5 Ways Professional Landscapers Maximise Space In Residential Landscape Designs

One of the critical skills that landscapers have when creating a landscape design is that they can do so regardless of the amount of space available in the garden they are working on. Whilst extensive gardens have their challenges, it is when they have to create a landscape design within a garden with limited space that landscape designers genuinely earn their money.

That is not to say that smaller gardens are the only time landscapers make the most of the available space, which means that homeowners can get the maximum return on their investment, and the most pleasure from their garden, regardless of its size. Landscapers achieve this using several landscape design techniques, some of which we have outlined below.

Use The Vertical Space

Although a small garden may have finite space horizontally as defined by the garden’s outer boundaries, in most cases, that will not apply vertically, where, quite literally, the sky is the limit. This means that, where possible, a landscape design for a small garden should maximise vertical space wherever feasible.

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How A Child’s Literacy Development Can Be Impacted By Speech Development Difficulties

How A Child's Literacy Development Can Be Impacted By Speech Development Difficulties

Whenever speech pathology is considered by those whose knowledge of the subject is somewhat lacking, the assumption is made that it applies purely to developing a child’s speech. Whilst that certainly forms a large part of what happens in speech pathology, some are surprised to learn that speech pathologists such as communikidsspeech.com.au also work to support a child’s literacy skills too.

Bear in mind that, under the umbrella of “language”, it is not just a child’s speaking skills that need to develop, but their writing and reading skills too. Further, in many cases, there is a direct link between a child’s language skills as they apply to their speech and their ability to read and write.

Many children develop as expected, and the need for a speech pathologist to intervene is zero. However, some children develop speech problems that impact their literacy development. One such example is “Speech Sound Disorders” (SSD), which can cause problems for a child when they are learning to read and write.

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10 Tips For Successful Lasik Eye Surgery Recovery

10 Tips For Successful Lasik Eye Surgery Recovery

Anyone who goes through Lasik eye surgery will no doubt be as keen as anything to go out into the world and see clearly without the need for glasses and contact lenses. That they will certainly be able to do, and soon, given that the recovery time from LASIK surgery can be as little as 24 hours.

However, as with any kind of surgical procedure, even one as quick and simple as Lasik eye surgery, there is still a recovery process. The more you stick to that process, and more importantly, to the guidelines given to you by your surgeon, the quicker any discomfort will pass, and the quicker you will be able to go back to your usual routine.

Here are is some advice and guidance relating to Lasik eye recovery to help make your recovery process as easy as possible.

Discomfort: You are likely to feel some discomfort after surgery, but it should be mild. This should be at worst for the first four hours or so, but after four hours it should start to diminish to the point that within 24 hours the discomfort should have completely dissipated.

Redness: Not everyone will experience redness in their eyes, but if it occurs it is nothing to be alarmed about. Normally the redness will be in the form of dark red spots in the whites of the eye, and they can last for several days.

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5 Awesome And Fun Team Building Games

5 Awesome And Fun Team Building Games

If there is one way to ensure that any team building exercise you facilitate is going to be successful then it is to ensure that is fun for those taking part. This can be achieved by using team building games from teamworksdevelopment.com.au rather than other activities as they not only can be fun, but they also help team members to bond and form a closer relationship.

For those of you who are concerned that you do not know of any team building games, please rest easy, as there are dozens of team. To get you started here are 5 of our favourite team building games which are proven to improve team spirit, trust, and togetherness.

The Human Knot

This is a fun game for between 8 and 20 participates. Everyone stands in a circle, and then they use their right hand to grab the hand of another. Then they use their left hand to grab another hand. Once they are all ‘tied together’, the team has to untangle the knot they are in without letting go of anyone. Skills required are communication and working together to solve the problem.

The Mine Field

This requires an even number of participants, and you will need a several small objects which you place on a random basis across the outdoor area you are using. The participants are split into pairs and one member of each pair is blindfolded.

Their teammate must guide them using only their voice across the area so that they do not step on any of the objects or ‘mines’. This is a great game for improving verbal and listening skills, plus it engenders a large degree of trust within each pair.

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How Air Conditioning Enhances Your Lifestyle

Air-Conditioning

How do you cope with extreme cold or heat? Somehow, it seems easier to get warm in the winter than it does to get cool when the weather is extremely hot. In winter you can rug up in multiple warm layers, exercise to get warm or switch on the heater – or all three. But when the temperature is soaring and you wear minimal clothing you can still feel uncomfortably hot and sweaty unless you are lucky enough to have efficient air conditioning.

Even wearing all cotton clothing, shorts, tops with spaghetti straps and nothing on your feet it is still hot. When the heat goes on for weeks and months, it can leave you feeling lethargic and unable to be bothered with anything or anyone, especially when the nights are also hot. Hot nights make for restless sleeping – if you can get to sleep at all. Sleepless nights due to being uncomfortably hot can leave you searching for ducted air conditioning prices in the middle of the night.

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What Wine Glasses Should You Buy?

Wine Glasses

When you go out for dinner at your local restaurant, or even when you’re on an online wine website shopping around, you’re bound to see more than one style of wine glass. At first glance, it’s easy to assume that different wine glass shapes and sizes are merely a distinction across brands. However, size matters. As does the style.

Why Do Size and Shape Matter?

If you’re wondering why your friend who purchased red wine has a different shaped glass to yours filled with white wine, it’s not just what the bartender grabbed first. Believe it or not, the size and shape of the wine glass helps to accentuate the flavours of various wines. What’s more, there’s a complex science which determines the exact amount of aroma permeating from the glass, as well as how much air to which the wine is exposed.

