How To Prepare Your Home for Tornado Season

How To Prepare Your Home for Tornado Season

One of the worst things that can happen to a homeowner is a tornado. They can cause a lot of damage, and they’re often unpredictable. You can’t control when or where one will hit, but you can take some steps to protect your home from the damage it can cause.

Take some actionable steps to prepare your home for tornado season and minimize the risk of damage.

Create a Tornado Plan for Your Family

One of the primary things you can do to protect your family during a tornado is to have a plan. A plan includes deciding where to go in your home, how to communicate, and what supplies you will need. Sit down with your family and develop a plan for what to do if a tornado hits.

If you have pets, make sure you include them in your plan. Have a safe place for them to go, and make sure you have enough food and water to last for a few days.

Have an Emergency Kit

Build an emergency kit and keep it in a safe place. The kit should include water, food, flashlights, batteries, first-aid supplies, and cash. If you must evacuate your home, you’ll want to have this kit with you.

Know Where To Shelter in Place

If a tornado is heading your way, you should shelter in place. A good shelter means finding the most interior room in your home and staying there until the storm has passed.

Having an aboveground storm shelter is an even better option. Storm shelters provide a safe place to go during a tornado, and they can usually withstand the high winds.

If you don’t have a storm shelter, consider using a bathtub. It won’t provide as much protection as an aboveground shelter, but it’s better than nothing.

Tornado Watch vs. Tornado Warning

You should be able to differentiate between a watch and a warning. A tornado watch is when conditions are suitable for a tornado, but one has not developed yet.

A tornado warning is when someone spots a tornado, and you need to take shelter right away. Ensure that you have an NOAA weather radio to stay up-to-date on the latest weather alerts.

As the weather warms up, start preparing your home for tornado season. By taking some of these simple steps, you can help protect your home from the damage a tornado can cause.

Tornadoes can be incredibly destructive, so create a plan and stick to it. Your family’s safety is the most important thing.

Kitchen Improvements You Can Make Yourself

Kitchen Improvements You Can Make Yourself

The kitchen is one of the most used rooms in the home, so it makes sense that we want it to be one of the best. But keeping a kitchen at its best can get expensive if you’re constantly hiring renovation crews. While some jobs require professionals, you can readily do other jobs yourself. Keep reading to learn about the kitchen improvements you can make yourself.

Install a Range Hood

With the right equipment, you can install a range hood vent yourself. This update will improve your kitchen’s appearance, clean your air, and provide task lighting above your stove. Read through the manufacturer’s instructions, and then measure the area for installation. You’ll need wire strippers, ducting, a cutting tool, a wall cap, a full caulk gun, and a drill with drill bits.

Update the Hardware

For a simpler DIY project, update the hardware on your cabinets and drawers. You could paint the handles a new color to make them stand out, or switch them out for a different style. This is a subtle way to update your cabinets without intensive painting. All you’ll need for this project is a screwdriver and the new hardware, or a bucket of paint.

Add a Pot Hanger

Another small project that will make a big difference is adding a pot hanger or a pot rack. Pot hangers instantly free up space because they keep pots, pans, and large utensils out of the way but still accessible. To add a pot rack, the necessary installation tools will vary. For smaller wall-mounted pot hangers, you’ll need a stud finder, a drill and drill bits, and a tape measure. Larger racks that hang from the ceiling will also require those tools, in addition to ceiling screw hooks and a chain.

Improve Lighting

Your kitchen probably has overhead lighting, but you can improve lighting in task areas by adding additional light sources under cabinets. There are several options to choose from, including rope lights and puck lights. Whichever option you choose, you’ll need a tape measure to ensure the lip of your cabinets is deep enough to hide lights, a pencil to mark where the light will go, and a screwdriver with screws to secure the light. Place the lights at the front of your cabinet’s bottom for optimal task lighting.

Installing a range hood, updating hardware, adding a pot hanger, and improving lighting are all kitchen improvements you can make yourself. While bigger projects will require professional help, these projects will improve the look of your kitchen without too much difficulty.

Essential Fly Fishing Tips for the Spring

Essential Fly Fishing Tips for the Spring

Many anglers are eager to get back to their favorite rivers and lakes for fly fishing as the weather warms up! Going in the spring presents some unique challenges, whether you’re fly fishing in Florida, Montana, Tennessee, or anywhere else. To help anglers, we put together some essential fly fishing tips for the spring!

Don’t Be Afraid of the Muck

When fly fishing in the spring, you’re almost guaranteed to fish in runoff water. It’s not ideal for fishing since your visibility is zero, but don’t be afraid of the muck. You may not see the fish, but muddy water doesn’t mean they aren’t there.

You can have just as good a day fishing in runoff as you can on a clear summer day. In some ways, the runoff offers an advantage to anglers since the fish won’t get spooked by movement as much as they do in more transparent conditions. Plus, the added runoff changes currents in rivers and lakes, tiring fish and making them more susceptible to capture.

