Arsenic and old houses

My bout of cabin fever was so nearly terminal I made a lunch date with Linda today, just to complain. Driving an hour to complain about the weather can have restorative effects.

In addition to being a wild and crazy artist, Linda is fixated on eagles. She has two eagle cam sites going at all times, and  can tell you a thing or two about eagles. The female of the species is America's bald eagle; it is the more fierce appearing. 

After lunch she took me to see her town's bald eagle nest. Pictures another day. Because further on down the road, this house:

It was not yet ten degrees, at two in the afternoon, so I did not linger to take pictures of the ornate swags, the window and door treatments. The house puzzled Linda; she thought it may have been moved there. It is for sale, so she copied down the realty information, and here is everything you could want to know about the house from the realty site:

Firestone family home to be relocated

• Published: Sat, August 13, 2011 @ 12:00 a.m.

Photo by Robert K. Yosay

Crews are preparing to move an Italianate-style home owned by the Firestone family, known for its tire empire, just east on Lipply Road in view of Pine Lake. The house is currently next to the Firestone tire-testing facility.

Photo by Robert K. Yosay

Tom Ellison of New Springfield said he purchased the Firestone house partly as a way to create work for his company, Tom Ellison Excavating.

By Ashley Luthern

NORTH LIMA
A piece of local history will have a new location — albeit only 900 feet from where it has stood since 1880.
Crews are preparing to move an Italianate-style home owned by the Firestone family, known for its tire empire, just east on Lipply Road in view of Pine Lake. Tom Ellison of New Springfield purchased the home, and his company, Tom Ellison Excavating, and Stein House Movers of Cortland are transporting the house.
“Too often we munch and crunch these old buildings,” Ellison said.
Ellison purchased five acres on Lipply Road through David A. LoGiudice, a real-estate broker and appraiser with Boardman-based David Realty, and first expressed interest in the house in October.
Ben Strawinski, supervisor of the 400-acre Firestone tire-testing facility that is next to the house, called the situation a “win-win.”
“We would have recycled parts of the house, but that was a last resort,” he said.
The Firestone company has maintained the house since the last occupant, Beatrice Webber, a Fire-stone family friend, left about six years ago, Strawinski said.

The space where the house is will be turned into a parking lot for visitors to the testing center.
Strawinski said the home was used by Harvey S. Firestone’s sister.
Visitors to the testing site still can look across the street and view the area where Firestone went camping with Henry Ford and Thomas Edison and the remains of a horse track where Firestone first tested his rubber tires.
The Firestone Homestead where Harvey S. Firestone was born and grew up was moved to Greenfield Village at the Henry Ford Museum in Dearborn, Mich., in 1983. The homestead, which included a barn, was built in 1828.
Ellison said he owns several older homes and rental properties and acquired this home partly as a way to create work for his company.
LoGiudice said by moving the house down the road — and avoiding crossing state Route 7 — the task of temporarily disrupting electric service was made easier. Ellison added the house likely will travel “at a creep” down Lipply Road in about two weeks.
Once there, Ellison will renovate the house and make a circular driveway. But the house isn’t for him — “I already have a home on the other side of the lake” — and Ellison said he will sell it.
“This house will be a thing of beauty,” he said.

...

Harvey Firestone introduced vulcanizing of rubber; he, Henry Ford and Charles Goodyear gave us cars with tires.

What of the arsenic, you ask. Emily promised to explain why we should not be overly concerned about arsenic in our food. Without further ado,

Blog about Arsenic for Grandma

There have been levels of arsenic noted in different types of food since the 1980’s. The arsenic comes naturally from the earth’s crust; therefore, it is naturally in the ground water via natural weathering processes. There is also man-made arsenic in the ground water from pesticides, wood preservatives, chicken fertilizer, and other industrial uses. There are said to be higher levels of arsenic in rice because of the way it is grown. 

Rice is grown underwater in a rice paddy. As the grains grow and soak up water, the hull sometimes splits, making the difference between white and brown rice. Brown rice, rice in which the hull has split, is said to have more arsenic in it because the arsenic causes more of the grain’s hulls to split. The FDA has done extensive research and found the levels of arsenic in both white and brown rice is not harmful to consume. The FDA found the levels of arsenic ranged from 2.6 to 7.2 micrograms per serving, white rice being on the lower end and brown being on the higher.

In the experiment I did, we used ppb, or parts per billion. In the research my partner and I did, we found it would take at least 10 ppb to even start to have side effects from the levels of arsenic. Our experiment concluded the highest level of arsenic was 7 ppb. So there is no reason to fear your rice, it’s safe to eat.