SCP Survival

Best Survival Gear and Supplies

Will Insurance Cover Your Home When Storms Hit?

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When a tornado, hurricane or other severe weather phenomenon is heading toward your town, the last thing you want to think about is whether or not you have the proper insurance coverage. Your focus should be on getting your loved ones to safety, not if you will have to pay for a new roof out of your own pocket.

The following tips can help homeowners select the best type of insurance coverage for their home, as well as know what to do in the event of an emergency:

Know your Insuranc Categories

As Homeowners Insurance Guide notes, the definition of “property” as it applies to your insurance policy varies a bit from state to state as well as between companies. To be sure that you have the proper coverage, it’s important to know what is generally considered to be a “covered” property. For example, the actual house where you live falls under this definition. Other categories to discuss with your insurance agent include any other structures you might have on your property like a detached garage, a shed or a barn; personal property like furniture and appliances; and the loss of use category, which applies when the home is no longer safe for people to live there.

Open versus named perils

In the world of insurance, a “peril” is something that will cause a loss to occur to a home. These can range from fires and floods to other hazards. While a package policy offers coverage for many types of perils, it is not usually all-inclusive.

As a homeowner, you can also purchase extended coverage to handle other perils, including windstorms, hail, and broken glass. If you live in an area of the country that is prone to getting hurricanes, tornadoes, haboobs (sand storms) or other potentially devastating weather-related conditions, it’s vital you speak with your insurance agent sooner rather than later to verify what is covered in your homeowners policy and, if necessary, purchase additional specific insurance.

For example, while the majority of property insurance policies cover damage that results from hurricanes, it might not extend to taking care of anything flood-related. Since hurricanes inherently involve a lot of water and flooding can be an issue, this is an important point to discuss with your agent. If, after speaking with your insurance company, you are not happy with the coverage that you have or you feel that the price is too high, it might be a good idea to get some quick internet quotes.

How To File an Insurance Claim After a Natural Disaster

If the worst happens and a tornado, hurricane or other natural weather disaster hits your home, contact your insurance agent as soon as it’s safe to do so. You will probably set up an appointment for an insurance adjuster to come by and assess the damage to your home and belongings. As House Logic notes, in the case of a hurricane, these visits will be scheduled in order of the amount of damage, so be sure to provide your agent with an accurate estimate of how badly your home has been impacted.

To get ready for the visit with the insurance adjuster and help prepare for the entire process of filing a claim, create a home inventory list that includes detailed information about what was damaged — this includes the model numbers of appliances, computers and how much you paid for these now-damaged items.

Although you probably want to start cleaning up, don’t throw anything away until the claims adjuster has come by to check out your property. Be as patient as possible during this time; chances are good that your insurance company is dealing with dozens of other claims and it may take some time before you receive your compensation.

Remember, homeowners who are dealing with storm-related damage can fall prey to dishonest contractors; once you have settled with your insurance company and have the money needed for repairs, be sure to hire someone based on referrals and references, get a written contract for the work to be done, and avoid door-to-door contractors who show up wanting to fix your roof.

Kentucky Wonder Pole Beans Are Awesome For A Bean Teepee!

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I am a true lover of Kentucky Wonder pole beans, I’ve been planting them for the last 30 years. They are a non-GMO bean so you can save your seeds.

They are also wonderful for green bean teepees for the kids. I always inter-plant them with Morning Glories for a truly stunning arbor vine, but this year the Morning Glories didn’t do so well.

I thought this might give you some ideas on where to plant pole beans in your garden! These photos were take on 8.2.14 in my garden:

This is the main entrance to my garden. The beans on the right are planted in the ground. On the left, they are planted in pots with Borage.

Here is a closeup on that arbor.

I just leaned some old sheep fence up against one of my garden sheds and planted 3 beans at the base.

I’m not super happy with this curly willow arbor yet, but the beans are growing up it!

Here is one of my Three Sisters gardens with corn, pole beans and squash. The beans lock nitrogen into the soil so the beds can remain in the same place every year.

My House Was Bombed By Teenagers – Insurance Was A Nightmare

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Note: Harold was a beloved contributor to SCP who was targeted by some youths who threw a fire bomb at his home, which burned, and he and his wife barely escaped with their lives. This wasn’t the first incident in that town, but hopefully it will be the last. Harold is sharing with us an update and some of what he has learned about the insurance business through this whole ordeal.

Well I persevered and wore both the insurance company and the contractor down and we moved into Bright Acres on Saturday. What a relief without the herd of elephants thundering overhead in that apartment.

