* Summer Safety Tips *
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* Summer Safety Tips *
| Wed, 06-22-2005 - 9:26am |
Now that summer is here we all need to take some caution with having so many things to do. It's important to enjoy the summer months with friends and family, but let's be careful too. This was a post I had posted around this time last year-
(http://messageboards.ivillage.com/iv-fbfitthirty/?msg=7808.1)
Fun in the Sun-
- Apply sunscreen (at least SPF 15 or higher) 30mins before sun exposure, especially on young children! And don't forget that even on cloudy days the sun can burn!!
- Reapply sunscreen every 2hrs or so, or after swimming, toweling

In regards to mosquitos:
Frugal and effective ways to keep mosquitoes at bay
Part of being outside in warm weather is trying to protect ourselves from insects. Mosquitoes, especially, can put a damper on outdoors fun, but besides that, they can be dangerous because of the diseases they carry.
Keeping your yard and yourself free from them might mean a trip to the store for spray on, or rub on repellent. Or it could mean planning ahead to minimize the attraction for them and repelling them less expensively.
Flower power: Plant marigolds in every nook and cranny of your yard and mosquitoes will avoid it. Plant them around your patio, porch or pool and carry bouquets of them into the house. They don't make marigold perfume, but if they did, it would be a mosquito repellent!
Another flower mosquitoes are not fond of, is geraniums. Hanging baskets of them do double duty by decorating and repelling mosquitoes, so if you like them, here's your excuse to have a lot of them.
Remove the source. Mosquitoes breed in any standing water, no matter what the depth or width. Keep your yard free of standing water: Check pet dishes, bird baths, ponds, ditches, holes or dips in trees or landscape, even rocks with shallow dips that hold water.
Take some time and look around carefully to be sure you've removed all sources of standing water. If you use watering troughs or other large containers of water, stock them with fish which will eat the larva. (Fountains or ponds with fountains or running water are fairly safe from mosquitoes.)
Citronella candles are popular to keep mosquitoes away from patios and yards, but tests have shown that their effectiveness comes in at under 50%. (Citronella is effective, but it must be much more concentrated than you find in candles) Unless you can find them very inexpensively, think about burning plain candles, which are effective about a quarter of the time, or making a smudge fire in a charcoal barbecue pit.
You can grow Thai lemon grass, which repels mosquitoes because it contains a citronella type of oil. Rub this oil onto your skin as a personal repellent. (Don't rub true citronella oil onto your skin without mixing it with something else!)
Try eating more of the vitamin B Complex, especially thiamine (vitamin B1). It's said that if you include whole grains, fish, and nuts in your daily diet, you'll be less appealing to mosquitoes. You can find conflicting reports about this, but it won't hurt most of us to increase our intake of these foods... and it might help!
Hide! Since mosquitoes find their targets by site, wear dark clothing after dark and light clothing during sunny times. That makes it harder for them to spot you. Really.
Stay cool, calm and collected. Exercise releases perspiration, lactic acid and carbon dioxide, all of which attract mosquitoes. It also raises your body temperature, another come-on for a hungry mosquito.
Combining all, or a good part of these methods will greatly increase your chances of a mosquito-free summer!
::: Jump for Joy ::: Summer's Here :::
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