Each year homeowners are plagued with pest birds wanting to live in and eat out of their yards. Birds such as sparrows and crows love to eat the seeds out of your newly planted garden, while geese love to devour your lawn. If you have any fruit trees, they are certainly not safe from pest birds either. So how does a homeowner scare birds away?

There is one easy way to scare the birds away. Use lifelike predator decoys in your yard to scare the birds. Birds have a built in aversion to certain threatening silhouettes, such as the Red Tailed Hawk and Coyotes. Use of the decoys can be very easy and inexpensive, saving you money on lost crops, lawns and fruit.

Hawk Decoys

Hawk decoys are best used to scare birds away from your garden and fruit trees. You can hang the hawk decoys in the trees, the life like hawk will frighten other birds away. Small birds will perceive the hawk decoy as a threat and just look elsewhere for a meal.

Attach the hawk decoys to garden stakes to protect your garden from pest birds. The hawk will look over your garden scaring birds away with its presence. Every day or so just move the hawk decoy to a different area of the garden so that the other birds do not get used to it being in one spot.

To protect your whole yard or pool area, a hawk decoy can be installed on a patio cover or roof edge. Make sure the hawk is seen by the other pest birds, they will think the hawk decoy is waiting for dinner to arrive.

Coyote Decoys

Coyote decoys are used to scare pest geese away from grassy areas such as parks, golf courses, green belts and yards. The coyote decoys are easily assembled and stick right into the lawn. It is best to get several coyote decoys and place them in a “pack” formation. This way animals like ducks and deer will think that the coyotes are hunting for food and flee the area. Most coyote decoys are made of a plastic material and stainless steal rods so you do not have to worry about removing them when the lawn is watered.

Predator decoys are an easy and inexpensive way to keep birds away from your yard. As with any type of bird control product, it is best to install the decoys before the birds have made a home of your yard. Once birds are nesting in an area, it is much harder to get rid of them.

Some people don’t give much thought to things like a garden hose, but if this is something you regularly use during the growing season it is worth giving some thought to it. Anything that is used on a regular basis can make little day-to-day jobs easier or more difficult based on that item’s design. A garden hose is one of these things.

While the familiar green version is an old standby for many there are other choices available, one being the coiled garden hose. A coiled hose looks a bit like an old-fashioned coiled phone cord. It is a fun change from the old stand by for many however it has it’s own set of advantages and disadvantages.

Advantages

One of the fun things about this type of garden hose is that it comes in a variety of fun, bright colors like blue, purple or even translucent yellow.

While color may be fun it won’t or shouldn’t be the main reason to choose this style of water hose. The main benefit of a coil hose is that it is fairly small, but it will stretch as you need additional length then recoil back to its normal shape when you are finished using it. It basically retracts on its own after use so you do not need to spend additional time coiling it neatly to put it away after each use.

They are also lightweight but still durable. Many of them hold up well in the sun, are resistant to abrasion and they don’t kink.

Disadvantages

Probably the biggest disadvantage of coiled hoses is that they aren’t as multifunctional as the more familiar style. They work better for smaller spaces like patios or balconies. If you have a large yard this style may work well for you patio but probably not for all of your watering needs.

Because they don’t rest on the ground like a regular hose they can also have a tendency to bump into or knock over taller planters or plants.

A coiled hose works well for certain jobs and spaces, but it may not be a one size fits all type of garden hose. Before you make a final decision think about how you use this garden tool most to see if this style would be a good choice for you.

Do you know who Mike Austin was? Have you ever heard of the Mike Austin Golf swing? If not, and you want to learn how to hit a golf ball well, then you are in for a real treat. This golf swing method will make you thing twice about most of what you have been taught. It is definitely an eye opener.