Our beautiful curving concrete driveway that we drive up and into the garage to unload the groceries etc., with just an 1-1/2″ step up into the house into the access area next to the kitchen, is pure delight as it has been raining here pretty often the past couple of weeks. So much, in fact, that the property can not be finished until late spring for everything due to the settling of the basement fill and the natural weathering of the treated wood on front and back porches. Still very much liveable though.

Note “lake” where the old foundation was.

Everyone who comes up at night, either front or back, are floodlit by the motion sensing flood lights on front and back when they get close enough to the house that their intentions are evident, they are here to either visit or otherwise access the house, are amazed and readily understand the “Bright Acres” name.

Have not gotten the security cameras in as of yet and will likely not get them mounted until it cools off again in the fall of the year. Likewise will not have a lawn until next year after some more fill is added.

While the insurance paid for the house they really took us to the cleaners on our personal property. Turned the loss list over to a third party who ignored the brand names and picked out the cheapest alternative like replacing an antique four drawer knee hole maple office desk of mine with a tubing and particle board contraption labeled as a computer desk and then depreciating it by seventy percent and virtually everything on the list was done the same way.

I will be very busy building and acquiring replacements for a lot of the items and some will never be replaced. Have to finish off the garage and restock my emergency supplies too over the next year to get back to where I was.

Since the salvage that went on in our house by in-laws and neighbors, with us too sick just out of the hospital to even contend with it, the knowledge that I was prepared to withstand about a year’s worth of upset and turmoil is no longer a secret – much to my chagrin as in the three days we have been home I have already had a visit from the welfarite no goods on the street looking to mooch something off me.

I am going to security fence the entire property as soon as the grant comes through and the security cameras which I had to order will be motion sensing pan and tilt with IR which automatically programs on the TVs when activated. If no TV is on when the driveway sensor alerts, it chimes and turns on a bedroom monitor.

As the intruder nears the house and the floods come on the camera switches from IR to normal light. Sure surprised a grandson last night with the lights.

I will be awhile getting settled in, but intend to go back to writing next week as soon as some semblance of order is achieved in my man cave which is presently being invaded by a grand niece while her mother visits Arizona. Then it will become my den again.

Harold

Why I Quit Square Foot Gardening and Went Back To Rows (11 Reasons)

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square foot gardening

For all of the hype about square foot gardening and raised beds, when two of my sisters, both avid and experienced gardeners (better than I am) stopped by last week, we had a little discussion and all decided that raised beds and square foot gardening is less productive and harder than the time tested standard row garden.

I can hear it already, “Heresy!”

So, here is why three sisters in Minnesota are going back to row gardening:

  1. The raised beds dry out faster and hence need more water.
  2. The raised beds aren’t high enough to stop the back breaking work of weeding.
  3. The raised beds get just as weedy, if not more so after a few years of use, than regular in-ground beds.
  4. With the intensive planting of a square foot garden, if you go on vacation for a few days at just the time the weeds are coming in, you can lose a whole crop of root vegetables (carrots, onions, radishes, etc.) because as you pull out the weeds the intensively planted fledgling veggies also come out.
  5. Raised beds need tending at least 3 times a week. A standard row garden and you can get by with once a week weeding.
  6. It is a lot easier to work a hoe between rows of plants while standing up than to sit and constantly be bent over weeding in a raised bed.
  7. It seems to be actually easier to manage the fertility of the soil in a standard garden than in a raised bed – we don’t know why, we only know what is…
  8. It is easier to water the whole garden than individual plants.
  9. Intensive planting in small beds leads to more conflicts with companion planting.
  10. Lots of paperwork recording when you planted what, where, how to plan rotations, companions, etc.
  11. Expensive and time consuming to put in and get the right mix of soil in them.

I recently got this private email that Phil said I could share…

“Well I’ve been an SFG addict since I first read Mels first book, became a SFG certifed instructor and have been doing SFG ever since, and I couldn’t agree with you more.  
 
As in any system there good and bad things.  Everything you say about them is true.  My wife had a stroke 2 yrs ago in June and I had left my garden in beautiful green plots and when I came back to my garden the weeds had completely taken over. The soil/mix is so rich the weeds out grew my veggies and had gone to seed.  
 
When I had laid out my garden, I laid weed barrier down and then covered it with wood mulch and now I have weeds everywhere.  In desperation I have sprayed industrial strength vinegar, weed whacked, used a blow torch and finally I lowered myself and used some Roundup.  
 
