Redneck Ingenuity... This Will Hold, Right?

Redneck Ingenuity... This Will Hold, Right?

Numbers on Tires

Numbers on Tires. Do You Know What They Mean?

The Hawk and The Hummingbird

The Hawk and The Hummingbird

Here’s Why You Should Close Your Bedroom Door at Night

Here’s Why You Should Close Your Bedroom Door at Night

Close Before You Doze

It may not seem like a big deal, but when it comes to you and your family's safety, it's vital. Here's why.

I’m sure there are numerous reasons to sleep with your door open. Proper air regulation throughout your home, and in your room, while you’re sleeping. Hearing little children at night in case they wake. Listening for anything mysterious, possibly break-ins or something going wrong with your appliances. But none of those reasons can live up to the devastating reason to why you should be closing your door at night: Surviving a house fire. It’s actually one of the key fire safety tips you need to know.

Closing your door may not seem like a big deal, but in the event of a house fire, it could give you more time to escape a fire at night. 40 years ago, the average time to escape a house fire was 17 minutes. However, since most furniture, fabrics or even construction products are made from synthetic materials, house dwellers only have three minutes to get out. That is a drastic difference in time, and quite frankly, not a lot of time to escape to safety.

In an effort to prove the severity of this situation, the UL Firefighter Safety Research Institute (FSRI) did a demonstration to show how closing your door could save your life. They lit a small building on fire, with one bedroom door open and the other closed. The results were absolutely astonishing.

Once the fire was dealt with, it was clear that closing one’s door is the safest bet in surviving a rapid house fire at night. FSRI made a video of the experiment, bringing in a few bystanders to watch the horrors of what could happen in a house fire, and asked each of them what their takeaway was after watching. They each said “close before you doze,” a slogan for a nationwide campaign relating to fire safety.

Close Your Door is a national campaign encouraging citizens to take a pledge, promising to close their doors at night. The “Closed Door Crew” consists of over 10,000 members. Their website shows other demonstrations and examples of why closing your bedroom door protects you, and your family, in the event of a fire.

At the end of their video, the FSRI shared some simple tips on how to prevent home fires that are very easy to follow:

• Have working smoke alarms in every level of your home, inside and outside your sleeping rooms.
• Have an escape plan. If you have a fire, know how you’re going to get out safely.
• Close your door.

It may not seem like a big deal now, but when you look at the drastic differences in FSRI’s study, and think about the average three minutes you have to escape a house fire, it really makes you reconsider. Also, watch out for these holiday decorations. They easily can become fire hazards!

The Two Things (and there are many more) You Should NEVER Throw Down The Drain

The Two Things (and there are many more) You Should NEVER Throw Down The Drain

In all honesty, there are a lot of things that you shouldn’t be throwing down the drain (or your garbage disposal, or even your toilet). But there are two items in particular that plumbers signify as the biggest culprit for drain blockages, especially during the holidays: Grease and potato peels. NOTE: EGGSHELLS ARE ANOTHER THING TO NEVER PUT IN THE GARBAGE DISPOSAL

That’s right! These two items, which are most likely dumped down the kitchen sink, tend to cause a lot of issues for plumbers nationwide. In fact, it’s the top two reasons why plumbers will see a 50 percent increase on services the day after Thanksgiving, otherwise known as Brown Friday.

Doyle James, president of Mr. Rooter Plumbing, gave some insight into why these specific items wreak havoc on your home’s plumbing.

People tend to assume that, since grease is a liquid, it can easily be poured down the drain. But this actually isn’t the case.

“Even though it’s warm and it’s a liquid, it’s a cold pipe and it gets in there and solidifies,” said James. “Then it gets really, really difficult to remove it because it sticks to the inside of the pipes.”

In terms of potatoes, James notices that the peels become a huge problem for garbage disposals specifically.

“A lot of people have a garbage disposal and that garbage disposal grinds everything up, and they think that as long as it makes it through it’s good to go,” said James. “We recommend people put anything like that into a compost pile like potatoes and potato peels, vegetable peelings and things like that.”

As for grease, James recommends you put it into a container to cool it off. Or if there isn’t a lot of grease, just soak it up with paper towels. But don’t throw away the hot grease; it could burn your garbage bag!

I grew up eating Fried Green Tomatoes in Laurel, MISSISSIPPI

I grew up eating Fried Green Tomatoes (Grown in our 1 or more acre Garden) in Laurel, MISSISSIPPI

Fried Green Tomatoes

In A Southern Kitchen

Do you ever wonder how certain things came to be? For example, why did someone decide one day that an unripened, hard, green tomato would taste good sliced, battered and fried? Who would have thought of that?

Slice Green Tomatoes

Ingredients

• 2 green tomatoes sliced thin
• 1/2 cup all-purpose flour (NOTE: or 1/4 cup flour and 3/4 cup cornmeal - about what my mother used)
• 1/2 cup plain cornmeal
• NOTE: 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper (Optional, my Mother NEVER used Cayenne Pepper to fry Green Tomatoes)
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
• 1 cup buttermilk (NOTE: OR - 1 raw beaten egg and 1 cup of whole milk mixed together - what my mother used)
• 1/4-1/2 cup vegetable oil or Crisco as needed

Instructions

• Mix cornmeal, flour, NOTE: cayenne pepper (Optional, my Mother NEVER used Cayenne Pepper to fry Green Tomatoes), salt and black pepper in a shallow dish.
• Pour buttermilk (or egg/milk mixture) into another shallow dish.
• Heat oil on medium-high in a large cast-iron skillet.
• Dip tomato slices in buttermilk and then dredge in cornmeal.
• Place tomato slices in hot oil and fry about 2 minutes per side, until lightly browned, (I like my fried green tomatoes fried slightly crispy)
• Drain on paper towels and serve immediately.

This is NOT MY Mothers Recipe, but similar (See NOTES, almost how my mother fried green tomatoes). 

A sneaky way to keep the bathroom smelling fresh

A sneaky way to keep the bathroom smelling fresh

A sneaky way to keep the bathroom smelling fresh is to fold up a dryer sheet and stuff it inside the cardboard toilet paper roll. Every time someone spins the roll, the scent is dispersed!