Upgrade in Size and Color

You can still fly fish well in muddy, runoff-filled rivers, but you’ll want to adapt and compensate for the lack of visibility. When choosing your flies for the spring, you’ll likely want to upgrade to more vibrant colors and bigger sizes.

You still want to use flies that resemble the natural species the fish eat, but with the brown water clouding their vision, you’ll need a little more to get their attention. Spring is an excellent time to use those flashy streamers and giant bugs to make sure the fish catch a glimpse in the spring rivers and streams.

Watch the Weather

It’s possible to fish in runoff water—even fish well. But most anglers would rather avoid it altogether. You can anticipate when rivers and lakes will experience runoff by keeping an eye on the weather and planning your fishing around it.

Runoff typically occurs after heavy rainfall or when the weather warms up, melting ice and overflowing the rivers and lakes. Keep an eye on the temperature and rain gauges leading up to your fishing expedition. If the air is dry and moderate, you’re likely to find clear rivers ideal for fly fishing.

Work the Edges

In the spring, when rivers experience runoff, their water levels rise, and their currents speed up. Some fish will struggle in these quicker currents and look for refuge nearer the banks where the waters are shallower and the flow is less pronounced.

If you’re fishing in a river that’s up a couple of inches or feet, your best bet could be to aim near the usually dry banks where tired fish may be stopping to rest.

Spring may not always be ideal for fly fishing anglers, but there’s still plenty of fish to catch! Follow our essential fly fishing tips for the spring, and we’re sure you’ll get a few nibbles and bites on your line!

How To Go Off the Grid in Safety and Comfort

How To Go Off the Grid in Safety and Comfort

If you’re considering going off the grid, take the time to determine if it’s really what you want to do. Going off the grid has a romantic, exciting appeal, but no matter how prepared you may be, cutting all ties to the comforts of society and civilization can be a severe shock. Take the time to read up on how to go off the grid in safety and comfort before making the break. Start here!

Educate Yourself

Going off grid isn’t a learn-as-you-go proposition. It’s wise to bring a library of survival skill books with you, but you should also gain and develop skills through training and practice while you still have the benefits of running water, electricity, and internet access. Enroll in live or virtual classes for finding and purifying water, repairing machinery, growing crops, and so forth. After you’ve learned these skills, practice them. In an emergency, you won’t have the benefit of making mistakes.

Establish a Support System

When you have an idea of where you want to live, don’t confuse off-the-grid living with complete disconnection from a community. Your chances of surviving and thriving increase if you have a local support system. Get to know your neighbors, even if they’re a mile away. If you plan to make regular trips to a local town for supplies, meet the local merchants, mechanics, and repair people. You may need their help someday!

Power Up

Living like a mountain man of old may seem cool, but it’ll get old if you like having heat and electricity. You may be able to equip your off-the-grid home with windmill or solar power. And if you equip the place with a bank of rechargeable lithium-ion batteries, you’ll find you have plenty of power, even during windless and sunless days and nights. Going off grid doesn’t have to mean going without power.

Consider Water Woes

The last of our tips on how to go off the grid in safety and comfort is one of the most vital: be sure you have access to clean water. Water access is a nonnegotiable part of going off the grid. If you don’t have it, you’re finished before you start. You may need to drill a well for your water needs, but there’s no guarantee the water supply will be near the surface or even clean. Likewise, living on a lake or pond may seem like a solution, but purification can be an ongoing issue, and dry years can severely cut into your supply.

The Most Common Types of Farming Equipment

The Most Common Types of Farming Equipment

If you run a farm, having the right equipment is essential. You want to make sure you have everything you need before you start farming. Here are some of the most common types of farming equipment and what they do.

The Combine

If you grow wheat or grains of any variety, a combine is one of the most critical pieces of equipment. Combines perform three essential tasks as you work:

  • They reap, or cut the plants from the ground.
  • They thresh, or separate the edible parts of the plant from the inedible ones.
  • They winnow, or remove the dry, flaky chaff (outer skin) of the grain.

The Plow

Plowing is one of the most crucial steps in preparing your land for growing crops. It’s also an essential step for keeping your soil healthy and ensuring a bountiful harvest before you plant your seeds. Plows break up the ground, softening it and preventing it from impeding growth. A plow will also shift and destroy any harmful buildup that rests on the top layer of your soil.

The Seeder

The role of the seeder is self-explanatory: it spreads seeds across your soil. However, you’ll want to invest in the proper seeder for the size of your field. For farmers with smaller plots of land, hand seeders are acceptable.

The Fertilizer Spreader

Fertilizing your crops provides them with important nutrients and allows them to grow larger and more quickly. However, nobody wants to handle massive amounts of fertilizer by hand. Fortunately, one of the most common types of farming equipment is the fertilizer spreader, which ensures your planted seeds get an even distribution of fertilizer spread over them.

Knowing the different types of farming equipment and their roles not only keeps everything running smoothly but also reduces the risk of farming accidents. Being aware of the tools necessary to run a farm will result in higher-quality crops in the long run.