Mike Austin still sits in the Guinness Book of World Records for hitting the longest drive in a sanctioned golf event. For Guinness to consider it, the drive obviously was verified by many witnesses. So this is no wives tale. Amazingly he hit the shot way back in 1974 at what was the call the U.S. Senior Open (now the US Seniors Championship, a major event on the Champions Tour). Yes, at 64 years young Mike was a senior player at the time. His drive travelled an incredible 515 yards! The shot was hit on the fourteenth hole at the Wintergreen Golf Course (now the 5th hole and the course is now named the Desert Rose) in Las Vegas Nevada. The fourteenth hole is a 450 yard par 4. Mike had been bombing the ball all day hitting some drives 400 yards plus already. One of his playing partners, Chandler Harper (winner of the 1950 PGA Championship) said to Mike upon stepping up to the fourteenth tee, something to the effect of, “Mike, let’s see you really let one go”. Mike unleashed his epic drive which carried all the way to the front edge of the green on the 450 yard hole.

When they finally found his ball it was on the next tee box, having bounded through the green, a full 65 yards past the green, a 515 yard smash. Yes, it was down wind, estimated between 27 and 35 mph according to the weather reports of that day, and Las Vegas has some altitude (app 2,000 feet). But come on! That is insane! Also consider the fact that he was using a persimmon headed (wood) driver with 10 degree loft and 43 ½ inch extra stiff steel shaft, and a 100 compression balata golf ball. These tools are quite inferior to the longer and lighter graphite shafts of today with the high tech driver heads and long flying balls. So the bottom line is that his drive was simply a monster shot. It has been estimated that with proper impact and trajectory a swing speed of between 155 and 160 mph could produce such a shot. Mike claims to have been measured at such speeds swinging in the late 1930’s under strobe light photography, which can measure speeds precisely. At 75 years old, his swing was measured at 133 mph, that is still faster that any tour player, Bubba Watson, John Daly, Jack Nicklaus in the past, anyone. Hmmm. For example: So far this year (April of 2011) the fastest recorded club head speed is 128 mph by J.B. Holmes (his average is 125 mph this year). So Mike was out swinging all current PGA Tour players at 75 years old! Another stat on Mike Austin. As a member of the 350 club (a group of long drivers) back in the 1988 Mike competed in about 12 long drive events when he was 78 years old. At that age he averaged an impressive 307 yards per drive, and even more impressive, HE NEVER MISSED THE GRID! Long AND accurate.

In a sense the story only begins with this record drive. Mike Austin was not a just strong guy with a knack for hitting a golf ball. Although he was certainly those things too, he was a complete student of the golf swing. He had a background in science and was a student of kinesiology (the study of human motion). He applied all of this knowledge to his study of the golf swing, learning how every part of the body should work in order to produce the most efficient and powerful swing. This swing will also not be hard on the joints or the spine, as you will be using the joints in the ways in which they were designed. What makes things more perplexing is that what Mike teaches is quite contrary to what most golf instructors currently teach (a.k.a. the modern swing).

What convinced me that his swing method was worth looking into was twofold. First, once you watch his swing (Mike Austin golf swing – Young Mike Austin) you will see the elegance, grace and balance. It is not the type of swing normally associated with long driving. Second, when you consider how differently he understood the swing than most golf instructors it becomes clear, at least to me, that he was on to something others simply did not understand.

So, if you too want to hit the ball long and straight, learn all you can about the Mike Austin golf swing. There are a few pros teaching his method but there is much debate about how some of them go about it. People always try to reinvent the wheel. Regardless, Mike had it right. Do yourself a favor and look into the Mike Austin golf swing. Happy golfing everyone!

The yard was unusually busy and filled with anxiety when I arrived. Amongst the chatter I managed to glean that not long before lunch one of the livery horses had collapsed and been rushed to the vet school. Her life was hanging in the balance.

The cause was every liveries worst nightmare… an encysted red worm burden. It was so severe she had been given less than a 50% chance of surviving. Even if she did survive she would have permanent damage to her intestine that would mean careful dietary management for the rest of her life.

