Safety First!

Your holiday plans are ready. You’ve checked your home for safety, and you cleaned your oven (because you read our previous blog). You’ve bought everyone’s favorite holiday meal goodies and you are ready to cook the meal for the big day. Great job!
 
But wait!!! Safety first! Here are some last minute safety tips for you and your Thanksgiving guests:
 
Outdoors:
 
Rake the leaves. Leaves can be very slippery when wet. Now that we have entered the rainy season, it is time to rake up any leaves that have fallen, especially on your sidewalks and walkways to make sure no one slips.
 
Wear gloves when working outdoors! You never know what’s in those piles of leaves! From stickers and pointy debris to (yuk) dead birds and rodents, you never know what you might be in for. Gloves can help prevent blisters from raking and protect your hands from ickies and stickies.
 
Are your gutters cleaned?  A clogged gutter is definitely not a good thing! Make sure all leaves and debris are cleared out of your gutter to prevent pooling water on your roof (and the damage it can cause). If you’re not 100 percent steady on a ladder, be sure to hire someone to assist you with this task. Safety first!
 
Indoors:
 
When was the last time you checked your fire extinguisher? Be sure that your extinguishers have not expired! The last thing you want is a fire in the kitchen that you can’t put out because the extinguisher doesn’t work! – And remember NEVER try to put out a grease fire with water. The water will turn your burning grease into a kitchen destroying grease explosion.  Click here to see what happens when you put just one teaspoon of water into a grease fire. You’ll be amazed!
 
The best way to stop a grease fire is prevention. Stay in the kitchen and  keep an eye on what you are cooking. If you do end up with a grease fire in a pan on your stove, your best line of defense, if the fire is small, is smoothing the fire by putting a lid on the pot that is burning. Be careful with glass lids as these may break from the extreme heat of a fire. You can also use baking soda to smother a grease fire, but it takes a LOT of baking soda. Your next line of defense is a chemical fire extinguisher designed for this purpose. Grease fires are hot and aggressive. The sooner you get help, the better, so if things are feeling even a little out of hand, it is time to call 911.
 
Finally – is your toilet leaky? Did you know that the busiest day of the year for plumbers is Thanksgiving? All those extra “guest” flushes are sometimes more than your system can handle. If your toilet is an inefficient older model or is leaking, think of the holidays as the perfect time to upgrade. It may not prevent a “sewer line melt down” but if you have a more efficient toilet, you may “lighten the load” enough to prevent having an extra guest (your plumber) at your Thanksgiving gathering.