Christmas lights are beautiful and much safer than candles, but all that electricity can cause problems if not used properly. Christmas lights can get hot enough to burn or ignite other decorations. The cords can fray, leading to a short. Decorating with lights often requires the use of a ladder, and improper use could lead to an injury. Practice ladder safety when you are putting up Christmas lights. When you put up Christmas lights this season - or holiday lights during any season - be sure to follow these Christmas light safety tips. Choose Christmas lights that have been tested and deemed safe by a reputable testing laboratory, the best are UL or ETL. Christmas lights listed as safe by these laboratories will note that on the packaging. Try to use the cooler-burning "mini" Christmas lights as opposed to the traditional larger bulbs. The older style burns much hotter. Only use Christmas lights that have fuses in the plugs. Inspect each ...

Check out our list below for several different types of Holiday and Winterized Events going on in your area this weekend. HIGH COUNTRY Beech Mountain's sledding hill is now open Monday through Friday, 1-5 and 10-5 on weekends. (BYOS- Bring Your Own Sled) Boone Christmas Parade, Saturday 12/1 at 11am and will be going through downtown Boone. App Ski Mountain officially opened today! You can also ski with Santa on December 24th from 1 to 4pm Christmas Craft Fair at the Sparta Fairgrounds held on Saturday, December 1st. Holiday Farmers Market held on Saturday, December 1st from 10-2 in Downtown West Jefferson. Handmade Market located at the Turchin Center for the Visual Arts will be from 1-5pm on December 2nd.   ABERDEEN Traditional small town holiday celebration Thursday, December 6th at 6:30pm held at the Depot in Historic Downtown Aberdeen. Will include: Christmas Carols, the Miss Noels reading the “Twas the Night Before Christmas”, the lighting of the Christmas trees, and the arri ...

With the Holidays upon us from all of us at First Pioneer Insurance Agency we would like to take a moment to say "Thank You" to all of our clients for your business throughout the year. We wish you and yours a Happy Thanksgiving filled with abundance and bright moments! In observance of Thanksgiving our offices will be closed Tomorrow, November 22 and Friday, November 23. We will reopen Monday, November 26 at 9am to resume regular business hours.      The kitchen is the heart of the home, especially at Thanksgiving. Kids love to be involved in holiday preparations. Safety in the kitchen is important, especially on Thanksgiving Day when there is a lot of activity and people at home. Stay in the kitchen when you are cooking on the stovetop so you can keep an eye on the food. Stay in the home when cooking your turkey and check on it frequently. Keep children away from the stove. The stove will be hot and kids should stay 3 feet away. ...

1. Plan a designated meetup time and place. Not all stores will have good cell phone reception, so set a specific time to meet back up after shopping. Also, make sure to choose a very specific place to meet, as the “electronics section” can be a big enough place on its own to lose someone! 2. If you’re driving between multiple stores, put purchases in the trunk. A bag full of video games or digital cameras makes an enticing target. Clear out that trunk and make as much space as possible before you head out shopping. 3. Carry a small bag with your wallet in it, and make sure it is closely against your body to avoid losing it or having anything stolen. If you need to bring drinks or snacks, bring a backpack. If at all possible, only carry credit cards, and make photocopies of them before you leave the house so that you’ll have the account number and customer service phone number if your wallet is lost or stolen. 4. Make sure cell phones are powered on, fully charged, and ...

Normal 0 false false false EN-US X-NONE X-NONE MicrosoftInternetExplorer4 With the large numbers of shoppers expected to turn out at this year’s Black Friday sales, it’s easy to get separated from your group or end up in a sticky situation. Planning ahead will help keep everyone in your group safe while shopping. Here are some helpful tips to help you survive those crowds this year. Some are more obvious than others, but nevertheless, none of them should be overlooked! 1. Plan a designated meetup time and place. Not all stores will have good cell phone reception, so set a specific time to meet back up after shopping. Also, make sure to choose a very specific place to meet, as the “electronics section” can be a big enough place on its own to lose someone! 2. If you’re driving between mul ...

