Thoughts from Rural America

A Review Of Freebiegeni.com's Freebie Search Engine

Who doesn't like freebies? Meet Freebie Geni, a search engine that you can use to find freebies in the US, UK, Canada and Netherlands. Freebie Geni aggregates several different freebie sites, including SampleADay.com, FreeSnatcher.com, Free-Stuff-Finder.com and others. You can search by entering your own term or by selecting from one of the 60 categories.

To see how well Freebie Geni works, I decided to browse the samples using the category tab on the home page. Food freebies are always good, so I clicked on the link. I was quickly taken to the list of food freebies.

The list began with all of the food (and other) freebies listed at Craigslist San Francisco Bay. If I lived in San Francisco, I could get myself a free hamster cage, free Merrick dog food, a 20-year-old food processor, Parakeet food, or Kefir grains. Hmm. Not all of those are food. Not so impressive.

I scrolled down the page a bit further and came upon the food freebie section offered at SampleADay.com. There were a couple of dog food treat freebies, some non-food perfume samples, and a free food pyramid poster. I'm not seeing any people food freebies though. That's what I'm interested in.

Moving down the page, I see freebies from iCraveFreebies.com. I scan their freebie list. Aha! People food! If I had a Pilot Travel Center nearby, I could pick up a free 32 ounce soda. There are several dog food sample offers, stickers and a coupon, too. Moving on...

The rest of the page had essentially the same freebies. There were more dog food samples, coupons, posters and stickers, but very few people food samples. Oh well. If you are looking for dog freebies, you're all set.

The concept of a freebie aggregator is good. It's an easy way to pick out the freebies you want. Rather than going from freebie site to freebie site, you can just do a search and you will get a listing of freebies at Freebie Geni's partner sites. Unfortunately, there are only eight sites that the search engine searches, but since it appears to be a relatively new site, more freebie websites will probably be added to the database as time passes. Would I recommend paying a visit to the site? Sure, why not. You really have nothing to lose and it only takes a minute to scroll through the results. Who knows, you might find something you (or your dog) would like.

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Get Car Repair Estimates Without Leaving Your Couch

Going to a car repair shop alone, if you are a woman, can almost guarantee that you will be charged more than if a women went in with a man or if a man went in alone. Unbelievable in 2010, you say?  Not so fast. A study looking at this very subject was done a few years ago. What did it find? A staggering 90% of auto shops charged a woman alone more for the repairs. That's nine out of 10 shops. Interestingly, women bring cars to the shop for repairs 65% of the time.

Women have known for years that they get treated differently when conducting business in typically male fields when they are alone versus when they are with a man. The study just validated that sad fact in the auto repair business. Sure, things have changed, but there are still miles to go...

The Internet has made it easier than ever for people to share customer service horror stories and to warn people away from businesses that have particularly poor service. On the flip side, businesses who provide stellar service, can find a good bit of free advertising from happy customers.

Now, the Internet can even remove gender from the car repair equation. A site called RepairPal lets a car owner get an estimated price range for any auto repair done in his or her area. It's free, so I decided to give it a try and see what it was all about.

My Scion xA's check engine light came on a couple weeks ago. It's due for a tune up and an oil change. What better thing to try on this site. So I did. I also entered my zip code and hit enter. The next screen brought me to a general price range for the service and showed me how dealerships in my area stacked up against independent shops. Local shops were located on Google maps.

Seeing that I live in a teeny, tiny town that got its first stop light a couple years ago, I thought for sure the application would come back empty-handed. The results came back with eight shops pegged on the map. Not bad.

Just for kicks I decided to try the application out on an Acura Integra. The estimate was broken down into labor costs and necessary parts and what they cost. I had the option to register (free) and save the estimate to my account. If you're registered with the site, it will email you when your car is due for service. Oh, and there's an encyclopedia that explains all about different car service procedures and answers questions like how to get a California smog inspection and why could my car be leaking fluid.

If I lived in a larger city, I can see how the RepairPal service would be a huge time saver. It certainly is a lot easier than calling five different shops and wondering if you're getting the same price as the guy that just called in five minutes ago with the same car problem. I'm going to be scheduling my car's checkup in the next couple of weeks. I'll let you know how well the estimate from the RepairPal service matched with what I actually paid.

This post is brought to you by RepairPal.com.

Me, My Soggy Nikes And The Hike From Hell

With summer approaching, I got to thinking about the hike I took a couple summers ago on the Arethusa Falls trail in Crawford Notch, New Hampshire. We picked this hike because it is easy, with a well-maintained trail that's done in a stair-step fashion. That means tree roots won't jump out and trip you - which is definitely a good thing when you haven't been hiking in a very long time. The trail ends at the gorgeous and secluded Arethusa Falls, where we planned to have a picnic lunch.

We arrive at the trail head about 11 a.m. and set out. Somehow my husband, my younger son and I lost sight of our older teenage children, who both had hiked the trail when they were in 8th grade. We saw a sign that looked somewhat old, but like good little hikers we went the way it pointed because we certainly did not want to get lost!

As we're walking along, tripping over tree branches (We weren't supposed to be doing that, remember?), I thought to myself that this was no easy hike with a nicely maintained trail that I'd been led to believe. But on we went, being grateful that I'd worn my low-cut Nike hiking shoes instead of my old heavy hiking boots.  I also wondered why we weren't coming up on any other people, but figured since we were on the trail...

