Could your patio look better? Perhaps you’ve invested in some fine outdoor furniture to enhance the aesthetic of your backyard, and to provide welcoming outdoor comfort for your guests. But this may not be enough. How can you get that visual panache that your patio needs, without being too tacky or too expensive? Perhaps you might consider outdoor wall fountains.

Outdoor fountains are beautiful and easily maintained patio decorations that are available in a wide range of styles. Some water fountains are designed in metals such as stainless steel or copper. Others feature natural, elegant slate faces. Still others feature glass or mirror faces, acrylic resin, and in some cases wood materials like bamboo.

No matter what material you end up choosing for your outdoor wall fountain, you will find that the dynamic nature of this work of “living art” instantly enhances the beauty of your home’s back patio. Perhaps more importantly, an outdoor fountain serves as an anchor between the natural and artificial elements of your outdoor space. A fountain like this will make your entire backyard seem whole or complete, as it unifies every facet of your outdoor aesthetic, from the flowers and trees in your garden to the hardwood outdoor wicker furniture.

One great way to pick the perfect outdoor fountain for your patio is to find one that offsets or embellishes your outdoor furniture. For example, if your outdoor furniture is built from a light wood material like birch or oak, consider installing a copper outdoor fountain nearby. The warm, bronze tones of rustic copper are charming and welcoming when they are placed near a piece of light hued wood furniture. A soft-colored slate fountain also looks great in such a setting.

If your outdoor furniture is darker and heavier, however, a copper or soft-colored slate outdoor fountain may not be ideal. The deep, luxurious tones of teak furniture is complemented and offset very effectively with sleek stainless steel indoor water fountains, which provide a brilliant metallic hue in contrast to teak’s thick red and black tones. Mirror faces are also very effective when paired with dark furniture. If you’d rather have an outdoor wall fountain that seems more natural, consider investing in one with a dark-colored slate face, as this will accentuate the natural, deep tones of the furniture.

With time, patience, and a little bit of creativity, you will surely find the perfect outdoor fountains and outdoor patio furniture for your backyard.

Enhance the nighttime curb appeal of your home—and add a measure of safety and security—with low-voltage landscape lighting. These exterior-grade fixtures are typically placed along walkways and driveways, but they’re also ideal for illuminating steps, trees, stonewalls, fences and other prominent landscape features. And because the system operates on only 12 volts of electricity, it’s completely safe for do-it-yourself installation.

At the stately 1930s-something home shown here, we installed 12 Intermatic fixtures in three different areas. Alongside the walkway leading to the entryway are six decorative aluminum fixtures that have a curved shepard’s hook profile.

Two 20-watt wall-wash fixtures are used to illuminate the white-painted lattice fence on either side of the walkway. At the base of each of the four evergreen shrubs growing against the house is a 20-watt shrub uplight. The 12 fixtures are connected with 12-gauge cable and powered by a 300-watt transformer.
Low-voltage landscape lighting is a simple improvement that can make a huge difference in how your home looks after dusk and in its safety and security as well. Installed along walkways, steps, and driveways, or pointing up at trees, walls, and fences, the typical low-voltage lighting system requires just three components: a transformer, low-voltage electrical cable, and the fixtures. You don’t have to be comfortable with wiring—or even have ever done any—to install this type of system.

The transformer steps down the 120-volt house current to just 12 volts. It must be plugged into a GFCI-protected outdoor electrical outlet fitted with a “while-in-use” cover, and oversize plastic box that closes over the power cord. The transformer needs to have enough capacity to support the cumulative wattage of the lights in the system. Between fixtures, the cable is buried in a shallow trench. As long as you have a nearby outlet, you’ll be able to give your home and yard a welcoming glow when the sun goes down.

1. Lay out the components

Set the pathway light fixtures on the ground where they’ll be installed — usually about 8 to 10 feet apart.

Lay the low-voltage cable along the concrete walkway, following the line of light fixtures. Use 14-gauge cable for lighting systems that total 200 watts or less and 12-gauge cable for systems that are more than 200 watts.

