A professional plumber may be necessary for big projects but some things are easy to do. One of those simple things is cleaning your drains. Food, hair, skin, dirt and other debris can clog your pipes and it’s a good idea to spend a little time each month preventing big plumbing problems with these simple tips.

In the kitchen, once a month, pour some baking soda down the drains and then slowly dribble down the drain distilled white vinegar. The chemical reaction will clean the sides of the pipes. When the fizzing stops turn on the hot water and let it run for a couple minutes. This insures that stuck on food inside the pipes will be washed away. This process will also get rid of odors down the drain. Keeping the stainless steal sink and around the drain clean is as simple as scrubbing in small circles with steel wool and baking soda while the hot water is slowly running.

To clean the drain pipes in the bathtub first remove the drain. Next take an old wire coat hanger and untwist it. Carefully, dig around for the hair and soap scum and dead skin and pull it out. The soda and vinegar cleaner described above will also clean the inside of the pipes. Or, periodically, you can pour about one cup of bleach down the drain. This will also kill germs. (Do not ever do both at the same time. Do not mix bleach and soda or vinegar.) Remember to flush the drain with hot water to finish the cleaning. Replace the drain cover.

The bathroom sink can also be cleaned the same way. I'd like to thank Inline Pluming Utah for donating this article. 

Leaving my dog for any length of time can be traumatic for me and and my dog, so finding a great dog boarding kennel usually makes the separation easier on us both. Friends have asked me how I went about finding a boarding solution I felt comfortable with and this post is the answer:

First, you need to investigate so check the Yellow Pages, ask your veterinarian’s office, your neighbors, local animal shelters and your dog’s trainer if they have any suggestions for a good kennel.

Once you’ve tentatively chosen several places that might work, do background checks on each kennel. Does your State require licensing for kennels?  Does the kennel belong to the national Pet Care Services Association?

Check with the Better Business Bureau to see if there are any complaints about the dog boarding kennel you are considering.  Call to see if they have room for your pet. Then, go see and talk to the personnel and walk through each facility. Ask where your dog will be during the day and visually check out all the places he could be.

Is the place clean and does it smell decent? Is the temperature controlled? Do you like the staff? Are all pets required to be current on their vaccinations and to have been vaccinated for canine kennel cough? Will your pet have indoor and outdoor space to exercise and is the sleep area off of the concrete floors? What foods will your dog eat and how often (can he have his own food from home)? Is the food and sleeping area sufficiently sized so your pet will be comfortable? What is the kennel’s plan for evacuation in case of fire? What’s the plan if your dog gets sick or needs medication? Will your dog be bathed and groomed?

Finally, how are the fees calculated? When you’ve found a place that you are comfortable with, you will feel safe leaving your dog in the best dog boarding available.

German shepherd breeding began in the early 1900s with an ex-Calvary Captain named Max Von Stephanitz who wanted to breed a working dog. He found a dog he thought met all of his expectations for intelligence, strength, loyalty, bravery, speed, intense sense of smell, color and obedience and he named him Horand Von Grafrath. Horand begat Hektor and by inbreeding produced Beowulf.  Beowulf is the link for all German shepherds today.

Von Stephanitz was adamant that German shepherd breeders strictly breed out puppies with droopy ears, hip and elbow weakness, color paling, weakness in temperament and missing teeth but careless breeding has caused these problems to be present in some German shepherd puppies.

Other common breeding problems include, hip and elbow dysplasia which causes pain and arthritis as the dog gets old. Some studies show up to 20% of German shepherds have this painful flaw. In Germany, Spinal stenosis, a narrowing of the spinal column that causes pain, has been found in 45% of working police dogs. Because their ears are large, another frequent problem is ear infections. A problem all large dogs are prone to, bloat, also affects German Shepherds. They are predisposed to degenerative myelopathy, thought to be an autoimmune disease, which causes rear end weakness and paralysis and a bleeding disorder called Von Willebrand Disease. Show dogs seem to be susceptible to extreme sloping back.

The American Kennel club is currently considering disqualifying dogs with the breeding flaws of hemophilia, extreme sloping back and hip dysplasia.

German shepherd dogs are highly prized today by police, fire, and military because they are fiercely loyal and obedient and strong. They are chosen second only to retrievers as seeing-eye dogs. Because of their keen sense of smell they are also valued as rescue and cadaver dogs, narcotics, bomb, accelerant and mine gas detection dogs.

Are you hopelessly behind in you house payments? Has the economy caused undo hardship, or layoff in your household and now you are facing foreclosure and don’t know what to do? Do you want to keep your home but don’t know if it is possible?

Foreclosure is the process that mortgage holder goes through to take the property back from the homeowner who has stopped making payments so they resell it. They have to reclaim the property in a legal way to force the homeowner out and then sell it to get some of their investment back. Usually, the property will be sold at auction and whatever the lien holder gets will be used to pay off the homeowner’s debt. If the house sells at auction for less than the homeowner owes, the mortgage company can go after the homeowner for the difference.

You can stop the foreclosure process by filing for Chapter 13 bankruptcy but it’s important to see an Arizona foreclosure lawyer before the process is over if you want to keep the house. Some people allow the process to complete because they know they are upside down on the mortgage and think foreclosure is the only way out from under the debt. This isn’t necessarily true. It is possible to file for Chapter 13 bankruptcy and reorganize your debt and if the Federal court approves the plan, pay off all your unsecured debt. This is especially important if your first mortgage is close to the value of the house. There is a way to have the 2^nd and 3^rd mortgages included in your unsecured debt repayment plan. This is called lien stripping and it might relieve you of that entire debt.

Talk to a Chandler Arizona foreclosure lawyer and find out your options before your options are taken away from you.

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A lot of the data on this report really surprised me... 40% of all gamers are female?  Really?  The average gamer is 34 years old?  Check out the other surprising video game statistics.

Great info-graphic for a lot of the reasons so many people are moving to Utah.

Utah law firm provides a nice graphical break-down of the pros and cons when trying to choose between mediation, arbitration, and litigation.

Video of a Vizsla from Golden Meadows Retrievers hunting Chukar outside of Lehi, Utah.