Over the weekend, St. Cloud weather forecasters who liven up their reports with gripping developments from around the nation warned of an imminent deep freeze headed into the Northeast, which had previously escaped harsh weather. Various parts of the nation had been coping with little rain in the South, too much rain in the Northwest, too much snow in the West, not enough snow in the Northeast, and so forth. More than halfway through the meteorological winter, you might say it has thus far seemed to be about normal (if you average out the whole country).

For St. Cloud residents who stayed on top of their property’s household maintenance and safety chores, the winter began with all the HUD preparedness guidelines having been taken care of. For those who missed them, it never hurts to recall the four items that top household winter safety checklists:

1.      Smoke Detectors. If they haven’t been checked lately, it’s time!

2.      Fire extinguishers. Checking their expiration dates is easy to overlook. It’s also a good idea to remind household members where they are.

3.      Generator. If you have one as a standby for outages, be sure it is in running order and ready to be placed in a properly vented area.

4.      Carbon Monoxide Alarms. Anything that produces CO (fireplaces, wood-burning stoves, water heaters, etc.) can be deadly—so this is the season when it’s most important to make sure they are in working order.

It’s also a good idea to have a battery-powered radio on hand in the event of a power failure—when communications are doubly important. If your cell phone battery runs out, you’ll be glad you can stay informed of emergency instructions and how restoration efforts are progressing.

HUD puts out a good many precautionary publications, the most comprehensive being Home Safety. But do disregard the fifth bullet point: “Flush expired medications down the toilet.” Please don’t do that—instead, observe our latest local expired medicine disposal guidelines. On the other hand, do call me for your next St. Cloud real estate venture!   

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