When you come to an obstacle, such as a fence or shrub, string the cable under or around it.

Tip: Put first fixture at least 10 feet from the transformer.

2. Turn over the sod

Move the light fixtures out of the way.

Take a flat-blade shovel and slide it underneath the top layer of grass, about 12 inches in from the edge of the walk. Then lift up on the handle to separate the grass from the soil, and fold over this scalped portion of sod. Continue in this manner all along the walkway.

Use the corner of the shovel’s blade to scratch a 3-inch-deep trench in the soil where the wire will go.

Tip: If necessary, set the light fixtures on top of the folded sod to prevent it from flopping back down.

3. Bury the electrical cable

Set the low-voltage electrical cable in the trench. Leave a bit of slacked cable at each fixture point for making the connection to the light fixtures.

Smooth the soil over the trench, but leave the cable sticking up out of the soil near each fixture.

Make a slit in the detached sod where the fixture will sit and fold the sod back over the soil, keeping the cable for each fixture above the grass.

Tip: Don’t bury the cable more than 3 inches or you’ll have difficulty connecting the light fixture.

4. Plug in the transformer

Run the cable up to the outdoor electrical outlet. Then use wire strippers to cut the cable and strip off ½ inch of the rubber insulation.

Slide the stripped wires under the two terminal screws on the bottom of the transformer. Tighten the screws all the way to hold the cable securely in place.

Drive a wood stake into the ground next to the outlet. Then screw the transformer to the stake. (It can also be mounted directly to the wall of the house.)

Lift up the “while-in-use” cover on the outlet and plug in the transformer.

5. Prepare holes for the fixtures

Set all the light fixtures back into position, checking to make sure they’re equally spaced.

Position the first fixture as close to the edge of the walkway as possible without any part of it hanging over. (If the fixture extends into the walkway, people will constantly be bumping into it.)

Make a hole in the ground for the fixture’s stake with a large screwdriver or long steel punch. Never use a hammer to drive the fixture into the ground.

Tip: Don’t place a light within 10 feet of a pool, spa, or fountain.

6. Make the electrical connections

Slip the two connector halves hanging from the bottom of the light fixture over the cable that’s protruding from the sod and pinch them together until you hear a click. This allows the sharp prongs inside the connectors to pierce the cable and make contact with the wires inside.

Since the transformer is plugged in, the fixture should light up, confirming the connection is good. If it doesn’t, unsnap and resnap the connector, or check the bulb.

Tip: If none of the bulbs lights up, you may have a faulty transformer or outdoor electrical outlet.

7. Install the light fixtures

Insert the light fixture into its metal ground stake.

Using both hands, push the fixture and its stake into the ground until the top of the stake is flush with the ground. Eyeball the fixture to make sure it’s not tilted to one side.

Tuck the cable and connector under the sod and stuff them into the soil, about 2 inches deep.

Continue installing the remaining fixtures in the same manner.

8. Replace the sod

Once all the light fixtures are installed and working properly, smooth out the sod around the fixtures.

If necessary, cut the sod around the light fixtures with the shovel.

Firmly press down on the sod, then use a garden hose to soak the area with water.

Tip: In regular use, promptly replace a burned-out bulb or it will shorten the life of the other bulbs.

The December solstice occurs when the sun reaches its most southerly declination of -23.5 degrees. In other words, it is when the North Pole is tilted 23.5 degrees away from the sun. Depending on the Gregorian calendar, the December solstice occurs annually on a day between December 20 and December 23. On this date, all places above a latitude of 66.5 degrees north are now in darkness, while locations below a latitude of 66.5 degrees south receive 24 hours of daylight.

The sun is directly overhead on the Tropic of Capricorn in the southern hemisphere during the December solstice. It also marks the longest day of the year in terms of daylight hours for those living south of the Tropic of Capricorn. Those living or travelling south from the Antarctic Circle towards the South Pole will see the midnight sun during this time of the year.

On the contrary, for an observer in the northern hemisphere, the December solstice marks the day of the year with the least hours of daylight for those living north of the Tropic of Cancer. Those living or traveling north of the Arctic Circle towards the North Pole will not be able to see the sun during this time of the year.

