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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Wingham Advance-Times, 1985-12-04, Page 20Page 6A—Crossroads—Dec. 4, 1985 At wit's end by Erm© Bombeck Parents feel their, job of child -raising is never done until they can domesticate their, children. Even when children move away from home, parents refuse to let them off the um- bilical leash until they have a sweeper in their closet, an air purifier in their bath- room, and a smoke alarm in their kitchen. Hey man, that's our job! Don't ask me why, but it has always been so. Parents get all bent out of shape when kids let their dishes dry m the drainer, so the sooner they start putting them in the cupboards before a visit, the sooner parents lighten up on them. You have to know that every mother, since the be- ginning of time, has given her apartment -dwelling son or daughter a cookbook. It's always one of those primero- basic-step-by-step-begin- n i n g -u no-s.i mple-easy-intro- . ductory volumes that has everything but training • wheels on it. It doesn't mat- i ter. It will never replace the phone number penciled on the wall over the phone for "Palermo's Pizza." w We. also feel obliged to s share with our children 80 years of experience and re- ]u search on how to get their laundry to sparkle. This is g not a priority among young, v people. They don't have the m patience for sparkling. Wet th is good enough. I once lectur- ed one of my kids for two th hours on bleach. You'd have o thought I was giving him in- th structions on how to fuel a nuclear, reactor. He was Go .against it and said he didn't of 1 want . to bring his children for into a world with bleach. sink The reason this is on mind is that every Christm we listen to their list of d needs and question the They are desperate for telephone -answering m chine, tape deck for the c hair dryer, ski sweater, c insurance, portable audio jogging, records, VCR, a membership in a health clu "I thought this might ha been the year he requeste an ironing board," I said. "Well, I don't care," sai my husband. "He needs toolbox and that's what he' going to get. How can som one go through adult lif without a toolbox?" "I bet he won't use it," said. "Remember last yea my. By Gene Gary as Q. I am interested in find - ire ing out how to remove stains m. on marble and what I can use a for polish. Thank you for the a_ information. ar, A. As hard as marble is, it ar can show stains even from a for glass that only leaves a nd moisture ring. These usually b. can be buffed off with polish- ve ing powder specifically d designed for marble. The marble should then be treat - d ed with a non -yellowing wax. a This coat of wax gives the s only protection marble needs e- unless it gets etch marks e that come from any foods containing a bit of acid such I as fruit juices, vinegar and r so on. you bought him a jack for his car and he stored it under his bed because he didn't have room for it in the trunk?" "That's no worse than what you bought him." "A crock pot is a necessity for anyone who works," I said. "He stored his unpaid bills n it," said my husband. I don't know how long it takes other parents to do- mesticate their children, but e're not doing too well. One f them asked to borrow a harp knife the other night. When I asked why, he said s door was sticking. I reminded him it was also ood for cutting up egetables. He thought a inute and said, "I never ought about that." Someday, I'd like to see em go through an arch of range blossoms and hear esound of little feet. The reality is McDonald's Iden Arches and the sound ittle feet are those headed little traps under the you ter Sometimes this polishing powder (tin oxide) removes such stains, but sometimes a poultice treatment is needed. This sounds difficult, but isn't beyond the abilit most householders. A p ice is made of white blo paper such as white napkins or white clean ti sue• soaked in an propriate solution (solu varies according to typ stain). For organic stains cau by tea, coffee or lea colors from paper or texti use hydrogen peroxide household ammonia. For stains caused by but milk; cream, salad oil, use amyl acetate or aceto For rust stains use comm cial iron rust remover. Place the poultice direc entire floor or will it be necessary to d the entire surface first? will appreci- ate any advice you can give me. A. For lasting repair, the present finish will have to be removed. This can be done by sanding with a coarse sandpaper