Full Hook Ups

[Donald Stahl]

You just completed setting up your rig with everything in place, now you can sit back and relax, right ? Betcha forgot one thing maybe? Do you know where your water faucet was last night ? Yesterday ? You weren't there to see it happen, but the neighbors dog just lifted it's leg to spray the hose bib to which your hose is now attached. Probably didn't happen but it very well could have. To cover such a yucky event, we always carry a small spray bottle, 1/2 filled with bleach, 1/2 with water to spray and disinfect the faucet threads. This is a little procedure I once used for testing a domestic water supply - the State required this to kill bacteria on a kitchen faucet before obtaining a water sample to be sent to a lab for testing. Thought it would be a good idea for sanitizing an rv park water source. Don

[Donna D.]

The idea of carrying bleach for disinfecting the hose bibs is a good idea Don. I started carrying a mixture after I saw a woman walking her large dog through the campground and she stopped at an unoccupied site to water her dog. She turned on the faucet and the dog licked the entire spout area getting its drink.

[Bigfoot Mike]

Good idea Don. I have seen what dogs will eat (left behind from other dogs), and what they will do. I hate the idea of filling my rig with contaminated water.

[Loren G. Hedahl]

The idea of carrying bleach for disinfecting the hose bibs is a good idea Don. I started carrying a mixture after I saw a woman walking her large dog through the campground and she stopped at an unoccupied site to water her dog. She turned on the faucet and the dog licked the entire spout area getting its drink.

That poor dog. He probably got some people germs in his system and never will be the same again!

[jack maloney]

This from the New York Times Health section, June 20, 2000:

Resistant Organisms

Earlier this month at a conference sponsored by the American Medical Association, Dr. Stuart B. Levy, director of the Center for Adaptation Genetics and Drug Resistance at Tufts University in Boston, voiced serious concerns about the more than 700 antibacterial products now crowding the marketplace. They do not, he said, kill all bacteria, only those that are most susceptible. They upset the natural balance of microorganisms and they leave behind the bacteria that are strong enough to survive and multiply. Furthermore, these surviving bacteria may evolve resistance to both antimicrobials and antibiotics that could be transferred to dangerous pathogens.

Last week, because of the growing concern about the emergence of antibiotic-resistant germs, the American Medical Association urged the government to step up regulation of antibacterial soaps, lotions and other household products.

Explaining the process two years ago in Scientific American, Dr. Levy wrote: ''Bacteria are a natural, and needed, part of life. Most live blamelessly. In fact, they often protect us from disease because they compete with, and thus limit the proliferation of, pathogenic bacteria. The benign competitors can be important allies in the fight against antibiotic-resistant pathogens.''

[jeff nigrelli]

i usually just spray the dog