Home Fire Safety

About a week ago I started thinking about fire drills and how they are essential in all work places and schools. I thought about how for fire drills to be successful there first has to be training on what to do and then practices on how to do them.

I decided that our home fire plan (which we discussed in a family home evening several months ago) needed a practice run or two. I wanted to impress on my children the need to be prepared and to know what to do when an emergency happened.

So I discussed my plan with my lovely wife Chantel, who is long suffering and is willing to endure my crazier ideas, and then put it into action.

For Family Home Evening this Monday we all sat around the kitchen table and discussed what to do if the smoke alarm goes off (not just when I'm cooking). We talked about checking the door first to see if it was hot and then if it isn't hot carefully opening the door. We then all moved to the boys bedroom and shut the door. Prior this I had tacked a sheet about my knee height by their door to represent the smoke barrier. once the kids were in their room I started making the smoke detector off. Chantel and the boys then touched the door to make sure it was safe and then opened the door. They crawled underneath the "smoke" layer and ran to the safety of the front door. After opening the front door we all ran to our meeting spot on the street and discussed that we don't go back into the house unless the fire people say its ok.

All in all it was a rewarding experience. I know that we can never fully prepare for a fire but I want to make sure that my family is as safe as they can be.

Apple Sauce and other adventures

This month marked the coming of ripe crabapples. I picked up two large boxes full from my parents and from Chantel's parents. I got back from Regina and started my applesauce production. Crabapples make the nicest pink applesauce that you can find. By the time I finished my third night of production I had 10 gallons of applesauce. I have 29 quart jars of applesauce that I canned and ~20 medium freezer bags of applesauce.

During this whole process I came to realize that I really like preserving food. I love to take produce and store it. I can spend hours cutting crabapples or strawberries and love it. I lose myself in the work.

I can't wait for pears and peaches to come on sale so I can do more.

Andrew