The bad combination of deer hormones and motor vehicles is keeping tow-truck drivers, body shops and insurance adjusters busy these days, amid signs that the number of collisions between animals and motor traffic is worse than ever. “This is the time of year when the deer get active,” said Chris Matthews, natural resources manager for Charlotte-Mecklenburg Park and Recreation. “Unfortunately, that increased activity sometimes brings them in contact with drivers.” State transportation officials in North Carolina say there has been an average of 19,500 animal-related crashes in each of the last three years, 90 percent of which involve deer. That is more than twice the average number of deer-related crashes in the late 1990s. And a recent report from State Farm Auto Insurance ranked the Carolinas as being among 16 states rated “high-risk” for deer/car crashes.In many cases, the collisions have taken place on suburban or rural roads, where most people would expect them. The N ...

Children's imaginations will soon drift toward Christmas dreams and wishes.  The Toys for Tots campaign, whose belief is "every child deserves a little Christmas," runs through December 20th.

Local Marines and their helpers will be collecting and distributing toys to numerous local agencies, churches and community programs.  Each year, they are able to provide thousands of children in Moore County with toys on Christmas morning as well as hundreds of children in surrounding counties who would otherwise have had nothing.

A collection box is set up in our lobby at 409 Johnson Street in Aberdeen.  We need your help to reach every child of families who are unemployed, underemployed or homeless.  Please stop by our agency to drop-off a new unwrapped toy!

 

There are plenty of Veterans Day free meals available this year. Veterans will be able to stop into any of the restaurants below on or around Veterans Day this year to get their free meal. Pay close attention to the date listed and what you need to bring so you qualify for the free meal. They don't all take place on Veterans Day (Sunday, November 11, 2012 but observed on Monday, November 12, 2012) and some require different forms of identification. Some of these Veterans Day free meals are nationwide but some are only at participating locations. Make sure you call the restaurant you plan on visiting before you leave home to make sure they are taking part. Golden Corral Veterans Day Free Meal (Monday, November 12, 2012) On Monday, November 12, 2012 from 4:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m., Golden Corral will be giving out Veterans Day free meals to any person who has ever served in the U.S. military or is on current active duty. All Golden Corral locations will be participating and no identification is re ...

When water freezes it expands and if it expands enough, it can cause pipes to burst. What most people don’t realize, however, is that the ice expansion inside of the pipe causes pressure to increase between the ice blockage and the faucet. Once enough pressure builds, the pipe may burst, which in some cases, can result in a great deal of water damage in the home. To avoid this type of damage, it is best to be proactive and prevent pipes from freezing in the first place. Tips to avoid busted pipes and water damage in your home: For a home under construction, water pipes should be placed in areas that will be kept heated - avoiding attics, crawl spaces and outside walls with openings. The thermostat should be kept at a minimum of 55° Fahrenheit. If there will be no one home for an extended period of time, the water system should be turned off and drained. Pipes vulnerable to cold air should be insulated with sleeves or wrapping. All cracks and holes in outside walls should ...

Daylight savings time ran this year from Sunday, March 4, 2012 at 2 am to this Sunday, November 4, 2012 at 4am. You will need to move your clocks back 1 hour to complete the (Spring forward, fall back). Below is a list of things to do every 6 months when you reset your clocks around your house to keep your family safe: Check and replace the batteries in your smoke and carbon monoxide (CO) alarms. Replace any smoke alarms older than ten years. Replace any CO alarms older than five years.   Prepare a disaster supply kit for your house (water, food, flashlights, batteries, blankets).    Once you've created your home disaster kit, use the semi-annual time change to check its contents (including testing/replacing flashlight batteries).   A COLD winter is coming! Make a "winter car-emergency kit" now and put your vehicle! (Don't know what to include? Do an Internet search for "car emergency kit" and you'll find lots of ideas!)   It's a go ...