Plumb Smart, Inc - April 2020

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APR 2020

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THE MOST INFLUENTIAL PEOPLE IN MY LIFE

My Uncle John and Aunt Toni

I think everyone can point to a couple of people, or at least one, who had a major impact on their life and ultimately shaped who they have become. Besides my wife Dianne, my parents, and even my children, two people who were, and still are, a great influence are my uncle John and aunt Toni. I’m thankful for all the time I’ve been blessed to spend with them and for all the ways they have influenced me. For my entire life, John and Toni have lived in Seneca, South Carolina, right on Lake Keowee. They bought the land before the lake was created, a shrewd business move. Uncle John was a forester for the state of South Carolina. He’s retired now but still does consulting work for private landowners. Uncle John loves the outdoors and he shared that passion with me as I grew up. When I was in high school, he got me a job working for a timber company and I lived with John and Toni that summer. Physically, it was the hardest job I’ve ever done. I worked on a five- man crew in the mountains, and I was the only one who worked through the summer without quitting. We came across copperhead snakes every day. We wore snake leggings that covered us from our feet to our knees. Thankfully, no one ever got bit. “While he always had his job as a forester, he was also someone who often had a few different irons in the fire at once.”

John also taught me a lot about fishing and showed me many good spots to catch bass in the lake. He actually built

his own bass boat one time, and I can remember many pleasurable times fishing from that boat. He also knew all the best trout fishing spots nearby and was always eager to stoke my passion for trout fishing. To this day, trout fishing is one of my favorite pastimes. I used to be a pretty picky eater, but Aunt Toni cured me of that. You either ate what she cooked or you didn’t eat. Toni cooked differently from my mother, and it took some getting used to. She also would engage me in friendly arguments. She’s very smart and a little tricky, too, and has a way of letting you stick your foot in your mouth and then pointing out you might not be so smart after all. Then she’ll give you a little sideways half smile that says, “Gotcha.” Along with his love for the outdoors, my uncle was also very entrepreneurial by nature. While he always had his job as a forester, he often had a few different irons in the fire at once. He raised cows for many years and developed a subdivision and sold off lots. He built a big boat dock and leases out boat slips. I know my own entrepreneurial spirit has its genesis with my uncle John, so in a way, he’s at least partly responsible for me becoming a business owner. John and Toni are two of the most selfless people I know. They are not only family; I consider them close friends. I have so many stories and memories of the times I spent with them, from the time my brother and I water-skied behind his boat for about 10 miles, to the time he bailed my buddy and me out of a ticket we got for fishing without a license. Many people have helped shape the direction of my life for good; Uncle John and Aunt Toni are near the top of the list as far as forming my character and business acumen.

–Pa u l Little

BILL, HUGH, JOHN

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Laugh With Me! A LIGHTHEARTED APP We’ve all heard that laughter is the best medicine, and it turns out that human physiology supports this claim. When we laugh, our body releases a flood of feel-good chemicals and neurotransmitters. Our blood flow increases, and our production of cortisol, a hormone associated with stress, decreases. Oh, and laughing also burns calories! beneficial as the real thing because the body can’t tell the difference between the two.

Collaborating with this wife, Madhuri, Kataria combined common yoga warmups and breathing techniques with facilitated laughter to create the form of laughter yoga that is practiced worldwide today. If you’re interested in trying laughter yoga for yourself, then you’re in luck. Laughter yoga clubs exist across the United States and the world. Videos on YouTube can teach the basics, but laughter yoga tends to be most beneficial in a group setting. Just think about the last time you found yourself in a fit of giggles with a group of friends or during a comedy show. Didn’t it feel great? Rather than wait for a silly situation to trigger laughter, use laughter yoga to promote laughter and alleviate stress on any day at any time.

The feel-good, endorphin-inducing benefits of laughter are exactly what prompted Dr. Madan Kataria to develop laughter yoga in 1995. Laughter yoga incorporates breathing, stretching, clapping, and of course, laughing. Kataria developed the initial idea after coming across research into the benefits of laughter on overall health and well-being. He began to put the research into practice by telling jokes to his patients, and after seeing the positive effects, he took his material to a local park. Parkgoers, who were initially skeptical, joined in on the practice, and the first laughter yoga club was born. The laughter meetup had everyone in high spirits — until the group ran out of jokes. Unsure of what to do next, Kataria found another medical book suggesting the group didn’t need jokes to laugh. Fake laughter is just as

WHAT IS A SEWER POPPER? And Should I Have One?

