Pennsylvania – Page 2 – Luv Saving Money

Sustainable Energy in Pennsylvania

Living in rural Pennsylvania, there are a few sources for sustainable and renewable energy. Some are more evident than others. Other sources haven’t quite caught on yet.

In Pa, the Alternative Energy Portfolio Standard Act of 2004 requires 18% off energy sold to Pennsylvania to be come from renewable sources within 15 years. Personally I’d like to see that number increased but it’s a good start.

If you drive anywhere near Meyersdale, Pennsylvania it would be hard to miss the wind farms. The huge windmills spinning at any given time. You don’t even have to be in Meyersdale to see them as they can be seen from many miles away. Pennsylvania actually ranks 16th in the nation for wind energy generation! The entire state of Pennsylvania has a total of 24 wind farms so far.

The Pennsylvania Game Commission is working with wind developers to help minimize the impact of energy sources on the natural wildlife.

In my opinion, there’s a few reasons why there’s not a bigger shift towards more sustainable energy catching on in Pennsylvania:

Pennsylvania, especially rural Pennsylvania, tends to grip onto coal since it a job source that pays well. Recent promises for political figures have only encouraged residents to tighten the grip more.
The start up cost of installing solar panels in PA can be tens of thousands of dollars on the average home. Something not within reach of many Pennsylvanians.
Geothermal is becoming more popular but again, the start up cost of installing geothermal energy in a home can be out of reach for some.

That being said, Douglas Healy explains how energy companies can weather the shift to sustainable energy. While sustainable energy is a better option for the environment, until it improves, it’s not always reliable.

Some states however, have found success in using sustainable energy sources. In states where solar power is popular and more residents have solar panels installed, it can eliminate the customers energy bill all together. In some cases, those customers actually get paid for the energy they produce. My husband’s aunt lives in Massachusetts. She had solar panels installed on her home. She said it cost about $70k to install but she no longer had an energy bill. Unless you’re paying several hundred a month of electric and plan on living in your house for many years, the pay off may not be evident to some home owners. However, it might be a big selling point should you need to sell your home.

There are also some tax incentives. According to the IRS website, there are even tax credits for making your home more energy efficient to include new window installation, renewable energy equipment, etc. If you are unsure if you improvements you’ve made would qualify, you could always as a tax professional. Often times, the company installing your improvements will have that information as that is a selling point for them.

I’m also hopeful in the development of biofuels for vehicles. I’ve recently read that there is a company trying to make fuel from algae. Then I’ve heard about a company trying to make tires from recycled materials. I’d also like to see better ways to recycle or repurpose junk cars.

This post is sponsored by Diamond Links. Any opinions expressed are my own.

Happy Cornerz Sticky Trap Review and Set Up

Happy Cornerz Sticky Traps help catch and monitor pests

It’s December in Pennsylvania. Most people wouldn’t think bugs would be an issue right now. Outside that might be true but inside is a different story. There’s still flies buzzing in the house, fruit flies that seem to pop up every now and then, occasionally lady bugs that found their way in from the cold. We always have house centipedes and spiders in the basement and garage. We tend to not mind them and the lady bugs so much because they eat some of the other pests. Even though the house centipedes are super creepy looking.

The one pest that drives me crazy though are the stink bugs. We started getting stink bugs in our house about 3 years ago. See, they were brought over in a ship from Japan that docked in Allentown. Not on purpose, they just hitched a ride on a cargo ship. Since then they’ve made their way across Pennsylvania and other states. They have no natural enemies and they multiply quickly. Creatures that typically eat bugs like birds leave them along for the most part because of their stink secretion. They’re sort of like the skunks of the bug world. Other than being creepy you can’t just step on them or squish them in other ways because the omit this terrible smell that seems to last forever. I thought I was being smart one day when I vacuumed up a bunch of them. Two problems with that is, the stink bug smell lasted in my vacuum forever and every time I turned it on it would omit that smell. The other, if I didn’t empty the canister outside right away they didn’t die and would find their way out. They can creep through minuscule cracks including window sills.

Sure we tried the bug traps marketed specifically for stink bugs. We even tried bug bombing but it didn’t work. They’re resilient little suckers. The only thing that somewhat helped was to make a spray bottle up with water and a tablespoon of Dawn dish liquid. When you see one just spray it. It couldn’t omit its terrible smell then, it would eventually die from suffocation.

