Toothpaste

“Money in the bank is like toothpaste in the tube. Easy to take out, hard to put back.”- Earl Wilson

I love the Google auto-complete feature. When you start typing a search, Google shows you similar searches that others have entered. And I’m often amazed to find that others have searched for some of the odd topics I think up like “Alternative Uses for Toothpaste”.

About this time of year I get Poison Ivy rashes on my arms. Since I’m not the outdoors type, I suspect it comes from my cat that sleeps next to me. The cat wanders around our backyard jungle and oil from Poison Ivy plants stick to his fur and rubs onto my bed sheet or arm. So today my wrist breaks out at work and I’m super-itchy. I look at my desk drawer and see only aspirin and toothpaste. So what the heck, I tried rubbing some toothpaste on my skin. And it worked. No itch and it held up well even with my watch band rubbing against it.

So, back to Google. What else can be done with toothpaste?

• Remove scuff marks from your favorite pair of leather shoes
• Clean Piano Keys (they used to be ivory teeth after all)
• Clean the rubber part of sneakers
• Clean sinks
• Clean your iron (does anyone iron anymore?)
• Remove crayon marks from walls
• Make your diamond ring sparkle (not just for sparking smiles?)
• Shine chrome or silver
• Shine your nails
• Clean your metal watchband with toothbrush and paste. Be careful not to get the watch wet.
• Defog mirrors, goggles and glasses with a toothpaste rub
• Stick posters on walls (instead of tape apply a bit of paste to each corner)
• Fill nails holes in walls
• Remove the itch from insect bites and bee strings (yes, I was right! Stops the itch by drying out the skin)
• Remove odors from hands (wash your hands in a little paste)
• Remove stains from clothes (like ink or lipstick)
• Remove pimples (use a little dab at night for acne. But only once a week to avoid leathery skin)
• Fill scratches on CDs (??? – this one I’ve got to try. We often get CDs from the libraries that are too scratched to play. Perhaps this is just an urban legend?)

Bottom Line

I’ve not tried these so I can only pass on what I’ve found on the Internet. Use common sense. Also use cheap, white, simple toothpaste. It is the fine grit you want for cleaning which you won’t get in a gel paste.

Mosquitoes!

“The mosquito is the state bird of New Jersey” - Andy Warhol

Mosquitoes can ruin an outdoor adventure. Many years ago I drove across country (via Canada) to my summer internship in New York with IBM. I had time to kill (the job start was delayed by one week due to paperwork) and so I had fun sightseeing. While in Edmonton, Alberta, I learned about Tar Sands and drove further north to see them. Then it dawned on me that it was June 20th, the longest day of the year and I was further north than I had ever been in my life. So I resolved to drive as near to the Arctic Circle as possible, find a campground and watch the sun not set. It was fun watching the sun move sideways near the horizon after midnight. What was not fun were the large mosquitoes! I figure the mosquitoes up north don’t have a long “warm” season to live so they are very aggressive and very hungry in the little time they have! I quickly abandoned the notion of pitching a tent and slept in my car after rolling up the windows and killing the several dozen mosquitoes that had followed me back inside!

Mosquitoes are everywhere and the traditional way to repel them is with a DEET based lotion or spray. So far as I can tell, fear over DEET is overblown. The Business Management site BNet.com, in “Is DEET safe for children”, does a nice job listing the studies that show DEET is safe. The website for Colorado Mosquito Prevention looks a lot like an advertisement promoting DEET but claims to be the product of an official state Tri-County Health Department.

However if you are DEET adverse or during an emergency, don’t have any bug spray on hand, it is possible to make your own Natural Insect Repellent Recipe as described on About.com. Many “natural” ingredients can repel bugs: citronella oil, rosemary oil, lemongrass oil, cedar oil, peppermint oil, clove oil, geranium oil, and possibly oils from verbena, pennyroyal, lavender, pine, cinnamon, basil, thyme, allspice, soybean, and garlic. But be careful – in high doses even natural oils can cause rashes or burns.

The About.com science writer, Anne Marie Helmenstine, Ph.D, recommends combining different oils to create an all-purpose bug repellent. “A good rule of thumb is to mix the repellent so it's 5-10% essential oil, so mix 1 part essential oil with 10-20 parts carrier oil or alcohol. “ For small batches mix:

• 10-25 drops (total) of essential (herbal) oils
• 2 tablespoons of a carrier oil or alcohol

Here are some essential oils to try:

• cinnamon oil (mosquitoes)
• lemon eucalyptus or regular eucalyptus oil (mosquitoes, ticks, and lice)
• citronella oil (mosquitoes and biting flies)
• castor oil (mosquitoes)
• orange oil (fleas)
• rose geranium (ticks and lice)

Mix these with one of the following base oils (for a lotion) or alcohol (for a spray):