The December solstice in the calendar
December 20 and December 23 solstices occur less frequently than December 21 or December 22 solstices in the Gregorian calendar. The last December 23 solstice occurred in 1903 and will not occur again until the year 2303. A December 20 solstice has occurred very rarely, with the next one occurring in the year 2080.

As with the June solstice, the December solstice’s varying dates are mainly due to the calendar system. The Gregorian calendar, which is used in most western countries, has 365 days in a year and 366 days in a leap year. However, the tropical year, which is the length of time the sun takes to return to the same position in the seasons cycle (as seen from earth), is different to the calendar year. The tropical year is approximately 365.242199 days but varies from year to year because of the influence of other planets. The exact orbital and daily rotational motion of the earth, such as the “wobble” in the earth’s axis (precession), also contributes to the changing solstice dates.

Over the course of history, many different schemes have been devised to determine the start of the year. Some are astronomical, beginning at the September or March equinox, or at the June or December solstice. Solstices are more readily observable either by observing when the midday shadow of a gnomon is longest (winter solstice in the northern hemisphere) or shortest (summer solstice in the northern hemisphere). The solstices can also be observed by noting the point of time when the sun rises or sets as far south as it does during the course of the year (winter in the northern hemisphere) or maximally north (summer in the northern hemisphere).

December solstice in relation to seasons
It is important to note that earth does not move at a constant speed in its elliptical orbit. Therefore the seasons are not of equal length: the times taken for the sun to move from the vernal equinox to the summer solstice, to the autumnal equinox, to the winter solstice, and back to the vernal equinox are roughly 92.8, 93.6, 89.8 and 89.0 days respectively. The consolation in the northern hemisphere is that spring and summer last longer than autumn and winter (when the December solstice occurs).

The relative position of the earth’s axis to the sun changes during the cycle of seasons. This phenomenon is the reason why the sun’s height above the horizon changes throughout the year. It is also responsible for the seasons through controlling the intensity and duration of sunlight received at various locations around the planet.

To enhance the look of a home during the Christmas season, many people choose to invest in Christmas yard decorations. However, these can get expensive and elaborate, so choose simple and inexpensive decorations that bring out the best of the holiday without costing too much or becoming too overwhelming.

Use Lights. Strings of lights are an inexpensive and simple way to make your yard come alive for the holidays. Choose features of your home and yard that stand out, and adorn them with lights, such as the big picture window, the columned porch, the nicely shaped tree in the corner or the clean lines of the roof and gables. When you draw attention to the best features of the yard with strings of lights, you create a simple yet lovely holiday look.

Red Bows. Purchase red velvet all-weather bows from a dollar or discount store, and use them to highlight your yard. Place one on the mailbox post, on every window of the house or spaced out along the railing of the porch with green garland swags in between. Other simple dollar-store decorations include plastic wreaths or gold ribbon.

Door Décor. Allow the door to your home to be the focal point by accenting it with a festive wreath. Make your own with Christmas tree cuttings, or get a wreath that can be embellished with ribbon, silk flowers, ornaments, pine cones or other holiday décor. Another inexpensive way to decorate the door is to make it look like a giant present by covering it with a colorful plastic tablecloth and affixing a large weatherproof bow to the front. Don’t forget to add a name tag on the “present.”

Sidewalks and Driveways. Use luminaries to highlight a sidewalk or driveway. Whether you choose to illuminate empty milk cartons with light bulbs or place votive candles in paper bags filled with sand, luminaries provide a softer lighting option than bright flashing lights.

Stick to a Theme. To keep Christmas yard decorations simple, plan on minimizing the big yard decorations, such as inflatable characters or illuminated deer. Choose a scene, such as “Santa’s sleigh” or “Winter Forest,” and pick commercial yard decorations that fulfill the theme. It looks cluttered to mix various Christmas themes in a yard, so stick to one theme accented with lights, and your yard will be festive.

