General – Page 5

October 16, 2013October 16, 2013

5 Awesome Pet Halloween Costumes

You might be “anti-pet-clothing,” but deep down inside you have to admit one thing. A pet in a Halloween costume is really a sight to see. If there’s one time of the year to dress up your pet, Halloween should be the time…for three reasons. It’s acceptable, you’ll get a ton of comments, and you can take a bunch of really funny pictures that will last you forever. Sold? Good. Here are five great pet costume ideas for Halloween 2013. You can usually buy these costumes at a local Wal-Mart or PetSmart, but it’s even more fun to try and make them yourself.

Mad Scientist

This one is a fairly simple project. All you need is a small pair of lab glasses and something that will look like an open lab coat. You can cut apart some white cloth or an old white shirt and try to shape it perfectly. Then, style your dog’s hair so it goes up and looks crazy. An easy alternative to this costume is Harry Potter. Replace the lab glasses with circular glasses, replace the white coat with a black one, and add a red and yellow tie. If you want, you can add a fake lighting bolt scar with some pet paint, which I’ll show you in a bit.

Dog Batman

A classic dog costume – perfect for the dog who loves to jump. All it takes is a cape and a little Batman logo chest piece. If you want to go all out, put some black ears on your dog. Then throw a tennis ball and take a picture of your dog catching it in mid air. Post it on Facebook, and say hello to a ton of comments. (Side note: If you’re more of a Superman fan, it’s basically the same thing!)

Taco Dog

Remember that Taco Bell commercial from the late 90’s? Yo Quiero, Taco Bell. If you don’t remember it, here it is. If you have a chihuahua, the perfect costume for your dog is a taco. I’m quite serious. Simply put some cardboard shaped like a taco shell on each side of your dog’s body, and throw the lettuce, tomatoes, etc. on top (you can make all of that with felt.) It’s not the absolute easiest costume to put together, but it’s 100% worth it. Want to see a finished product? Click here.

(Side note: You can make a hot dog, too.)

Scuba Diver

This dog costume is actually pretty simple. It just requires a few purchases from a store like Wal-Mart. Get some kids sized flippers, a pair of boxers, and some goggles. Place them on your dog accordingly. Don’t put the goggles on tight! Finish off the costume with a couple empty one liter bottles. Tape them together and put them on the dog’s back!

Color Spray

Don’t feel like putting your dog in a costume? Not a problem. You can still have fun. All you have to do is get some Pet Paint. It’s a color spray that is veterinary tested to be safe with dogs, cats, and even horses. One of the easiest things you can do is put a bull’s eye around your dog’s eye, and then you have the Target dog. Then, just give your pet a wash when the party is over. Your kids will have an absolute blast with this stuff.

What’s your favorite pet Halloween costume? Let us know below.

Lisa Podwirny is the owner of Ketchum Mfg. Connect with her on Google+!

Share this:

May 10, 2013October 22, 2013

Feral Swine

Feral swine herds have had explosive growth since the 1990’s, with an estimated population of 6 million pigs, according to the New York Times. What used to be a problem for southern states is spreading and there are now feral swine in 45 states. The estimated annual damage, in the United States, caused by feral swine is 1.5 billion dollars.

The Spread of Feral Swine Herds

Swine are very adaptable and with a near by source of water, can thrive almost any place. Capture and release practices are one of the major causes of the rapid geographical spread of feral hogs. Some people capture nuisance pigs and rather than killing them, transport them to a new location, while other groups may introduce wild hogs to an area for sport hunting.

Government Responses

Many states governments are taking aggressive action to decrease the harmful impact of feral swine on the environment. New York State, as well as many other states, has an open hunting season on wild hogs. North Carolina has a serious problem, with every county in the state reporting wild pig populations, along with an open hunting season, new regulations have been adopted. In North Carolina all domestic hogs being transported on public roadways must be identified with either an ear tag or a tattoo. The fine for transporting live, unidentified swine is $5,000.00 for each pig.

Tattoo Supplies

Ketchum has a variety of tattoo products available. We offer a hog slap tattooer that can hold 4, 5 or 6 large 3/4″ digits. The slap tattoo is an inexpensive way to mark the hogs before they are transported. Our Baby Pig Tattooer is another option and may be the easiest way to tattoo, while the piglets are small and more easily managed. Ketchum Hog Slap tattoo ink and paste are available in green and black. Please visit our website for more details.

