I hope that you are all keeping cozy and warm during this freezing weather. There are plenty of tips for keeping your home safe from winter freezing hazards:
- If your kitchen or bathroom sinks are on an outside wall, keep cabinet doors open so your water pipes don't freeze. You may also leave the tap running a little bit to keep the water moving. If your pipes do freeze (The main clue is that water doesn't run when you turn on the tap.). Use a blow dryer to gradually warm the pipes.
- Ice damming is when water freezes in your gutters or downspouts freeze and the melting ice backs up into your house and leaks into your ceilings. Your best bet is to make sure the gutters are free of leaves and debris before cold weather hits so there isn't an opportunity for clogs. Once again, a blow dryer is helpful to slowly melt the frozen spot. When the ice is in your downspout, remove the elbow at the bottom of the downspout. This allows the melting water to leak out onto the ground and not back up.
- Mice and other small rodents are cold and look for a cozy place to weather the weather. They tend to move in when your house is quiet (like when you are on vacation!). You can set traditional traps to catch them. They like to run around the edges of the room and usually at night after your house settles down. Set traps there. Be sure to put a delicious and enticing treat like cheese or peanut butter as bait. Also, be sure to set them were children or pets won't be enticed and get accidentally caught (ouch!). You can put out poison traps. The mice eat the poison which makes them thirsty. The theory is that they will go outside for a drink (which activates the poison). Don't count on that happening in this weather. There are plenty of other options, but this is a do it yourself project and hopefully will go away when the weather changes.
- And for car maintenance...Keep your gas tanks filled to at least half a tank to keep water from condensing into the fuel and causing engine trouble Use the window washer winter weather solution (and not using the windshield washer fluid to clean off ice: it will freeze). Give your car a few minutes to warm up before driving if your car sits outside for any length of time. Spray the gaskets of your doors with cooking spray so they don't freeze shut. Keep a shovel and kitty litter in your car to help give you traction if you get stuck in the snow.
We should have some relief from the arctic weather shortly...It is Indiana and we never have extended periods of any type of weather!
We cancel our meetings and classes whenever Carmel Clay Schools has a two hour delay or cancellation. Check our webpages indyinternationalfriends.blogspot.com. I will also send out an email.
I am looking forward to seeing everyone soon!
- International Bible Study: Tuesdays, 9:30-10:30, room 100.
- International Friends: Tuesdays, 10:30-12:00, room 100.
- Conversation: Wednesdays, 4:30-6:00, room 209.
- English Classes: Thursdays, 9:30-12:00, upstairs classrooms.
Love,
Carolyn
tap: faucet
gradually: slowly
debris: (de-BREE)
clog: when a pipe is obstructed and moving water; when a waterway or road is obstructed it is called a jam
elbow: a bend in a pipe
back up: when something is stopped up or clogged or jammed and overflows
settles down: quiets, becomes still
entice: tempt
International Bible Study: Tuesdays, 9:30-10:30, room 100.
International Friends: Tuesdays, 10:30-12:00, room 100.
Conversation: Wednesdays, 4:30-6:00, room 209.
English Classes: Thursdays, 9:30-12:00, upstairs classrooms.
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