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Whenitcomestofurni- ture, there isn't anything more luxurious and ele- gant than fine leather. But with that elegance comes the challenge of keeping leather clean and main- tained so it gets even better with age. Improper cleaning tech- niques can result in per- manent damage, some- thing I know about from personal experience. To get started, deter- mine the type of leather you're working with. Read the tags or brochure — ei- ther will usually have cleaning tips for your spe- cific piece. If you can find this information, follow the guidelines and instruc- tions. Otherwise, most leather furniture these days has a topcoat to protect the leather, which is usually safe to clean by following these suggestions: VACUUM. You need to remove all the loose dirt, dust and debris. A vacuum with a soft brush attach- ment is the best option, as it will get into the seams and crevices. Be gentle, though. Leather is deli- cate and you don't want to scratch it. TREAT STAINS. Before you do a general clean- ing, you want to treat any stains on the leather. For ink stains, dip a cot- ton swab in rubbing alco- hol and rub over the ink stain. Dry the leather us- ing a blow dryer on the lowest setting. For dark stains, such as food, blood or even stains that you can't identify, make a paste using one part cream of tartar and one part lemon juice. Rub the paste on the stain and let it sit for 10 minutes. Remove the paste with a damp rag and moistur- izing soap (as described below). Gently rinse the soap and dry and buff the leather with a soft cloth. For grease stains, ap- ply a thick coating of tal- cum powder to the stain. Let it sit overnight to draw the grease or oil from the leather. Gently wipe it clean using a lint-free cloth or vacuum. CLEAN. Mix a few drops of a mild liquid fa- cial cleanser or body wash, such as Dove body wash, Neutrogena facial cleanser or any sham- poo that does not con- tain sodium laurel sulfate — a harsh ingredient that could dry out the leather — with one quart of dis- tilled water until suds form. Chlorine and other contaminants in regular tap water can also dam- age the leather. TEST. Test this cleaner in an inconspicuous place on your leather. Scrub a small area and observe how the leather responds. DIVE IN. Assuming the test gives a good result, dip the clean cloth into the soapy water and wring it out thoroughly. Wipe one small section of the sur- face at a time. RINSE. Dip another soft clean rag into dis- tilled water, wring it out thoroughly and then wipe away the soap residue. DRY. Immediately use another clean soft rag to dry the area. BUFF. Take a fourth clean soft cloth and buff the leather to restore the luster. CONDITION. Treat the surface with a nontoxic, high-quality leather pro- tector or conditioner such as Leather Rescue Leather Conditioner. Just follow the label instructions. Trust me, this stuff is awe- some! MAINTAIN. Mov- ing forward, be sure to clean spills immediately. Leather is porous and will soak up just about any- thing. Never use harsh cleaners or any kind of oil, furniture polish, baby wipes, household cleaners or any product with wax or silicone. This could damage the leather and/ or leave the surface feel- ing sticky. You may be tempted, but don't use saddle soap, varnish, any ammonia-based clean- ers — like Windex — or bleach on leather furni- ture. Any or all of these could cause discoloration or even serious damage. POSITION PROPERLY. To keep your fine leather furniture from fading, drying out or cracking, don't put it in direct sun- light. Also, keep it at least two feet away from any- thing that produces heat or air, such as heating vents, fireplaces, radia- tors and air-conditioning vents. CAUTION. Be warned that the above steps as- sume that your leather has a topcoat. Aniline leather, on the other hand, doesn't have a topcoat; it's a natu- ral leather that retains the hide's natural texure and is very stain-absorbent. To reiterate, be sure to always test a treatment in an in- conspicuous area, espe- cially with aniline leather. If you have an emergency, a clear mild dishwashing detergent may safely re- move a grease stain from this type of leather. Wouldyouliketosend a tip to Mary? You can email her at mary@ everydaycheapskate. com, or write to Everyday Cheapskate, 12340 Seal Beach Blvd., Ste. B-416, Seal Beach, CA 90740. EVERYDAYCHEAPSKATE Howtocleanand maintain fine leather furniture Bend Jelly 4-H Club has cooked a nutritious meal for P.A.T.H. (Poor and the Homeless) winter shelter in Red Bluff once a month for the last three years. The youth members take turns planning the meals while the families and the club purchase the supplies and donate them. Each month many of the youth members and adults get together and prepare the meal from start to fin- ish. The kids have made meals like tater tot casse- role with a delicious baked