During the summertime, going swimming is something that a lot of families like to do, but there are only a few of us lucky enough to have a safe swimming area in the backyard. Going to the river, the creek, or even the ocean can be dangerous, but you may not think about the dangers that can exist on your own property. If you do have the privilege of owning your own swimming pool, there are some safety rules that you need to have followed by all the members of your household if you are going to have a safe summer.
When it comes to having a pool, children that live in the home or in neighboring homes should be taken into account. One thing that every pool needs to have around it is a fence to keep not only intruders, but also neighborhood children out of it. This is for privacy reasons as well as safety, since if a child from the community manages to get in your pool and drowns, you are completely responsible because it was not sufficiently blocked off. However, if you have a fence around the pool and it is locked, the likelihood of this happening is extremely reduced.
Something that you can use to keep your own children safe and out of the pool when you do not want them in it is a product called Safety Turtle, which is a wrist strap that you put on the child and when it is exposed to water, it causes the base station that comes with it to sound a loud alarm that tells you the child is in the pool. If you have small children that you cannot always keep track of and you want to make sure they stay away from the pool, this is the best product to give you peace of mind.
If you are going to have a pool, you should also put a good amount of thought into learning CPR and other first aid techniques. Community pools have lifeguards on duty at all times, but when you are in the privacy of your own home, you do not have this benefit, so you need to learn these things yourself in case an accident occurs.
Please make sure that your children and the adults in your house all know that running outside around the pool is not acceptable. This is extremely dangerous and has been known to end in extreme head injuries and even death.
Friday, January 25, 2008
Starting Smoke Damage Clean Up
A house fire is something no one wants to have to go through, but after the fire is over and out, the thing that can damage a part of the house the fire was not even in is smoke. When a fire starts, smoke goes everywhere and is pretty indiscriminate as to what it damages. It damages basically everything in the house. What can you do after the fire trucks are gone and the cleanup has to start? Here are a few things to get you started.
Your house might smell like smoke for a while until you get the place cleaned up, but you can always assist getting the smell out the door by, well, getting the smell out the door. Get some box fans and open all the windows and doors of the house so the air can circulate in and out of the house, carrying the smell along with it.
Soot that becomes built up on the walls and ceiling is pretty ugly. Anyone who has moved into a home that has had people who smoke living in it knows this fairly well and the only real thing that you can do to completely get rid of the look is paint over it. It sounds labor intensive, but if you do not want to do this, you can always hire someone to do it for you or maybe someone in your family or community will help you for free. Not too many people will volunteer for things like this, but if you are physically unable to do the job, it never hurts to ask around for some help.
You should try not to walk on carpet, if possible. Replacing the carpet is probably a good idea, depending on how much damage there really is to it, but if you want to try and keep it, you will have to vacuum it carefully. An upright will not work for this, since there are brushes on the bottom that will scrub the soot into the fibers. After you vacuum it, you need to have it steam cleaned. This should remove the smell, but if it does not, you will want to replace it.
Upholstered items in the house will also need to be vacuumed with a vacuum without brushes. Do this carefully.
Your curtains and other fabric items all around the house will need to be shaken out, washed, and dried naturally. Do not use an electric dryer to dry these, because it essentially bakes the smell of smoke into the item and makes it almost impossible to get out.
Your house might smell like smoke for a while until you get the place cleaned up, but you can always assist getting the smell out the door by, well, getting the smell out the door. Get some box fans and open all the windows and doors of the house so the air can circulate in and out of the house, carrying the smell along with it.
Soot that becomes built up on the walls and ceiling is pretty ugly. Anyone who has moved into a home that has had people who smoke living in it knows this fairly well and the only real thing that you can do to completely get rid of the look is paint over it. It sounds labor intensive, but if you do not want to do this, you can always hire someone to do it for you or maybe someone in your family or community will help you for free. Not too many people will volunteer for things like this, but if you are physically unable to do the job, it never hurts to ask around for some help.
