Justin Pittman

"Other than cultured lawn grasses, what's a weed? :)"

hah!  exactly.

Folks here are saying turf grass is hard to get rid of??  Nonsense!

We've been aggressively removing the sod from our lawns.*  

Removing sod is back-breaking work, whether by garden shovel or rented sod cutter machine.

What's worse is the looks from neighbors driving by ... b/c during some stages of the work our lawn looks like "scorched Earth".

Smothering turf with painters paper or flattened cardboard boxes is easier on the back, and we are doing that too; but it takes months.

* basically "stripping" the grass will shock some here on Permies; but as someone here said in this thread: I'll give turf grass 'no quarter'.

Yup, Mayor de Blasio recommended some kind of facial barrier today, but it doesn't sound like an official City guideline / requirements ... yet.

https://www.cnbc.com/video/2020/04/02/nyc-mayor-de-blasio-urges-new-yorkers-to-cover-face-with-scarves-or-bandanas.html

(cut up vacuum filter for example).

Sharing research that a co-worker posted to our work mail-list (our work has been work-from-home since 2nd week of March).

Testing the Efficacy of Homemade Masks: Would They Protect in an Influenza Pandemic? https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/disaster-medicine-and-public-health-preparedness/article/testing-the-efficacy-of-homemade-masks-would-they-protect-in-an-influenza-pandemic/0921A05A69A9419C862FA2F35F819D55/core-reader source: Cambridge University, published 2013 (also posted by the NIH but less easy to read the report there)

Here's one table of fabric findings:



One comment struck me about fit, and not fabric: "Although any material may provide a physical barrier to an infection, if as a mask it does not fit well around the nose and mouth, or the material freely allows infectious aerosols to pass through it, then it will be of no benefit"

So a pliable vaccum bag interfaced between cotton that can stretch over a variety of face types is probably the best a homemaker can do.  Looks like some sewers have figured out how to secure their masks around a nose ... probably the hardest part.

Also, bye-bye beards.

The CDC went further and posted a visual that basically says all beards prevent a proper fit of facemasks: https://www.cdc.gov/niosh/npptl/pdfs/FacialHairWmask11282017-508.pdf

James Freyr wrote:I had a friend who lost his house to flood damage

Cannot imagine loosing one's whole home to flooding.  My grandfather's home was flooded a couple times, each time the whole family cleaned up the muck left behin, until FEMA finally condemned his house -- which in hindsight was better than him living in mold.  Stories like these stick in your head when looking for a home.  Seeing the videos of fires in Cali devouring people's homes is terrifying.  Natural disasters happen but I'm aiming to be informed.

BTW: Another invaluable, interactive map I meant to share is the USGS Web Soil Survey.  It's impressive how granular the surveys get and the kind of detail.  I've found water table depth, soil composition (silt/clay/loam), depth to solid rock, etc.  It doesn't have NPK or chemical sample but impressive nonetheless so I meant to share it.

USGS Web Soil Survey system: https://websoilsurvey.nrcs.usda.gov/app/HomePage.htm

Mike Jay wrote:
Back To The Land US Map

Excellent one-stop-shop.

USGS & NOAA built an interactive map that we found invaluable for finding floodplains and flood histories.  Our agent warned of this when we mentioned the "cute little farmhouses along the creek" and our ask for a natural source of surface water.  He said many of the houses are built too close to the water and sadly get flooded.  

The map is at hosted by the US Weather Service: http://water.weather.gov/ahps/