A water softener eliminates minerals that make water hardness, one of the most widely recognized water quality issues a mortgage holder experiences. Hard water devastates machines, leaves dingy cleanser filth across washrooms and kitchens, and dries out hair and skin. With over 85% of the United States depending on hard water for their cooking, cleaning, and washing, water softeners fill an essential need. A water softener spares you from supplanting rashly demolished water radiators, textured fixture heads, and a really long time of tidying up foamy buildup. Putting resources into a water softener spares you time, energy, and cash, and secures your home and your property.
In organic science, delicious plants, otherwise called succulents, are plants with parts that are thickened, meaty, and engorged, generally to hold water in dry atmospheres or soil conditions. It is a trademark that isn't utilized experimentally for the meaning of most families and genera of plants in light of the fact that frequently, it just can be utilized as a precise trademark at the single species level.
Succulent Merch
The word delicious originates from the Latin word sucus, signifying 'squeeze', or 'sap'. Delicious plants may store water in different structures, for example, leaves and stems. A few definitions likewise incorporate roots, in this way geophytes that endure troublesome periods by passing on back to underground stockpiling organs might be viewed as succulents. In green use, the term delicious is here and there utilized in a manner that prohibits plants that botanists would view as succulents, for example, desert flora. Succulents are regularly developed as decorative plants on account of their striking and abnormal appearance, just as their capacity to flourish with generally insignificant consideration.
Cactus Shirts
Many plant families have various succulents species found inside them (in excess of 25 plant families). In certain families, for example, Aizoaceae, Cactaceae, and Crassulaceae, most species are succulents. The living spaces of these water-saving plants are regularly in regions with high temperatures and low precipitation, for example, deserts. Succulents can flourish with restricted water sources, for example, fog and dew, which makes them prepared to get by in an environment that contains scant water sources.
An inside look at fitness routines, by Anahad O'Connor.
When Paula Radcliffe won the New York City Marathon in 2007, the fact that she pulled it off less than a year after giving birth was considered something of an anomaly.
But a recent article in The Times, "For Pregnant Marathoners, Two Endurance Tests," underscores how, for some athletes, juggling pregnancy with a training routine is becoming the norm. To better understand how and why some elite runners train through their pregnancies, we spoke with Clara Horowitz Peterson, a top runner and a mother of three.
Ms. Peterson, 30, has trained through four pregnancies, including her current one. She is 10 weeks pregnant and runs about 55 miles per week – a number that might sound like a lot, she says, but is substantially less than her usual mileage.
Ms. Peterson, who lives in California and is sponsored by Nike Trail, was an all-American in cross-country and track at Duke University and a runner for New Balance from 2006 to 2009. In 2012, she completed her first marathon at the United States Olympic Trials with a time of 2 hours 35 minutes 50 seconds, less than a year after giving birth to her second child.
While some women are encouraged to restrict physical activity because of complications, doctors generally recommend that pregnant women get at least 30 minutes of exercise on most days. The levels that are considered safe will vary from one woman to the next, and experts recommend that women consult with their doctors — as Ms. Peterson did — before beginning an exercise program of any kind.
Here are edited excerpts from our conversation with Ms. Peterson.
How did you get into running?
I grew up in Berkeley, Calif., and started running in the fourth grade. Once a week I'd run with my dad a mile around the block. He had this group of guys he used to go running with and I would tag along. By my sophomore year of high school I won my first state championship. I won a total of four: three in cross-country and a track state championship in the two-mile.
Did you or your doctor have any concerns when you trained through your first pregnancy?
My doctor was onboard, and I felt comfortable continuing to run. But I always put my baby first. I never overdid it. If your doctor is monitoring you and you don't have any weird pains, then it's fine. I've heard of hundreds of women doing it.
Did you scale back your training?
Throughout pregnancy, I always slowly decrease the mileage and intensity. I think adding intensity when you're pregnant is never O.K. If we're talking about someone who normally runs 100 miles a week with intense workouts, then by the end it should be dwindled down to 40 miles a week with no workouts. For the average person, that's a lot. But for an elite runner, it's nothing. So it's all about perspective.
Did you ever encounter any problems or complications?
I never experienced any weird pain or anything like that. When you have a six-pound baby in your stomach, it's a little uncomfortable. But I listened to my body. There were days where I felt less up for it. And then there were days where I felt better. It was all about listening to my body, and I think that's why I was able to handle more through the second and third pregnancies, because I think my body became conditioned to running in a pregnant state.
Runners like Paula Radcliffe and Alysia Montano have been praised but also criticized for training through their pregnancies. What do you say to critics?
Runners really know their bodies more than anybody. I figured out with my most recent three pregnancies at three weeks that I was pregnant. To be that in tune with your body, you have to really know what's O.K. and what isn't. We're human beings who have tested our limits over and over again since we were teenagers. For an elite runner, the key to having a healthy baby is to do what your body is used to doing but at a much slower pace.
