Dam Festival - Washington DC's Music Festival

Local artist and local music is what you'll hear at Dam Festival in Washington D.C. Our festival has gone down hill in the last few years and we are excited to get some feedback about extending or recreating the Dam Festival to be held in Washington D.C. We haven't yet scheduled a new venue or event schedule until we can figure out if the music festival will continue. Please show your support by trying to generate some hype behind the Dam Festival, since the festival features local artist and local musicians. We are hoping to get some new sponsers that can help keep this festival alive. Thanks again for you support and please continue to listen to the music.

We are not the organizers of the event we just are looking to keep everyone posted on the information about Dam Festival as it becomes available along with a schedule of events and acts of the District Awake Music Festival.

Finding The Right Contractor To Install Your Hardwood Floors

When it comes to installing hardwood floors, it is important to make sure the job is completed correctly. Though it may seem like an easy task, there are a number of technical details that should be given proper attention. Otherwise, problems may arise that can meet with negative results and lots of frustration along the way.

Hardwood floors are very affordable and finding someone who can properly install them is not too costly either. When choosing a contractor, you want to look for someone who have quite a bit of experience installing different types of wood flooring. Even if you are only choosing one type, you want to be sure the person you choose to do the job will be well acquainted with it and able to properly install every piece.

Contractor Job Openings
Mirage Maple Flooring

LM Flooring Tigerwood

LM Flooring River Ranch Fireside

Also make sure the contractor you choose is within relatively close proximity to where you live. Though this is not the most important consideration, a company or independent contractor who can get to you more quickly should you find a problem with the installation will be able to repair it in a more timely manner. This will also cut down on the risk of your small repair job being put off for larger complete installations that will net them more money.

Kahrs Engineered Flooring
Kahrs Brazilian Cherry
Teragren Portfolio Bamboo

Teragren Portfolio Darby Brown

Experience should be considered before cost. You are saving money by choosing hardwood floors and you don’t want to pay too much for the installation, but you do want to make sure you are getting a contractor who knows how to do the job properly and won’t make mistakes. A good way to find out how competitive the pricing is would be to check around with different companies. Chances are, many of them will charge you around the same amount because they will all be vying for your business. Still, there will probably be one or two who will give you estimates that are a bit lower than the others. When you find these companies you will definitely want to research them to find out how long they’ve been in business and whether or not other people would recommend them.

Unfinished Engineered Flooring
Mullican Ridgecrest
Homerwood Amish Hand Scraped
Cork Flooring 

Ask around, This is a great way to find out where to start your search. Find other people in your neighborhood who have also had hardwood floors installed in their homes and inquire about who they used to do the job. Also ask them if they were satisfied with the end result and whether or not they have had any problems with their flooring since it was installed. This is a great way to comparison shop, which is a very important step toward making the right choice.

Finding the right contractor for your hand scraped wood flooring project is essential to a successful install, and hardwood flooring Atlanta is a great place to start.

Carpet Fibers – Fibers for Every Use

When purchasing carpet there are several different options available to each consumer.  A consumer should base their purchase of carpet off of price, durability, and quality.  There are several different fibers types to decide from.  Fibers include; acrylic, nylon, wool, art wool, olefin, polyester, polypropylene, blends, and recycles.  Each piece of carpet could contain one or more of each of these fibers.  It is important to determine what type of traffic and resistance to stains you may need in the area you have chosen to put carpet.

Acrylic is an artificial fiber which may be good in price and quality, but it may not be good in areas where a consumer may have high traffic. 

Discount Carpet
Shaw Carpet
Carpet Care

Nylon is the most popular among consumers because it maintains attractiveness, and it doesn’t stain as easily.  Along with maintaining color, nylon is also does well in high traffic areas, because it doesn’t tend to crush down.

Wool is the one of the more expensive fibers.  Although expensive wool is very attractive, stain resistant, and durable.  However, with each fiber there is also a down side, wool can fray and tend to hold moisture.

Mohawk Carpet

Recycled products are the newest fibers to be used in making carpet.  Several carpet distributors have began to produce carpets out of plastic bottles, and plastic containers used by consumers.  Recycles materials can be durable, stain resistant, and static resistant.

Polyester can be very stain resistant; however it does not do well in high traffic areas and can also fade over time. 

Olefin is the second most popular fiber, only after nylon, used in carpet production.  Olefin can be used in producing berber carpet.  Olefin can be very stain and moisture resistant, and can hold up well in high traffic areas. 

