This 200-Year-Old Canal Was Drained For The First Time
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You wouldn’t think that draining a canal could be so exciting, but once you hear about all the interesting things that have turned up at the bottom of one in France, you’ll understand why it is quite a big to-do! The waterway where the magic happens is the Canal Saint-Martin in Paris.
It’s well known for the arched bridges that cross it and the surrounding trendy neighborhood that’s filled with new shops, cafes, and bars. A major tourist hotspot these days, the area has come a long way since the canal was first built back in 1825 under the direction of Napoleon Bonaparte. He was looking to prevent the spread of diseases by boosting the clean drinking water supply for the rapidly growing city back then, and his own popularity as well.
Ever since it was constructed almost two hundred years ago, the canal gets a good cleaning about every 10-15 years. The last time it was cleaned and what the video coverage is from, was in early 2016. However, before any cleaning could be done, all the water needed to be drained first. Once the water levels were down to just 20 inches, the workers then had to catch all the fish that lived there and move them to safety. The muddy waters are home to mainly bream, carp, and trout, all of which were found to have surprisingly healthy populations, considering what they live among.
Once the fish were out the remaining water was drained, and the real cleanup began. City workers found all sorts of trash that had sunk to the bottom of the canal over the course of the last 15 years. In true Paris fashion, and surprising to no one, were the thousands of discarded wine bottles littered in the mud. Then there was the usual trash that’s to be expected, plastic bags, aluminum cans and beer bottles, traffic cones, and shopping carts. Bikes were also among the more common items removed, and a fair number of cell phones, chairs, umbrellas, and trash cans were removed.
In years past there have been much more interesting finds. The last time the canal Saint Martin was drained, in 2001, two World War I shells were found! There were also several gold coins, a car, bathtub, and toilette bowl found that year. Other notable finds from this latest drain and cleaning were a pair of motor bikes, another toilette bowl, and an old school style boombox.
Three months after they started, after moving 2 million cubic feet of water at a cost of over $10 million, the cleanup was finally over. The fish were returned to their home and life around the canal was back to normal. Who knows what the next cleaning will reveal, but it’d be interesting to see if another toilette bowl shows up!
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Everytime I went to my best friends house it smelled incredible. But then she showed me This Trick:
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It is wonderful to have our homes smell good, and scented candles became very popular over the last decade. That is, until it was discovered that many of these candles and scented sprays contain really dangerous chemicals, that can cause permanent lung damage.
I, myself, have stopped using those candles that I used to love, because of the inherent health hazard they carry. I’m always looking for natural alternatives that are chemical free, to provide a nice fresh smell in my home. When I came upon this DIY video for creating a natural air freshener I was intrigued.
The video below is a great tutorial for how to easily, inexpensively and quickly make your own fresh and chemical-free deodorizer. Two alternative versions are demonstrated, which differ slightly in how they release the fragrance.
For both versions, all you will need are: a MASON JAR WITH A TIN LID, HAMMER, FORK, EMPTY CANDLE CONTAINER, SCREWDRIVER, BAKING SODA AND SOME ESSENTIAL OIL. The DIY is easy to follow, and gives you a great means to slow-release a pleasant scent into any room in your home.
Watch the video below for the full simple, easy and cheap DIY air freshener life hack:
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Check out this Awesome Vinegar Shower Head Cleaning Life Hack everyone should know:
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Vinegar is arguably one of the most useful substances on the planet, at least when it comes to making life in your home easier, less expensive and safer! Why use nasty chemicals that cost an arm and a leg when you can use something that has been proven by time and countless mothers and grandmothers? I personally use vinegar for more things than I can count, and I have known about the wonderful liquid since before I can remember because my mom used it for literally everything. We are going to thoroughly run through some of the best little known vinegar life hacks that will make your life so much easier.
Is your drain clogged? Try pouring baking soda, followed by vinegar, down the drain and watch the magic. Something gooey sticking to your wall? Grab the vinegar and give it a squirt, then easily wipe it away.
Does your trash can smell like garbage, even when it’s empty? Soak a piece of bread in vinegar and leave it in the garbage can overnight, and voila, no more stank. It can also be used as an all-purpose cleaner: just fill up a spray bottle with one third vinegar and two thirds water.
Too many fruit flies? Fill a glass with apple cider vinegar, cover it with plastic wrap, and poke a few holes. The flies enter, but cannot escape. It can even be used to straighten clothes if an iron isn’t available. A few other uses include keeping cats off the furniture, helping cut flowers stay fresh longer, getting tough stains out of pots and pans and cleaning glasses for a smudge-free sheen. Let us know what you think in the comments.
