Got word from Jodie that ODOT is done with the shoulder spraying for the year in this district.  They finished Hwys18/22, 180, and 20 east of Sweet Home Tuesday night.

The bridge and “landscape” crews will continue backpack spraying next week.  Monday and Wednesday they’ll be on Hwy 101 at mileposts 123 and 95, and around bridges on Hwys 101 and 18.

In July and August they’ll do their “noxious weed” spraying (mainly blackberries and scotch broom, I think) and will call before they start.

Please note also that Lincoln County starts around July spraying certain county roads for “noxious weeds” (mainly blackberries and horsetail).  They will post before and after they do it.

Kit

If you need appliances for your home go green go eco:

• EnergyStar Products: http://www.energystar.gov/index.cfm?fuseaction=find_a_product.
• EnergyStar: http://www.energystar.gov/index.cfm?c=home.index
• Energy Tax Incentives: http://www.energytaxincentives.org/
• Energy Efficient Home and Vehicle Tax Credits: http://ase.org/content/article/detail/2654
• LaneElectric Rebates: http://www.laneelectric.com/rebates.htm
• Central Lincoln Electric: http://www.cencoast.com/Energy%20Efficiency.html
• Home Depot Eco Options: http://www6.homedepot.com/ecooptions/index.html?

Smoke Detectors: Choose OPTICAL non-ionizing smoke detectors rather than the IONIZING (as in ionizing radiation) that contain radioactive Americium which is more potent than Plutonium. The ionizing smoke detectors are so toxic that Florence will not even take them on Hazardous Waste Day. Most places will not either. The EPA suggest that you send them to the manufacturer and make them deal with them.

According the Wikipedia:

Americium can be produced in kilogram amounts and has some uses, mostly involving ²⁴¹Am since it is easiest to produce relatively pure samples of this isotope. Americium is the only synthetic element to have found its way into the household, where one common type of smoke detector contains a tiny amount (about 0.2 microgram) of ²⁴¹Am as a source of ionizing radiation.^[2] This amount emits about 1 microcurie of nuclear radiation when new, with the amount declining slowly as the americium decays into neptunium, a different transuranic element, with a much longer half-life (about 2.14 million years). With its half-life of 432 years, the americium-241 in a smoke detector includes about 5% neptunium after 22 years, and about 10% after 43 years. After the 432-year americium-241 half-life, a smoke detector’s original americium would, by definition, be more than half neptunium.