Home Builder Developer - Interior Renovation and Design

Giant rat photographed outside home in fashionable Belsize Park, London Homeowner Sam Firth estimated it was between 16 and 18 inches long Comes as pest controllers revealed the rise in number of mutant rats in UK Rodents are twice as large as normal and are resistant to traditional poison

By Stephanie Linning for MailOnline

Published: 14:40 EST, 22 February 2015 | Updated: 04:59 EST, 23 February 2015

10k shares

738

View comments

A woman was left horrified after she spotted a giant rat outside her home in north London.

Sam Firth photographed the rodent, which she estimated to be between 16 and 18 inches, as it peered through her back door in fashionable Belsize Park.

The sighting comes as pest controllers revealed the shocking epidemic of mutant rats - some as big as cats - across the UK.

The rodents, which have been seen been seen across the country over the past year, are twice as large as normal species and cannot be killed with traditional substances.

Read more here:
March of the cat-sized RATS: Homeowner's horror after finding giant rodent at upmarket London home as pest controllers ...

Lanai Doors is the leader in providing a high quality alternative to traditional French doors and other sliding door systems. Lanai sliding door and window systems will work for virtually any interior or exterior openings. With more than 30 years of experience, we understand the needs of home and business owners and we take pride in offering our customers the very best alternatives to French doors and other sliding door products.

Lanai bifold sliding door systems let you take control of your space.

We are proud to be the exclusive manufacturer of Lanai Doors, which are unlike any other French door, patio door or sliding door on the market. Operating since 1990, our local mill will make you the perfect Lanai sliding door to fit your specific needs. We offer a full range of wood, aluminum clad wood, and 100% aluminum sliding door and window systems. Lanai Doors, which are the perfect alternative to French doors, will allow you to bring the outdoors in!

Why Lanai Doors Instead of Traditional French Doors and Other Sliding Door Systems?

Customers who are shopping for French doors typically end up choosing a Lanai Door bifolding system because of the flexibility and our ability to customize door size and materials. Unlike French doors that limit the door swing to one direction, Lanai Doors offer a virtual wall of windows that are able to completely or partially open or close depending on your needs.

Also, unlike French doors that limit the available space by requiring windows on either side of the door opening, Lanai Doors offer a unique bifolding door system that allows you to maximize the space in your room.

Our exclusive Lanai bifold sliding door system, unlike French doors, will allow you to create a unique living or commercial space that fits the exact requirements for your home or business environment. Whether you are trying to lighten up a dark space, create a feeling of spaciousness in a residential or commercial area or breathe new life into a neglected room, Lanai Doors are the ideal way to give any space a facelift.

Lanai Doors, the perfect alternative to both French doors and other sliding door systems, are now shipping Internationally!

Lanai Doors are manufactured in Southern California and have been installed in commercial, hospitality, and residential applications from the Virgin Islands to the Hawaiian Islands; from Canada to Costa Rica; from The Hamptons to Southern California. Lanai bifold sliding doors are delivered by various national & international shipping companies. Your beautiful doors will arrive in pristine condition, ready to transform your living or commercial space into a whole new environment.

Please contact us with any questions. We will be happy to explain how Lanai Doors are different from French doors and other sliding door systems. Quotes are always free. We look forward to doing business with you!

Follow this link:
Lanai Doors : Bifolding Doors & Windows

Since opening our doors in 1920, Croft LLC has continually grown and evolved with our customers needs, manufacturing the highest quality vinyl windows, aluminum windows, and patio doors for retailers, lumber yards, and individual customers across the country. Croft was originally founded in Jamestown, New York and, over 50 years ago, relocated all its operations to McComb, Mississippi. Over the course of time we have established a tradition of trust, reliability, and innovation which has become the cornerstone of our reputation.

Today we are one of the largest aluminum window, vinyl window, and storm door suppliers in the country. That means that our customers can stand on the fact that Croft will remain steadfast and committed - from production to the promised delivery date. It is this same stability and strength, found in our products, that is found at our core- in our people. These values have sustained and grown our business for nearly a hundred years and will continue to do the same for 100 more.

See the rest here:
Croft, LLC:: Offering Energy Efficient Vinyl Windows ...