• olive oil
• sunflower oil
• any other cooking oil
• witch hazel
• vodka

Bottom Line
“Rub or spray the natural insect repellent onto skin or clothing, using care to avoid the sensitive eye area. You'll need to re-apply the natural product after about an hour or after swimming or exercise. Unused natural insect repellent may be stored in a dark bottle, away from heat or sunlight. If you wish, you may combine the oil with aloe vera gel to change the consistency of the product.” [About.com]

Insect Bites

Itchy itchy scratchy scratchy, ooh I got one down my backy! – camp song

When our Cub Pack needed to enter a woody area to search for insects, the boys objected, “We can’t go in the woods. We might get ticks.” Scouting was founded over a hundred years ago to teach wilderness survival skills to clueless young boys from the cities. Now it seems the youth have gone from clueless to terrified of the great outdoors.

With picnic season resuming, families will venture (timidly?) outdoors once more and may, quite likely, encounter insects bites and stings. The advice used to be that you had nothing to worry about if you weren’t allergic to bee stings, etc. Today with West Nile Virus and Lyme disease the story is more complicated.

• West Nile Virus killed 44 people in 2008 (mostly adults over 50, rarely children) with some 2000 reported infections. A person is 1000 times more likely to die from the flu (36,000 deaths). So while “safe”, it’s no fun being bitten by a mosquito. Simple precautions include long pants and shirt sleeves and the use of insect repellant like DEET. The FDA recommends keeping kids' nails short so they don’t break the skin when scratching bug bites. A scratch with dirty nails could lead to a bacterial infection that will require treatment with antibiotics.
  
• Lyme disease is more common with 27,000 cases reported in 2007. Death is “rare” and I could find no numbers online for anyone killed. Lyme disease is easily treated with antibiotics if caught in the early stages but untreated can lead to extreme fatigue, joint or muscle pain, facial paralysis, heart damage, psychological disturbances, stomach problems, neurological disorders, blindness, and deafness. My wife and I and our dogs have all had Lyme. We spotted the bulls-eye shaped rash around the bite and took the antibiotics. We also ask for Lyme testing along with the traditional blood tests when we get a physical.

Lyme can also be prevented by daily full body tick checks. Early removal of a tick is important because a tick generally has to be on the skin for 36 hours to transmit Lyme disease. The ticks are very small and tricky to spot when not filled with blood. See How to Remove a Tick for more information.

Bottom Line
The most likely insect problem at a picnic will be a bee sting. Don’t use tweezers!. A bee will leave behind a stinger attached to a venom sac. Try to remove it as quickly as possible by scraping the skin with a credit card. If you pull with tweezers you might squeeze all the venom into the person you are trying to help. Wash the sting and apply an ice pack. Give acetaminophen or ibuprofen for pain (never aspirin with children.) No medical attention is needed UNLESS one of the following occurs:

• The person has a known bee allergy or has these symptoms:
• wheezing or difficulty breathing
• tightness in throat or chest
• swelling of the lips, tongue, or face
• dizziness or faintingnausea or vomiting
  
• The mouth region was stung. Oral swelling may block airways


• A large skin rash or swelling or pain persists from more than three days around the sting site. This could indicate an infection.

Medicinal Aloe Vera

The best time to plant a tree is twenty years ago. The second best time is now.”
- proverb

We do not have much luck with gardening at my house. The soil is rocky and acidic. Even when we do prepare the soil and try to grow something then either:

1. Not much grows (we planted squash and got two tiny vegetables for our efforts)


2. What does grow gets eaten by deer

Fortunately we have better luck with potted plants. It is not hard raising herbs both indoors and out in pots. We grow basil, parsely, chives, etc. We also grow aloe. The aloe cactus does not need much attention. In fact most of my cactuses have died by overwatering them - the roots rot. The site TheGardenHelper.com advises that the soil must be completely dry between waterings. The aloe grows in the summer and sleeps (needing only a cup or two of water) during the winter. During the summer months, the soil should be completely soaked, but then be allowed to dry again before re-watering.

The medicinal properties of Aloe vera have been known, and recorded since biblical times. It has been used for a variety of ailments, and as an ointment for burns, cuts, and rashes, as well as an ingredient in various beauty preparations.The sap of the Aloe is a thick, mucilaginous gel. It is this gel which is used medicinally. The outer skin has essentially no value, but because it is commercially easier and less expensive to sell the entire leaf. - TheGardenHelper.com

More information on aloe and its uses can be found at NewEmergencyPreparedness.com.

Bottom Line

Aloe is easy to grow and can live for many many years. In our house we find it very helpful when we have a bug bite, minor burn, sun burn or anything itchy. We break off a small leaf and spread the sap on our skin.

Disclaimer - Aloe is not a miracle cure. Never put aloe or any substance on a 3rd degree burn (i.e burnt skin) . I'd also seek medical advice before putting it on a 2nd degree burn (blisters).