What Wine Glass Do I Need for White Wine?

Most white wines require chilling – either in a fridge or a wine cooler while it’s sitting at your table at a restaurant. Once it’s in a glass, however, the chilling effect starts to wear off, and the flavour and aromatics can begin to change. To avoid this, white wine glasses are created in such a way as to keep the wine cooler for longer. They tend to be slimmer and smaller, while also shaped to allow the aroma to hit your nose with each sip.

What Wine Glass Do I Need for Red Wine?

If you’re shopping on an online wine website for red wine, you may as well add wine glasses to your shopping list. However, make sure they are suitable for red wine. The perfect wine glass for red wine tends to have a shorter, wider bowl. The reason for this is that it enables you to get the full sensory experience. You can breathe in its rich aroma as you drink it. What’s more, the wide bowl shape also helps to aerate the wine as there is more room for you to swirl it around in the glass.

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A Simple Guide To Fire Extinguishers

A Simple Guide To Fire Extinguishers

Can you think of one piece of fire safety equipment which fire protection services companies get asked for more often than any other? Most of you who tried to answer would likely have said a fire extinguisher, and you would be correct. From the smallest one-roomed office to the largest manufacturing plant you can imagine, one or more fire extinguishers will be there.

The reasons for this are many, including the fact that fire extinguishers are convenient, they do not take up much space, they are relatively easy to operate, and in terms of their cost, they are affordable, compared to many of the more comprehensive fire protection options. As such, unless fire regulations state otherwise, and your building requires fire sprinklers for example,  a fire extinguisher is going to be the first available option when it comes to putting out a fire.

We mentioned that fire extinguishers are easy to operate and that is true. In most cases, it is a case of removing a pin, pointing the hose or outlet at the appropriate part of the fire, and then pressing the lever. Despite this simplicity of use, it is advisable that all staff are given brief instructions fire extinguisher use as part of their induction or initial training.

Part of that training also should include details about the different types of fire extinguisher that are on your premises. We say this because in Australia, and indeed most parts of the world, there are different classifications of fire extinguisher. In Australia, the number of classifications is 5, and the larger and more complex the premises you have, the more likely it is that you have two or more of these.

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Should I Resign If I’m Suffering from Workplace Bullying?

Should I Resign If I’m Suffering from Workplace Bullying

In short, no, you should never be forced to resign because of workplace bullying, discrimination or any other form of harassment. However, every situation is different, and you should always do what’s best for your physical and emotional health and wellbeing.

In order to help you make the correct decision, we’ve worked through some of the complexities of workplace bullying in the following article. Note, however, that this is a very complex subject, which means that we certainly haven’t covered everything in detail.

Similarly, remember to seek professional help if you’re suffering from poor mental or physical health as a result of bullying.

What Is Workplace Bullying?

In general, there’s actually no clear definition of what constitutes workplace bullying. However, it’s very easy to develop a logical definition. Bullying can be thought of as:

“Any actions or behaviour, intentional or not, that is offensive, malicious, insulting or intimidating, along with abuses of power designed to humiliate, injure or undermine the victim”.

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Dispelling The Myths That Bleach Can Be Used On Carpets

Dispelling The Myths That Bleach Can Be Used On Carpets

You hear of people doing many things, and to some, it will seem normal, and to others, it will simply beggar belief. This applies to millions of activities, and the one which we are going to examine now is carpet cleaning, specifically, the use of bleach to try and clean carpets or remove stains from them.

From the outset, we will say that this article will not teach you how to use bleach for carpet cleaning or stain removal for one very simple reason. That reason is that carpet cleaners do not recommend you use bleach for carpet cleaning and suggest that the further away from your carpets that you can keep bleach, the better it is.

If anyone reading this does not take our word for it, then perhaps they might like to refer to what almost every carpet manufacturer that exists recommends about the proper and safe cleaning of the carpets they produce. In all cases, they state that bleach should not be used as a carpet cleaner and, in most cases likely to damage it if that advice is ignored.

We are not writing this because we have nothing against bleach. It has many excellent cleaning properties, and when used properly, safely, and on specific surfaces, bleach is often the best cleaning product. However, when it comes to cleaning carpets, it most certainly is not.

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How To Prepare For Your First Meeting With Your Divorce Lawyer

How To Prepare For Your First Meeting With Your Divorce Lawyer

Going through a divorce can be a highly emotional and stressful experience; however, you can reduce the angst in several ways. One of those is hiring an experienced and accomplished family lawyer, more specifically a divorce lawyer and helping them as much as you can to make the best possible case they can for you throughout the negotiations and at court if the need arises.

Now, it is unlikely that you will have kept a divorce lawyer ‘on hold’ as it were and paid them a retainer just in case your marriage ever went awry…at least we hope you didn’t. It can seem like a cynical world sometimes, so we assume you wanted your marriage to work by having a divorce lawyer on standby rather than expecting it would not.

Once you hire a divorce lawyer, one of the most important meetings you will have with them is the first one. This is important for several reasons, but one that is key is that it will confirm, or not, that you are comfortable discussing your marriage and other aspects of your personal life with this particular divorce lawyer.

Depending on how amicable or not the split is, or how likely or not a negotiated settlement might be, there is always the possibility that the divorce will end up in court. If it does, your ex-partner’s lawyer will quite rightly do all they can to make their case, and that could involve bringing up elements of your personal life that you might find uncomfortable.

For this reason, your lawyer needs to know as much about you, your ex-partner, and your marriage as possible so that they counter anything your ex’s lawyer tries to use against you. That is why you have to be completely open and trusting of your lawyer, and so the first meeting is hopefully where that trust begins.

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