Use collars, sprays, skin treatments, or dips that will kill fleas and ticks that come in contact with your pets. This will protect your pet from infestation and disease, and protect your home from pests. Talk to your vet about the best product for your pet. Since pets are usually how ticks and fleas enter your home, keep an eye on them and monitor when they come in and out. Groom them after they’ve been outside, and keep them off furniture (ticks and fleas can hide out in fabrics and cushions). When venturing outside into tick- or flea-prone areas, wear long pants and long-sleeved shirts. Tuck your pant legs into your socks and your shirt into your pants at the waist. Spray yourself with an insect repellent that contains DEET, and spray your clothes with a repellent containing permethrin. Keeping your home as clean as possible will help prevent ticks, fleas, and other pests from getting comfortable there. Since ticks and fleas like overgrown areas, shrubs, or long grasses, it’s a good idea to keep your grass and weeds three inches or shorter, and keep shrubs and bushes near your house pruned. You want to prevent things that attract fleas, ticks, and the creatures that carry them, such as mice, rats, and birds. Attractants include brush, plants, leaf litter, ivy, wood piles, birdfeeders, and bird baths. Hanging clothes outside is a great way to dry them during the warmer months, but if they are too close to the ground or too near a wooded or grassy area, ticks can crawl onto them and fleas can leap onto them. Hang clothes to dry in open areas, away from heavily treed or dense brush areas. Staying away from tick and flea infested areas can help prevent diseases and infestations. This includes wooded areas, areas that are overgrown, or places with lots of shrubs. Keep your gardens in open areas, as well as children’s play areas, playgrounds, gardens, picnic tables, gazebos, patio furniture, and any other play or social area. Areas where fleas, ticks, or pest-ridden animals can enter your home should be sealed and covered. This includes vents, areas under decks, crawl spaces, and other access points.
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One-sentence summary -- Protect your pets from ticks and fleas. Mind your pet’s comings and goings. Protect yourself. Vacuum and clean often. Keep grasses and weeds short. Clear attractants from around your home. Hang clothes far off the ground and away from wooded areas. Keep gardens and play areas away from pest habitats. Seal entry points.


Salmon only needs to be marinated for about 15–30 minutes. Start preparing the marinade an hour before you plan to eat, or even less, depending on your cooking method. Cooking methods are described at the end of this section. Place the lemon on a cutting board and slice it in half. Squeeze both lemon halves over a bowl.. Pour 2 tbsp (30 mL) olive oil into the bowl of lemon juice. Add 1/2 tsp (2.5 mL) dried thyme, and stir the ingredients together with a spoon until well mixed. Another popular version of this marinade uses dill instead of thyme. Select a dish large enough that all your salmon fillets can fit into it side by side. You may need to use several dishes if you are doubling or tripling the recipe. Alternatively, use a large zip locked bag. Lay the salmon fillets in the dish containing the marinade. Turn them a couple times to make sure each side is covered.  Food safety experts recommend that you do not wash raw salmon or other raw meat before preparing. Cooking the meat is more effective at killing bacteria, and rinsing the meat is likely to spread the bacteria onto your sink or other places in your kitchen.  Wash your hands with soap and warm water for twenty seconds after handling raw meat. Unlike red meat and poultry, fish can develop an unpleasant texture during a lengthy marination process. For an acidic marinade such as this one, based on lemon juice, keep the salmon in the marinade for no longer than 30 minutes. Flip the salmon over once during this time to ensure that both sides of the fish are marinated. Transfer the fish to another container. Discard the remaining liquid. If you wish to use the marinade as a sauce, first bring it to a boil in order to kill harmful bacteria from the raw meat. After the salmon has been marinated, it can be prepared in a number of ways. Two popular options are grilling the salmon wrapped in foil, or baking it on a foil-lined baking sheet. In either case, cook the fillets at 400ºF (200ºC) for about fifteen minutes. The salmon is ready when a fork can easily remove flakes from the surface. Flip the salmon halfway through the cooking process if you are grilling it.
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One-sentence summary --
Start this process 30–60 minutes before you plan to eat. Squeeze the lemon juice into a bowl. Mix in the other ingredients. Pour the marinade into a wide dish. Place the salmon in the marinade. Cover and refrigerate for 15–30 minutes, turning once. Remove the fish from the marinade. Cook the salmon.