You should try not to walk on carpet, if possible. Replacing the carpet is probably a good idea, depending on how much damage there really is to it, but if you want to try and keep it, you will have to vacuum it carefully. An upright will not work for this, since there are brushes on the bottom that will scrub the soot into the fibers. After you vacuum it, you need to have it steam cleaned. This should remove the smell, but if it does not, you will want to replace it.
Upholstered items in the house will also need to be vacuumed with a vacuum without brushes. Do this carefully.
Your curtains and other fabric items all around the house will need to be shaken out, washed, and dried naturally. Do not use an electric dryer to dry these, because it essentially bakes the smell of smoke into the item and makes it almost impossible to get out.
What You Need To Know About Water Safety
If you decide to go swimming this summer, there are a few things that you need to think about in order to keep yourself and your family safe.
If you decide to go swimming somewhere like a creek, river, or ocean, you need to realize that you are not the only one swimming there. While there may not be many other people there, there are probably other animals there and they probably do not like the fact that you are on their property. This can be anything from snakes to spiders and other wildlife, so you need to be careful and watch for them. Know your local wildlife, especially poisonous ones like snakes and spiders, and know how to react if you are attacked by one of them. Jellyfish are particularly dangerous in the ocean and some varieties have been known to kill people, especially off the coast of northern Australia.
Another thing that you need to know if you are going swimming in an area where there are not a lot of people is CPR and other basic first aid techniques. These can save your life or the life of someone else and if you are taking your family to a place to swim alone with not much access to the outside world, this may be your only option if one of them gets hurt.
Never dive into the water unless you are absolutely sure of how deep it is. You cannot test this by just looking at the water. You need to physically test the depth of it before you do any diving.
It may not seem like a huge risk, but going barefoot near creeks and rivers may not be a good idea. Purchase some shoes that you can wear underwater. The reason for this is that some areas that you may want to go swimming in will have sharp rocks and even used drug needles. Take a good look around an area before you decide to take your family swimming there.
Make sure you and the rest of your family have the correct floatation devices for each person’s level of swimming experience. If you are going boating, lifejackets are typically required in most states.
Finally, the most important thing to learn is how to swim. A large number of people do not know how to swim beyond the dog paddle, and while even this low technique can save your life, there are other and better ways to learn how to swim, especially if you are dealing with a rough current. A dog paddle may not always be able to sustain you. If you are having a hard time swimming, find someone who can teach you how to float. The human body is made of a large percentage of water and floating is fairly easy once you have practiced it for a while.
If you decide to go swimming somewhere like a creek, river, or ocean, you need to realize that you are not the only one swimming there. While there may not be many other people there, there are probably other animals there and they probably do not like the fact that you are on their property. This can be anything from snakes to spiders and other wildlife, so you need to be careful and watch for them. Know your local wildlife, especially poisonous ones like snakes and spiders, and know how to react if you are attacked by one of them. Jellyfish are particularly dangerous in the ocean and some varieties have been known to kill people, especially off the coast of northern Australia.
Another thing that you need to know if you are going swimming in an area where there are not a lot of people is CPR and other basic first aid techniques. These can save your life or the life of someone else and if you are taking your family to a place to swim alone with not much access to the outside world, this may be your only option if one of them gets hurt.
Never dive into the water unless you are absolutely sure of how deep it is. You cannot test this by just looking at the water. You need to physically test the depth of it before you do any diving.
It may not seem like a huge risk, but going barefoot near creeks and rivers may not be a good idea. Purchase some shoes that you can wear underwater. The reason for this is that some areas that you may want to go swimming in will have sharp rocks and even used drug needles. Take a good look around an area before you decide to take your family swimming there.
Make sure you and the rest of your family have the correct floatation devices for each person’s level of swimming experience. If you are going boating, lifejackets are typically required in most states.
Finally, the most important thing to learn is how to swim. A large number of people do not know how to swim beyond the dog paddle, and while even this low technique can save your life, there are other and better ways to learn how to swim, especially if you are dealing with a rough current. A dog paddle may not always be able to sustain you. If you are having a hard time swimming, find someone who can teach you how to float. The human body is made of a large percentage of water and floating is fairly easy once you have practiced it for a while.
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