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Entry bubble Happy Halloween

By: Sam | October 31, 2007 | Category: Home and Family

I love Halloween.  The Great Pumpkin is on.  The stores are over-stocked with candy corn (I can’t resist).  From lattes to muffins, pumpkin is the ingredient of choice.  And no matter your age, there are so many entertaining and creative things you can do to celebrate. 

I'm celebrating by taking a ghost tour in Georgetown with my best friend.  Although it didn't make the recent list of the "10 Great Places to Get Spooked by Your Surroundings," I'm sure there will be plenty of scary stories to keep a permanent chill up my spine.  Best of all, Georgetown on Halloween night is unlike anything else in D.C.  The streets are filled with people who are dressed in some of the most inventive and unique costumes I've ever seen.  Maybe I should wear my Care Bear costume from childhood.

If ghost tours aren't your thing, then check out all the great Halloween links on USA.gov.  You can find tons of fun facts about the holiday and its history and folklore.  Here’s one I couldn’t believe-in 2006, the U.S. produced 1 billion pounds of pumpkins.  That’s a whole lot of Jack-O-Lanterns and pumpkin pies! 

If you’re like many of my friends who are attending a pumpkin carving or costume party tonight, make sure to check out the Halloween recipes on USA.gov.  The Eyeball Soup is guaranteed to win you “Best Dish.” But if you're heart is set on  “Most Original,” you should try an office favorite, Dead Man's Meatloaf.

And for the many who are taking kids out trick-or-treating, here’s some tips to ensure the evening is a fun but safe one:

Consumer Product Safety Commission-Halloween Safety

U.S. Food and Drug Administration-Safety Tips for Halloween

National Crime Prevention Council-Halloween Tips

| View Comments [1] | envelope E-mail This Entry | Tags: autumn   fall   safety  

 

Entry bubble Battery Check: Smoke and Carbon Monoxide Alarms

By: Marybeth | October 30, 2007 | Category: Home and Family

As cooler temperatures approach and we begin using heaters, fireplaces, and candles, it’s a good time to make sure smoke and carbon monoxide detectors are working. The standard recommendation is to check them when the time changes. Since we’re “falling back” on Sunday, November 4, the time is now.

The batteries in smoke detectors should be replaced at least once a year. If you don’t have smoke alarms, get them today! Battery-operated detectors are inexpensive and easy to set up. If you have trouble installing and cannot get assistance from a relative or friend, call the non-emergency number for your local fire department.

Households should also have carbon monoxide (CO) detectors. Carbon monoxide is odorless and colorless and extremely toxic. Sources of CO include gas-fired appliances (e.g., stove, furnace, clothes dryer), grills, and motor vehicles. CO detectors should be used in combination with the proper use and maintenance of your fuel-burning appliances.

I’ve had false alarms with both types of units. Anyone with a smoke detector near the kitchen has probably done their share of frantic towel-waving. While this presents a good opportunity to burn a few calories before a meal, I try to avoid such workouts by using the kitchen exhaust fan.

I’ve only had one false alarm with my CO detector. I don’t know what caused it to sound (household cleaners can apparently be a trigger), but I do know that it wasn’t due to CO (the fire department checked my home and gave me the all-clear).

In the grand scheme, the nuisances presented by these potentially life-saving devices are negligible.

| View Comments [3] | envelope E-mail This Entry | Tags: alarm   carbon   home   monoxide   safety   smoke  

 

Entry bubble Influenza: Avoid A Long Winter Headache

By: Jake | October 29, 2007 | Category: Health

With the California wildfires and drug resistant staph infections outbreaks in schools dominating the headlines the last few weeks, you may not have noticed it's flu season.
According to the CDC, seasonal influenza infects 5% to 20% of the population every year. Complications of flu can include bacterial pneumonia, ear infections, sinus infections (this one always gets me), dehydration, and worsening of chronic medical conditions, such as congestive heart failure, asthma, or diabetes. 

The CDC says there are three ways to prevent getting the flu. The most effective prevention is to get a flu vaccine, more commonly known as a flu shot, like I did this week. You can search for flu vaccine providers near you. In order to encourage vaccinations, the CDC has declared November 26-December 2 Flu Vaccination Week with Tuesday the 27th serving as Children’s Flu Vaccination Day. The CDC encourages health care providers to expand hours and offer more flu clinics during this week. In addition to a flu shot you can take anti-viral drugs and practice good health habits.