I’m thinking I will have to pull up everything and go back to doing it in the dirt.   However, if one has the time, and energy to pamper their garden, you will get some fantastic results. but not massive amounts.”

-Phil

Don’t tear up everything! Just cover it with black plastic for a month and that should kill all of the weed seeds and anything else bad. I use black plastic and tarps to clear an area before I start a new garden – it works!

All that said, what is good about raised beds and square foot gardening?

  • Great for small areas where you don’t have room for a row garden.
  • Fewer tools and no rototiller or cultivator needed.
  • Good for wet areas.
  • They can be very attractive.
  • Great for someone who has the time and is obsessed with their garden – picking at it every day and never leaving home.
  • It is easier to build little mini-greenhouses over the beds thus extending the growing season.

So, what do we three sisters see that could work?

  • The original square foot gardens were in-ground – retains moisture and uses the soil that is there.
  • Intensive planting and vertical growing can save a lot of space in a small garden plot.
  • It is easier to fertilize and water a small garden.
  • It is easier to fence a small garden and protect it from wildlife.
  • You only need a shovel to dig it and because you don’t step in it the soil doesn’t compact.

We three sisters from Minnesota….. think Mel got obsessed and made a good thing too hard and complex. 

Seasonal Crop Rotation

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Vegetable Garden Rotation

Over the past week I have been pulling up plants that have gone by and no longer producing in the garden, and started planting a second round.

Living in South Carolina the climate affords a pretty long growing season. Honestly – by this time of the year I am pretty sick of weeding and picking. We get WAY too many vegetables to consume ourselves and give away lots. I plant a second round to continue to practice, learn, and I just can’t stand seeing that empty ground knowing the potential it contains.

When you are making your garden plans, remember that there is a pretty good chance that you will have long enough to grow more than one crop.

Typically every year I plant cucumbers (National Pickling), Crookneck Squash, Zucchini, potatoes, tomato’s, cantaloupe, watermelon, and onions. This year – like every other year – I had successes and failures. I am speaking like the season is over and it’s not – I still have stuff growing and lots of veggies left to pick, but most of my plants which I started in April have gone by.

Crop rotation Compost

One of my compost bins is overflowing!!! Yes – I keep it in my garden. History tells me my second round of plantings do not do as well as my first. There are many reasons for this but I suspect the main one is extreme temps and sun exposure. I have considered rigging up some shade out of PVC and weeding fabric – just not a lot of time.

Second plantings this year consist of cucumbers, tomato’s, zucchini, and yellow squash. Some are by seed and some are transplants bought locally.

I am already thinking about my Fall garden – gonna make it a good one.

What To Do For a Deer Tick Bite

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Deer_tick_Ixodes_scapularis

Warning: GRAPHIC IMAGES

Okay, I had two deer tick bites last week – oh yes, they were embedded.

Old thinking – cover the tick with Vicks or petroleum jelly to smother them, back them out with a hot match or nail.

New thinking – get the tick out as fast as possible by pulling STRAIGHT BACK with a tweezers.

Don’t press too hard as you want to keep the tick intact. Once out, put it in a ziplock sandwich baggy with a label as to when it attached itself and how long it was attached. Put this in your freezer – I know, another YUCK!

If the tick was attached for 36 hours and was severely engorged, or you start to feel flu-like symptoms, you have 72 hours to get to the doctor and get a prescription of Doxycycline (also might be available from a vet if you have a good relationship with them).

Deer Ticks Versus Wood Ticks

Now they seem only concerned about the deer tick due to it’s dominance in transmitting Lyme Disease.

What To Do

deer tick stages

So my health insurance 24 hour hotline nurse said to keep the tick in a baggie in the freezer and if I got flu-like symptoms in the next 30 days to contact a doctor.

The doctor’s nurse seemed to think that it was too late if the antibiotic wasn’t given within 72 hrs. Just sayin’…

Lyme Disease can have devastating, life threatening affects. My mother ended up in the hospital for a week last year with various serious symptoms that were eventually traced to Lymes Disease.

What I Did

I had two embedded ticks within 24 hours of each other. One I could reach but shredded it and the head finally festered out two days later – YUCK! The other I couldn’t reach and Bob was able to get out whole and is in the freezer.

I am now back to showering head and body in dollar store anti-dandruff shampoo which seems to keep the ticks moving around long enough for me to pick them off before they embed.

Learn from my experience!