Over the holidays we went to visit family in Kansas City for a few weeks… all I can say now is that I’m glad to be back home for a while, lol. One day, however, I noticed that my mother-in-law had set her oven to self-clean and then left the house to run errands. In […]
Changing smoke alarm batteries has been a part of my preparedness “ritual” for many years now. And every year, I would purchase more 9-volt batteries because it seems that every alarm I had (except one or two) uses them. But it got to a point where I realized I was spending a good twenty dollars […]
I was recently listening to a podcast by Radiolab on the Poison Control Center at Poison.org; you can learn more about that particular episode here. In that episode I learned some interesting things, like how many centers there are (55), how many calls they get per year (around 80,000 per call center), and how it […]
No one wants to consider the thought of getting lost at sea. You might think that it couldn’t happen to you, but the truth is, it can happen to anyone. Even sailing experts have been caught in a big storm and left without supplies. It’s not easy to survive when lost at sea — but […]
Hurricanes are violent. They can bring a handful of serious and dangerous hazards- from storm surge, high winds, heavy rains, and even tornadoes. If you and your family aren’t prepared, you’re risking your safety. As a guide, here are the following steps you can take to ensure your family’s safety. Before A Hurricane Learn your […]
Flooding is a natural part of our planet’s ecosystem, but for inhabitants of flood-risk areas, high water is the harbinger of destruction and even death. In America’s most flood-prone states, like California, Florida and Arizona, up to 25 percent of housing units sit within a 100- or 500-year floodplain. Flooding can occur nearly anywhere rainfall […]
This is a photo of my front door, maybe you can spot what’s wrong quickly: If not, maybe this photo helps: You see the door security latch there? It’s missing an important part: I’d say it’s kind of useless without that piece, wouldn’t you? The sad thing is that nothing major happened to make it […]
My family and I have been visiting my in-laws over the Christmas holidays. The time has been nice and mostly without incident, but the day after Christmas we had an unpleasant surprise await us when we returned from the movies… the house was full of smoke! You see, my brother-in-law had been trying to keep […]
Winter is here, and the temperatures are falling fast. One thing no one wants to think about is the possibility of getting stranded in the snow. How will you survive if you get stranded in the woods during a blizzard, or your car gets stuck in a snowdrift on the side of the road? What […]
I have a bunch of old papers that I need to get rid of and it occurred to me that I could just burn them in my fireplace one day, but I got to wondering if that was really a good idea as I’d never done so before (I’d always done this outdoors). Well, it […]