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Off Grid Signs, LLC Supports Going Green through Solar-Powered Signs.

Central Texas Gun Works is Austin’s First Solar Business Sign

Central Texas Gun Works

AUSTIN, Texas --(Ammoland.com)- Recently, Texas has experienced difficulty in producing electricity, resulting in electrical shortages.

To offset the challenges, Off Grid Signs, LLC developed a sign that generates energy from solar-powered panels. Central Texas Gun Works (Centex Guns), owned by Michael Cargill, is the first business to adopt a solar-powered sign in Texas.

Austin’s first solar-energy-powered sign lit up on the evening of November 28, 2011 at Centex Guns, located at 321 W. Ben White Blvd, Suite 203, Austin, Texas 78704. Because the sign is independent from an electrical grid, it uses only sunlight during the daytime to charge the solar power source, which continues to illuminate the sign throughout the night. Thus, the solar-powered energy panels assist in eliminating the electrical load on Texas’ overburdened power supply.

Being off the electrical grid not only reduces operating costs for business owners like Cargill by eliminating the need to pay for electricity to light their business location’s sign, but it also enables companies to become more eco-friendly. Additionally, the adoption of green practices rewards business owners with government tax rebates and refunds.

Event Details

• Who: Off Grid Signs LLC and Central Texas Gun Works (Centex Guns) LLC
• What: Gun Store Goes Green
• Where: Central Texas Gun Works; 321 W. Ben White Blvd, Suite 203, Austin, Texas
• When: Tuesday, January 24, 2012 – 3:00PM-5:00PM

ABOUT OFF GRID SIGNS, LLC
Off Grid Signs, created by Dave Isaacs and Nick Raymond, pioneered the first “plug and play” solar power system for signs. They have 5 standard sizes that will handle most sign needs. They will also gladly build you a custom unit if one of their 5 standard sizes will not work for you. A sign in a necessity for every company, but paying to light it is not! Let them take your sign Off Grid so you can stop paying to light it. For more information on Off Grid Signs, LLC, visit http://www.offgridsigns.com.

ABOUT CENTRAL TEXAS GUN WORKS
Michael Cargill has served a Texas DPS-certified concealed handgun license (CHL) instructor for over six years and has over 20 years of firearms experience. He is also a NRA-certified Range Instructor and Chief Range Safety Officer. As of 2012, Michael has taught 1,426 applicants the required material to obtain a Texas CHL, and has a 99% success rate. In addition to his regular CHL classes, Michael holds several private classes for groups, including home owner associations, church groups, attorneys, judges, and the students, staff, and faculty of Texas Tech University and The University of Texas at Austin. Michael also teaches an informal education class at The University of Texas at Austin every semester. For more information about Central Texas Gun Works, visit www.centraltexasgunworks.com.

Filed under: Conservation News, Shooting Industry News by Ammoland 1 Comment »

Bluebird Nest Boxes Help Pennsylvanians Connect With Wildlife

Pennsylvania Game Commission

HARRISBURG, PA --(Ammoland.com)- If you are interested in connecting with wildlife in your own backyard, beginning Monday, Jan. 23, the Pennsylvania Game Commission will be selling bluebird nesting boxes at its Harrisburg headquarters at 2001 Elmerton Avenue.

The boxes sell for $9.54 (includes sales tax), and customers can select from assembled boxes or kits that can be assembled as a wood-working project.

“Bluebirds are early nesters, so now is the time to put up new nest boxes, as well as to clean and repair existing boxes,” said Dan Brauning, Game Commission Wildlife Diversity Division chief. “These bluebird boxes enable Pennsylvanians to help wildlife in a natural way.

“Also, building nesting boxes is a great project for individuals, families or civic organizations interested in connecting with wildlife. These box designs are proven to attract bluebirds and other native species, such as tree swallows and house wrens.”

Bluebirds live in open country, and are a beautiful songbird native to Pennsylvania. Bluebirds are cavity nesters and have become less common due to a lack of suitable nest sites. Many nest sites have been lost through changing land-use practices, as well as to urban and suburban sprawl. But the introductions of house sparrows and starlings in 1851 and 1890 have been the primary reasons for the bluebirds’ decline, as these non-native species took over native bluebird nesting cavities.

The bluebird boxes offered by the Game Commission include an opening that is the prescribed one-and-one-half inches in diameter. This precludes starlings from being able to enter. However, house sparrows still may be able to enter the boxes. If this occurs, the house sparrow nests should be removed immediately.

Boxes should be erected on a free-standing pole three to five feet above the ground – facing south, if possible – and facing a nearby tree or fence where young birds can safely land on their initial flights from the box. To reduce predation and competition from other species, no perch should be placed on the box; bluebirds do not need one. Boxes placed in pairs, about 20 feet apart, may help reduce competition from swallows.

The Game Commission’s Howard Nursery has been manufacturing bluebird nest boxes and box kits for more than a quarter century. Each year, about 9,000 boxes are manufactured there and sold or provided to Pennsylvanians to help bluebirds. That annual influx of new nest boxes helps ensure Pennsylvania remains a “keystone state” in bluebird conservation.

Sales will continue while supplies last, and office hours are Monday-Friday from 7:45 a.m. until 4 p.m. The Game Commission’s headquarters is at 2001 Elmerton Ave., just off the Progress Avenue exit of Interstate 81 in Harrisburg. To order by phone, call the Game Commission’s Harrisburg office at 1-888-888-3459. If ordering by phone, shipping and handling costs will apply depending on how many boxes are ordered.

For more information on bluebirds, visit the Game Commission’s website (www.pgc.state.pa.us), click on “Wildlife” in the menu bar at the top of the homepage, and then select “Bluebird” in the “Wild Birds and Birding” section of the page. Also, information about additional wildlife nesting structures can be found by putting your cursor on “Self-Help” in the menu bar at the top of the homepage, then clicking on “Download Forms and Brochures” in the drop-down menu listing, and then clicking on “Wildlife Homes Order Form” in the “Agency Programs” section.

Filed under: Conservation News by Ammoland No Comments »