I used to teach special education to kids with severe disabilities. In 8th grade, they had managed the trail. As we forded a small stream and jumped across a small chasm, I couldn't figure out how that could possibly be. After all, they didn't have the best coordination. Maybe I was in worse shape than I thought. Soldiering on, over slippery rocks, up hills, through trees and overgrown shrubs (Where was my machete when I needed it?) we finally came to a river. We had to be close to the falls now, right?

Wrong!

How on earth were we going to get across this river - about 25 feet across - without killing ourselves, or worse, breaking a leg? There was no way to do it without getting my new Nike hiking shoes wet. (I hate soggy shoes!) We gingerly picked our way across the river, climbed (yes, climbed) the embankment (What the heck was going on? Where were my other kids -- I hope they're not lost. Whose idea of a well-maintained trail was this anyway?) and plodded on. We were sweating and dirty. I was tired and hungry and worried. Our short 45 minute hike had turned into two hours!

At last we made it to the falls. To our surprise, other people were there. People who were not my other children. After about 20 minutes of waiting, we started to ask around to see if anyone had seen my kids. Nobody had. I noticed that more people were arriving and leaving the falls from the other side of the river. None of them were sweating. None of them were dirty. None of them had soaking wet Nikes.

My husband and I conferred. Should we go back the way we came or try the other trail? We decided that at least we knew what to expect on the trail we had hiked in on. What if the other one was worse. Looking back, I have no idea why we didn't just go to the other side of the river and check out the other trail! The bug spray we were coated in must have short-circuited our brains.

Back we went, on the same trail we'd taken in. Back over the river, over slippery rocks, through overgrown shrubbery, across mini-rivers with mini-chasms. It was not any easier the second time. In fact, in some ways it was harder and more treacherous.

The trail got narrower. (I didn't remember it being this narrow the first time.) We had to skirt around a pine tree where the trail was a sloping six inches wide. I decided to get as close to the ground as I could, thinking that a lower center of gravity would be helpful. Not a good plan. Before I knew it, I was hanging onto a skinny tree root trying to keep myself from slipping down a 40 foot drop. It was a near miss. If my husband had not been able to grab my arm, I wouldn't be writing this today.

Eventually, we made it back to the trailhead, my soggy new Nike hiking shoes squish, squish, squishing as we walked back down to the parking lot. I fully expected to see my other kids. They were not waiting at the car! Good grief! Where were they? After another half an hour, they arrived, demanding to know where we'd been all this time, like it was us that had gotten lost. Kids.

*while the story is true, the names of the shoes have been changed to protect the innocent :) (and because this is a sponsored post).

The Sauerkraut Runner

What was your first summer job? I bet it doesn't compare to Bob Goodale's first summer job! According to Bob, one day his father came in and said he (Bob) needed to get a summer job and that working at the cannery would be good. Bob's mother agreed. Bob was 13 at the time and started working at the factory soon thereafter.

His first assignment was a sauerkraut runner! Now, if you know what a sauerkraut runner is, give yourself a pat on the back. I had no idea this job even existed.

Apparently, on the way to becoming sauerkraut, shredded cabbage is put into huge vats along with salt. This mixture sits around in these vats for about six weeks before it's ready to be bottled. If it just sat there without being stirred thoroughly, it would get moldy and rot.

Enter the sauerkraut runner. The sauerkraut runner's job was to put on a pair of fisherman's waders and get into the vat with all the cabbage and salt. He would then proceed to run around for 8 hours, stirring up the brine. Now, Bob says it was a lot of fun because "it was his first job" and he got to talk with all the other guys running around the other vats.The money wasn't bad either. He got $.75 an hour.

I'm not going to tell you the whole story here. It's definitely worth hearing in Bob's own words. You can listen to it at American Public Radio's The Story. website.

It's from the June 22, 2009, show called Back from Afghanistan and linked to here.

You'll never look at sauerkraut in quite the same way again.

By the way, if your kids need something fun to do this summer, you could make sauerkraut with them. I found a recipe for sauerkraut at the Wild Fermentation blog. If you're really feeling ambitious, you could make a whole bunch of sauerkraut in one of those kiddie pools. Hmmm, I see some really good (?) holiday gifts coming out of this project...Bye for now.

Should Backyard Car Washing Be Banned?

Can you believe that around 150 gallons of water are wasted each time someone washes their car in the driveway and leaves the hose running! I was shocked when I found this out, too.

Now we all know that this run-off is full of nasty chemicals that can eat away at our car. Imagine what they can do to the environment. And where do those chemicals end up? Yep. They’re being sent straight into the water supply for us to drink. Yuck!

So, should we ban backyard car washing altogether? Personally, I think that’s a bit drastic. For some people, washing their car is a weekend ritual, more of  a past-time than a chore. So, what’s a person to do?

First of all, make sure you use an eco-friendly, biodegradable cleaner. It needs to break down readily.

Second, don’t leave the hose running. Fill a bucket with some soap and water, wet your car down using a hose with a spray nozzle, and then turn off the hose. This way, you’ll use the least amount of water possible and still get to enjoy your weekend car washing ritual.

Third, after you’ve thoroughly scrubbed your car down, give it a quick rinse. Then turn the hose off.

Fourth, once you’ve completed all of the detail work with your microfiber cloth, and your car is nice and shiny, get the hose and wash away the puddles of soapy water. Yes, this takes water, but birds, neighborhood cats, dogs and squirrels will appreciate not having this toxic watering hole around to tempt them.

Now before you go take a nap in your hammock, you'd better put your car in the garage. And, grab the umbrella on your way out to the hammock. It looks like it's gonna rain.

photo by wjarrettc