Ellen Joy Vahab was a single mother back in 1995 and couldn't find affordable after-school care for her three boys.

So she started the Youth Activity Center in West Boca, that has served 3,000 mostly low-income children all these years, often operating on a shoestring.

Now YAC, as it's called, has a new look and logo and even a staffer, and the website lists about 100 donors and in-kind services that have kept the center alive.

Many of them gathered for a nostalgic 20th anniversary party with a cake and lookbacks, but mostly forward. As board president Philip Bloom said, "We realized we needed to change."

"This place looks amazing," board member Tracy Kawa said when she walked in to find new donated furniture, art the children did on the walls and a new rug.

Catherine Riley, a Deerfield Beach commercial graphic artist, talked about how she came to do the bright yellow new mural outside.

"Ellen and I have mutual friends and I fell in love with the place," she said. "While I was painting, I could hear all the kids laughing and the birds singing outside."

Marc Jacobs, who owns Jacobs & Gallucci Inc. painting contractors, donated the paint, he said. Nick of Time Painting owner Nick Cloutier painted the interior.

A new supporter, Toby Chabon-Berger told Vahab she had 30 to 50 children's books dropped off.

"Everyone has done something with love for the center," Vahab said, crediting board member Marvin Zale with donating the sofas and chairs and computers.

See the rest here:
New lease on life for Youth Activity Center at 20

Maid Services Charlotte - Simply Best Maids (704) 626-1334
Maid Services Charlotte NC http://simplybestmaids.com Simply Best Maids 201 N McDowell Street,Suite 30252 Charlotte, NC 28230 (704) 626-1334 http://simplybes...

By: Simply Best Maids

Original post:
Maid Services Charlotte - Simply Best Maids (704) 626-1334 - Video

Americans love their lawns a littletoo much, perhaps. And like all loves, this one too has its chemistry in this case, rooted innitrogen, phosphorous and potassium, the key components of lawn fertilizer. Sure, it makes the grass grow. But thats not where the effects end if people over-fertilize or fertilize carelessly, and these nutrientsend up getting into our lakes, rivers, or water supplies.

According to the U.S. EPAs New England Regional Laboratory, 40 to 60 percent of the nitrogenthat people put on their lawns through fertilizerwinds up in surface and groundwater. Take the case of the Chesapeake Bay: A significant part of the nitrogen and phosphorous that is keeping the Bay polluted comes from urban sources, according to the EPA.

Indeed, careless lawn fertilization can have suchnegativeconsequences that some states have passed laws to restrict phosphorus in fertilizer. As the New York Department of Environmental Conservationputs it, Phosphorus going into the States water has been linked to: reductions in oxygen in waterbodies necessary for fish to breathe; algae that turn water bodies green; and algae and algae by-products that degrade drinking water. Scotts Miracle-Gro, a leading maker of fertilizers and lawn products, itselfannouncedthe removal of phosphorus from a key line of fertilizer products,TurfBuilder, in 2013, saying this was a partial solution to nutrient runoff that can lead to excessive algae growth in waterways.

In general, the concern is that excess nutrients in water can lead to a process of eutrophication, in which algal blooms fed by nitrogen, phosphorous and other nutrients change the chemistry of water bodies, choke off sunlight (potentially killing off plants below the surface) and foster the growth of harmful cyanobacteria. It has been estimated that the damage from eutrophication to U.S. water supplies costs$ 2.2 billionayear to address.

Nitrogen and phosphorus pollution has the potential to become one of the costliest, most difficult environmental problems we face in the 21st century, concluded the EPA in 2009.

This isnt your typical environmental issue, though the cause is not simply some single big polluter. While the eutrophication problem arises from many sources much of it can be traced to agriculture and wastewater treatment plants another key contributor is thelarge number of Americans busily tending tosome37.5 million acres of turf-grass covered residential lawns,and sometimes making mistakes that across our population, can really add up.

For some reason, these Americans feel that their lawns have to look a certain way super green, with turf grass standing tall, as opposed to an alternative, less environmentally impactful lawn approach and that fertilizer is the way to get that to happen. So what underlies the belief?