Hopefully you find these helpful tips and tricks over the next few weeks and months.
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Check out this Awesome Vinegar Shower Head Cleaning Life Hack everyone should know:
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When it comes to cleaning just about everyone loves learning new simple ways to get the same old things done. It can be fun and interesting to discover what nifty and quick solutions people have come up with to solve common problems. This video, from YouTube channel Outdoors and Gear Review highlights a helpful trick for dealing with a common and difficult problem you’re likely to encounter when tidying and cleaning your bathroom up; hard water deposits and stains.
Hard water can be a real pain in the neck and the nasty looking stains and blemishes that it leaves behind on bathroom and kitchen surfaces can be extremely hard to fully remove. The ugly spots and stains are caused by water that contains large amounts of minerals such as limestone, calcium, and magnesium.
These metals and minerals are naturally occurring, most often in areas with low water tables and mountainous regions, and water that contains them is perfectly safe to use and drink. The biggest downside to it is the crusty, whitish colored mineral deposits and stubborn stains it leaves behind. Over time these gradually build up on stuff, especially faucets and shower heads.
Many people struggle to remove these stains and often think that they need strong, harsh chemical cleaners to get rid of them effectively. However, there’s a better and more affordable way to go about cleaning a shower head with crusted on mineral build up. All you need is apple cider vinegar, a Ziploc bag, and a rubber band.
Simply pour some apple cider vinegar into the plastic bag and place it over and on the shower head. Use a rubber band to secure it in place and then leave it on overnight. Remove the baggy the following day, wipe the shower head clean, and it should be restored to its former glory!
Check out the video for more information and to see just how shiny and spotless looking it turns out. This may be the fastest, easiest, and most natural way to clean hard water stains. It requires minimal effort or exertion on your part so try it the next time you’re stuck cleaning the house!
Have you tried any of these? Will you be trying any? Let us know..
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Check out These 5 Awesome Vaseline Life Hacks Everyone Should Know:
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While you may only think of Vaseline as an integral part of your grandmother’s home remedies and go to solutions, it actually really is a product that can seemingly do it all. People use the petroleum based, gooey, slippery substance for all sorts of things. There are countless household and beauty tricks that involve it, whether it’s loosening stuff up or smearing some on minor cuts and burns to help them heal. This article and video focuses on several beauty related uses for the product that may prove useful and come in handy, and will definitely save you time and money.
If you love to paint your nails then you likely have encountered polish bottles with their tops stuck on them. It takes almost superhuman strength to loosen and get them them of when they dry on and stick like that. To prevent this, take a cotton swab and dab some Vaseline around the base of the bottle opening and on the threads where the cap twists on, now it won’t stick the next time you go to open it.
Another nail polish trick is to coat the skin around your nails with some Vaseline before painting them. This will keep the polish from sticking to your skin, cut down on the clean up, and make your paint job look all the more professional.
If you have rough, dry skin on your feet rub a little Vaseline on them before you go to bed. Slather some all over your feet, then put on a pair of socks, and wake up to smooth soft skin. For those of us with sensitive ears that act up and become sore when wearing earrings, try rubbing Vaseline on the metal stud part that goes through your ear.
By coats the earring it helps them slide through and lessens any negative reaction or sensitivity you may have. If the scent of your perfume disappears way too quickly take some Vaseline, apply a thin coat to the area where you plan to spritz it on, then spray the perfume over that area. This works great at holding the fragrance and makes it last much more longer, plus it won’t alter the perfume’s scent.
If you haven’t already, toss a small jar of the wonder product in your bag so it’s always on hand close by. Use it to touch up makeup, soften rough skin, loosen stuck tops and lids, or as a lip gloss/chap-stick stand in when you inevitably lose or misplace them.
Besides being versatile, it’s also widely available and can be found in practically any pharmacy, health, convenience or grocery store around the world. Best of all, Vaseline is relatively cheap and costs only a few dollars, with a jar of it easily lasting a year or two before running out. With Vaseline, the possibilities may just be endless!
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The Next Batch of Life Hacks are some incredibly useful winter life hacks that will make your life so much easier this winter:
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Along with the cold weather, there are a number of special challenges that winter brings along with it, and we all have to just deal with them! Dry skin, chapped lips, stuffy noses, darkness at 4PM, winter storms, the list goes on and on. One of the most annoying things by far is clearing walkways and driveways of snow and ice. The same goes for cars, but while you can often drive through a little bit of snow, you can’t with an ice-covered windshield. Not only is it illegal to drive with an obstructed view, it’s also insanely dumb and extremely dangerous!
