fairly large slot, I still had to pry the ends open with a screw driver to allow the pvc to slide onto the housing. A reasonable fix for no cost assuming you have pvc laying around. If not, it can still be fixed for less than a dollar.

All of the vegetables are planted at this point and the mesh sides await their trailing vines. We have planted morning glories at the base of each post and I am sure that I will learn to regret this decision. I can already see the bed filled with thousands of voluteer plants come next spring. The two large plants that will be attached to the mesh are watermelons and bushel gourds. We also have asparagus beans and a lemon cucumbers that will benefit from the vertical support. Tomatoes fill out the exterior of the bed. In the inside of the bed, there is basil, onions, parsley, and several varieties of lettuce.

I will post more pictures of the successes or failures of the arbor as the season progresses.

Click here for the project page.