vegetable tray and lemon cupcakes for dessert. For years this project has taught kids to cook, plan a healthy meal, and give back to the community. This year we have added a gardening project to our club. We will be guided by a first year Master Gardener, Wendy Beach. The Master Gardener program is set up by the University of Califor- nia, where people volunteer their time after they have completed the required gardening program. These Master Garden- ers volunteer their time to help their local community with gardening questions and projects. The group's goal is to be able to harvest enough produce to donate for our P.A.T.H dinners. The produce will include bell peppers, lettuce, chard, kale, spinach, celery, car- rots, radishes, onions, arti- chokes, broccoli, cabbage, tomatoes, potatoes, zuc- chini, squash, corn, green beans and peas. The fresh produce will also allow our club to expand the cook- ing project to include food preservation, so that we are able to make use of our vegetables during the win- ter months. At the monthly club meeting on March 14, youth members started seed in 6-packs that will be placed in an unheated greenhouse. While these seedlings start, the kids will be pre- paring the garden area as the weather allows. We hope to have the seedlings in the ground around May 1. We look forward to see- ing this gardening project develop while we continue to support our 4-H Club and the community. BEND-JELLY Seedsforaharvest Bend-Jelly4-HmembersGraysonHeinleandAshley Lyons prepare a meal for the PATH shelter. Mary Hunt 4-H Club combines community service with new gardening project CONTRIBUTED PHOTOS Bend-Jelly 4-H members work on a gardening project. Le to right: Mackenzie Speers, Landon Speers and Carley Goodwin. Be sure to use caution when withdrawing from automated teller ma- chines, especially in con- venience stores and gas stations. Police depart- ments have reported an uptick in skimming de- vices on ATMs. How the Scam Works: You need cash, so you stop at a gas station with an ATM. You head to the back of the shop and in- sert your card into the machine. You may not notice anything strange, but scammers have at- tached a skimmer to the card reader. These de- vices "skim" your card's information off the mag- netic strip. Many times, scam- mers also set up a cam- era nearby. It's pointed at the ATM in order to cap- ture the user typing their PIN into the machine. With these two pieces of infor- mation, scammers can ac- cess and withdraw money from your account. Many police depart- ments are reporting higher than normal cases of ATM skimming. The spike may be tied to banks rolling out new chip cards, which have encryption technology to make them much more dif- ficult to hack. Until the new technol- ogy is fully implemented, scammers are taking full advantage of the current situation. Protect yourself from an ATM Skimmer: • Use ATMs at banks whenever possible. Avoid ATMs in a low traffic or low light areas. It is typically more secure to use ATMs at banks rather than standalone machines. • Protect your PIN. Place your hand or a piece of paper over the keypad when entering your num- ber. • Look for signs of skim- mers. Tape is often used to attach the skimming de- vices; if something looks odd, wiggle it to make sure it doesn't come loose. • Be wary of strange signs. Some con artists at- tach signs to ATMs pro- viding alternate instruc- tions, such as telling us- ers to swipe their card on a separate reader first. If something looks out of place, find a different ATM and report it to the bank or store manager, or to the police. • If someone offers to "help" you use the ATM, immediately decline and leave.If you feel uncom- fortable with the individ- ual, go somewhere well lit or lock yourself in your car and call the police emer- gency number. • Be cautious of ATM failures. If the machine doesn't give you money, or gives you an immediate message that the machine malfunctioned, call the fi- nancial institution and let them know. • Report any prob- lems. Only call a number you know is real, such as the one on the back of your card. Don't call a number posted next to the ATM, as that could be part of the scam. If you aren't sure, call the police non-emergency number. SCAM ALERT Po li ce r ep or t ju mp i n AT M sk im mi ng Thank you! PLEASE RECYCLE THIS NEWSPAPER. Red Bluff Baseball 3rdAnnual"ForeBaseball" Golf Tournament & BBQ Lunch Saturday, April 2, 2016 Wilcox Oaks Golf Club (Deadline to submit teams, Wednesday, March 30) Proceeds support Red Bluff High Baseball Program & Red Bluff Bulls American Legion Baseball Thank you for your support For team registration and/or sponsorship, contact J.B. Stacy 526-8330 1921 ~ 2016 95 TH (530)527-1000 visit us at: www.redbluffroundup.com Likeusonfacebook FRIDAY FAMILY 4 PACK $40 Plus$1.00 processing fee each ticket TICKETS ON SALE NOW! 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