While defrosting the car and scraping ice off the windshield seems like a necessary evil, it doesn’t have to be. You really don’t need to wake up extra early just to stumble around in the freezing cold darkness so that you can drive to work. Instead, you can save yourself some time and energy by doing the following:
In a spray bottle container mix together 2 parts isopropyl alcohol with 1 part water and then add in 1 tablespoon of liquid dish soap. Shake it up, spray it directly onto an icy windshield, and watch the ice literally melt away right before your very eyes!
This rubbing alcohol spray is the perfect thing to have on hand for freezing cold mornings and icy windshields. You can leave the bottle in your car and it won’t even freeze, unless it gets well under zero. That’s because the freezing point of isopropyl alcohol is -128.2 degrees Fahrenheit, so when you spray it on the ice, it doesn’t freeze up. Instead, it helps to melt the ice and keeps it from re-freezing. Since all you have to do is mist it on, it’s by far the quickest and easiest way to clear a windshield that’s coated with a thick layer of ice.
Don’t forget to check out the video to see exactly how well this works in action and be sure to pass it along to those who could use the smart tip. If it can make someone’s life a little bit easier this winter, then it’s worth it!
This is super helpful for those rough winter months.
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Winter is tough. Along with the cold, dry weather comes a number of challenges that we all have to deal with. Cars need to be cleared of snow and ice and the same goes for walkways and driveways. Traveling often becomes way more difficult than usual and to top it off our health also takes a tumble for the worse.
Many of us are plagued by dry itchy skin, sore chapped lips, and stuffy noses that just won’t go away. These things quickly add up and can make it seem like winter is dragging on forever, especially when problems pop up outside on top of the health issues we may be facing.
Which is why these simple winter hacks, covered by the Millennial Moms YouTube channel, are perfect for right now. The video features some of the most clever ways to solve common winter woes and it might offer a solution to a problem you’re currently dealing with. These are some of the best hacks shown in the clip, but there are a total of fifteen, so be sure to check it out for all of the rest.
1) Winterize Boots- This trick does the job to keep feet warm and dry inside of boots that aren’t waterproof. After putting on your socks take two large plastic Ziploc bags and stick a foot in each. Grab a couple of rubber bands and slide them on over the bag to secure it in place and seal the top off around your leg. Pull on your boots and say goodbye to cold, wet feet.
2) Prevent Static Build Up In Hair- Pull a dryer sheet on over the bristles of your hair brush so that they poke through. Brush your hair as normal to eliminate the static, plus it’ll smell clean and great.
3) DIY Boot Inserts- Maintain the shape of tall boots by cutting a foam pool noodle into thirds or fourths, then stick a piece in each boot and they’ll stay upright, making them easier to organize and wear later on.
4) Stop Wipers From Freezing to a Car Windshield- Take an old pair of long cotton socks and slide them over each wiper, puling it down as far as it can go or reaches. This will prevent wipers from freezing and/or sticking to the windshield, and makes life all the more easier.
5) Organize Winter Gear- Hats, scarves, gloves, mittens, hand warmers, neck warmers and all other winter accessories can be neatly stored in one accessible place with a shoe organizer. Hang it over a door and never search for lost gloves again.
6) Windshield Treatment- This one is the best! A combination of vinegar and water works wonders at preventing frost and ice from building up on car windshields and windows. Mix the two liquids up in a spray bottle, spritz it on car windows, then wipe off with a soft cloth.
7) Boot Tray- Keep floors safe, clean, and dry by making your own boot tray. This one is much more appealing than commercially available ones and works even better. Fill a large metal cookie sheet with a layer of decorative rocks and put it near the door so that when people enter they can immediately place wet boots on the rocks. The water will drip through the rocks to the bottom and soon evaporate. Don’t forget to check out the rest of the tips covered in the clip and be sure to pass it along to those who could use these smart hacks to make their own lives easier.
These are just really helpful.
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If you found these 7 incredible winter life hacks to be helpful keep scrolling for a — For 12 Awesome Car Cleaning Life Hacks You Probably Haven’t Heard About:
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Having your car professionally detailed can easily end up being quite expensive. While it’s always nice to have a sparkling clean car, it’s even better when you can have it without spending a small fortune. Thankfully there are all sorts of cheap ways to clean your car with common items that you probably already have around the house. They can do the job just as well, if not even better, than what professional cleaners use.