The horses at the yard, as with many yards, were turned out in groups and the groups never mixed. So any horse not in the group with this mare were most likely going to be unaffected. That didn’t stop many of the liveries going in to an emotional meltdown. My head was spinning and my stomach turned over as I digested the news. This mare shared a field with my youngster!

Regular worm counts as well as wormer for red worms and tape worm are part of my horses worming regimen so, in theory, my youngster should be fine. If only that was enough to stop me worrying.

The whole yard was put on ‘lock down’, grazing was off limits and horses were all stabled. An emergency worming programme was put in place and every horse had to follow this programme over the course of a week. It’s bad enough having to worm a horse a few times a year, I wasn’t about to disagree given the potential risk for my youngster.

My horses started out great with their week-long wormer regimen. They weren’t happy about it, but we were coping. Then around day 3 the yard owner decided that he would ‘help me out’ and he decided to worm my youngster before I arrived at the yard that day. I wasn’t particularly happy about it, but all seemed well.

Day 4 came around and it was time for the wormer. I prepped the tube and opened my youngsters stable door. He had one glance at the wormer tube and reacted as if I had thrown a snake in to the stable with him. This was not his usual reaction and I heaved a sigh as I could only imagine the scene the previous day with the yard owners approach to worming my youngster.

I pot the tube away and calmed my horse. Then went to find the yard owner. As my horses reaction had indicated, the previous days wormer administration had not gone well at all and it seemed that an approach along the lines of ‘pin it down with 4 men and a boy’ was taken. This was devastating news to me. My horse as showing me that a lot of emotional damage had been done in a very short space of time. Damage that was going to take more than one nights training to resolve.

There was nothing else for it. I had to quickly put a training plan together in my head as to how I was going to worm my horse that evening. It had to be done. The risk of not doing it was just too great. My approach was that of microshaping. I looked for the smallest approximation of the behaviour I needed from my horse to make this procedure as emotionally and physically safe as possible.

I wanted to tease apart what aspect(s) of the wormer was an issue so i broke it down in to steps to find what was OK and I could build from there. Starting where things were not OK was not going to lead to better things. I asked if I could open the stable door (no wormer in sight), yes, click and treat. Could I go in to the stable, then touch him, could I build up to touching him around his nose and his then his mouth. As long as he was calm and relaxed with each step of the process it was reinforced a number of times before moving on. At any time if he gave any indication that things were not OK then I took a step back in the training plan.

The next steps involved the wormer itself; could I stay on the other side of the door and simply hold the wormer tube, click for calm behaviour, wormer tube away and treat. We built this up gradually so that I could step in to the stable with the tube in my hand and he stayed calm.

It was surprising how quickly he learned that staying calm and relaxed about the process was preferable to getting anxious. Anxiety could easily have escalated but by approaching the training a small step at a time, by repeating each step and following Karen Pryors 10 Laws of shaping behaviour the end result was being able to worm my horse without force.

After just one nights training the behaviour was definitely not as good as I would have liked it to be, but we had a few more nights to work on that.

Over time I polished the behaviour by asking the horses to voluntarily bring their mouth to the wormer tube, open their lips and place their lips over the tube.

The final bells and whistles to the process was to teach the horse a cue where they knew “this time I plan to give the wormer”. If they were not ready they removed their mouth from the tube. If they are ready their mouth stays over the tube. Giving wormer paste to our horses is a necessary evil for most of us. However, we can give the horses control over the worming process and allow it to be their choice when the paste is given. We can make it a more positive experience for the horses.

The good news is, my horses are still in control over their wormer paste, neither of them were affected by the outbreak and the mare… she survived!

You want to ensure your lawn mower is going to be a good fit for your needs. There are many models and features to choose from, but by focusing on these basics, you will be able to choose the right mower for both your budget and your lawn. Knowing what to look for when purchasing a mower can save you money and frustration down the road.