Keeping up with the Joness fertilizer

The short answer seems to be: Our neighbors. A growing amount of research suggests that people fertilize and over-fertilize their lawns in significant part out of a sense of what those who live around them expect their lawns to look like.

In apaperpublished in 2012, for instance, Amanda Carrico of Vanderbilt and two colleagues found strong social pressures surrounding lawn maintenance in the Nashville, Tenn., area. Some 48 percent of people told the researchers that they used fertilizer on their lawns, and the study found that social pressures were a leading key predictor of their use of fertilizer. As the researchers concluded, maintaining a lawn is an avenue for engaging with ones neighbors, for fulfilling expectations of what it means to be a positive member of a community, and to communicate a willingness to cooperate in creating and maintaining a shared space.

See original here:
Americans are judging their neighbors lawns with surprising environmental consequences

A Little Chaos - Official Trailer - in Cinemas 17th April
Madame Sabine De Barra (Kate Winslet) is an unlikely candidate for landscape architect of the stillto-be-completed Palace of Versailles. She has little time...

By: LionsgateFilmsUK

See the rest here:
A Little Chaos - Official Trailer - in Cinemas 17th April - Video

1/50 scale Land clearing and road building dio
Hey i figured its time to upload a video. Sorry its been a while. I have a sennabogen dragline on order, so in about a month ill have a nice dragline.

By: cat330

Visit link:
1/50 scale Land clearing and road building dio - Video

WESTERN Australian farmers are trying to repeal a controversial environmental law that they argue is destroying the value of thousands of properties.

Farmer and former state Liberal member Murray Nixon told a state parliamentary committee on Wednesday that many farmers were unaware that they were legally prevented from grazing livestock on designated sensitive areas given the classification system was snuck into legislation without adequate consultation.

"It snuck through without any debate at all," Mr Nixon said.

"You all know nobody reads the government gazette. At least it could have gone to the rural press."

The legislation was introduced in 2005 by the then Labor state government to protect wetlands in farming regions. The designated "environmentally sensitive areas" were compiled through aerial photography.

However, few out of the 3000 to 4000 affected property owners either knew their land was now subject to the new clearing restrictions or that the act of grazing was considered to be clearing under the terms of the legislation.

The legislation went largely unnoticed until Manjimup farmer Peter Swift was charged in 2009 with illegally clearing parts of his land. He won the court proceedings, but he says the deterioration in his health suffered during the intense litigation and subsequent work difficulties has meant he is now facing foreclosure.

"I've worked over 30 years on my little piece of Australia," Mr Swift said.

"I've done nothing wrong and now the bank is holding a Colt 45 to my head. I'm telling you nobody is coming through my front gate."

The Department of Environment Regulation has defended the consultation process by arguing that 17 associations and industry bodies, including at least two farming groups, were consulted prior to the 2005 legislative change.

Continued here:
WA farmers buck land laws

Pitkin County commissioners unanimously approved six agriculture leases for the Glassier Open Space property on Wednesday, clearing the way for local operators to tend to the land, graze cattle, and grow hay, flowers and fruit trees.

The leases will be for five to 10 years in duration, allowing the operators more time to grow their respective businesses and cultivate relationships with adjacent lessees.

Among concerns by the commissioners were bear-proofing for the fruit trees; ensuring that the produce is sold locally; the location of potential horse trailer parking; and noxious weed mitigation.

Paul Holsinger, county open space and trails land officer, said theyve been talking with Colorado Parks and Wildlife, and that substantial fencing was planned for the fruit trees.

He added that the goal of the operators was to offer produce locally, and a requirement of the leases was that all operators must be located within 45 miles of the property.

Holsinger said that weed mitigation is being addressed sheep have been utilized on one parcel to eat the unwanted plants in the past.

Holsinger deferred to Gary Tennenbaum, OST assistant director, on horse trailer parking.

Tennenbaum said that options were being looked at near the historic Glassier House, as well as down the road on property owned by the Carricarte Family.

The reality is that we can come up with a solution, he said. Once we get the lessees on board, we can set up a site visit in late April, and really go out there and say, what is going to work and whats not?

Change of heart for OST board

More here:
PitCo commissioners approve Glassier leases