Pileated Woodpecker

Update on the "red-headed woodpecker" I had in my yard the other day. It was a Pileated Woodpecker. According to the bird book I purchased, this bird is rare to uncommon in Michigan.
I am glad that I ran out of the house (half-naked -- good thing I have a private yard) to photograph it.

I have never been much of a bird watcher until I moved out to the "country" where I have nearly 3 acres for wildlife to meander about. I love it out here as there is lots to look at all year long. I grew up in the Metro Detroit area yet am enjoying my new "country" life.

Red-Headed Woodpecker

Today, as I was getting dressed, I saw a huge woodpecker fly into my yard. Being the photo geek that I am, I decided to go shoot it. The bird was the size of a crow! (not one of those wimpy sparrow-sized woodpeckers).

I got a halfway decent shot of it. He totally reminds me of "Woody the Woodpecker".

Thank you for smoking

While I am not a smoker myself, this movie seemed as though it would be quite interesting. My friend Greg and I went to see it tonight. I enjoyed it a ton. The main character - a tobacco lobbyist - was hated by the masses. However, he was very good at winning an argument. He was the ultimate spin artist and could convince you of anything. I liked how his mind worked and I am amazed by people like that; someone that can convince you of anything. Someone that never felt that what they were doing was wrong.

I say, Go see it!

Yellows are in bloom

The Daffodils and the Forsythia are in full bloom this week and are quite beautiful. I love the vibrant yellows against the blue sky or green, green grass.

Ceramic Tile replaces Vinyl

After the long and grueling task of ripping out the vinyl and removing the adhesive, the new light and bright ceramic tile has been installed. It is a sight for sore eyes and lungs.
the old and ugly vinyl is below...

vinyl off-gas > asbestos health risk

In an effort to get my studio space in shape, I decided it was time to get rid of the vinyl flooring in the entry way. It had a terrible off-gas odor and since it was 30+ years old, it was time to go. Since the flooring was on the concrete foundation, it had been glued down very well and had to be heated and then scraped to get it up off the flooring. What a pain. My friend Greg joked with me about asbestos and that was all I needed to go surfing on the internet. Unfortunately, I was unable to find a clear answer as to the asbestos content. Sites said that manufacturers of vinyl and other building products "MAY" have been using asbestos until the mid 80's. OK, that is a "May" not a for sure, right? I dug thru my pieces of vinyl and found one that said Congoleum so I went to their website to see if anything was posted like: Vinyl created/installed before "X" date had asbestos or didn't have asbestos. Ha! Wrong. Why would they post that? Fortunately, I did find a customer service form that I could send them a question with. I gave them the details and I got the following info:

Congoleum was using asbestos in their vinyl flooring until 1985. It did not pose a health risk unless I scraped, and dry swept the product. The dust is damaging to the lungs as it gets trapped in the lungs. Smokers are at a greater risk of having issues, but only a trained professional should remove it. LOVELY!!

I did not find this out until it was already too late. I had done everything wrong. So, I put myself at risk without even knowing it.

My questions are as follows:
Why would anyone install vinyl when ceramic costs about the same and looks better? (and no off-gas odors)
Why was the manufacturer still producing the vinyl with asbestos until 1985?
Why aren't there postings on Congoleum (and other manufacturers) website(s) that state: ALL products manufactured before 1985 contained asbestos. Do not scrape, peel, dry sweep, etc. Contact the following to have it properly removed and disposed of?

How great is my risk? How many other people are ripping it out without knowing the consequences? I have to believe I am not the only one who ripped out vinyl with asbestos.

I know that we are all going to die, we just don't know how, when or why. I just don't want to have major lung issues that cause breathing and life to be a bigger challenge than it needs to be.

Butterflies in Bloom

The butterflies are in Bloom at Meijer gardens. While I was not expecting it to be packed this afternoon, it was. Lots of kids off school. Lots of wanna be photographers with their cell phones trying to capture the beauty of the butterflies in this exhibit. There were also a lot of higher end cameras there. Mostly Canon products, and one Nikon in the crowd. Being the photo geek that I am, I am always checking out the other guys' cameras. I was the only woman with such a camera. Most of the women were shooting with cell phones or point and shoot cameras wondering why they could not get a good shot. Point and shoot cameras will not cut it in this type of a situation.

I very much enjoyed the display of butterflies and even had a couple of them land on me. The place was packed with people and kids of all ages. I think a good time was had by all.