12 Deadliest Garden Plants (descriptions, photos and symptoms of poisoning)

We wanted to share a great post from ThisOldHouse.com about 12 deadly plants that parents and pet parents need to be aware of. Danielle Blundell provides photos, descriptions of the plant including the deadly parts of each, and the toxic toll it can take on small children and critters.

Your garden may be a relaxing retreat, but it’s not a place to let your guard down, especially when it comes to small children and the family pet. Some popular plants you prize for their ornamental beauty can turn into toxic killers within minutes if ingested, whether consumed out of curiosity or by mistake. With this list you’ll know what flowers, shrubs, and berries to warn young, inquisitive minds about and which bushes and flowers to keep out of paw’s reach. You’ll also learn the symptoms of poisoning because—after prevention—rapid treatment is the only defense against death.

Continue reading on ThisOldHouse.com

Friday Fotos: Venezuela’s Catatumbo Lightning provides brilliant light shows 10 hours per day

According to Amusingplanet.com, the Catatumbo Lightning is one of the coolest natural phenomenon on earth. It occurs strictly in an area located over the mouth of Venezuela’s Catatumbo River where it empties into Lake Maracaibo. Over this relatively small area powerful flashes of lightening more than 5 km in height strike at surprising frequency – during 140 to 160 nights a year, 10 hours per day and up to 280 times per hour.

Theories abound as to why the lightning is concentrated in one area all the time. Some scientists say that the geological features around the Catatumbo River basin contribute to a constant low-pressure system. That would explain why the lightning hasn’t stopped for more that a few months at a time for thousands of years.

Stormchaser.ca writes the frequent, powerful flashes of lightning over this relatively small area are considered by some to be the world’s largest single generator of tropospheric ozone.

Images: AmusingPlanet.com 

Stay safe and have a great weekend! j & B

Doing another large print late Feb – call if you need custom preparedness books

Several agencies and groups are submitting artwork to try to do a large print late-February 2013 so, if you or any agencies, businesses or groups you know want a customized version of our disaster preparedness and first aid manual, please contact Fedhealth ASAP at 520.907.2153 to discuss your needs.

Books make great educational giveaways for your employees, customers and local communities, and our customizable tool can help clear out leftover grant dollars that are time sensitive.

And some groups collaborate with businesses, civic clubs, nonprofit groups, Emergency Planning Councils and others to get sponsor/advertising money or bundle dollars together, and Fedhealth can individually receipt each amount to commit funds down to the penny. Plus books (and CDs or flash drives) qualify as community education providing about a $4-to-$1 match that agencies and nonprofits can use towards matching grant programs.

We discount our 266-page book up to 75% off list (or as low as $3.50 U.S. each) and customize them for free (in print process [1,000 units & up] .. OR .. with peel & sticker labels on our standard red books in smaller quantities.

Again, we hope to send all completed artwork to our printer late Feb for a March delivery — IF all goes as planned. If not, it might push things another month or so but we’ll keep interested groups updated going forward.

We can also burn custom CDs or flash drives at ANY time since those jobs don’t require bundling.

Learn more or call us at 1-888-999-4325.

Friday Foto: Supernova remnant Cas A

Today’s Friday Foto is courtesy of NASA

Cas A: Optical and X-ray

Explanation: The aftermath of a cosmic cataclysm, supernova remnant Cassiopeia A (Cas A) is a comfortable 11,000 light-years away. Light from the Cas A supernova, the death explosion of a massive star, first reached Earth just 330 years ago. Still expanding, the explosion’s debris cloud spans about 15 light-years near the center of this composite image. The scene combines color data of the starry field and fainter filaments of material at optical energies with image data from the orbiting NuSTAR X-ray telescope. Mapped to false colors, the X-ray data in blue hues trace the fragmented outer boundary of the expanding shock wave, glowing at energies up to 10,000 times the energy of the optical photons.

Image Credit: X-ray – NASA, JPL-Caltech, NuSTAR; Optical – Ken Crawford (Rancho Del Sol Obs.)

Have a great weekend! j & B

Friday Fotos: Massive Aussie haboob

For some time we’ve posted our “Friday Foto” selections on Facebook but have decided to post them here now instead.

This week’s amazing shots are from the 9-Jan-2013 dust storm that developed due to a category-three cyclone near a remote stretch of Western Australia coast. According to The Weather Channel, strong winds carried the sand from the Indian Ocean to the northwestern town of Onslow in what almost appears like a massive red wave with white caps.

West of False Island in Mary Anne Passage near Onslow – West Australia. (Photo credit: Brett Martin)

Also near Onslow (Photo credit: Brett Martin)

off the coast of Onslow (Photo credit: Levi Cooper)

This dust storm (a.k.a. haboob) is the latest wild weather to strike Australia after days of destructive bush fires and major heatwaves.

Have a great weekend! j & B