The most basic aspect of choosing an appropriate mower is the size of your lawn. Larger yards may require a tractor mower, while smaller ones may be more suitable for a push mower. Walk behind mowers are best suited to yards under three quarters of an acre. While yards that are more than half an acre and do not contain various grades are best suited to a self-propelled walking mower. That way you won’t have to do the pushing over hills or rougher patches yourself, you simply guide it. Choosing the right size will also help you keep your fuel costs under control.

Another key aspect of choosing a mower is the size of its engine and mower deck. The size of the mower deck relates to how much grass the lawn mower will cut at each pass. For large yards, having an engine of suitable power and a large lower deck, helps you get the job done quickly and efficiently. However, you don’t want to overshoot your mower’s power and size because that will just cost you money in fuel expenses.

Wheel size is another important consideration in lawn mowers. Standard wheel sizes are good for lawns that are fairly flat and smooth. If your lawn contains rougher terrain and/or many hills, opting for larger rear wheels will make the job much easier.

The same principles for mower engine power and mower deck size apply to riding mowers. If your area is more than three quarters of an acre, a riding mower is a good choice for you.

The new models of mowers can come with many extras, such as mulching the lawn cutting as you go and redistributing them over the lawn. Mowers that also mulch have specially designed blades, which cut the grass into many tiny fragments as you go. If you don’t want this option, make sure your lawn mower bags your grass clippings.

In addition to those basic elements, there are options for solar powered mowers, robotic mowers, and those that come with or without cords. Doing a little bit of research on each of these options will help you determine what’s a good fit for your yard.

Now that you know what to look for when purchasing a lawn mower, you will be able to make the best decision for your yard.

Everyone wants something unique and unusual in their back yard. In the desert landscaping scenario its a bit easier to get that kind of thing since the back yard is in use all year around. When it comes to something different for your back yard outdoor kitchen and barbecue centers another innovative product that a great landscaper can offer you is a wood fired pizza oven.

Whats more fun than Pizza and the parties that it can engender? The answer to that has to be a pizza oven, outdoors, wood fired and providing the best of the pizza that the world has to offer.

Typically the Italians offer wood fired ovens to create the best of the gourmet pizza that can be found in the United States and around the world.

One of the items that is quite often found as an addition to desert landscaping is the outdoor wood burning pizza ovens. These are not just for business or for Italian restaurants, they are also for the discerning or the fun loving home owner. Your outdoor kitchen or barbecue area will benefit from the addition of a wood burning pizza oven on your property.

A good landscaping company can offer you an amazing and attractive new element to your next back yard party–a pizza oven that will be the hit of your neighborhood. Wood burning pizza ovens are of course the state of the art, but there are also some easier solutions such as gas pizza ovens as well as much more.

One of the first things you’re going to need to determine when it comes to ordering your outdoor wood burning pizza oven will be to figure out precisely what you need. Some of the smaller or more standard size of ovens will be about three feet wide. The measurement is the dimension of the interior. This permits it to heat up very rapidly in under an hours time. An oven of this size is capable of cooking between two and ten pizzas at one time and doing them to absolute perfection.

In addition to the wood fired ovens you might also elect one of the authentic brick outdoor ovens for your backyard. Forno Bravo Pizza ovens are among the best in the world and are one that you might consider as something that could easily be fitted out in your desert landscaping project.

For your next barbecue or party, offer something unique and intriguing in your back yard. Make it a cut above the rest for what you can offer to your guests. Get your wood fired pizza oven installed and find out why the Italian chefs won’t do it any other way.

Are you going to buy a push mower for your lawn? If so, make sure you buy one that can meet your needs. Many factors should be considered, such as your yard size, number of trees and any obstacles in the yard, to name a few. Nowadays, you can see a variety of lawn mowers on the market. Given below are a few tips that can help you get your hands on the right machine.