using an electric sander, or you can have it sandblasted. Following complete removal of the existing paint, you should apply an acrylic -polymer concrete sealer (sold at most paint stores). This will soak into the concrete and set, binding the surface together. If you like, you can then put on an acrylic latex floor paint over the cured sealer. Do not use an epoxy floor paint. Though tougher than latex paint, it will not adhere well to the sealed surface. Prior to repairing the floor Y of surface, be sure to check the oult- drainage around your tting foundation. Water should aper dram away from the founda- sing tion. Concrete is porous and ap- the flaking paint can be tion caused by moisture working e of up from underneath. This problem will 'have to be sed corrected to achieve any p ched lasting results with paint ap- T les, plications. or Q. Would a you know of a w oil way to neutralize the ever- w ter, .lasting odor of cat urine? g etc., When my cat was younger he ne. would pick out my leather m er- barrel chairs to relieve him- w self. He's stopped, but the s tlY smell won't go away. I've nd tried baking soda and left -it, or and poured liquid Ajax, but m ith nothing works. s' as A. Once an offensive odor 48 penetrates furniture, it is br is often there to stay,lu y, " titularly if it has par- wh penetrated br ess the stuffing or wood of the is piece. Depending on the con- an ve struction of the chair, it ye ec- , might be possible to remove • Ye the leather seat and have the aci existing stuffing replaced. the You may be able to save the ab leather by airing it out and ano washing it thoroughly. Use a and special leather -cleaning nat preparation and or saddle ' ' brie soap. Reupholster the seat w with the cleaned leather /and . • ope new stuffing. no If you are reluctant to go to' pow this effort or construction of sist the chair prohibits this, you you can try to mask the odor with A. a more acceptable fra-due grance.• Place a generous of t ' amount of red cedar shay- ` acid ings (available at a local two millwork company) into an rinse old nylon stocking. If Tack this to the underside of the leather seat. Hopefully the cedar smell will over- power the unpleasant odor you are now experiencing. Q. Our asphalt driveway is developing many cracks. Is there any way to repair this without having to put down another topping of asphalt? A. A black -top dressing is available in well -stocked masonry supply stores. The dressing is applied like paint, with a large brush or broom over the surface. It does an excellent job of fill- ing cracks. I recommend doing this before winter; ice forming underneath from rain or melting snow running down through cracks can cause serious damage. Q. Is there any way to re- move the backing from a mirror so that it could be used as a window glass? —P. L. A. The silvering on d mir- ror is usually protected against oxidation by a coat- ing of paint. In order to remove the sil- vering, the paint will first have to be taken off with a repared paint remover. Then cover the silvering with layer of salt and misten ith a mixture of one part ater and three parts vine_ ar. Allow the mixture to re- ain for several hours. Then ipe off the silvering and alt solution with soft cloths. Q. We had a bricklayer put a front walk (over existing de -walk) and a planter box. He used a dark brown ick which we thought was st beautiful. It turned ite within days and the icklayer said it was nor - al, that we whould wait d in about June of this ar treat it with a muriatic d bath and then seal it. his was done. We were n told to wait again for out a month and give ther muriatic acid bath this would give us the ural beauty of the brown k. e proceeded to do this ration in July and there is improvement. The dery white look still per - s on top of the bricks. Can help? —'R. M. The problem may be to improperapplication he muriatic acid. The should remain about or three minutes. Then thoroughly. you still have problems, over the stained area a cover with a piece of glass plastic weighted down w something heavy such books. Let it remain up to hours. When the marble clean and thoroughly dr can apply a colorl razzo sealer (two coa are recommended) to gi the marble farther prof tion. Wax after the terrazzo sealer has dried, with a water wax. Q. Several years ago I painted my garage floor with a sealer recommended by a reputable 'paint company and a paint they' said was specifically. for . a garage floor. Since then in many