Handi-Treads for Stair Safety (and a Discount Code, too)

clickable link

Disclosure: Goods were received in exchange for my honest opinion.

Recently the HandiRamp Company of Libertyville, Illinois asked me to preview their Handi-Tread product on our deck stairway and share my honest opinion. They also said that I can offer you, my readers, a discount if I think it worthy of purchase. Well, I do like the product and would gladly share the love of safety with you! See below for the discount code.

Injuries and deaths from falls are a rising concern for everyone but this is especially true for aging populations (clickable link) or households with young children (clickable link). We routinely have representatives from both demographics - and everyone in between - traversing our stairs. Several years ago I slipped and fell down our inside steps and broke a bone in two places on one foot and the big toe on the other one. Although my injuries healed completely I still suffer from occasional swelling. Most falls are preventable.

Our inside staircase is not nearly as hazardous to descend as our outside steps so we installed Handi-Treads on the steps that connect our multi-level deck to the patio. Our deck steps are made from wood tread risers with grooves designed to provide some traction. The problem is that we often have precipitation that pools in those grooves making the steps slippery. Not only is this a problem because of our Midwestern winter snows but we can also experience quick freezes following rain in the early spring and late fall that turn the water in the grooves to ice! Grooves are not much help in that situation.

Before

The solution is Handi-Tread!

After

Stair risers with grooves and Handi-Treads

Taking it to the next level

There are other products on the market designed to cut down on slips and falls but they are not as good or as permanent a solution as Handi-Treads.

Please note that Handi-Treads can be used inside or out, on wood or cement steps. They are durable yet gentle on feet. They are used in private homes and in public parks and buildings.

Here is my opinion of the Handi-Tread product sent to me. I love it! It is a noticeable improvement to the traction on our stairs. 

The only negative comment that we have is that the screws included were not as durable as the Handi-Treads themselves. We stripped the screw heads whether we turned them by hand power or used a power screwdriver when installing them. We pre-drilled the holes but the metal shavings piled up anyway. The installation itself was done quickly in spite of that and we are satisfied that the treads are securely installed.

Now for the savings. My readers can obtain a 10% discount simply by using the code BLOG2015 at checkout. Click here to enter the HandiTread website to see their various colors, sizes, and styles.

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There is also a STOP THE SLIP contest that you may enter if you are interested. See details here. This is a video contest so if you have a story you wish to dramatize detailing how you slipped in a public location your entry may win a set of Handi-Treads to make that very location safer. Four winners are chosen each year. What a great way to keep others from slipping as you did!

Pumpkin Cheeseball Recipe

Border courtesy of Freedigitalphotos.net #100281214
Click photo for printable recipe

I'm really into pumpkin these days! The pies, the cakes, the cookies, the hot drinks, and now The CHEESEBALL! Yummy! There is just so much that can be done with this versatile autumn fruit besides the Halloween jack-o-lantern.

We did not have much space in our little repurposed dog kennel garden for large produce, but my grandson and I were thrilled to have successfully grown 1 pie pumpkin in its own 2 foot square pumpkin patch. He was so glad to finally be allowed to pick it. 

Even if you do not have your own homegrown squash, the canned variety will work just fine to make this wonderful hors d'oeuvre. Add your favorite snack crackers and you're good to go! 

Repurposing An Unused Dog Kennel

Once upon a time we had a dog named Pepper that required a high chainlink kennel for fresh air, sunshine, exercise, and potty breaks. We still have the dog named Pepper but several years ago we installed an invisible fence to meet those needs. It was a win-win for Pepper and her people!

But what to do with the unused kennel?

• Let others borrow it. ü  I was happy with this arrangement. At least I wasn't looking at it anymore!
• Lean it against the side of the house for a few years until we figure out what to do with it? ü  I was very unhappy with arrangement! I saw it every time I walked out into the backyard, which is often.
• Let it assume a new identity as an enclosed vegetable garden. üüü  I am very happy with this arrangement!

