5 Things To Avoid When Hanging Your American Flag

5 Things To Avoid When Hanging Your American Flag

Displaying the American flag can be a great way to show patriotic spirit and inspire feelings of national pride. However, it’s crucial to follow proper etiquette when hanging the flag to ensure you treat this symbol of freedom with the respect it deserves. Here are five things to avoid when hanging your American flag.

Putting Your Flag Up in Harsh Weather

Although the American flag symbolizes resilience and endurance, do not keep it outside when conditions are particularly rough. According to the US flag code, you should not hang your flag during severe weather unless you have an all-weather flag.

You can also research tips on safeguarding your flag from poor weather, such as how to protect your American flag from snow. This knowledge will help you on days when the weather starts out fine but worsens, and you cannot take down your flag until you return home or the storm subsides.

Hanging Your Flag the Wrong Way

It’s not uncommon for people to hang the flag in a way that doesn’t follow proper flag etiquette. When hanging the American flag horizontally or vertically on a wall, the union (the blue field with the stars) should always be in the upper left corner. When flying the flag from a pole, you should place the union at the peak. Displaying the flag incorrectly is known as a signal of distress, so it’s important to get it right.

Using a Flag That You Should Replace

A worn-out or damaged flag can detract from the intended message of patriotism, unity, and respect. The flag code recommends you should replace flags when they become frayed, faded, or otherwise damaged beyond repair. If your flag needs an upgrade, be sure to invest in a new one and retire the old flag according to proper disposal methods—usually by respectfully burning it in a flag retirement ceremony.

Hanging Another Flag Above It

Something to avoid when hanging your American flag is putting another flag above it. The flag code says you should not fly other flags above the American flag on the same pole, except for church pennants during naval services. When displayed with flags that are on other poles, you should hang the American flag first and take it down last.

Leaving Your Flag Up at Night Without Lighting

If you choose to display your American flag during the nighttime hours, it must have adequate lighting. The flag should always be visible, so make sure it’s well lit when natural light is unavailable. Invest in a solar-powered flagpole light or another reliable light source to ensure people can see your flag.

Properly displaying the American flag is important for showing your respect and appreciation. Avoid these common mistakes when hanging your flag to ensure your display sends the right message.

4 Expenses to Remember When Building a Cabin

If you love the great outdoors, there is a little better way to enjoy it than building your very own cabin. You will find that such a place can become a holiday destination or possibly even a seasonal home if you want it to be. However, building a cabin is unlike a traditional home. There are several nuances that you must take into consideration.  Especially if you want at a finished cabin that will last for generations. Here are four expenses that you will want to keep in mind as you begin to build the cabin of your dreams.

Wood Treatment and Protection

If your cabin is going to be like most, it will be largely constructed out of wood. This gives it a beautiful exterior and adds to that outdoor ambiance that you have grown to love. At the same time, you will need to ensure that the wood is properly treated to last for decades. You must also keep the termites at bay, so remember to plan on annual expenses to get a professional pest control company out to keep your cabin safe at all times.

Sewage Disposal

When are out in the middle of nowhere, you have to account for sewage in one way or another. In the city, this is often taken care of for you. However, building your cabin will necessitate that you take matters into your own hands so to speak. Remember to plan on incorporating a septic tank system into the design of your cabin.

Energy Source

One of the great parts about building a cabin is that you are largely in control of how energy is provided to the residence. Depending on where you build, you will probably have many different options available to you. This might be the time to consider incorporating alternative energy sources, such as solar, into the design of the home.

Driveway Maintenance

You will also need to plan on how to get your vehicles up to your cabin. This will also mean incorporating driveway maintenance into your budget, particularly during the winter months. This will help make your experience much more desirable in the end.

These are just four of the many expenses you will want to keep in mind as you begin to build your cabin. These are all manageable if you will take the time to find the right professionals to take care of them for you. Remember to get the job done right the first time so that you can enjoy years of comfortable living in your new home.

4 Great Design Ideas for Your Office

4 Great Design Ideas for Your Office

4 Great Design Ideas for Your Office
Buy at Amazon

If you’ve recently relocated to a new building you may be stuck for renovation ideas to bring the space to life. Your main considerations should be the practicality, comfort and aesthetics when it comes to designing your office. You could be working with a blank canvas or you might need to breathe some life into an old, tried room. Either way, there are plenty of ways you can create something amazing that works for your business. Read on for the best design ideas for your office:

 Open Plan

 Gone are the days of stuffy restricted offices where you’re expected to work behind your divider wall with no communication with the outside world. Open plan offices have become increasingly popular, aiming to open up the space. It transforms the room into an environment with a friendly and welcoming atmosphere. This has also helps with collaboration between departments, consequently improving employee morale. It’s been found that employees work better and far more effectively with an open plan office. If you still need a place for meetings with clients, then you can always create a separate space specifically for this purpose.