places — about 40 per cent of the area — the paint has flaked off leaving a very un- sightly mess. Because of health I will be unable to make the repairs myself. Do you advise that I ask a painter to repaint the places where the original coat flaked off, repaint the Mai n stream Canada Auditor, auditees and oddities By Tony Carlson Just as an army m on its stomach, 'so d society move ahead brains. We live in a world in • success is becoming i cably linked to the inf tion we can pack in little gray cells. Havi cess to good informat through public opinion sophisicated market veys, or whatever =- i having a key to the C Opportunity. Information, in short, is power. That is what is so distur- bing about the auditor -gen- eral's annual report to Parliament. This yearly ritual of drag- ging the taxpayer . through the bloodbath of federal spending run amok is getting familiar now. The .numbers change and the boondoggles shift, but by and large we get what we expect ; enough hor- ror stories to make Hallo- we'en hobgoblins look like Girl Scouts. This year is no exception: Auditor -General;_ -K n-neth: Dye unearthed a $770,000 bill for providing yacht club memberships for External Affairs staff in the well- known hardship post of Hong Kong, Transport officials were scored for losing $678- ' I' arches These examples say more our atlout the state of affairs in oesour capital than unjustified an itsyacht club memberships no matter how distasteful those which may be. nextri What they say is that our orma- elected Parliamentis losing to our the battle to appointed ng ac- bureaucrats. Too often, MPs ion — are not getting the right in - polls,' , formation at the right time in sur- order to exercise their s like power: ity of . "Without information," Dye wrote, "MPs can scarcely 'act at all." Those are chilling words in a country where we cherish our political rights, especially the belief that our . vote counts for something in the debate that shapes our nation. ) Bureaucracies have ways of perpetuating themselves and expanding their power. Ironically, their primary tool is the same as that of their nominal masters, the politi- cians. That tool is infprma- tion. Who will reign supreme in the fight over that tool re- -mairis -to kie seen, but clearly the country would be better served with elected representatives gaining the upper hand. There is something very wrong with a system that decision to be made in the murky depths of government by a nameless bureaucrat who, unlike his political master, is not accountable to you and me. airpor ast year. A lack of good management in the weather service failed to control costs well enough. The list is, as usual, long and depressing. But there are several items which cause real concern over who's running the country. A. prime example is the fact that the government gave Dome Petroleum a $1 - billion tax break three months before it asked Parliament to change the law to accommodate the move, Also of interest: the fact that Ottawa routinely covers deficits-of--eert:ain-firmsin-.. which it has a share —in one case to the tune df $20 -million since 1978— without inform- ing MPs, the people we elect to control the purse strings. Dye also questioned the absence of any strict guid- lines for handing out grants to industry so that political bias, not- economic good sense, too often is the decis- ive factor in who gets the goodies. • try the following. Make a solution of household am- monia, one part ammonia in three parts water, then scrub the stone with a liberal quan- tity of this. Rinse well with clear water. The ammonia solution should remain on the stone for about five minutes before rinsing. St Clair the paint and paper After thoroughly cleaning and rinsing, you could apply a good masonry sealer to protect the coloring of the natural brick. INTERIOR PAINT LATEX AND OIL 40% OFF NOW FROM $11 95 4 IN -STOCK WALLPAPER FR®M $2.99 SINGLE ROLL BUY ONLY WHAT YOU NEED WE CRIT SINGLE ROLLS AND GLADLY ACCEPT RETURNS LARGEST SELECTION IN KW TWO WATERLOO LOCATIONS -- Clair the paint and paper people WATERLOO TOWN SOUARE Waterloo 886-3791 Mon. -Wed. — 9:30 to 5:30 Thurs.-Fri. — 9:30 to 9:00 Sat. — 9:30 to 5:30 CONESTOGA MALL Waterloo 886-2789 Mon. -Fri.), 9:30-9:30 Sat. - 9:30 to 6:00 Trim a lampshade with a garland of shiny green holly. Fill. a bowl with more holly, garnish with artificial, cherries. • • For Christmas gift ideas. come to J. J. Hammer's CHRISTMAS. 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