We haven't had a real garden since we moved here 15 years ago because of issues with shade and wildlife. Especially wildlife. I think our yard is known as a 5 star Cervidae Smorgasbord where the plants are favored delicacies. Couple that with a backyard that has 90% shade cover and where the other 10% contains enough buried cables and pipes that the sunny area looks like a weird Candyland path every time the "Call Before You Dig" guys show up and it becomes obvious why we could not have a vegetable garden in our yard.

Until now.

I'm not sure why we didn't think of this before:

The garden in a sunny spot away from the shady areas of the backyard and protected from the deer

Green beans, pumpkins, peppers, cucumbers, leaf lettuce, tomatoes, watermelon, sunflowers, sage, and a mystery seed planted in its own pot by our grandson make up the spring/summer planting (photos taken in early July)

First we laid overlapping rows of garden weed block down and tucked it under the fence edges. Not everyone would need to do this but we did for many reasons that I won't go into right now. Eventually there will be enough raised beds and straw paths to hold it in place. (Oops! I see grass peeking through in these pictures.)

Our kennel is an approximate 9' x 9' so we plan to build 5 raised beds that are 2' x 4' each which will be positioned around the walls with gaps between for placing freestanding pots. We will leave the space near the gate clear and we plan to let the fruit from vines nest in the center area. The Smart Pot (*note: NOT an affiliate link) will stay right where it is along the side near the gate.

"Farmer Fen" watering the growing produce! (photos: late July)

He's posing for the camera and planning a bit of mischief!

While Gram inspects the damage done by the deer to cucumber vines hanging outside of the fence "Fen" sneaks up on her and sprays her with the water hose! (She got even. Both dried quickly in the summer sunshine.)

Cascading pumpkin vines

Healthy pepper plants

We got a late start this year, having not put this idea into production until mid-June, but everything is growing happily and healthily. I obviously over-planted. Something about those who sow sparingly reap sparingly came to mind. (See II Corinthians 9:6.) We could always prune out weak plants! We don't seem to have any weak plants so that is why the nesting area rapidly became covered with vines and delayed the need for purchasing straw.

We plan to build 2 of the remaining 3 raised beds before the fall planting. The other one will wait until next year when the self-watering planters can be moved without harming their contents. Right now there is no room for the last raised bed box.

We also plan to place gutters along the top of the kennel with a downspout that feeds into a water barrel. The compost bin will then be relocated so that much of the garden's food and water supply will be nearby.

We bought weed block, wood for the raised beds, and a few bags of garden soil which we mixed with our compost made from the leaves of all those shade trees. That's how we lost a kennel and gained a garden. I couldn't be more pleased with the way it is working out, even if the deer do nibble anything that hangs outside of the fence. But who can blame them?!


*There are so many raised bed plans to be found online. We adapted the size to fit our needs. Each of our beds cost around $17.50. 

A Gardening Update

A few fruits of our labor

In recent years I tried growing a few vegetables in our back yard but usually lost the crop due to the neglect that comes from being away a couple of weeks each July or from some destructive (but industrious) squirrels. This summer has been even busier than usual so I feared that another attempt at victory gardening would only end with me muttering in agonized frustration as the squirrels "high fived"in the treetops once more.

But this year things have turned out differently and we are literally enjoying the fruits of my labor. You might remember my post earlier this year (found here) telling about my spring gardening endeavors (and the battle with storms, not squirrels). There are lots of links in that post that tell about self-watering container gardening and where to buy them or how to make them using empty 5-gallon pails, plastic deli containers, and PVC pipe.

I did both. I bought one and I made a couple of more. This summer we successfully grew

• broccoli
• leaf lettuce
• green peppers
• tomatoes
• sunflowers, and
• green beans

in our containers. We also attempted to grow cucumbers but they haven't produced anything beyond their pretty yellow flowers.

