Saturday, Wine (Again)

The wine/cracker/cheese combo last night was, as always, very tasty. However, as will happen from time to time, I did manage to spill a bit of wine. It got on my shirt and on the carpet. So this seems like a good time to talk about wine stain removal. A few years ago there was a tip from the show "Queer Eye for the Straight Guy" on removing red wine stains from carpet. And I've since seen this repeated and supported as true in various places on the internet. The best mixture appears to be hydrogen peroxide and green Dawn dishwashing liquid. I suspect just about any liquid dishwashing detergent will work, but there were several sites that were adamant that Dawn was the best. From various articles, I also suspect that "lemon scented" Dawn, if there is such a thing, might be even better as lemon (the citric acid in it, I think) seems to be a prominent, and very effective, agent in many other wine stain removal recipes. Anyway, the mixture ratio is about 1 part Dawn to 16 parts peroxide (1 tablespoon added to a cup). It is essential that *both* the detergent and peroxide be used as either one alone is ineffective. And be sure to mix them together well (i.e., don't just pour the Dawn into the peroxide and start using it, stir it up first).

To treat your carpet, do *not* rub vigorously on the stain, but use a sponge to gently soak the concoction into it. You will see the stain disappear before your eyes. Then use a clean, water dampened sponge and some good paper (or cloth) towels to do a final cleanup. Let it dry. It's also very important that the mixture be "fresh". Once the peroxide sits around in the open air for awhile it becomes much less effective. This can be used as a pre-wash on clothing that has been stained (I'm running an experiment right now on this :-)). This remover is effective on both fresh and on older, set in, stains. It also works on many other stains than just wine.

I'll report back later on how the laundry turns out ... but the carpet stain has cleaned up nicely.

(It's now later): OK, I have to say that the laundry shows no traces of wine either. So this stuff works. However, it is a dreary, drizzly day out and I haven't done any riding nor have I mowed the lawn yet. Guess it may be a PC day.

Looking around for things to do in the house, I replaced the bulbs in the laundry room light fixture with high efficiency (T8) bulbs ... along with a compatible electronic ballast (only one is needed vs. the two magnetic ballasts present in the old configuration). However, and as somewhat expected, I found out that my occupancy sensor switch really does *not* work with electronic ballast. I did a test where I bypassed the sensor switch and the lights worked fine (whew! because that means I did the wiring right, which is good). So I searched online and found an occupancy (motion detecting) sensor switch that is compatible and I ordered one. Now I'm also comfortable knowing that I can replace any of the other 4 fixtures downstairs with T8 bulbs and high efficiency electronic ballast without having to buy a whole new fixture. It's nice to know. As of yet, I haven't found (but haven't searched much) the T8 bulbs with a different color temperature than standard florescent white/green ... ugh. It's OK for the laundry room but I have 5000K bulbs in the family room and I want to go for something like that there too (if I switch to T8 bulbs). H-mmm, looks like they have 6500K (daylight) T8 bulbs at bulbs.com ... have to check in to that.

Of course, none of this is terribly cost effective unless I stay here for a very long time but it does give me a good feeling to do even minor reductions on my carbon footprint ... although I'm sure Rush would simply sniff his nose incredulously.

Later ...