Holiday Time

Kitchen Safety:

• Cooking a holiday dinner at home? You must be extra careful. The sheer scope of the holiday feast can put unusual strains on the chef and the kitchen alike. And, in the final hours you will have to contend with all the helpful -assistant cooks - your family can produce; and you'll have to keep them safe as well.
• Here are a few ground rules for a fire safe holiday. Declare the kitchen off limits to young children, and even adults who aren't preparing food. Fewer people mean fewer chances for spills and burns.
• Always cook with pot handles turned inward, and with appliance cords safely out of the way. Protruding handles and dangling cords are too easily pulled or jostled, spilling scalding liquids on people and furniture.
• If you're dressing up for dinner, plan to run upstairs and change just before you serve. Frilly blouses and drooping sleeves have no place in a working kitchen; they invite clothing fires. Roll up your sleeves and don an apron for added safety.
• Take extra care to use potholders when carrying hot vessels. Never run across the kitchen with hot items.
• Don't risk burning your fingers or spilling hot foods.
• Use your potholders. In a kitchen full of relatives, be extra cautious. If you should be bumped or tripped, it could ruin the holiday.
• If a pan should catch fire on the stove, put a lid on it. You can also use a cutting board to cover the pan. This takes the air away from the fire and puts it out. With some baking soda, you can make a soda shaker from a coffee can with holes punched in it. You have just made a low cost, low-pressure fire extinguisher just perfect for the kitchen. All you have to do is shake the baking soda over the fire and blanket it, smothering the fire. Remember: Do not use water on a grease fire!

Winter Driving:

Driving safely on icy roads

1. Decrease your speed and leave yourself plenty of room to stop. You should allow at least three times more space than usual between you and the car in front of you.
2. Brake gently to avoid skidding. If your wheels start to lock up, ease off the brake.
3. Turn on your lights to increase your visibility to other motorists.
4. Keep your lights and windshield clean.
5. Use low gears to keep traction, especially on hills.
6. Don't use cruise control or overdrive on icy roads.
7. Be especially careful on bridges, overpasses and infrequently traveled roads, which will freeze first. Even at temperatures above freezing, if the conditions are wet, you might encounter ice in shady areas or on exposed roadways like bridges.
8. Don't pass snow plows and sanding trucks. The drivers have limited visibility, and you're likely to find the road in front of them worse than the road behind.
9. Don't assume your vehicle can handle all conditions. Even four-wheel and front-wheel drive vehicles can encounter trouble on winter roads.

If your rear wheels skid...

1. Take your foot off the accelerator.
2. Steer in the direction you want the front wheels to go. If your rear wheels are sliding left, steer left. If they're sliding right, steer right.
3. If your rear wheels start sliding the other way as you recover, ease the steering wheel toward that side. You might have to steer left and right a few times to get your vehicle completely under control.
4. If you have standard brakes, pump them gently.
5. If you have anti-lock brakes (ABS), do not pump the brakes. Apply steady pressure to the brakes. You will feel the brakes pulse — this is normal.

If your front wheels skid...

1. Take your foot off the gas and shift to neutral, but don't try to steer immediately.
2. As the wheels skid sideways, they will slow the vehicle and traction will return. As it does, steer in the direction you want to go. Then put the transmission in "drive" or release the clutch, and accelerate gently.

If you get stuck...

1. Do not spin your wheels. This will only dig you in deeper.
2. Turn your wheels from side to side a few times to push snow out of the way.
3. Use a light touch on the gas, to ease your car out.
4. Use a shovel to clear snow away from the wheels and the underside of the car.
5. Pour sand, kitty litter, gravel or salt in the path of the wheels, to help get traction.
6. Try rocking the vehicle. (Check your owner's manual first — it can damage the transmission on some vehicles.) Shift from forward to reverse, and back again. Each time you're in gear, give a light touch on the gas until the vehicle gets going.

* Information gathered from Fairfax County Virginia & The Weather Channel