Fires Raging in Russian Heat Wave

[chivo]

My wife told me that the word in Russia last weekend is that our prez proudly announced that he was donating $35K for the fire victims   At the least, I hope he isn't wiring it through Western Union.

I believe he did. Fat Yuri says thanks

[Olga_Mouse]

I can't imagine what that smoke is doing to your clothing, walls, linens, carpeting and furniture. 

Well, clothing is luckily in a warderobe... which here means a piece of furniture with doors closed, rather than a room.

Walls can (and will!) be washed - as I have the washable wallpapers (which are actually more like plastic than paper). I've realised how bad it all is after noticing I can make a line with my finger on a normally WHITE surfaces - like top of the fridge or top of the washing machine... 'cause now I can see that white line, and my fingertip gets nearly black!

Linen is changed & washed more often than regular (also because in that heat I sweat a lot...), and I don't like light colours... so hopefully no traces will be visible.

But with furniture and carpeting it would be complicated, I guess...

...and that annoying smoky micro dust is on all my CD-collection!! On these shiny jewelcases!!! Luckily my vinyls collection is all protected with individual plastic envelopes...

I'd be tempted to put my clothing in sealed plastic bags, and cover my furniture with plastic.

I would have covered furniture with plastic if I would have realised from the beginning how bad the situation was... 

Now it looks like when the smoke will be finally gone completely, I'll have to dedicate all my free time during a few days to a big serious cleaning...

What doesn't give me much optimism is that after I washed curtains manually a couple of times and put them into a washing machine with... how you call it? conditioner? what you add for the nice flowery smell?... that annoying smoky smell isn't gone completely! Got a smoke & flowers mix...

[Boethius]

Conditioner is only for hair.  We use fabric softeners to add scent to clothing. 

Vinegar would probably work better at getting rid of the smell of smoke.

[GQBlues]

Vinegar would probably work better at getting rid of the smell of smoke.

Back home remedy is tried and true to rid of those impurities...soak/rinse in water/lemon juice then tap with wooden paddle. Then hang dry under the sun. Always work.

I'm sure some of the AM/WMs who has spent considerable time in FSU apartments have noticed those wooden paddles by the sink.

[Boethius]

Lemon juice will take the scent out as well, however, it can also strip colour out of clothing.

[GQBlues]

It won't be so bad Boethius so long as you dilute it with water and don't wring the material. Just gently tap it with the wiggle waggle paddle then hang drying it will work wonders...

[ECOCKS]

OK, we've done the Medical Channel, the Food Channel and now it's the Home Tips Channel.....where is Eloise? We're SO damn practical it hurts!

[GQBlues]

Well, I will always gladly yield to Boethius when it comes to home tips. I will also agree that vinegar is an incredible item to have in the laundry room. It's is a multi-positive additive item to aid in washing your clothes. But I grew up using lemon (calamansi) when I was washing laundry by hand as a kid.

While lemon is a naturally bleaching agent, you can actually control that by the amount of water you dilute it with and will actually even 'enhance' the colors of non-whites.

Lemon, vinegar and baking soda will do wonders for your laundry woes...they're all great to remove stains, mildew, impurities out of your clothes and leave them smelling fresh.

In this article, they even added 'salt' into the mix and if given the thought, I can understand how salt can easily soften the hardness of the water that is prevalent in many regions.

"But among the Fantastic Four, lemon juice really takes the leading role for some laundry tasks. Add 1/2 cup of it to a regular load of laundry during the wash cycle, and it will make the whole load smell fresher. Add it to a load of whites, and the whites become whiter. Combine lemon juice with cream of tartar and you have a very powerful stain remover."

http://glenbrookzerowaste.wordpress.com/2010/05/19/green-laundry-tips/

[SANDRO43]

Lemon, vinegar and baking soda will do wonders for your laundry woes...they're all great to remove stains, mildew, impurities out of your clothes and leave them smelling fresh.

Hmm, I never heard about adding baking soda (sodium bicarbonate) to a wash. It's mildly alkaline in water, therefore it'd counteract the action of the citric acid from lemons and the acetic acid in vinegar:

Sodium bicarbonate reacts with acetic acid (found in vinegar) and presents a simple and showy demonstration of a chemical reaction. The products of the ensuing two-stage reaction are sodium acetate, water, and carbon dioxide:

NaHCO₃ + CH₃COOH → CH₃COONa + H₂O + CO₂

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sodium_bicarbonate

It'd surely give you a rather bubbly wash .

The problem with the most tenacious dirt is that it's fatty/greasy, in chemical terms lipophilic (Greek for grease-loving, dissolving in fats, oils, lipids, etc.) and therefore not hydrophilic (water-loving, dissolving in water). Acids, too, can attack greasy substances in fabrics, but they may also compromise the integrity of their fibers.

That's why we discovered the benefits of surfactants - the first historical example being soap. A surfactant molecule has a lipophilic end that attaches itself to fatty substances, while its other end is hydrophilic and attracted to water, and will drag along the rest .

[aikorob]

For those of you with Google Earth:  http://maps.geog.umd.edu/firms/kml.htm#russia_asia

[GQBlues]

I suspect baking soda is not meant to be added along with vinegar or lemon juice Sandro. I personally have not used baking soda other than an additive to our kitties' litter box. For that purpose, it's a wonderful deodorizer.

The mild alkali properties in baking soda apparently serves as a booster to both soap (which already contains alkali) and detergent, which contains phosphate. Likely why the bubbly result.

I used to bring along a white bar of soap which I would use for the laundry wash. It was a bit more 'slimy' than bubbly in its properties and it's pretty horrid to use as a body wash although it does make your skin feel 'smoother and cleaner'. It was pretty darn cheap as I recall and was generally considered as a 'poorman's body wash' since it's intent is for laundry use only and not for personal hygiene wash. It's literally odor-free. But poor as we were, it was a body wash as well.

The article stated soap was first used as far back as 2800 BC. People must have donned such interesting personal essence back in the days.

[OlgaH]

I personally have not used baking soda other than an additive to our kitties' litter box. For that purpose, it's a wonderful deodorizer.

You should be careful if you add it to your kitties' litter box. Usually they lick their paws after

Ingestion of large amounts of baking soda or baking powder can lead to electrolyte abnormalities (low potassium, low calcium and/or high sodium), congestive heart failure or muscle spasms.
http://www.petplace.com/cats/dangerous-foods-are-they-harmful-to-your-cat/page1.aspx

[GQBlues]

Wow Olga!

I didn't know that! 

They're the love of our lives right now! I'll definitely read up on this....

Thanks!!