Dear Reena: I read your solutions weekly and use many of your answers. Now that I have a granddaughter with a modern Easy-Bake Oven, I would like to know if there are homemade recipes we can use. The commercial ones are very expensive.
Also, we have sow bugs in our house (which are very common in our area). I have heard that keeping moisture out of the basement really helps but is there any other solution to get rid of them?
Jean
Dear Jean: Easy-Bake Oven Chocolate Cake Mi Stir together 6 tsp flour, 1 /4 tsp baking powder, 1 tsp cocoa, 1 /4 tsp or less salt and 4 tsp sugar. Add 6 tsp milk and 3 /4 tsp shortening. Pour into greased pans and bake according to instructions on the oven box.
White Cake Mi Follow same ingredients but replace the cocoa with two drops vanilla. Makes one cake.
Sow bugs (also known as wood bugs) are indeed a real problem where moisture and humidity are high. To find out where the bugs are entering, look near (or in) floor drains or nearby damp wood, such as panelling or baseboards. Also, look underneath any cardboard boxes in the basement that haven't moved in quite some time.
Are you able to caulk openings and put in weather stripping where needed? A perimeter pesticide spray might help break the cycle for a time but will not eliminate the problem permanently.
Remember, if you don't solve the moisture problem, the bugs will return no matter what chemicals you use, or how much you use them.
You may reduce the populations by sprinkling a small amount of diatomaceous earth, boric acid or borax and icing sugar around the house and in cracks. Damp or wet mulch will encourage insects, especially if it is not kept below the level of the building siding or stucco.
Pest control professionals will advise keeping mulch levels low around foundations. Glue boards work to catch sow bugs, but if you don't address the cause, the problem won't go away. Make sure that you are using a dehumidifier and lots of ventilation.
Fabulous tip of the week
White shoe polish won't smear if you spray the shoe with hair spray after it is dry.
Reader feedback
Dear Reena: I always try to find time to read your articles in my local paper.
That being said, your mention of Whitcomb L. Judson as being the inventor of the zipper confused me as I have always been told that it was a Canadian (originally from Sweden) who was given credit.
Judson did, according to some sources, invent what he called a clasp locker but he did not use the word zipper in his application. It wasn't very successful.
Gideon Sundback used the word zipper in his patent of 1917 and as a result was given a patent using that name/description.
I only knew about a Canadian connection when I read a book by Ralph Nader called 100 Canadian Inventions - including pablum, health care, telephone and of course the zipper.
Robert
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