One thing I recommend in addition to these tips is to keep an eye out on CDC's flu activity and surveillance page.  The CDC partners with local health departments and provides a weekly report and map about flu outbreaks around the country. Also, if you do get sick here's how you can tell if it's a the flu or just a cold.
 

| View Comments [8] | envelope E-mail This Entry | Tags: flu   infection   influenza   shot   staph   vaccine  

 

Entry bubble I Hope My Family's OK

By: Sommer | October 26, 2007 | Category: Home and Family

My mom’s oldest brother and his family live in Aliso Viejo, CA. I’ve only visited them once or twice so I’m not really familiar with the geography; all I know is that it’s south of LA and north of San Diego. When the wildfires started burning, I know it sounds callous, but I didn’t pay that much attention to the reports on the news. I’ll admit that I’ve become somewhat immune to hearing about all the disasters and crime that’s proclaimed loudly by the media 24/7.

Our family tends to live under the credo that unless you’ve heard otherwise everything’s fine so I didn’t really start to wonder about my family’s safety until Wednesday. (We’re a close family, but we all feel comfortable living our own lives spread out across the country - so this type of behavior really isn’t strange for us.)California fires map

After a little online research and some help from maps I learned that their house is about 28 miles north of the Horno/Ammo fire which was 40 – 50% contained and 16 miles west of the Santiago Fire, which was 30% contained, both as of Thursday afternoon.

So far, the fires are still pretty far away from Aliso Viejo but there’s no doubt they’re still burning. I’ll keep an eye on the status of the fires and hope that no more start even closer. If the family had been evacuated I could have used USA.gov Find Family and Friends page to check on their status with several organizations including the Red Cross and FEMA. 

My thoughts and prayers are with all those who’ve been affected by these wildfires.  For additional information on how you can get help or help those in need visit USA.gov/californiafires.

| View Comments [2] | envelope E-mail This Entry | Tags: california   family   fire   sommer  

 

Entry bubble The California Fires

By: Nancy | October 25, 2007 | Category: Home and Family

fire trucks and forest fire It was hard to pry myself from the TV news this morning to get ready for work. The images of the fires sweeping down the California coast and the thought of hundreds of thousands of people being evacuated from their homes, not knowing what they'll find when they return, was pretty overwhelming.

If you're in California making your way through this situation or if you're like me, thousands of miles away wondering how to help, and what you'd do if you were faced with a similar disaster, I found some information on USA.gov and pueblo.gsa.gov that can help us all.

USA.gov just created a special page of resources related to the California fires. Learn about getting disaster relief if you're in the middle of the crisis. Connect with loved ones who may have been evacuated. And find out how you can donate to help in the rescue and recovery efforts. There’s also a special page listing telephone hotlines for evacuees and for those who’d like to volunteer to help during the crisis.

One things that keeps coming up over and over in TV interviews with people whose homes were destroyed in the fire is that they wished they'd had their important documents with them when they were evacuated, or at least kept everything in a fireproof safe. It's staggering to think about having to gather up everything important and evacuate your home in a matter of minutes. I don't think I could do it very efficiently right now. I have a fireproof safe, but important documents like insurance papers, my car title and my birth certificate are stored all over the place in my home. I am honestly not ready for a disaster. If you're not either, here's something we can both use: A Citizen Guide to Disaster Preparedness. This starts with the basics of planning ahead for emergencies by assembling supply kits with food, water and medications, pre-planning evacuation routes and more.

Now, as for those important documents you'll need in the event of an emergency, here's a list of what you should have and what the best ways are to safely store these records.

What if you're one of those families I saw on TV whose records were lost in the fires? You don't have to worry; there are ways of getting copies of everything. Here's a comprehensive list from USA.gov that was first developed to help Hurricane Katrina survivors get copies of their important documents that were destroyed in the flooding. Whether your documents have been lost in a disaster or you just plain can't find something around your home, these links will help you get copies of your vital personal records (birth and marriage certificates), banking records, your passport, Social Security card, medical records and more.

Keep checking back. USA.gov's California Fires page will continue to be updated with more information to help everyone affected by the fires get through this challenging time.

| View Comments [2] | envelope E-mail This Entry | Tags: california   disaster   fire   nancy  

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