DIY Car Repairs

By Catherine Powell

I’m old enough to remember when many people used to work on their cars.  Back then it wasn’t at all unusual to see someone either under the hood or under the car working on everything from an oil change to swapping out a starter.  These days you need to be an engineer to perform most car repairs since our vehicles have become so computerized.  But that doesn’t mean there aren’t some forms of auto maintenance that you can’t still do yourself.  DIY car repairs can not only save you money, they can help your car last longer and retain more of its value when it comes time to sell or trade it in.

Getting Fired Up About Fire Safety

By Catherine Powell

If there’s one thing that most homeowners dread, it’s to have their home catch fire.  Whether it’s waking up from a deep sleep to hear the smoke detector wail, or returning from work to discover smoke pouring out of a window, nothing gets the Adrenalin pumping faster than a house-fire.  Even worse is the panic that a fire can create in the most sedate individual and you have a recipe for disaster that’s hard to top.  If the situation were to happen to you, do you know what to do to avoid making the matter worse?  Are you prepared to deal with most common sources of house-fires? Read on to find out the do’s and don’ts of fire safety.  

Flash Flood Follies

By Catherine Powell

Last week I talked about hurricane preparedness.  This week I want to talk about flash floods.  When most people think of flash floods, they picture a torrent of whit water roaring down a canyon carrying trees and debris in a torrent.  Anyone who was born before 1970 remembers the flash flood that Mount St. Helen produced when it erupted on March 27, 1980.  While most people will never have to deal with a flood of such intensity, they do happen even in a state as flat as Florida.  To keep you from doing something foolish, I thought I’d take the time to tell you how to deal with them.

How to Avoid the Top-10 Hurricane Hazards

By Catherine Powell

If you’ve taken a look at weather.com lately, you’ll notice that not only is there a tropical depression forming off the East coast, but nine tropical storms have already formed in the Atlantic so far this year.  Since Hurricane Season doesn’t officially end until November 30, I thought it best that I gave my readers a few helpful hints on what they need to beware of should a named storm head their way.