BARBARA GRUMME’S BLOG!

The Hoe Down at Heartland Forest Saturday sept 19 was a huge Success! Thanks to everyone that made it happen! For those of you that did not come out this year Hope that you will be able to make it out for next years event!
Few of the up coming events at Heartland Forest is;

Sept 25 & Oct 23 Astronomy night starting at 8pm

Oct 24 - 31 Pumpkin Fest

Oct 30 & 31 Haunted Night starting at 7 & 9 pm

Winter Fest - coming too!!

1. Take care of your body. Without your health, all else is meaningless - if not impossible. When we don’t provide our bodies with proper sleep, exercise, rest, and nutritious fuel, we are consistently tired and will always feel overwhelmed and overloaded.
2. Expand your mind. By stimulating your mind with new informatin through reading books, taking classes, or enrolling in a course, you will keep you mind brimming with ideas and problem-solving abilities. If you don’t your mind goes stale and you become predictable and momotonous.
3. Develop your spiritual nature. Deep down, we are aware that we’re more than a body we dwell in.
4. Recongnize what depletes and refills you emotionally. There are situations, circumstances and people that will drain your energy. With this we become dangerously weakend. By avoiding these and replenishing our energy supply we become emotionally resilient and can face our problems with renewed strength.
5. Plan time to play. Recapture your childlike sense of awe and wonder. Schedule play dates into your weekly calendar to balance heavy matters with a few lighter ones.
6. Pamper yourself with a spa treatment. This will relax and re-energize you. There is spa’s that offers the opportunity for a small fee, to use all the facilities - even without having a pampering treatment. A robe with slippers and a locker are provided, and to enjoy the outdoor hot springs, indoor whirlpool, swimming pool, fitness room, sauna, and steam room!
7. Take a fantasy vacation. Visit the library for books on where you would go on a ‘real’ vacation, or rent travel videos of your favorite fantasy destinations. Believe it or not it can be nearly as beneficial as if you had gone on a real trip.
8. Let nature nurture you. The purity of nature has a way of cleansing us - washing away our tension and stress. Regardless of where you live or work, there are wonderful places to enjoy nature. (visit www.heartlandforest.org) <– Great place in niagara falls 
9. Spend quite time in a ’special place’. Choose a spot that refreshes and inspires you.
10. Dress for comfort. Dress to feel good rather than to project the right image. Clothes that are comfortable, fit you perfectly and make you feel good when wearing them.
11. Treat yourself to comfort food. If you balance nutrition, you’ll be able to tolerate a little fat and surgar now and then
12. Surround yourself with comfort symbols. Your home and workplace should be nurturing and comforting havens where you enjoy spending time. Take steps to transform both into a cozy refuge and safe sanctuary. Surround yourself with colours, fabrices, photographs, potpourri, candles and accessories that represents comfort!

By Sue Augustine

LifeTRENDS

Gypsy Moth has no known natural enemies and when the weather is either unusually warn in the winter or dry in the summer the insect’s population ncreases. From may to early August it will consume one square meter of leaves. Gypsy Moth with a combination of droughts, air pullutants, other secondary insects and fungi, these can eventually kill the tree. There is biological insecticide that landowners can participate in the aerial spraying operation.

Contact

Trees Unlimited Forestry Consultants at (905) 384 - 0789 or email at actionmail@treesunlimited.ca or visit the website at www.treesunlimited.ca

Or

Niagara Parks Commission

1. Plan. Assess your needs for the future, major purchases and periodic expenses.
2. Set Financial Goals. Determine your short, mid- and long range, wealth-building goals.
3. know your financial situations.  Determine your monthly living expenses, peridoic expenses and monthly debt payments
4. Develop A Realistic Budget. Follow it closely and evaluate it regularly comparing actual expenses with planned expenses.
5. Don’t Allow Expenses to Exceed Income. Pay down your credit cards, pay more than the minimun amount, and don’t charge more on the card than you are repaying to your creditors.
6. Save. For periodic future expenses, try: 1)saving 10% to 15% of your net income; 2) Accumulating 3 to 6 months salary in an emergency fund; 3) Putting money in a RRSP or saying for your child’s education (RESP)
7. Pay bills on time. to maintain a good credit rating, contact your creditors if you are unable to pay when bills come due. The Ontario Association of Credit Counseling Services can like debtors to professional advice if they are overwhelmed with their situation.
8. Distinguish Between Needs and Wants. Take care of needs first.
9. Use Credit Wisely. Know the total you can comfortable affod and keep payments within 15% to 20% of your net income.
10. Keep a Record of Daily Expenditures. Detail how you spend money on a daily basis, so you can adjust your budget as needed.