Share this:

April 25, 2013April 25, 2013

Community Supported Agriculture

I just became a member of a CSA, which stands for Community Supported Agriculture. I first heard the term CSA last Spring, my sister-in-law took me to her “Farm” on pick up day. I thought it was such a great idea and I’m so excited to be able to join a local farm.

CSA Agreements

In the winter and early spring a CSA farm will offer membership shares. The farmers are paid in advance and through the growing season the shareholders receive weekly baskets of produce. The members share the risks and rewards with the farmers.

The Benefits to the Farmers

One of the main benefits to the farmers is receiving working capital to purchase seeds and other supplies in the spring. With the knowledge of how many families they will be supplying produce to, they can plant their crops accordingly. There is less waste, as the farmers do not have to guess what will sell at the farmers market. The farmers are able to spend more time and resources on farming.

The Benefits to the Share Holders

Each week, during the growing season, the CSA members receive a basket of fresh, farm produce, many of the items are harvested the same day the baskets are picked up. The quantity and variety in the baskets will change each week depending on which vegetables are at their peak.

The Benefits to the Environment and Community

Since the farmers are able to sell their vegetables locally the transportation costs are greatly reduced, thus saving on fuel and emissions. The available land can be managed efficiently with the knowledge of the quantity of produce required. The farmers and the members get to meet and form friendships.

I think the CSA is a win, win, win opportunity. I can hardly wait to get my first basket of farm fresh veggies!

Share this:

April 17, 2013

Safety Drill

The Environment and Forestry Class that our nephew attends had a safety drill on their wood lot this past weekend. Their instructor, Mr. Dennis Flynn, stated the school has fire drills and lockdowns, he thought it was a good idea to have a simulated accident on the wood lot. Several area fire companies were invited to help with the drill. The fire fighters became familiar with the location of the wood lot and practiced extricating a victim from under a downed tree. More details on the wood lot drill can be seen at http://capitalregion.ynn.com/content/656128/first-responders-and-boces-s tudents-tr ain-for-logging-accidents/

Safety in the Work Pace

The safety conscious instructor got me thinking about safety in our plant. Here at Ketchum we have a very good safety record and work diligently to keep our manufacturing plant incident free. As a small business, we do not have the luxury of a full-time safety department. We rely on videos, borrowed from our insurance company, to add visual content to our training. Our April topics are hearing conservation and hand protection.

Hearing Conservation

We hire a company to bring their mobile testing van to our plant. After watching a video on hearing conservation and proper use of hearing protection, through a series of beeps our hearing is tested. The machines used in our manufacturing process are very loud and hearing protection is required. I believe the information we receive during training allows our employees to understand the benefits of wearing hearing protection.

Hand Protection

The punch presses at Ketchum stamp, cut and bend metal, as you can imagine, fingers and hands are no match for them. All of our presses have electronic guards, the presses will not operate if the guards are not in place. The metal coils have sharp edges and leather gloves help to keep fingers and hands laceration free.

A big “Thank You” to Mr. Flynn for teaching safety to our students and reminding all of us that safety requires education and practice.

Share this:

April 3, 2013December 10, 2018

Ketchum Tags On Location

Parlay Studios in New York, one of our new customers, is using Ketchum cattle neck tags to identify their expensive photography equipement. They were kind enough to send us a note on how well the tags are working for them.

Here at Parlay Studios we use your tags on film and photography shoots to label our vast equipment inventory. They are extremely useful in which they clearly label our gear and make it easier for our clients to differentiate our equipment from their own. Now they not only set us apart from every other equipment rental studio, but let everybody know where they can contact us to order their own!

EQ tags are not only informative but also stand out amongst a wide range of equipment in the production world. For example we have about 40 sandbags in our inventory, a necessity during any production, and each one is clearly tagged with our personalized EQ Tag.

There are no doubts as to which sandbags are ours and which belong to clients. This is a large help to our business because we no longer have to worry about missing gear. If someone borrows something they know exactly where to return it. Thank you so much for your amazing product!

I have also attached a few photographs that show how we use EQ Tags.

Thanks!

Victoria

Share this: