Employees Share May Updates on New Year’s Resolutions

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Rebecca Williams, accounting clerk at North Fork Correctional Facility, grates soap to make soap spray

For Rebecca Williams, accounting clerk at North Fork Correctional Facility, this month has afforded yet another opportunity to get greener, but for Patrick Jablonski, CCA senior director, Quality Assurance Research and Analysis, losing weight has been a rocky road due to recent weather in Tenn., where he lives and works.

Keeping Pests at Bay in a Green Way

Throughout May, Williams searched for ways to repel garden pests and biting insects without harming the environment. With a little ingenuity, she discovered some viable green solutions.

“My husband and I put up a bat house, although we haven’t yet attracted any bats,” Williams says. “The bats would kill lots and lots of flies and mosquitoes. There are some caves not too far from our house and bats live in them, so maybe we’ll have one or two move into the bat house.”

The wooden bat house is similar to a birdhouse, except the opening is at the bottom and the interior is painted black to accommodate bats’ desire to sleep in dark places. The house is very narrow and contains several small partitions where each bat can hang upside down.

“We got our bat house from Lowe’s, and they also sell them at places like Atwoods,” says Williams.

After doing some research, she found another eco-friendly way to keep insects off her garden plants.

“I decided to try soap spray,” Williams says. “I got a bar of Kirks Castile soap, grated it with a food grater and mixed it with water. I put it in an old window cleaner bottle that I had washed out. This, when sprayed on your plants, is supposed to keep the insects away without harming the plant or your animals.”

Stepping Up After the Storms

So far, Jablonski has dropped 15 of the 20 pounds he aims to lose this year. But his weight-loss efforts were interrupted by the recent storms, which incidentally gave him a chance to get active outdoors.

“The storm that produced the record flooding in Middle Tennessee earlier this month also spawned a tornado that cut through the property of some friends of mine,” Jablonski says.

The floodwaters kept him away from work for a couple days so he used the time to help his friends clean up, which involved cutting up a few very large oak trees that had fallen in the front yard and cutting down some damaged trees.

“While the circumstances and impact of the storm were very sad I was thankful that my family was safe and that we were able to help others who needed it,” says Jablonski.

To view previous updates on these employees’ New Year’s resolutions, click on the links below. Employees Share April Updates on New Year’s Resolutions
Employees Share March Updates on New Year’s Resolutions
Falling Down and Getting Up in February
Employees Make 2010 a Year to Begin Again

By DeAndra Mack

Sound Out

Linda Sevison at Idaho Correctional Center:

My heart goes out to everyone who suffered losses during the recent flooding in Tennessee, and I applaud the efforts of those who are willing to reach out and offer assistance to others.