I'd wondered why no one made a wooden lounge chair with a mesh seat. Wood lounges are classy and durable, but require cushions. And even with a cushion, I still prefer the comfort of mesh to lie on. I saw these today in the Pottery Barn catalog. When my powder-coated steel lounges finally rust out, I'll replace them with these. $699 at potterybarn.com.
My mom had one request for Hanukkah: A compact umbrella, with auto open/close and a wind vent in any color but black. The one I found was so great, I ordered a second one for myself. The ShedRain WindPro Auto Open/Close Jumbo Mini has all those features, plus a comfort-grip handle and a really big canopy, to keep you much drier than most other compact umbrellas. It's available in "sand," which is really a dark grey - a perfectly elegant color that isn't black (and less likely to get "accidentally" switched out of a public umbrella stand. It may very well be the perfect umbrella, sturdy enough to stick it out 'till the end. Regularly $38, but often on sale at eBags.com .
I've had these at my house on Fire Island for a few years, and other Cambridge Soundworks
products for decades. They produce great sound, come in three different sizes (though unfortunately, only one color) and sell at extremely competitive prices. Order them direct online at hifi.com
.
Here's the thing about insect repellents. Pretty much everyone agrees products containing high concentrations of DEET work better than anything else. But DEET comes with health risks, especially for children, and can damage fabrics. DEET-free insect repellents seem to have varying efficacy, depending not only on the circumstances, but also on your own personal body chemistry. Two people using the same product can experience very different efficacy. Which may explain why thousands of people swear that Skin-So-Soft Bath Oil is the only thing that works for them, despite it never being proved to work as such. As an Avon Representative, the only thing I'm allowed to tell you about Skin-So-Soft is that it's America's #1 Selling Bath Oil. Why, you might ask, would a bath oil come in a spray bottle? I can't tell you. What I can tell you is that Avon has been at the forefront of marketing non-DEET repellent products in the U.S., including two that seem to work really well (for me). Both contain active ingredients that have been tested and used extensively in Europe and around the world. Picaridin is recommended by the CDC and by the World Health Organization. It also works (for me) against the biting flies we get here on Fire Island where nothing else does -- including DEET. Avon's Bug Guard Plus Picaridin contains 10% picaridin. IR3535 works (for me) great against mosquitoes, and is safe enough to not be require children washing it off when they come indoors. It's found in Avon's Bug Guard Plus Expedition, which is also unscented, another plus. They also both contain vitamin E, and are on sale this week for 50% off at avon.com.
If you've come to this page from a Google™ search, you won't have time to order one of these, though you might be able to run out and buy one at a local retailer. If not, use a tweezer a grab the tick as close to its mouth parts (and the skin) as possible. Pull slowly, gently and steadily, being careful not to squeeze the body of the tick. When you're done, disinfect the skin, wash your hands, flush the tick down the toilet, and then order one of these: Ticked Off is a little spoon with a small v-shaped opening that makes it easy to grab ticks and pull them off pets or humans. Simple and ingenious, it works brilliantly. With the increasing incidence of tick-borne diseases, anyone with a dog, or who spends any time in the woods or other tick-infested areas should have one of these.
It's$2.99 at
EntirelyPets.com.
My quirky/trendy/brilliant friend Jo the Girl passed on this item. The Airstream Basecamp
is a multi-purpose tent-trailer hybrid made for outdoor adventure. This next-generation RV trailer was designed by a partnership of Airstream, Nissan Design American and Kelty. It converts from gear hauler (yes, you can park your kayaks or even an ATV in it!) to kitchen to tented bedroom in just minutes. And it's light enough to be hauled behind conventional vehicles, including most SUVs and even some passenger cars. It carries an MSRP of $20,000.
Like most cleaning tasks, keeping your BBQ grill grates clean is easiest if you use the proper tools, and don't let the gunk build up. Today's product makes that easy. Grate Chef Grill Wipes are disposable pads impregnated with food-service grade high-temperature oil that cling to your wire grill brush. Once the grates are warm, you place the pad on the wire brush and rub it on the grates, cleaning and oiling them at the same time. After you're done grilling, you wipe again to clean the grate, then toss the pad. Your grates stay cleaner and your food grills with less sticking and better marking. $2.49 for a pack of six at many hardware and grocery stores, or order online from sewebsites.com.
Not all of us are good about cleaning our barbeque grill every time we use it. Tomorrow, I'll tell you about the product that makes it super easy to do so. But first, I'm going to share a tip for getting rid of the remnants of June and July's grilling. Dawn Power Dissolver. It's an alkali spray that's much less noxious than oven cleaner. I spray it on the grates (set on the door of my dishwasher, not on the grill) after having used a wire grill brush to scrape off the big stuff. Wait 30 minutes, then rinse (my grates fit in the dishwasher, you might have to rinse yours in a sink). Not just for barbecues, it's a great product for any baked-on, caked-on, greasy mess. If you can't find it at your local supermarket, you can order it from amazon.com.
There are two types of UV rays you need to be concerned about when buying sunscreen: UVA and UVB. UVB are the burning rays, and SPF ratings only measure a sunscreen's effectiveness against UVB rays. In the last decade or so, UVA rays have been shown to be responsible for aging: wrinkles, skin cancer, DNA mutation. Sunscreens label themselves Broad Spectrum when they are effective against both rays, but the effectiveness of the UVA protection is hard to know. In the US, the most effective UVA sunscreens are those that contain a physical sunblock (like titanium dioxide, that actually block the rays with a physical barrier), and the chemical sunblock Avobenzone, sometimes marketed as Parsol 1789. But neither is as effective as Mexoryl, which has been available in Europe and Canada for years. Mexoryl is the most effective chemical UVA block, and doesn't lose its effectiveness as quickly as Avobenzone in the sun. On Monday, L'Oreal got FDA approval to sell Mexoryl-based sunscreen in the US. But you don't have to wait until fall to get it. A quick Google or eBay search will turn up Anthelios sunscreen available from foreign sellers. I bought mine from a Spain-based seller FashionEyeStore whose prices, including FedEx shipping, were cheaper than most of the Canadian pharmacies that sell the products online. The Anthelios XL Fluide Extreme is the most lightweight of the products, though I still found it a little greasy, and it is not waterproof or sweat-resistant. The Children's version is water-resistant, but still ran in my eyes. I'm sticking with the suncreens I wrote about earlier, but if you're particularly concerned about UVA rays, and sweat/water resistance isn't an issue for you, Anthelios is the best protection you can buy.
This is my favorite daily sunscreen. It's an alcohol-based spray that doesn't need to be rubbed in, so it's easy to apply and re-apply. It's non-greasy, non-sticky, and virtually fragrance-free, so it's easy to wear. It contains Aloe and Parsol 1789, so it's non-drying, and offers strong UVA protection in addition to the SPF 30 UVB protection. And it's really water and sweat-resistant, so it doesn't drip into my eyes and sting. The 6.7 oz bottle is $9.99 at Avon.com.
P.S. I defy the "spray-on-hands, then rub on face" instructions on products like this by closing my eyes, holding my breath, and spraying, then waiting a few moments. LEGAL DISCLAIMER: I'm only sayin' that's what I do. I'm not recommending that anyone else defy manufacturers use instructions. And in case you're new to BillyKnowsBest, I'm an Avon Representative, in the top 10% of Representatives nationwide. So I profit in a small way from your purchase if you use the above link, as I do from many -- though not all -- of the links on this site.
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