Beaulieu Carpet
Carpet Pad
Carpet Cleaning

Blends may contain both nylon and olefin, while mixing two of the most popular fibers bought by consumers, blends may cause stains to show up more than most other fibers.  A consumer shouldn’t buy this carpet it they plan to have high areas of traffic, or areas that may be stained easily.

It is important to research thoroughly each of these fibers when purchasing carpet so that you, the consumer, can be sure you are getting what is need for your individual situation.  While one fiber may be suited for one consumer, it may not be for another, and while one consumer may find a certain carpet more appealing it may not be suited for the area the carpet is needed.

To fly, bait, or bob…..

     As a youth growing up I learned early on to appreciate the art and sport of fishing….My grandma and grandpa fished, my mama, all my aunts and uncles, all cousins and kin alike..Everybody fished.  The only thing they differed in was what style of fishing they preferred.  Lots of times this was determined by the geography and topography of where they lived…My grandma and grandpa Marks always lived near the ocean.  So they did mostly pier fishing.  What was so fascinating about this type of fishing is that you never knew what you might hook!  Every type of fish was to be found and more.   It was never uncommon, if not commonplace to hook different types of sharks,…. reef sharks, hammerheads, etc…On several occasions they pulled in stingrays and devilfish, which of course just hearing the name  was enough to make any 7 year old cringe in fear….a Devilfish?!!!!  And of course everyone would  running from here and yon to get a glimpse of this not oft seen creature of the deep.  And of course the sharks always fascinated everybody…..And I remember many times I would cringe as I watched some folks kill the shark, for fear that it might harm a swimmer.  But I also cringed because it broke my heart to see this beautiful fish usually bludgeoned to death, and then just cast away like a piece of trash.  After all, we were fishing in his backyard.   Just never seemed fair.   But nothing ever seemed to be as creepy as catching a big ole’ crab.  I don’t know, they just reminded me always of a giant sea spider that might reach out at any unforseen moment and pinch or grab you with their huge claws and maybe rip one of your fingers or toes off!  Of course, we know now that the chances of that scenario occuring are pretty much nil, but to a 7 year old, anything is possible!!!!

Colorado Fishing Trips 
Alaska Fishing Trips

Alaska Bear Hunting
Colorado Elk Hunting

     Now, my brother and my Daddys side of the family pretty much bass fished, frog gigged and caught turtles for eating.  Man, the thought of eating a turtle just repelled my senses for some reason, but my Daddy loved em’!!!  He’d boil him up some turtle stew and practically drooled if it happened to be a female turtle with lots of eggs inside…………Yuk…….Turtle eggs and frog legs……Backwoods high cuisine!!

But I did love to catch me some bass, along with my brother Scotty….Good eatin’ for sure…But, truthfully, most the time we just ended up eating a lot of brim and crappie…

Colorado Deer Hunting
Colorado Outfitters
Alaska Moose Hunting
Colorado Hunting Trips

     But now, catfishing, whee doggie!!!! Now that’s a whole nuther’ style in itself…..It consists of using lots of stinky bait, (the stinkier the better) like chicken livers and whats called, appropriately so “stinkbait”.

You have to watch out to not get stung by the whiskers, which are actually barbs that jab into you….My brother used to hammer his “cats” with a nail thru the head into the side of a tree to skin them….Everybody has got their own system……And although catfish technically are not a very clean fish(bottomeaters), they sure do taste good!!!!

Dall Sheep Hunting
Alaska Caribou Hunting
Colorado Hunting Guides

     Me, myself finally figured out after moving out west that I prefer fly fishing, and I’ll tell you a good way to learn if that style suits you.  When I was fishing using bobbs and other tackle in my earlier days, I constantly could never be satisfied to just sit and watch and wait.   I’d usually set up two or three poles and just walk back and forth, casting and setting, recasting and setting……It could be exhausting!!!!!

So when I discovered fly fishing, wow!!, that decided my style from then  on out!!!  I think because you are constantly in motion, seeking and retrieving, thinking, thinking, thinking……I always was one who couldn’t ever seem to be still….You know, the kind of folk sitting at the other end of the church pew that are challenging your graces because you wish they would just stop shaking their knees for just 5 glorious moments!!!  So, yeah, when I discovered fly fishing, I found my niche….

     So, no matter what style you prefer, fishing is one of the most enjoyable activities we can do and share with one another…Just remember…..Watch out for those Crabs!!!!!!!!!