Electrical Pest Deterrent, Improvised Air Circulator, Pig Tranquilizer, and More Country Lore

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Crushed mothballs rolled up inside a piece of toilet paper are an effective pest deterrent when placed inside electrical switches.
Crushed mothballs rolled up inside a piece of toilet paper are an effective pest deterrent when placed inside electrical switches.
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A length of rubber hose can serve as a
A length of rubber hose can serve as a "mechanics stethoscope" when you're trying to locate the exact source of an engine problem.

ELECTRICAL PEST DETERRENT:  Mayhap the control unit on your freezer, one of your home’s light switches, or the thermostat for the refrigerator started malfunctioning … and for no clear reason? Austin, Texas’s Eric Warren has found that ants and roaches — which like to nestle in such devices’ warm crevices — will sometimes block the mechanisms’ contacts or control levers. Eric’s simple solution is first to clean the pests out, and then roll a few crushed mothballs inside a bit of toilet paper and tape that deterrent near the “workings” of the thermostat or switch.

Mr. Warren first used this insect-shooing ploy at a friend’s home. Before long, so many other people were “bugging” him for similar assistance that he had to get the tip published in a local newspaper … just to get some peace!

IMPROVISED AIR CIRCULATOR:  “I spent my first wood-heated winter perched on top of a stepladder to stay warm, and became all too aware of that age-old law of physics: Heat rises!” recalls Martha Olson of Knoxville, Tennessee. “I didn’t want to buy a fancy (and expensive) air circulator to remedy the difficulty, so I decided to suspend an ordinary window fan — face down — from the ceiling. (All it took was four screw hooks, some sturdy string, and a bit of effort.) That device not only keeps me warm down at floor level, but — when I hang my wet clothes on coat hangers from the fan’s frame — the machine functions as a super-efficient clothes dryer (and room humidifier) as well!”

PIG TRANQUILIZER: When Karen Nunan’s farrowing sow started having serious delivery difficulties, the Middleboro, Massachusetts homesteader called for the help of a local veterinarian. But her stressed hog was so skittish and hard to handle that the doctor couldn’t examine the animal. Karen grabbed a meat taster and squirted a jigger’s worth of vodka down the pig’s gullet … and within minutes, the sow was calm enough to be assisted through its birthing crisis. The porker apparently had no harmful after effects, either. Not even a hangover!

STOVE SHINER: Carol Santovi of Carver, Minnesota knows an easy way to shine the top of a wood burning cook stove: Simply rub the (hot) surface all over with a crumpled-up sheet of wax paper and watch that newly paraffined cooking top sparkle once again!

  • Published on Nov 1, 1980
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