These are just a few of the handy tricks covered in the accompanying video so be sure to check it out for even more:
Clean your headlights with toothpaste. Use regular toothpaste, not the gel type, to polish up car headlight lenses by rubbing it on evenly with a cloth. Move in quick circular motions to then buff it off and you should notice the grime and fogginess disappear.
Remove stubborn old bumper stickers cleanly and completely with WD-40. Simply spray the sticker with WD-40 and let it sit for a while, the sticker will absorb it, then you can peel it right off.
Remove pet fur from carpets and seats with a spray bottle, water, and a squeegee. Spray the water on the seat and then move the squeegee over the area, it will gather and lift up the hair so you can easily pick it up.
Clean air vents with small foam brushes. They can easily fit in even the smallest vents and pick up all the dirt and dust inside them.
Use coffee filters to dust your car dashboard. Unlike cloth towels and paper towels, coffee filters won’t leave behind lint or just push dust around. Instead they work great at picking up dust and you can toss a few in the glove compartment for whenever you might need one to freshen up the dash.
Get streak free windows by cleaning them with newspaper. It’s the cloths and paper towels that leave streaks when you clean your windows so don’t even bother using them. Instead, spray down the window with cleaner and wipe it off with a piece of newspaper as you normally would.
Get rid of stubborn, lingering odors by sprinkling baking soda on car seats and carpets. Let it sit for a couple of hours before vacuuming it up. The baking soda should absorb the foul odors, leaving your car smelling fresh and clean.
There are even more clean car tips covered in the video and it might just have the solution you’ve been looking for so be sure to check it out!
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THIS Lake In Oregon Completely Evaporated and Dried Out! Then a Mysterious and Scary Ghost Town Was Revealed!
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In 1955 the town of Old Detroit was officially abandoned, any and all residents were ordered out by the US government. Soon afterwards water flooded in and all of the buildings and whatever else had been left behind was swallowed up by a new reservoir in Marion County, Oregon. From that point on, the town and surrounding area was called Detroit Lake, which today supplies water to the capital city of Salem and other nearby towns.
When the region experiences low rainfall and a prolonged drought, water levels at the lake inevitably drop. In 2015 the lake had reached a record low of 143 feet below capacity and things that had long ago been buried underwater were once again out in the open. One relic from the past that was spotted was a 19th century utility wagon laying on its side in the muck. A still in-tact cast iron plate on it showed that it was made by the Milburn Wagon Company of Toledo, Ohio and historians have estimated it to be about 130 years old.
It stayed in excellent shape all those years because it’d been buried at the bottom of the lake in a low oxygen environment. It’s brief exposure to air and sunlight probably damaged it more than the 100+ years being underwater did and thankfully its location was kept a secret by those who saw it. In addition to the never before seen wagon, a cement lined octagonal pit was also discovered. However, no one has been able to figure out what it could be or what it was once used for.
The history of the lake and surrounding area is just as interesting as the random things that can be spotted in the mud when water levels drop. Founded in 1880, the town of Old Detroit sprung up as a place originally meant to house the men who were working on the Oregon Pacific Railroad. When the railroad went bust, it became a place where primarily farmers, loggers and their families settled to work the land. At one time there was a school and cafes, a hardware store, movie theater, tavern and church all dotting the streets. Life was good in the quiet picturesque rural community, but there were issues.
The main problem facing the area was that the Santiam River, part of the Willamette River basin, often flooded and was unpredictable. Snowmelt from the Cascades and rainfall led to severe floods that raced down the canyon and valleys destroying everything in their path. After years of expensive floods that wiped out families and farms downstream, Congress finally passed the Flood Control Act of 1938. It provided for dams to be built that would control the flooding and generate electricity. Detroit Dam was one of them and by the time it was finished it measured 1,580 long, 360 feet high, and could hold 455,000 acre-feet of water.
However, before Detroit Dam could be put into operation, the town’s several hundred residents had to be relocated. They’d asked the government for land to re-site the city on but were denied and so they turned to a local timber baron, A.B. Hammond, who was more accommodating. He developed an old logging camp in the area and divided it up into lots which he sold to the displaced residents and other newer arrivals.
Finally in 1955 the dam was operational, and the North Santiam River went from being a swift moving, sometimes raging river, to a huge lake that covered the city of Old Detroit. The town has been sitting at the bottom of the reservoir ever since and rarely makes an appearance. Only when the water levels drop off super low does anything from the past appear and 2015 was the last time that happened.
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