A t Plumb Smart, we do a lot of drain cleaning and sewer pipe repair. In our area, we think of the ground being rather stable. However, it actually moves a lot. The fluctuation between hot and cold and dry and wet weather, the ground settling near a home foundation, and most commonly, the growth of tree roots can cause the ground beneath our feet to shift drastically. Roots look for the easiest routes to take when they grow, and in soft or wet soil, they don’t face a lot of resistance. Roots will follow along backfilled ditches where sewer and water lines have been buried. This soil there is softer and moister than the surrounding hard packed earth. Roots can actually break pipes by squeezing them. All they need to do is find microscopic cracks in pipes, and they’ll start burrowing in. Once one tiny root gets into a pipe, it starts getting bigger and bigger on the inside, feeding on the constant moisture inside a drain pipe. If you have a main sewer blockage out in your yard, it can back up in your house and cause some serious damage. Fortunately, a device can be installed on your home’s outside sewer clean out pipe. It’s called a Sewer Popper. The Sewer Popper replaces the cap that screws onto the clean out pipe.

If your sewer backs up for some reason, the Sewer Popper will float out of the clean out pipe and the sewage will spill out onto the ground outside

your house instead of spilling out into your tub, shower or toilet. The Sewer Popper will work on 95% of the homes in our area. I have a Sewer Popper at my house and it has saved me from sewer blockages backing up into my house from my septic tank. In my opinion, it’s one of the best things you can get for your sewer pipe.

If you know where your clean out pipe is, you can easily install a Sewer Popper yourself. Unscrew the cap, screw in the adapter that comes with the Sewer Popper, and drop the Popper into the adapter. If you don’t have a clean out pipe or can’t find it, give us a call and we can help you find it or install one.

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PROACH TO DECREASING STRESS

WORD SEARCH

BUNNY DAISY EARTH EASTER

EGGS FOOL GARDEN PASSOVER

POLLEN PRANK RAMADAN TAXES

EASY DEVILED EGGS

Inspiredby TasteOfHome.com

SUDOKU

Ingredients

• • • • • •

1/2 cup mayonnaise

•

Salt, paprika, garlic powder, and pepper, to taste 12 large eggs, hard-boiled Fresh parsley, minced, and paprika for garnish

2 tbsp milk

• •

1 tsp dried parsley flakes

1/2 tsp dill weed

1/2 tsp fresh chives, minced 1/2 tsp ground mustard

Directions

1. In a large bowl, combine mayonnaise, milk, parsley flakes, dill, chives, mustard, salt, paprika, garlic powder, and pepper. Mix well and set aside. 2. Cut eggs lengthwise and remove yolks carefully to preserve egg whites. 3. In a small bowl, mash yolks. 4. Mix mashed yolks with mayonnaise mixture. 5. Spoon or pipe the mixture back into the egg whites. 6. Garnish with fresh parsley and paprika. Refrigerate before serving.

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The Most Influential Person in My Life 1

Laughter Yoga’s Rise as a Global Health Movement

How Sewer Poppers Can Save You From Backed Up Pipes 2

Easy Deviled Eggs 3

Keep America Beautiful 4

And Maintain Green Living Spaces for Everyone

Start plogging.

Have you ever walked through a park and seen a plastic bottle or wrapper lying on the ground? If so, did you pick it up and properly dispose of it? You might not have realized it, but in that moment, you took a small step toward keeping your community — and, by extension, America — beautiful! April is Keep America Beautiful Month, and folks who celebrate aim to help each community in every state stay clean and green. Created by the nonprofit organization Keep America Beautiful, this holiday offers a perfect opportunity to roll up your sleeves and work to better the place you live in. Here are three ways to show your appreciation for a green America this month.

If you’re passionate about staying active and cleaning up your neighborhood, then this is the perfect activity for you! Plogging combines jogging and picking up litter, which takes care of your health and keeps your community clean. Anybody can do it: Just throw on your running shoes, grab a bag, head out the door, and pick up any stray bits of trash you see on your morning jog or evening walk.

Improve recycling through education.

An important goal during Keep America Beautiful Month is to spread awareness about recycling. There are various ways to educate those around you about recycling and encourage them to do their part. At work, for example, you can volunteer to lead a recycling initiative by printing off guides and fostering discussions on why recycling is so essential. At home, you can make a commitment with your family to fulfill the three R’s of recycling: reduce, reuse, recycle. To discover more ways to participate in Keep America Beautiful month, visit their website at KAB.org today!

Take action online.

With the current COVID-19 pandemic sweeping the world, it might be difficult to get outside and participate in a few community cleanup programs. But that doesn’t mean the public still can’t participate in Keep America Beautiful Month. April 22 marks the 50th anniversary of Earth Day, and to celebrate, Earth Day Network is providing digital events for everyone around the world to take part in. Follow Earth Day Network’s social media accounts and stay updated on efforts to keep the Earth green or participate in an event yourself! For more information, visit EarthDay.org.

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