Here’s a rundown of the dangers:

Many units easily tip over, spilling the hot oil.
If the cooking pot is overfilled with oil, the oil may spill out of the unit when the turkey is placed into the cooking pot. Oil may hit the burner/flames causing a fire to engulf the entire unit.
Partially frozen turkeys placed into the fryer can cause a spillover effect. This too, may result in an extensive fire.
With no thermostat controls, the units also have the potential to overheat the oil to the point of combustion.
The sides of the cooking pot, lid and pot handles get dangerously hot, posing severe burn hazards.

If already own a propane fryer, be sure to follow these safety tips from UL:
Turkey fryers should always be used outdoors a safe distance from buildings and any other material that can burn.
Never use a turkey fryer on a wooden deck or in a garage.
Make sure the fryer is used on a flat surface to reduce accidental tipping.
Never leave the fryer unattended. Most units do not have thermostat controls. If you don’t watch the fryer carefully, the oil will continue to heat until it catches fire.
Never let children or pets near the fryer — even after you’ve turned it off. The oil inside the cooking pot can remain dangerously hot for hours after use.
To avoid oil spillover, do not overfill the fryer.
Use well-insulated potholders or oven mitts when touching pot or lid handles. If possible, wear safety goggles to protect your eyes from oil splatter.
Make sure the turkey is completely thawed and be careful with marinades. Oil and water don’t mix, and water causes oil to spill over, which could cause a fire or even an explosion (the National Turkey Federation recommends refrigerator thawing and to allow approximately 24 hours for every five pounds of bird thawed in the refrigerator).
Keep an all-purpose fire extinguisher nearby. Never use water to extinguish a grease fire. Remember to use your best judgment when attempting to fight a fire. If the fire is manageable, use an all-purpose fire extinguisher. If the fire increases, immediately call 911 for help.

From your friends at www.lawnchair.com

Pick Up a Rake and Make Those Dead Leaves Covering Your Lawn Disappear. Leaves left on your lawn will lock out the light and air. A thick layer of leaves can actually smother your lawn.
Give Your Lawn a Good Last Mow. Once your grass becomes dormant, you can lower your cutting height to one inch for warm-season grasses and two inches for cool-season grasses. Leaving your lawn longer than two inches may trap moisture, setting the stage for diseases to develop in the spring.
For Your Final Mowing of the Season, It’s Okay to Leave a Little Mulch. Leave clippings and leaves on your lawn; not a blanket, just a sprinkling. Mulch can return nitrogen back into the soil over the winter and spring.
Give Your Lawn Some Breathing Room. Your lawn may have become impacted over the summer with heavy use. This can restrict movement of air and water, and any lawn fertilizer you apply won’t be able to penetrate the soil if it’s compacted. Aerating your lawn in late fall will give it a chance to breathe. You can rent a good aerating tool for about $100.00, or you can pay a lawn maintenance service to do it for you for about the same price, without the hard work (still hard work, but for someone else).
If You Still Have Sparse Patches by Winter, Seed Bare Areas. Cooler weather will allow the seeds to germinate without weeds encroaching. Aeration will improve germination. Your lawn should fill in before the ground freezes.
Your Lawn Has Had a Summer and Fall to Accumulate Dead Grass, Roots, and Other Debris Known As Thatch. This stuff usually accumulates between the blades and sod, and can keep air and water from reaching the soil. There are good dethatching tools available for this task, or you can have a lawn maintenance service do this for you, as well.
To Strengthen Your Lawn and Prepare it for its Debut in Spring, Apply a Sustained-Release Nitrogen Lawn Fertilizer by Mid-to-late November. Just because your lawn is asleep, doesn’t mean it should be starved. With cooler soil, nutrients break down slower. You want to use a sustained-release product to be sure your lawn gets the nitrogen it needs as well as the phosphorous, potassium, and partially blended sulfate required for quicker green-up in the spring. There is a Scotts fertilizer made especially for winterizing. Use a fertilizer spreader for even results.
Give Your Lawn One Last Good Dose of Water. This will help activate the lawn fertilizer.
Drain Your Sprinkler Lines and Close Down Your System. This will avoid the heartache of a frozen, and therefore broken, water pipe. In the event of a dry winter, use your garden hose to give a light sprinkling to your lawn every three weeks or so, just enough to keep it moist.
While Your Lawn Becomes Dormant, Weeds Still Have a Funny Way of Cropping Up. If this is a problem, apply a broadleaf weed control product to your lawn. Grab weeds as they crop up whenever possible throughout the winter.

