A downstate Maine real estate broker shared this with me.

     "A friend of mine told me a story about how when he was a kid he was in the hospital and near dying.  His Italian/African grandmother came to the hospital and told a family member to go buy her a large onion and a new pair of white cotton socks.  She sliced the onion open then put a slice on the bottom of each of his feet & put the white cotton socks on him.  In the morning when he awoke they removed the socks.  The slices of onion were black and his fever was gone.  The following story that someone sent to me might have some truth in it. We are going to try this winter.        

     "In 1919 when the flu killed 40 million people there was this Doctor that visited the many  farmers to see if he could help them combat the flu. Many of the farmers and their family had contracted it and  many died.  The doctor came upon this one farmer and to his surprise,  everyone was very healthy. When the doctor asked what  the farmer was doing that was different the wife replied  that she had placed an unpeeled onion in a dish in the rooms  of the home, (probably only two rooms back then). The doctor couldn't believe it and asked if he could have one of  the onions and place it under the microscope.  She gave  him one and when he did this, he did find the flu virus in  the onion.  It obviously absorbed the bacteria, therefore, keeping the family healthy."

 
     "Now, I heard this story from my hairdresser in AZ.    She said that several years ago many of her employees were  coming down with the flu and so were many of her  customers.  The next year she placed several bowls with onions around in her shop.  To her surprise, none of  her staff got sick.  It must work..  (And no, she is not in the onion business.)  

The moral of the story is, buy some onions and place them  in bowls around your home.  If you work at a desk, place one or two in your office or under your desk or even  on top somewhere.

  Try it and see what happens. We did it last year and we never got the flu. If this helps you and your loved ones from getting sick,  all the better.  If you do get the flu, it just might  be a mild case.  Whatever, what have you to lose?  Just a few bucks on  onions!!!!!! !!!!!!!!  

     "Now there is a P. S... to this for I sent it to a friend in Oregon who regularly contributes material to me on health issues.  She replied with this most interesting experience about onions: 
Weldon, thanks for the reminder.  I don't know about the farmers story...but, I do know that I contacted pneumonia and needless to say I was very ill...I came across an article that said to cut both ends off an onion put one end on a fork and then place the forked end into an empty jar....placing the jar next to the sick patient at night. It said the onion would be black in the morning from the germs...sure enough it happened just like that...the onion was a mess and I began to feel better.  Another thing I read in the article was that onions and garlic placed around the room saved many from the black plague years ago. They have powerful antibacterial, antiseptic properties." So, have any onions or stories to share about them?

    

Maine housewives...around the 10 - 2 time slot listening to Bangor Maine Radio...liked to tune in to Z-62.

Tim Comer was the crooner that had the following of this audience segment. I was Z-62 radio news director and did weekend music shifts after college.

     The radio jacket Tim wore was embroidered with the expression "You are never too old to rock and roll?" He was in his early 50's at the time. Tim had goats, lived on a hobby farm with his wife and was trying to be somewhat self sufficient. But his on air Maine radio job was not like a job and he was good at it. In any product or service sale, your advertising has niche audiences but still overall, the larger the audience the better. Unless you are selling brain surgery tools, diamond cutting devices which are a pretty narrow market to tap in to.

     The Bangor Maine radio arbitron ratings kept tract of who was listening each quarter hour. Our station had listeners tuning in for news that had local sound bites of the new makers, not just rip and read AP copy for something happening two hours away down state. It was local marketing, coverage of the community alot like the blogging we do for Southern Aroostook/ Maine.

Tim had a following, played rock and roll and kept the big share of housewives happy.

Who is your audience? What is your target/ Who is listening, reading, watching, following you? If you played only music you liked, you would have a pretty small audience. If you only blogged on a narrow menu of topics, the same applies. Broaden your blog audience by blogging about what they want to read, see, hear around and give them what they want. Identify with the audience you serve and talk one on one to them, not at them or over their heads. What is the purpose of your blogging?

Maine REALTOR Andrew Mooers

    

The kitchen water faucet strainer/ screen was carefully removed like a skilled surgeon attending to every small detail.

A match was lit, rotated around the exposed rim of the faucet.

     Be careful, some are really mobile home plastic and can melt if you whip out a blow torch to over do the sterilization process. Air getting to bacteria...there's where your problems start.

    Like a cancer patient that everyone always says, once they open them up, everything accelerates like wild fire progression of the cancer disease.

     The place has been occupied. Lots of laundry being done. Teenage showers that are the extended version happen here a lot. Maybe coin operated showers like car washes should be installed in showers with kids. Giving them a certain number of weekly "tokens" is the key to water conservation. Anyway, lots of water going thru the system is the point here and nothing stagnant laying in the pipes. You let it run thru the pump cycle in the case of a rural private water well. The sample taken, zipped in quickly to a Maine water testing labratory. And the wait for results. Mr. mailman a few days later brings you an evelope or you have the lap fax the results. And eyeballs scan the paperwork, you see a coloform bacteria count of one, two or the worse that can happen, TNTC. (Too numberous to count). Only had two of those in 30 years of peddling Maine real estate.

      Now what? For starters in the case of a one or two designation, that is not the end of the world. Shock the system per instructions that come with the paperwork giving your the failing grade from the water testing lab.

     Don't put in a 55 gallon drum of bleach thinking if a pint is good, how about really over achieving in the bleach department. The test not two days later but three weeks later will still reek of bleach and you will think you are living inside a laundromat.

    

Hey, how come your hair is that color?

If the rest of the water tests still have a problem, part of the cause may be the stem of the well is not above the ground with a secure clamp or barrier  underneath. The wood covering or whatever is being used to protect the well head has worn out and ground water is getting in to contaminate the water source.