Do they bite? No they don’t but they have no regard for personal space. They’ll sit on your pillow, they’ll fly into your hair (yes they fly), they’ll chill out on the outside of your cup, they don’t care. They make this buzzing sound when their wings beat too that creeps me out. Oh and they smell bad when you try to kill or swat at them.

If we’re not talking about my own personal annoyances with stink bugs they also eat crops and trees. I think that’s one reason we have such an issue compared to our neighbors. We have huge butternut trees that tower over our house. In the fall you can see them in droves climbing up the sides of the house to get to the attic for the winter. I don’t even like to go into the attic anymore. Those nasty things are everywhere.

Introduction to the Happy Cornerz Sticky Trap

Happy Cornerz sticky traps comes along and we decide to give that a try. It’s not poisonous, can use it almost anyway, easy to install, when it’s full just take it down and throw it out.

Sticky traps are versatile in that, you can use them as flat sticky traps or corner traps. they can go in cupboards, on wall joints, shelves, where you need little creepy pests taken care of. If you’re not sure what kind of pests you’re dealing with IE your cereal is disappearing in your cupboard, Happy Cornzers sticky traps are also great for insect and pest monitoring.

Happy Cornerz has been university tested at the Texas A & M Department of Entomology in the Rollins Urban and Structural Entomology facility. They’ve also been tested by a few pest control companies. The hope is that Happy Cornerz sticky traps will be a helpful addition to both pest control experts and private consumers as well.

Installation and Use

I created a video talk to you about the Happy Cornerz glue traps. The video will give you a better look at how you’ll receive the traps, how to use the traps, and where you can use the traps.

Opinions on the Happy Cornerz Sticky Trap

I’m intrigued with how well these worked in the winter time in PA. I’m eager to try these in the spring and summer for ants, mosquitos, etc. I can see where these could also be helpful in sheds, barns, garages, and other buildings. Do you have an ant problem in the cupboard? Use a Happy Cornerz sticky trarp as a flat trap and catch those little buggers. I’m betting you could catch loads of them in that way.

If you’re dealing with a cockroach problem they like to gather in the corners which made the corner placement option fo these idea. They can be set up at ground level or the upper wall corners. They can be placed in the back corner of a cupboard. Wherever you’re dealing with your pests.

Because they’re glue traps, there’s no concerns about safety with pets or children. Worse case scenario is it getting stuck to a pet’s fur. I have 3 cats though and they haven’t bothered with the traps.

They could even be cut if you wanted a better fit in a certain corner or shelf if necessary. Using them as a flat trap would work out nice for the top of refrigerators or high kitchen cupboards. The could also slide easily under microwaves stands, couches or beds.

I was happy to see that at least one of the traps we set up did capture a stink bug. That’s my #1 pest issue so if this trap can do that I’m happy to have it in my home.

I received free samples of the product in order to complete this review and video. Any opinions expressed are my own.

Confession: I Own A Piece Of Land In The Poconos But I’ve Never Seen It

Several year ago…I don’t know maybe 7 years ago, (I’d have to check the paperwork) I participated in a LandCentral.com sweepstakes to win a piece of land. It was fairly low entries and there were several pieces of land to choose from. I figured I’d never win but if I did I’d pick one I’d think I could sell.

I participated in a twitter party for LandCentral and I was announced as the grand prize winner. I freakin’ won the piece of land!

** note my twitter handle was @angiewith3 then. That was before baby #4 came around and I decided to change it to something more geared to my blog, IE @LuvSavingMoney **

So I was given a few choices none of which were prime-time land (which I could only assume is why the were giving it away). One was 2 acres of desert land in California. Another was a small area in some swamp-type land in Florida, …I can’t remember the others but my choice ended up being a small piece of land in the Poconos of Pennsylvania. See, I live in Pennsylvania so I figured it would be easier tax-wise and for the selling process.