Follow these lawn maintenance tips now, so that when your lawn turns green in the spring, your neighbors will be turning green, too – green with envy, that is.

Contrary to popular opinion, fall is the best time of the year for lawn care. Fertilization, weed and thatch control, establishment of new lawns, and renovation of poor quality lawns should be done over the next few weeks.

The best time of the year to fertilize your lawn is early fall. Northern Illinois lawns are usually a combination of Kentucky bluegrass and perennial ryegrass. These cool season grasses grow rapidly in spring and fall. If you only fertilize once a year, the best time to do it is around Labor Day. For a moderate quality lawn, apply fertilizer May Day and Labor Day. High quality lawns should be fertilized May Day, Labor Day and Halloween. Very high quality lawns that are watered all summer may also be fertilized around Father’s Day.

Top quality lawn fertilizers contain slow-release or controlled-release nitrogen. Look on the label for slow-release forms such as ureaform, sulfur-coated urea, milorganite, and IBDU. These forms stimulate uniform growth over a period of time and are less likely to burn the grass. However, do not expect the quick green up caused by fast-release forms. Slow-release formulations are more costly but worth the price for the improved health of your lawn.

In early fall use a regular lawn fertilizer with N-P-K ratios of 3:1:2 or 4:1:2. For example, a bag may list 21-7-14 or 32-8-16. Amounts don’t need to be exact but should be similar to the suggested ratios. Hold off on applying “winterizer” fertilizers until late October or early November.

Kentucky bluegrass and perennial ryegrass lawns in sun should receive 1 to 4 pounds per 1000 square feet of actual nitrogen every year. A rate of 1 pound of nitrogen per 1000 square feet is recommended for each fertilizer application. Lawns and other plants in shade grow slower and don’t need as much nitrogen as plants in full sun. Therefore, shady lawns should be fertilized at half the recommended rate.

A little math will show you how much fertilizer you need to put on the lawn to get 1 pound per 1000 square feet. Divide 1 by the first number in decimal form (percent of nitrogen) on the fertilizer bag. Multiply that by the square footage of your lawn, then divide by 1000. The answer will give you the total pounds of fertilizer you need to apply to the lawn.

Here’s an example: you have 15-5-10 fertilizer and a 7000 square foot lawn. One divided by 0.15 equals 6.7. Multiply 6.7 by 7000 for 46,900. Then divide by 1000 for the answer of 46.9 or 47 pounds. So you would need to put 47 pounds of 15-5-10 spread over the entire lawn to properly fertilize it.

September and October are the best months to control perennial broadleaf weeds like dandelions and clover. In autumn the weeds prepare for winter by pulling nutrients and starches from their leaves into their roots. By doing this, they also draw herbicides into their root systems, thus more effectively killing the weed. Actively growing grass will quickly fill in the bare spots created after the weeds die.

Thatch is a build-up of living and dead grass roots and stems between the soil and green grass blades. The amount of thatch in the lawn may be checked by cutting three to four inches down into the grass with a shovel and lifting up a piece of sod. Thatch looks like a thick tangle of dark brown roots above the soil level. If thatch is greater than 1/2 inch, the lawn should be core aerated or dethatched in fall or spring. In lawns with a thatch layer over 3/4 inch thick you should aerate then topdress with a thin layer (1/8 to 1/4 inch) of soil or compost. Topdressing adds microorganisms that help breakdown thatch.

The ideal time for planting grass seed to either establish a new lawn or renovate a poor quality one is the middle of August to the middle of September. During September grasses grow rapidly in the cool fall weather and have less competition from germinating weeds.