Decoration for The Office

Keep the room light and bright by using light or neutral colours, with the only other dominant colour being that of your brand. Using light colours will also mean that your room has a timeless look and won’t ever be outdated. Furthermore, it’s a good idea to mix textures and patterns to add some depth and bring the room to life.

In addition, having artwork across the walls is not only visually pleasing, but it shows you have a happy and fun workplace. You can dot artwork around the office or even have a dedicated wall. Using artwork that’s relevant to your business is the perfect way to finish off your office design; this could be company statistics, achievements or employee work.

Let in Plenty of Light

 If you’ve moved to a high-rise building in the city centre, then you may be lucky enough to have panoramic views across the office. Make the most of these by allowing as much light in as possible, taking a look at the best types of blinds that will allow you to filter light. This way you can have complete control over the natural light in the office. This will also allow for privacy when you need it.

If you’re working in an office with limited windows or in a home office, then try not to have any bulky furniture in the way that will block some of the light. You can even install some daylight lightbulbs in areas where they may be little light to make it brighter and more inviting.

Add Some Greenery

Office plants aren’t just for decoration, they are also beneficial to employee’s health. Plants are proven to remove harmful chemicals from the air, giving the room a cleaner, less compact feel. They’re also wonderful to look at – and they don’t even need to be hard work. There are plenty of low maintenance plants including succulents, spider plants, snake plant and even aloe vera that look wonderful in the office but require very little attention. You’ll find this means employees take less sickness days, are less stressed and boosts productivity.

How Will You Design Your Office?

 The way you design your office can have a monumental impact on the business. Consider the best layout that will allow for optimum productivity, which may include switching to an open plan office. You could even compile a short survey for existing employees.  If you’re moving consider asking what changes they’d like to see in the office plan.

How to Make a DIY Fridge Mat

How to Make a DIY Fridge Mat

DIY Fridge Mat
Buy at Amazon

I am not messy, but I am a little clumsy.  My wife is always getting on to me about spilling things.  When I saw this DIY Fridge Mat Pinterest, I jumped at the chance to show the wife some projects of mine can make HER life easier also.  It is all well and good to be handy.

However, f you can’t wow the wife occasionally then you won’t have anyone to be prepared for.

To make a fridge mat simply use plastic place mats on your fridge shelves.  If they get dirty it is much easier to take them out and clean them than it is to clean the actual shelf.

As you can see this is a simple little project, but it does wonders for making your fridge easy to clean.  If the mats get too dirty, simply lift them out and throw them away.  The stains and spills will go with them leaving your fridge shelves protected and clean.

This DIY Fridge Mat is about as easy as my microwave cleaning trick.  It is not hard, try it and see if it makes your life easier.

I know I use this all the time myself.

How to Build a Paracord Carabineer Spool

How to Build a Paracord Carabineer Spool

 

Paracord Carabineer Spool
Buy at Amazon

This Paracord Carabineer Spool project that is very useful for outdoors-men of all types. It is just an way of carrying cordage in a way that is easily accessible.

If you can get a section of PVC pipe around a carabiner (more on this latter) and zigzag spool 550 or tethering cord around it, you can use the carabiner to attach to the outside of your pack when not needed, and either spool from your pack, or detach it and use from the spool. Heck, you could even hold the free end, and use the carabiner spool as a weight to throw over a tree for things like hanging bear bags.

The oval and D shaped carabiners will have the most room for carrying more Paracord. The diameter of the carabiner tubing should be slightly smaller than the interior spool diameter to reduce wobble and to give you more room for spooled cord.

Cut a 3” section of ½” PVC pipe to use as a spool. Since this won’t fit directly on the carabiner, you need to cut a slit down the center of the pipe. (you can either separate the two halves, or only cut through one side and pry it open and force it around )

If you cut the PVC into two parts you will need to use duct tape to secure them back together.

No matter which way you use, ensure the pipe then spins freely around the carabiner.

Next wrapped as much paracord on the spool as you can, (probably about 40 feet worth), and still be able to open the carabiner gate just enough to slip it over nylon webbing/PALS/MOLLE attachment point on your bag, backpack, strap, or vest.

New 750 Cord

FYI, the paracord listed above is a new paracord product.  I plan on doing a full review, but it is not regular 550 cord, this is 750 cord – meaning it it’s breaking strength is 750 pounds, and like the original cord it has the smaller inner strands that you can scavenge to make things like fishing cord – its mil-spec 550 cord – but better….

I hope this is useful to you, and I look forward to hear how you use this project.