Composters Schedule Two Worm Workshops

Block out some time on your calendar on Oct. 16 and 17 for the annual Spokane Master Composters workshops - “Two Days of Wiggly Worms and Yard Trimmings.”

A worm workshop will be held Oct. 16 from 1 to 2:30 p.m. at the Spokane County WSU Cooperative Extension Building at 222 N. Havana. Pre-registration is required; call 477-2048 to register. The workshop will be taught by Mary Appelhof, the author of “Worms Eat My Garbage.”

Appelhof will also give a three-hour workshop for school teachers at Finch Arboretum on Oct. 17 from 8:30-11:30 a.m. Pre-registration is required; call 456-7403.

A Compost Fair will be held Oct. 17 from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. at Finch Arboretum as part of the Fall Leaf Festival. At the Compost Fair, participants tour six stations to learn how to combine materials and maintain a composting bin. After completing the event, Spokane County residents can take home a free plastic yard trimmings bin (proof of residence, such as a driver’s license, is required). Bin distribution is limited to one per household.

For more information, call the Recycling Hotline, 747-0242.

Make a fire plan

A residential fire occurs about every 74 seconds in this country. Seniors are three to four times more likely to die in a home fire. More home fires occur in the winter months. Ninety-five percent of fire deaths involving children occur in homes without working smoke alarms. Although smoke alarms are in 92 percent of American homes, nearly one-third don’t work due to missing or dead batteries.

None of these is a surprising fact, but still, most of us need reminders to change the batteries in our smoke alarms. The International Association of Fire Chiefs mounts a campaign each fall to encourage everyone to change the batteries at the same time they change their clocks from daylight savings to standard time. That would be Oct. 25 (or Oct. 24 before you go to bed if you’re really on top of things).

So put batteries on your shopping list. Change the batteries even if they are still working. Make sure everyone in the house knows the sound of a smoke alarm. Keep a working flashlight near your bed and others on every level of the house.

Practice fire drills blindfolded since most fires occur at night, the house is filled with smoke and the lights won’t work. Practice crawling from your home since smoke rises and there’s more air near the floor.

Also, arrange a meeting place for your family outside the house so you know everyone is out safely in the event of a fire.

Need some ideas?

How satisfying it is to start a project on Saturday and finish it on Sunday. To that end, the folks at Minwax have created a 12-page booklet titled “Easy Weekend Projects.” It’s loaded with tips for simple home improvement projects, and it’s free. Just send your name and address to Weekend Projects Offer, P.O. Box 1381, Grand Rapids, MN 55745-1381.

Don’t let ‘em move in

Let’s talk mice for a moment. Rodents move into about 21 million homes in this country each year. Sometimes they get to stay. But in most cases, we expend much energy and time trying to evict these pests.

Because mice know winter is imminent, they try to find a warm home in the fall and get all settled in before it snows. Hence, the folks at d-Con have declared October as National Rodent Prevention Month.

The best defense, they say, is a good offense. Set out traps and baits before the mice move in. Mice carry diseases (since 1993, 184 people in 28 states have contracted hantavirus, and half of those people died from it). And they’re destructive.

A free brochure with tips on spotting, controlling and preventing rodent infestation is available by sending a self-addressed envelope to d-CON Consumer Brochure, P.O. Box 8737, Young America, MN 55551-8737.