     Put a pvc extension on the well head steel casing that was cut off to avoid northern Maine snow plows from backing into it, and retest for just the bacteria..not the whole shooting match of analysis. Save some money because your nitrites, ph, iron, and all the rest are all in the safe ranges right? If the retest still shows anything more than a big fat "0" for bacteria coloform, consider buying an ultra violet (UV) light that water passes thru and comes out squeaky clean all the time. Many folks with a small number of bacteria that the retests show is all fine and dandy after the extra precautions are taken with shocking the system, still are wary of the water. And always will be. So the UV application takes care of that. I think for under $700 was the number I remember for the last unit a local plumber installed to take care of the problem.

     A chlorinator that is adjustable and makes you nice clean country water taste a little like intown muncipal grade is another option. A drip drip drop is what is added to take care of any bacteria that drifts in or out. The smart route to go is to figure out why the bad test, fix the problems in the trouble shooting one by one and not have to have the quick fix chlorinator or uv lighting option. But with pending Maine real estate closings, and anxious buyers, sellers, bankers and yes, even brokers who buy their groceries from the closing sale happening on time and at all, these remedies are out there to get to that long table in the bank or lawyer's office.

Maine REALTOR Andrew Mooers

    

Listened to a show from out of space radio while traveling in the Maine fog last night on the I-95.

And the show was three song writers who explained some of their so call "hits" did not connect for ten years. Blogging like song writing is something you need to consistently do and as you look back on earlier posts, you see growth. Blogging is a craft like anything. And if you don't feel like you need to do it, the quality of the posts show that. Like work, if you don't feel a strong compulsion to do something..like it is a life dream needing fulfilling, the blog production sliding out the other end of the writing process conveyor will show that. Lack luster, ho hum, plain jane and look alike. The best blog posts are written quickly but almost by themselves. They fall out, pop out. They ooze and need to be written.

      Like the song writer's I listened too, they also offered no real advice for an aspiring song writer that would make any difference. If a song writer has talent and is driven to learn, improve, watch and learn, then they will be successful despite any advice. But if they are not talented, no advice will change that either. Kind of blunt but like real estate sales, not everyone is cut out to be Joe or Jane Broker. Skills, desire and hard work help in any endeavor. But the parting comment from one song writer on the show hosted by country singer Bill Andersen, how do you know you are getting better at song writing? Someone stole one of your song's last week. Like a blogger that has a shanghaied blog post that you stumbled on to that you like, and then realize, hey, that's something I created. If someone stole your blog post, you know you have talent and are getting better at creating them. 

"I must be getting better at blogging...I got one post stolen last week."

Could that be a country song? One of the writers told about being exhausted, seemingly nothing more inside from working dawn to dusk cranking out song after song. And said that some of his best songs flowed like honey, spilled out when he thought nothing more was inside to work with to make a song. These are songs that have to be written. Like blog posts you have to write, that are in your head and heart that are being assembled inside that you bring out in to the light, dust them off and then get reactions to. One of the songs written like that was "Neither one of us wants to be the first to say good bye".

Maine REALTOR Andrew Mooers

    

Those pick of the pack, best of the bunch, cream of the crop bloggers are a dime a dozen.

They are everywhere you look, turn on line. Give me the down to earth, meat and potato blogger. The ones that are not bigger than life, but like an old classmate or someone you feel like you grew up with. No airs, no puffed up chest. And what the average Joe's and Jane's blog about is something I can use, enjoy. I always know more of the same helpful, good wholesome value rich material will be offered up anytime I stop in. No spin. Real, not reality television that is staged, where I feel played with, toyed to the hilt. But like a music artist that when you looked back, you liked them better before they were discovered and hoisted to the top. Touted as a big shot, not a grass root blogger anymore. And like a President or a comedian, actor, their lines written by someone else now. Polished, spun, seo loaded language with other agendas besides sharing information with you involved not so subtlely. Because the creativity and originality dry up and making money is the shift in focus.

Popular or the perception that you are. Other bloggers on the who's who list stopping in, stratching each other's back...in a photo opportunity. (Ker cling, pop of several, out of sequence flash bulbs.)

Or like Bobby Vinton, who had a slew of songs from "Bluer Than Blue" to "Blue On Blue" and kept cranking out the sad ones. Once he hit the big time, he could not dish it out anymore. The song well dried up. He was not bluer than blue..but richer than rich. For awhile. He could no longer write the blues from the heart, because that was not the way his heart felt anymore. The connection snapped from pen to paper. And a Happier Than Happy theme was not a logical two step he could pull off in his song writing, production.

     Blog about what you know, experiences you have had on the local level, thru out your life. Blog about the people you meet in your day to day.  Blog about your area that you know better than anyone else on line who does not live there day and day out. Blog about the local slant on how in your community a national event happening real time, now is trickling down and affecting your local turf. What is happening in your corner of the world? Those Heinz 57, not polished perfectly but unrefined gems are where you get the beef, the information you want. There is a raw, cutting punch that you feel in your belly and know it came from fire in the blogger on the other end tapping out the electrons, posting them for the world to see. Real estate brokers are in the service industry. But we are people. Some with egos as big as Kansas. And rather than call attention to yourself, and what is in it for me...turn the focus on why would lots of people benefit from your blog in a low key sort of way without the fanfare? Hoopla...fanfare...big production anything from websites to blogs can make the average guy driving the mouse to his Commodore 64 or 128, on a 26.6 speed dial up with limited computer skills feel like he is under dressed for the event. He just stumbles int and backs out of in the six seconds you have to captivate or catapult.

Maine REALTOR Andrew Mooers