Alysia Montano went out at the U.S. championships and ran 2 minutes 30 seconds in the 800 meters, which is fantastic. But when she was in shape, she was over half a lap ahead of herself. She's broken two minutes. For a normal person, that pace is insane. But for someone who is as highly conditioned as Alysia Montano, it wasn't a big deal.
In 2011, you qualified for the Olympic marathon trials four months after giving birth. What went into your decision to train through that pregnancy?
Going into the pregnancy, I was in very good shape and I felt very motivated to run. In pregnancy, your body becomes deconditioned over time. So I just wanted to minimize my deconditioning as much as possible in a healthy way. I ran a lot, but by six months the longest run I did was probably 10 miles, and by the end I was probably running four to seven miles a day.
Throughout the pregnancy, I would do a lot of "pickups" when I ran. I would pick up my pace for a minute and then take a break, and I would do that 10 to 15 times, just to practice minor intensity. It was more to maintain routine. The quality of the workout compared to an elite runner was very minimal. For the average person it probably would've been hard, but there was no elite runner I would have been able to keep up with.
Is it physically a lot harder to run while pregnant?
Your gait changes a little bit. And as you get bigger, naturally, there's a lot more discomfort. There's definitely discomfort on the bladder because the uterus is right above it. Dealing with that is probably the hardest part about running while pregnant. In the last trimester, I planned out runs where I knew there were port-a-potties or restaurants along the way just to make sure I was able to relieve my bladder and not be forced to hold it.
If you're running a lot, you're not going to have excessive weight gain. I gained about 20 pounds with each kid. I haven't had to worry about the feeling of acclimating to excessive weight gain, which I would imagine would be very hard to run with. You get a little more cushion here and there, but the majority of the weight gain was in my uterus.
What is your training regimen like? Was it the same for each pregnancy?
I went into each pregnancy with a different level of fitness. But I came into this one in pretty good shape. Right now I'm 10 weeks pregnant. I'm down to running about 50 to 60 miles a week, whereas I was running up to 80 before I got pregnant. I'm cutting out long runs.
Do you do any specific exercises to make it easier?
As a runner, it's really important to do core and strength training to prevent injuries. So I do mostly body-weight exercises like lunges, planks and squatting. If you spend nine months not doing any core or strength training and then come back to it, it's just so overwhelming.
Which exercises have you found most helpful while pregnant?
I would say any kind of foot-strengthening exercises. There's so much pressure on your feet all day. Your feet are taking a beating, so I do a lot of heel-to-toe walks. I do a lot of hip and glute strengthening too. Any type of forward flexion is bad for the abdominals, so I tell pregnant women not to do crunches, sit-ups and things like that.
Doctors usually recommend four to six weeks of rest after giving birth. Did you follow that or did you take a different approach?
I started jogging very minimally after around two weeks with all of them – a very slow one-mile run. I start walking pretty early with all my kids just to get out and move my body around. But I have to say it wasn't until about six weeks after giving birth that I could run up to an hour and have it feel O.K. I think I always start too soon because the runner inside of me just can't hold back. But with every kid, at six weeks on the dot I'm like: "I feel good now. Let's go!"
Do you follow a special diet?
I eat healthy and plentiful. I like keeping things healthy and organic but I don't have many restrictions. I have to not only sustain energy to go run, but I also have to mother three children. So I eat a lot of large, healthy, balanced meals.
What tips do you have for other women who continue running while pregnant — barring any medical restrictions?
Always listen to your body. And never take too much time off because once you do, and you try to come back to it, it feels impossible. Three or four days you can get away with. But if you take a week off, it's over. Even if it's just going out for a one mile run, it helps.
There's More to Estate Planning Than Just the Will
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It was with great difficulty that Erik A. Dewey, a writer from Tulsa, Okla., sorted through heaps of paper and online information after his father died at age 65, a week from retirement. Mr. Dewey decided to share what he learned by writing a book, available free online, on estate planning.Credit Christopher Smith for The New York Times
WILLS, health care directives, lists of passwords to online accounts. By now, most people know they should prepare these items — even if they haven't yet — and make them available to trusted family members before the unthinkable, yet inevitable, happens.
But the information family and friends will need when a loved one dies goes far beyond those much-talked-about documents, and having them can make the end of life just a little less painful for those who remain behind.
Consider the experience of John J. Scroggin, who runs a tax business and estate-planning firm in Atlanta. His father, who died in 2001, wanted to be buried in Arlington National Cemetery in Washington.
"I called Arlington and they told me I needed his DD 214 to bury him at the cemetery." Mr. Scroggin recalled. "I had never heard of a DD 214, but they told me if I could not find it, they would put him in cold storage for six months while they found it."
After a frantic search, "I found Dad's DD 214 as a bookmark in a book," he said. The Arlington burial took place. The lesson: Add military discharge papers to the documents you hand over to family members or trusted friends.
Maureen Nelson, of Walnut Creek, Calif., had a less satisfying outcome. "My mom died and told both my sister and I that she was a member of the Neptune Society, which cremates the deceased and scatters the ashes at sea," she said.