The self-watering containers (which is somewhat of a misnomer: you still must add water, just not as often) took care of the problem that I have keeping things watered during those weeks of church camp in hot July. But what about the squirrel problem? And a problem it is! I have personally witnessed them in the early morning pulling green tomatoes off the vines, tasting them, saying "yuck" (or so I assume they're saying based upon their actions), and throwing them down repeatedly until they've stripped the vines bare! In order to put a stop to such wasteful behavior I have begun covering my planters each night.

We put a wire cage around the box that holds the tomatoes and tied the plants to it with cut up nylon stockings. Each night I drape 1/4 inch mesh cicada nylon netting over the whole shebang. (My garden wears nylons more frequently during the summer than I do.) I remove the netting in the morning after Pepper starts stirring around the yard. (Any earlier and the squirrels get too brazen.)

It doesn't seem to hurt anything if I forget to take the netting off in the morning. It's only if I forget to put it on at night that things can get seriously injured!

This morning when I went out to uncover the containers there was a praying mantis on the netting covering the 5-gallon bucket of bean plants. I didn't bother him because I wanted him to stick around (get it?) and eat any aphids or other harmful insects.

Some of the green beans and the bucket can be seen in the picture below. Since I was merely experimenting this year I didn't bother to camouflage the buckets. Maybe next year I'll paint mine to make them aesthetically pleasing.

These are just a few of the specimens that represent the ripe produce we've been harvesting lately. The self-watering containers combined with netting them at night has resulted in great tasting and inexpensive home-grown vegetables.

How the Contrary Garden

When we lived in Tennessee we had a large vegetable garden and I loved it!  At least I did until the weeds started growing, the bugs moved in, the crows ate most of my corn, and the weather got so hot and humid that all I wanted to do was sit inside in the air conditioning. Come to think about it, that means I only loved gardening in March and April. :)

Then we moved to this house-on-the-hill in Ohio. "Oh look! There's no place to put a vegetable garden," I murmured. "Too bad!"

I wasn't too grieved.

But the gardening bug bit me again a few years ago and I said the same words only in a more mournful tone. Now I really was grieved. To compensate for the lack of a garden plot I decided to container garden. The funny thing was, I had the perfect container sitting on my picnic table already and it was growing pansies. It wasn't until I got this book from the library a few months ago that it dawned on me that I had owned a self-watering container for many years. Whaddaya know? It could grow more than flowers! Duh!

I set out to obtain more of this type of container. I found a large one called "Patio Pickers Raised Garden Kit" at Lowe's and bought the last one. (The manufacturer also markets it through Home Depot with the slightly different name of "City Picker" as can be seen here. It's the same thing as the one I purchased locally from the competitor.)

This system is fantastic! Step-by-step instructions are included in the kit and I followed them to.the.letter. I set my "picker" on the deck right before Mother's Day, bought one tomato plant, four broccoli plants, one pepper plant, and got to work on my experiment. In the former pansy-containing container I planted a crop of leaf lettuce.

Things progressed nicely once the squirrels took the hint and stopped burying nuts in the lettuce! (They were so used to having the receptacle at their disposal they couldn't stop planting their own crop of acorns. I guess the squirrels are smarter than I am, but don't tell 'em I said so!)

One month later, my "picker" had a tall blossom-laden tomato plant, huge broccoli plants with heads in various stages of growth, and a pepper growing on the pepper plant.

My garden on the morning of June 10th

A head of broccoli

Leaf lettuce and herbs

My leaf lettuce was growing well and some of it (the ones the squirrels thinned out of the main box) were transplanted into separate pots.  I also have parsley and rosemary growing, but one of the things that I learned from the library book is that herbs do not like "self-watering" pots. They do better in the traditional type.  I started some cucumbers from seed in anticipation of transplanting into the self-watering planters once the lettuce and broccoli are picked.

Cucumber plants just waiting their turn

Then the unexpected happened!  Last Friday afternoon (the same day the pictures above were taken) we had a massive storm come through our area.  Not only did it come, but it liked our area so much that it decided to hand around awhile.  It stalled long enough to dump about 4 inches of rain and several volleys of hail in various sizes on us.