I had to sign a few e-docs with LandCentral and before long I had the deed and a bunch of information in the mail. So I immediately tried to sell it. I started trying to contact realtors in that general area. The one guy I talked to said they didn’t find a piece of land in the Poconos in my name. At that point I thought I was in some weird scam. Then about a month or two after that I got a bill from the tax person for that county for my piece of land and it was in someone else’s name. I thought, what is going on?!

So I call the tax lady She kindly explains to me that the bill would be in the other person’s name until I paid the taxes. I paid the taxes and then the tax bills started coming in my name.

I was a little timid still so I held off on trying to sell it for a while. Each year I got the tax bill for the land and each year I paid it. I finally decided I was going to try selling it again. I live about 4 hours from the Poconos so emailing is the best option for me. I’ve yet to get someone to get in-touch with me via email to help me sell my land.

So here I am 7 years later still paying on land in the Poconos that I’ve never seen, will never use, and who knows if I’ll ever sell. lol So that’s my weird confession.

I’m Eating Shit on a Shingle and I Like It

As a kid I was raised in a family of 6. I lived in a 1/2 a house (or duplex if you will) in an old mining town. My parents were not rich. My dad had worked for a company called NAVco but kept getting periodically laid off. My mom would occasionally work a minimum wage part-time job here and there. One was at Hills department store. Eventually my dad got a job with the Post Office and things got a little better. I have to say that we always had enough. I never remember being hungry.

Very rarely if at all did we have things like packaged snack cakes, name brand chips, steaks, or roasts or the gimmick treats like dunkaroos or gushers. I remember homemade pizzas, baked mac n’ cheese, honey bread, peanut butter and jelly roll ups, and shit on a shingle. Well we actually didn’t call it that back then. My mom simply called it cream of mushroom soup over toast. My mom didn’t swear much and she didn’t want us to call it that. This was the poor man’s version of shit on a shingle (S.O.S.) . You can find recipes online that actually call for chipped beef and a bunch of ingredients. From my understanding that is the true shit on a shingle but this is the version I grew up with.

I disliked cream of mushroom soup, I preferred cream of chicken soup over toast. BUT, my mom and dad like cream of mushroom soup so that’s what it usually was. I just scraped the mushrooms off and ate it anyway.

I heard it started as a food many service people ate during the war. My grandfather talked about how it was a meal in the mines.

Today I have my own family of 6 but we’re better off than my parents were. I still introduced my kids to S.O.S. and they like it too. It’s not something we have all the time. It’s just one of those things I like when the mood hits.

Have you ever ate S.O.S.?

Penn State Extension Offering “Dining With Diabetes” Course

If you or someone you care about has recently been diagnosed with Diabetes, it can be hard to wade through all the information rushing at you. Medication changes/additions, diet changes, lifestyle changes, can all be overwhelming. Talking to your doctor or a dietician can definitely help. Penn State Extension wants to help with their “Dining with Diabetes” course.

Pictures used with permission of Penn State Extension via PR contact

“Dining with Diabetes” is a nationally accredited diabetes education program that is geared toward anyone who has type 2 diabetes or pre-diabetes, has a family member with type 2 diabetes, or is at risk for developing diabetes. Trained extension educators, in consultation with registered dietitians and diabetes educators, lead the discussions.

Each class offers information on healthy food and physical activity choices, food demonstrations and tasting, and guidance on important numbers to know for managing diabetes. In addition to program-related booklets, participants will receive the Dining with Diabetes cookbook and have the option of having their A1C tested at the first and follow-up classes. A1C is a nonfasting blood test obtained by a finger stick. Results show a three-month average blood glucose level.

For more information or to register, visit the Penn State Extension website at extension.psu.edu/dining-with-diabetes or call 877-345-0691. You can search the courses by county to find one near you.

Individuals who want to learn how to better manage diabetes are invited to participate in a course offered by Penn State Extension from 12:00 p.m. to 2:00 p.m. on November 1, 8, 15, and 22 at the Ross Library, 232 West Main Street Lock Haven, PA. This class will be offered for free. Reference the link above to find more availability at other Penn State Extensions.

When it comes to your health, classes like these can be a fun and valuable way to learn from experts on what to do. It’s a great venue to ask questions. Why would this choice be better than that choice? I love (insert food) what can be a good substitute? What exactly is A1C? Etc

If you know someone who could benefit from these courses, please share this post with them.