"We called to have them pick her up from the convalescent hospital where she died," she explained. "They came. But when they checked their records they couldn't find her name, so they left. My sister said my mom even showed her the paperwork. But she must not have sent it in." The lesson? If you've made your own burial arrangements, make sure you've shared the details.
The legal and emotional complexity of end-of-life planning went from theoretical to real for me recently when I began helping my 89-year-old father gather his documents. One of the many things I learned: He would like a funeral with military honors, having served in two wars. So Mr. Scroggin's advice had special resonance.
Tips on preparing for the end of life can fill a book — as Erik A. Dewey, a writer from Tulsa, Okla., knows firsthand. It was with great difficulty that he sorted through heaps of paper and online information after his father died at age 65, a week from retirement.
His book, which is free online, has been downloaded about 1,000 times a month since it went up about five years ago, he said, and also includes data that people need to keep track of while they're alive, like school and employment history and previous addresses.
"But if something happened to your or a spouse, would your loved ones know what you have, where it is and what your wishes are?"
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While getting these items in order is more urgent for the elderly, all of us need to do it. Ask yourself if you can check off some of the most basic items.
WILL OR LIVING TRUST A will, of course, distributes your assets after you die. With a living trust, the assets you have transferred to the trust (your home, bank accounts and stocks, for example) are administered for your benefit during your lifetime, and then transferred to your beneficiaries when you die.
Despite common advice that a living trust is better than a will because you don't need to go through probate — the court process that inventories and distributes a person's property after death — that's not necessarily true, said Sally Hurme, an elder law attorney with AARP.
"The benefits of trusts are overplayed and the disadvantages of probate are exaggerated," said Ms. Hurme, who is author of the forthcoming "ABA/AARP Checklist for My Family: A Guide to My History, Financial Plans and Final Wishes."
"There are certain circumstances when trusts are appropriate, such as if you have out-of-state real estate or a family business that will continue to be run," she said. Otherwise, she said, a will is fine. If you have any doubt, it's best to research it further or consult a lawyer.
If you decide to write up a will without a lawyer, using online forms, for example, be sure you do it right; a badly executed will can be worse than none at all. That's what Lisa Kinsman's sister found out after her husband was killed in a plane crash when he was 28.
"He had drawn up a will just before he left on the trip" that claimed his life, Ms. Kinsman, of Larchmont, N.Y., said, "but he had filled out some things incorrectly, so all his property would have ended up going to his sister instead of his wife." She had to go through a lengthy court process to get what would have gone to her without any will.
HEALTH CARE POWERS Both a living will and a durable health care power of attorney concern medical decisions, but there are some important differences.
A living will, also called an advance directive in some states, is usually limited to deathbed concerns. It enables you to declare your desire to not have life-prolonging measures used if there is no hope of recovery. A durable power of attorney for health care, on the other hand, covers all health care decisions, and lasts only as long as you are incapable of making decisions for yourself. You can, however, set out specific provisions in the power of attorney telling your agent how you would like them to act on your behalf.
POWER OF ATTORNEY This is granted to someone you trust who can take care of your finances. Unlike a regular power of attorney, a durable one means the person can act even if you become incapacitated. It can be the same person as the health care power of attorney but in the best of all worlds, it probably shouldn't be, as they require different skill sets, Ms. Hurme said.
"A health care proxy has got to be someone you can look in the eye and say, 'You've got to be willing to pull the plug in the face of opposition from other people,' " Mr. Gavagan said.
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But it's not enough to write these up and put them in a drawer, or even worse in a safe-deposit box where no one has access to them.
"They should be scattered as far and wide as possible — your spouse, your children and your doctors should have your directives," Ms. Hurme said. Her organization offers printable advance directive forms by state on its website. Caringinfo.org also provides information and forms.
Aside from the heavy-duty legal documents, here are some other recommendations from Mr. Dewey and other experts:
List passwords and logins for everything. This may be obvious, but it bears repeating. Margie Billian, a hairdresser in Rockville, Md., said of her father: "On his deathbed, he was giving me passwords and telling me where items were. This was not enough."
Ms. Billian's father's business was also audited by the Internal Revenue Service after his death, which is why it's vital to keep old tax documents for several years after someone has died.
Some things others have found helpful that aren't so obvious include a medical history, so children and grandchildren know if there is a history of allergies, for example, or diabetes.
Make sure you list what companies and services direct-debit from your bank accounts and credit cards so they don't continue after those accounts are closed. Mr. Scroggin said a client's children closed their father's bank account when he couldn't handle his own affairs. They didn't know an insurance policy worth over $1 million was kept active by direct debits from that account. It was terminated for nonpayment.
Don't forget the most mundane things, like how your house works: the alarm, the sprinkler system, the key to the shed out back. Look at your house as if you were renting it to strangers for the summer and needed to leave instructions, Mr. Gavagan said.
And finally, many people suggested, think about writing a letter or letters to those closest to you to be read after your death.
"If I had one more letter from my father," Mr. Dewey said, "It would have meant the world to me."