Round 1 wasn't so bad.  We got some small hail that did no damage.  In fact, we were getting ready to leave for VBS and thought we'd weathered the worst.  The sun didn't actually shine, but the sky lightened significantly and we naively got in the car and headed for the church.  Mistake!!!!  We weren't but about 1/2 mile up the road when Round 2 struck.  It packed a wallop as it pummelled us with water and hail.  The Bear and I saw a business get struck by lightening.

I really wasn't thinking about my little garden at that moment.  I checked it when I got home and found it in shambles.  If I'd had any sense of what was going to happen I would probably have wheeled the planter into the house and let it take its chances with Pepper (who would've been hiding under The Bear's bed anyway as she always does during a thunder storm!).

The garden after the storm

I spent a few days cleaning up the mess and surveying the damages. Things were not as bad as first feared. The box was deep enough to keep the roots held deeply in the soil. Once the broken foliage was removed life in the planters went on as usual.

Some of the lettuce, broccoli, and parsley for a salad

Thursday I picked the largest of the broccoli heads and cut most of the lettuce.  I left some of the lettuce roots for a second crop but pulled the rest to make room for a couple of the surviving cucumber plants.  I replaced the broccoli with a tomato plant that my dad gave me.


I am so impressed by the self-watering container gardening system that am thinking of a do-it-yourself project of making my own. I found directions (here) on the Urban Organic Gardener blog that look very interesting! We have several buckets and deli containers that would work really well.

Or here is a similar idea designed by Lifehacker and yet another one here courtesy of re-nest for building a self-watering lettuce growing stand.

As a frugal gal, I like the idea of reusing the various containers that inevitably make their way into our home for seemingly a one-use appearance. My frugality also makes me appreciate the low cost of growing some of our own vegetables. Each head of broccoli grown saves about $2 at the grocery store. That's certainly as good as, or better than, most coupons I utilize!

And as someone who rarely misses a meal, I really appreciated how good the tender lettuce and broccoli salad tasted sprinkled with just a hint of the parsley and rosemary leaves.  Mmm-mmm! The trick is to eat it before someone else does!

Pepper is a bigger menace than the squirrels!

* Basket courtesy of my friend, Mrs. G. who made this and gave it to me with goodies from her own garden 2 summers ago!

Modeling the Season's Finery

If you were hoping to see pictures of the kiddos in their new Easter finery, forget it! I neglected to get out the camera yesterday. Someone else will need to supply those.

I did have it out just long enough this weekend to catch a male goldfinch on the feeder. He isn't quite done exchanging his brownish winter wear for the yellow wardrobe of warmer months but I thought he was beautiful all the same. I caught a glimpse of him during one of the brief periods when there was no rain falling - a rarity these days - and my mood was somehow lifted by his appearance.

Having bird feeders in my yard really is a "cheeper" investment (get it? cheaper) for helping me out of the doldrums than any counselor. I highly recommend it.

Looking Back Over the Week

Yes, I was found out. But that's not the reason I didn't post more.

It turns out that having Internet access and a computer is not enough to ensure regular posting. There were schedules to be kept. And chores to be done to keep the room livable. And an adorable toddler to keep out of mischief. And my other camp responsibilities to do. And errands to run. You get the picture.

Since I was lackadaisical in my reporting I'll give you a short list of things I learned this week. Not all of these things were learned at camp but I think you'll be able to note the transition.