Whether seeding or sodding, the key to long term lawn quality is proper soil preparation. Soil should be tilled six inches deep. Incorporate organic matter, such as compost or peat, when tilling. If soil test results indicate a soil pH problem, sulfur or lime should be added at this time. After tilling smooth with a rake and apply starter fertilizer.

Top quality grass seed will germinate better and be more disease resistant over time. Newly seeded lawns must have adequate moisture for seed germination and seedling growth. The seedbed and later seedlings must be kept moist for six weeks.

Although many people consider fall a time to relax and watch football on television, don’t pick up the remote until the lawn care is done. Next year’s lawn will be the better for it.

The main purpose in winterizing your inground swimming pool is to protect it from damage due to freezing water. Another is to keep it as clean as possible for the next season. Closing your swim pool properly can save you a lot of work when it comes time to open the swimming pool for the summer.
•The first step in the winterization procedure is to make sure your water chemistry is balanced. You should make sure that your pH, Total Alkalinity, and Calcium Hardness are all balanced. By balancing your water chemistry you are protecting the surface of the pool from staining and etching.
•Adding a winterizing chemical kit to your water will help keep it blue and clear for the next season. Be sure to follow the manufacturer’s instructions for the kit.
•Do not use a floater that contains a strong oxidizer (chlorine or bromine) as the floater will stick against the wall and stain and/or bleach your wall, especially a vinyl liner. For the same reasons DO NOT throw chlorine or bromine tablets into the pool. They will sink to the bottom and damage your pool’s surface.
•When water freezes, it expands. This can cause great damage to your pool, pool plumbing, and its filter system. If you are closing up your pool for the winter, you should always take precautions to protect from freeze damage no matter where you live. You can never be sure that it will not drop below freezing, even in the Sun Belt.
•The next step is to lower the water below the mouth of your skimmer(s). This will get the water out of the throat of the skimmer which can be easily damaged if water were to freeze there.
•Another option for vinyl liner pools is to put an Aquador over the mouth of the skimmer. This is a plastic dam which holds out the water from the skimmer, allowing you to leave the water level up for the winter. This will help in supporting your cover and also help keep the liner from “floating” if the winter is your rainy season. Sorry, they have not invented a similar device for concrete pools yet.
•Blow out the water from your plumbing lines. You can do this using a shop vac. Use the discharge of the shop vac to blow water out of each line from the filter system. As the water is purged from each line, you will need to put a plug in the lines at the pool end. Some fittings will allow for a threaded plug, which is best. Be sure to use a plug with a rubber gasket or “O” ring to make a seal, or the water may fill the line back up. If your fittings are not threaded, then use a rubber freeze plug.
•In the skimmer(s) you should use a Gizzmo to seal the line. This device is a hollow tube which will collapse if water should get into the skimmer and freeze. Be sure to put Teflon tape on the threads of the Gizzmo to make a seal and to ease removal in the spring. It is usually impractical to put a plug in the main drain if you have one, but its extreme depth will normally protect it from freezing.
•You should cover your pool to keep out the debris. The type of cover you use will depend upon several factors.
•The final step? You must drain all the water from your filter equipment.
•The filter should have a plug at the bottom that will allow it to drain.
•Be sure to open the air relief valve on top if you have one.
•Put the multiport valve in the closed or “winterize” position and remove the pressure gauge.
•Drain the pump. There may be two plugs to remove here.
•After draining the pump, turn it on for a brief second to get the water out of the veins of the impeller. Do not run the pump more than a second or two because you can burn out the seal very quickly.
•You should have let the chemicals (chlorine/bromine tablets) run out of your feeder so that no chemicals are left in it. Leaving chemicals in your feeder over the winter can cause damage to it and other equipment.
•You will now be able to drain your chemical feeder and automatic cleaner pump, heater, and any other filter equipment that has water in it.
•If you put all the plugs that you have removed into the pump strainer basket, they will be easily found in the spring.
•It is a good idea to take the pressure gauge inside for the winter because water collects in its tube which can freeze and cause breakage.
•Do not put the plugs back on the equipment. If equipment should get water in it, the plugs will prevent proper drainage.