By: Wayne F. Wilton

Certified General Accountant

109 Griffin Street North, Smithville, ON, L0R 2A0,  905-957-1211

Dangerous giant hogweed plant difinitly in the niagara area. Scientific name is Heracleum mategazzianum, which is a non-native invastive plant that can reach a height of 4.5 metres, or 15 feet. It likes moisture, so it can often be found near rivers or marshy areas.

While the plant grows it has an impressive beautiful buds.

While one of the lady’s whom had it growing in her garden she noticed while the plant was growing, she was impressed by the beautiful buds. She was looking forward to seeing how it would look at the end. But after her arm and ankle came into contact with the plant, she was in such agony.

“it was the worst rash that I’ve ever had. It’s terrible. It burns like fire and bee stings.” she says. “It was a mess and I couldn’t take the sun on me”

Skin that comnes in contact with the giant hogweed is extremely sensitive to sunlight for months or years afterwards.  

For more information and pictures check out http://www.ontarioweeds.com/weed.php?w=HERMZ

Characteristics of fraud for profit?

• No intent to pay
• Inflated property value
• Multiple falsified documents
• Quick closing
• Difficul to detect complex schemes

Fraud for profit schemes

• Straw borrowers
• Flipping the property
• Oklahoma scheme
• Churning
• Covenant take over
• Equity Skimming

Straw borrower is an individual who acts as a borrower in a loan transactioon who does not intent to reside in the property. Examples: Parents/ Non-permanent residents/ ID theft Victims

Flips, Oklahoma Schemes and Churning

• Flips: selling the property shortly after purchase for an inflated value
• Oklahoma schemes: multiple sales in quick succession to inflate value of the property 
• Churning: involves a group of individuals in the same neighborhood, selling properties to each other, inflating values, reselling the properties and churning values

It’s fraud for profit

• Step 1 - a fraudulent sale of on the property is registered, and the owner’s existing mortgage is discharged
• Step 2 - New Mortgaga obtained, funds advanced, less mortgaga fees and land transfer taxes = net profit

What is Equity skimming?

• The skimmer offers to :
• assume the monthly payments
• promise to remove the victim’s name from the mortgage loan
• promise to take title to the property
• What do they really do?
• obtain secondary financing and place tenants in property
• skim the rent and fail to make monthly payments
• fail to register a title transfer

Red Flag: Sale of present home

Watch for:

• an unexecuted offer, with no sign-backs
• changes to the purchase price not initialed
• the copy of the solicitor’s ledger shows math errors or altered figures
• the property cannot be found on mis.caand it was not a private sale

The baby boomers - the demographic that brought us rock-and-roll, the peace movement and the personal computer - are turning grey and starting to retire. It’s a transition that can mean changes in lifestyle and reductions in income. “It’s best to start planning while you’re still working,” says chartered accountant Robert C. Sealey. Evaluate your finances, project where you’ll be in 10 years, and save more. know what your expenses are going be to be compaired to what sources of income you’ll have.

If you collect Canada Pension before 65 you could lose up to 30% of the total benifit every year before you’re 65. When you reach 65, Old Age Security comes into effect, adding about $500 per month.

By December of the year you turn 71 your money from your RRSP’s must be converted to a RRIF. Once your 72 a minimum amount must be withdrawn from the RRIF each year, and of course you must pay taxes on it.

Next is claw-backs: The government can start reducing or clawing-back your Old Age Security payments by as much as 15% for every dollar you make after a certain amount. But new rules introduced in 2007 allow spouses to split up to onehalf of qualifying pension income.

Information is power, get a document organizer and put all your informatin about insurance, RRSPs, Wills and living wills in it. Most importantly complete both financial and healthcare powers of attorney. These documents will allow your loved ones to make decisions for you and help you manage your finances.  

The benifits to hard wood floors is that they look good, easy to keep clean and they don’ harbour dust mites or odours.  But even the toughest versions call for protection from scratches caused by chair legs, tables and home office furniture. Cure: Self adhesive felt pads they work well as long as you remember two things. First to remew the pads every year or two, second watch out for grit trapped in the felts, scratching the floor as furniture is moved about. Rub our fingers over the felt to clean it every now and then.

New chairs and coffee tables and couches to have domed plastic glides fastened to the bottom of their legs at the factory. These might be fine on carpet or ceramic tiles but they sure do a number on wood and laminate floors. You must take them off.

The Best solution I’ve found so far for protecting a wooden floor from a rolling office chair is a folding bamboo floor protector with felt fastened across the entire bottom surface.

Select Rugs Canada (www.selectrugscanada.ca) The bamboo comes factory finished and it’s quite hard.
Steve Maxwell is Canada’s award-winning home improvements expert, and technical editor of Canadian Home Workshop magazine. Sign up for his free homeowner newsletter and www.stevenmaxwell.ca