THINGS I LEARNED THIS WEEK

1. I do not speak the Sweet Pea dialect as fluently as I thought I did. The vocabulary that is used during short family gatherings is not as extensive as what is needed for her moment-by-moment care.
2. Little Sweet Pea believes her Gram is hard of hearing. I found that whenever I misunderstood something she just kept repeating it progressively louder.
3. I need a Sweet Pea interpreter. Thankfully, Tigger will be available for that job when we go to Junior Camp.
4. The songs on a lullaby CD are not relaxing when being used as karaoke by a 2-year-old who is also doing an interpretive dance routine on top of the bed.
5. Baby boys are as sweet as I remember. Mmm.
6. As fun as teenagers are (ha!) I was still glad to only bring one home with me.
7. If you are in a hurry to get from Point A to Point B it is almost a foregone conclusion that there will be construction and delays on every route between. I tested this theory this week and found it to be true.
8. Raccoons like little green tomatoes. I know this because most of mine were picked and left half-eaten on my deck.
9. Even in the few days we were gone, there were many new residents in our neighborhood. Specifically, hornets built a condo in a pine tree in our front yard. Pepper found it 3 minutes into her first excursion outside after coming home from the kennel. The Japanese Lantern sized and shaped hornet house is gone now but it was impressive! Pepper was stung while investigating. Pastor Dad and I were not.
10. Wasps decided to build their nest over our front door. It is also gone.
11. Woodpeckers can't tell the difference between trees and wood-sided houses. Or maybe the one tapping outside is just telling me that the suet feeder is empty. Good grief! We're gone 5 days and wildlife takes over the place!

Hope everyone had a good week. I look forward to catching up on what has been going on in your lives recently.

Birds of A Feather

Oh, how I miss the days when the view from the window looked like this:

(Click all pictures for a larger view)

Or how about this guy?

Talk about a big bird! The Bear was rather surprised the first time he saw this one standing on our picnic table. I thought he was making up tall tales when he told me about their encounter. I then kept the camera near the window just in case. For all you non-bird watchers, he is called a pileated woodpecker. See here for more information.

Even little woodpeckers stop by for a visit.

An impostor is often thrown in for good measure. This guy was behaving himself that day.

Yep! I miss the birds of summer! Just thought you'd like to see that I have some fine feathered friends and that there really is more to me than just genealogy, grandchildren, and basketball.

"Got Any Nuts in There?"

The last two mornings I have been awakened by something sounding very much like someone taking a hammer to our deck. This was a bit scary at first. It isn't that we are opposed to anyone doing necessary repair work to our deck. It is just that it isn't likely to be happening now with the weather consistently below freezing. We're not planning any outdoor barbecues anytime soon you know.

Further investigation revealed that the noise was coming from an irate squirrel. The bird seed I'd put out (for actual birds) onto a heavy plastic tray had frozen from a rain that fell a few nights ago. The tray now held seed-sicles and the squirrel was not a happy camper. He was banging the tray on the picnic table in protest.

The squirrels and I have a love-hate relationship. It began many years ago when I started feeding feathered friends in the midst of barren winters. After observing several birds watching wistfully from naked tree branches while squirrels gobbled up their bounty I included a couple of squirrel-proof feeders among my more traditional ones.

Evidently, with squirrels it is "all or nothing." In retaliation they hired the local raccoon guerrillas to destroy the discriminating ones. One night I thought I heard hysterical squeaky laughter coming from the backyard. The next day my feeders lay dismantled all over the lawn. So much for squirrel-proofing.

I decided to quit fighting the little rascals and give them what they wanted. I did reserve the right, however, to hang suet feeders and thistle tubes from the roof-top where they swing in the wind right in front of my kitchen window. This is not fool-proof but it does provide amusement watching them balance with their hind legs against the house while they sway in the breeze as they hold onto the tethered feeders. If I was brave enough I could open the window and reach out to tickle a squirrel tummy. I don't do that for obvious reasons.

I guess the squirrels don't mind entertaining me as long as they are well-fed. But when the tray of goodies isn't to their liking they let me know in no uncertain terms. Yes, we have nuts. No, I won't be feeding them to the squirrels. And yes, I'm being "punny." If squirrels ever gain possession of those light sabers that my son-in-law, Prince Charming, uses as his blog i.d. picture I will be in trouble indeed!

I can't wait for the return of the hummingbirds. They have less discriminating palates and are a whole lot quieter in the morning.