Push vs Self-Propelled

If you have a flat yard that is less than an acre, then buying a push mower is a great idea. They feature a cutting deck that is between 20 and 22 inches. So, this machine allows you to add to the beauty of your lawn in an efficient manner.

If you have a bigger lawn, your best bet is to get a self-propelled unit. As the name suggests, the machine will push itself making it easier for you to do the job. All you need to do is walk behind the thing to ensure it goes in the right direction.

Features you should look for in a machine

Starting Systems: If the machine is difficult to start up, it may cause frustration. Therefore, opting for a mower that has the right starting system is really important. This will make it easier for you to work on our lawn.

Electric Starter: An electric starting system will help you start the machine without a problem. You just need to turn the key and that is it.

Automatic Choke Starting: In this type of system, you just need to engage its safety handle and then pull the rope. This will start up the machine.

Additional Features

Leaf-handling: With this type of mower, you can suck up, catch and shred the leaves with the help of a screen that rests between the discharge chute and the cutting blade. This feature can be found in most of the latest mowers.

Noise: Some machines have special mufflers installed in them in order to reduce the noise during operation.

Durability: Make sure you look for a durable unit. Typically, these units have OHV and Maxi-Clean filters.

Safety Tips

According to the reports released by the US Consumer Product Safety Commission, over 60,000 injuries occur every year due to the unsafe use of lawn mowers. Generally, kids are injured. Therefore, we suggest that you practice safety no matter which type of machine you choose to buy. Given below are some safety guidelines that you may want to follow.

• Always use protective eyewear
• Don’t mow at night or when the grass is wet
• Make sure you remove debris and other objects from your yard before each job
• Make sure there are no kids in your yard when you are doing your job
• Follow the instructions when turning your machine on
• Don’t tilt your mower
• When you are going to cross a driveway or sidewalk, don’t forget to turn off the unit
• Don’t make the mistake of deactivating the safety devices
• Don’t touch the hot engine
• Don’t allow your kids to operate the machine

So, you can follow these tips when buying and using a push mower.

You have many styles of homes to choose from when building your own home. One of the most famous styles is the rambler. A rambler home is all on one floor. This style became very popular after world war two when the soldiers were returning home and housing became more affordable. The ranch home has been around for years, but it is still very useful and will remain for years to come.

The ranch style home has many advantages and several disadvantages. You will want to understand these before you decide to build a ranch style home.

The ranch house takes up more of the lot space than a two story home for the same size home. This means that you will have less yard. Many people find this to be a disadvantage while others actually consider it an advantage. It depends on how you look at a reduced yard size. If you don’t like yard work and playing outside, then a smaller yard is an advantage. If you do like working outdoors, then it may be seen as a disadvantage. Most neighborhoods come with parks and schools close by so a sizeable yard is not needed for recreation purposes.

Another advantage of a rambler is the lack of stairs. You may not consider that an advantage now, but what if your ailing mother came to stay with you or you had a new baby. These people have trouble with stairs and it may be to your advantage to have all of the room on the same floor.

Also, a ramble is normally a rectangular or L-shape. This means most places are in close proximity. Getting around quickly is much easier in a rambler. If you want to stay away from the children for a few hours, you may consider this a disadvantage.

Another advantage of the rambler style home is that the rooms tend to be bigger and the floor plan is very airy. With the kitchen, dining room, family room and bonus room all on the same floor it can create larger rooms that join into other rooms. Some people enjoy this type of floor plan because it is easier to get more people into the house for parties and entertaining.

The rambler also is cheaper to build in some circumstances. As you add floors to a building you also increase the complexity and design problems. The basic rambler is very simple in design and so special materials and engineering is not needed. This allows the home to be built faster and cheaper.

This also means that maintenance is cheaper. If you have tried to wash the outside window on the second floor you will understand. Hanging siding is cheaper on a rambler and most other maintenance activities. You won’t have to own a super tall ladder for hanging Christmas lights if you only live in a one story rambler home.

Heating and cooling costs tend to be cheaper compared to other homes. You can insulate the entire roof and the air is kept on one floor. Two story homes often have multiple units to service the different floors. Heat will rise and you will have to be constantly trying to cool the upper floors or heat the bottom floor. Maintaining a single insulated floor is much easier and cheaper.

In summary, many people consider the rambler to be boring in design. Others think that it doesn’t look as nice as other homes. You will have to decide what fits you and your needs best. The rambler can have cost benefits and detractors. However, it has been very useful for years and will continue to be used for years to come.

Q: We have three dogs that are inside and outside dogs. During the day, we have them outside playing while we’re at work. The issue we’re having is not with the dogs, but with the utility company that came to do some work in my backyard last week. Two of my dogs are very friendly, but one is very mean (Teaky). The utility man came over unannounced, and got in the back yard, and was trapped because Teaky would not let him move from the gas meter. I was home sick and had to rescue the worker. He threatened my dog, and said that if he got closer he was going to hit him with his wrench. How do I keep the utility people out of my property? Who should I report him to for his threat? I think he should lose his job, since he was trespassing. Lori in Oklahoma City, OK.

A: Lori – Lori – Lori… The truth is that your utility worker was really not trespassing. Most states have passed laws to protect public workers who by definition of their jobs need to enter into your backyard, or walk through your front yard, etc. The truth is that they are assaulted by dogs daily, and they need to be protected, as much as you do. Your dog was doing his job, and so was the utility person. Nice combination!

Since you’re in Oklahoma, you’ll need to know that your state passed HB2813 in 2006 which protects these professionals against dog attacks, and dictates punishment to dog owner that allow their dog to assault these employees (this bill speaks of fines and possible imprisonment for the dog owners). So, let’s now make peace with the nice utility person, he has a tough job as it is. I would suggest that you call the utility company and ask when they routinely have to enter your property, so that you may keep Brutus in a safe place. Utility companies welcome these calls, and will work with you on scheduling a safe time for their employee to visit you.

This is not a battle you will win – so let’s just ALL be friends… Good luck, DogMan.

There are many factors involved when selecting a riding lawn mower to tackle your yard care needs. Some of these factors include yard size, mulching needs, and obstacles in your yard. While these may not seem very important in general, after you purchase a lawn mower you’ll find out just how important they will be for you.

For instance, if you have a rather large yard with many obstacles and a slight slope to it, you’ll probably find the Husqvarna Rider R155 AWD riding lawn mower a perfect fit for you.

With the AWD (All Wheel Drive) system, the Husqvarna R155 is ideal for going around obstacles such as water features, trees and shrubs, and even swings and playground equipment. You’ll also find that it does very well with uneven ground, being able to take slopes and hills with ease.

The AWD system allows for the rear wheels to turn under the machine, giving you a 4 inch turn radius, unlike other riding mowers that give you a 14 to 18 inch turning radius. So, if you need the extra maneuverability, this is the mower you’re looking for.

If you don’t like the idea of raking grass clippings, and who does, you’ll be amazed with the 3 blades and front mounted cutting deck on this mower. The front mounted deck allows for easy access under benches and around obstacles and the 3 blades do a wonderful job of cutting.

If you want your clippings to be mulched and left as a great fertilizer, you can use the BioChip which causes your clippings to be cut and extra time before falling to the ground. So not only will you be mowing your yard, but using an all-natural mulch to fertilize at the same time.

Although this mower is a bit on the expensive side, you’re paying for what you get. With the automatic blade engagement that turns on as soon as you lower the deck for cutting, and wheel weights to ensure a good grip no matter what terrain you’re moving on, this would seem like a great option for someone that wants to take their yard maintenance seriously.

You could probably find a cheaper mower just about anywhere, but wouldn’t you prefer to pay the price for quality that is undeniable? Husqvarna is one of the best mower brands on the market to date, and quality is their backbone.