The Senior Expo was a BLAST this year! Hope everyone was able to attend and enjoy a fun-filled morning! Hope Dennis ( U of I Extension) passed out "5-Ingredients or Less" cookbooks – so if you are interested in receiving one, please stop in the U of I Extension office and pick one up!

An HEA Craft Fair is planned for Saturday, May 2 from 9 a.m. – 2 p.m. at the Palestine Community Center. This is open to the public so bring a friend! Craft Demonstrations include:

• 10 a.m. – Quilting & knitting
• 10:30 – Scrapbooking
• 11:00 – Christmas wreath decorating
• 11:30 – Lunch break
• 12:30 – Children's projects
• 1 p.m. – Rug hooking
• 1:30 – Crocheting potholders
• 2:00 – China painting

This is sure to be a lot of FUN! The cost is $2 at the door. Lunch items and drinks will be for sale. Along with other units having craft items for sale. S.E. LaMotte Unit will be selling their famous homemade candies. Also quilt raffle tickets will be sold. Proceeds will go to the new Palestine Library. Special thanks go out to the S. E. LaMotte Unit for organizing this event!

As we begin the "Severe Weather" season, this is an opportune time to preparedness plans.

In a business/office…Review the tornado shelter plan. Where in your building, or in nearby buildings, is the safest place? That's generally considered to be a basement or an interior hallway on the lowest floor away from windows and doors. Once you've identified a logical area, make sure that flashlights and some kind of noisemaker, like a sports whistle, are handy to that location. Make sure you mark the shelter area on the building maps you should have posted. If, by nature of its construction, you feel your building has limited potential as a shelter, explore making arrangements with the occupants of nearby buildings that might be stronger to serve as an alternate storm shelter. However, once a severe thunderstorm is underway, it is not advisable to leave your building.

• Check the batteries in flashlights and weather radios (or other battery powered radios.) Test your exit and emergency lights if your office is so equipped.
• Discuss a central assembly point outside your building so you can account for all staff. Have a good idea of the number of visitors who may be in your building at the time of a storm.
• Assign a staff member to monitor a weather radio or other broadcast media source on days when severe weather threatens.
• Take weather warnings seriously. A severe thunderstorm with a history of damaging wind can be just as destructive as the most common strength tornadoes experienced in Illinois. If your windows blow out or the roof is ripped off, it really doesn't matter if it was a tornado or "straight line" winds.
• Pay attention to the threat from lightning. Stay in a strong building away from windows, wired telephones, plumbing and electrical appliances for at least 30 minutes after you last hear thunder. Picnic shelters with open sides and other open spaces such as carports do not offer sufficient protection from lightning. Never seek shelter under a tree. If caught in the open during a lightning storm, crouch down into a tight position. That makes for a smaller target. Vehicles can offer some protection from lightning, but avoid windows and contact with doors and other metal parts.

While driving…

• Never drive into a flooded roadway. It only takes a few inches of rapidly moving water to start to move a vehicle. Never allow children or others to play in flooded creeks or ditches. The current can be deceptively strong. Flash flooding generally is the most deadly aspect of severe weather, with the exception of extreme heat, especially in urban areas. Heed the call, "Turn around, don't drown."
• Park safely off the roadway and away from power lines and trees if it becomes necessary to pull off the highway. On an interstate, if at all possible, exit the highway rather than just pull to the side of the road. Dramatic video to the contrary, experts say it is extremely unsafe to exit your vehicle and seek shelter under an overpass. Wind speeds can actually be accentuated in that location.

In addition to the information listed above, at home…

Prepare an emergency kit with enough non-perishable food and water for at least three days, flashlights, prescription medicine, first aid kit, battery powered radio, copies of insurance policies and other important papers, a bit of cash (ATMs don't work when the power is out), sanitary supplies, basic tools and pet supplies. It is important that you be prepared to handle at least three days on your own. Even if your neighborhood suffers only slight damage, another part of town may be much more badly impacted. In that case, it is unreasonable to expect emergency workers and utility crews to devote many resources to the less damaged areas in the immediate period after the event.

• Identify a safe shelter area in your home.
• Choose an assembly point outside the home…also useful for family fire drills.
• Learn how to safely shut off utilities.
• Have a third party, out of town, who family members can contact if they are separated at the time of a disaster.
• Plan ahead for the care of pets and other animals.
• Know your neighbors so you can check on their well-being, but also know when they're out of town so emergency workers don't waste time searching a vacant home.
• Avoid using cell phones except for emergency messages in the period following a severe storm.

There are many sources of good severe weather information. Other information is available from the Extension Disaster Education Network at www.eden.lsu.edu

- Rick Atterberry, U of I Extension, Team Leader Marketing and Distribution

Growing interest in home vegetable gardens is likely to send many folks digging in the ground this spring. Chances are that when they do, sooner or later questions will come up. U of I Extension has four excellent websites that can help vegetable gardeners get the most out of their work. A good place to start is the Illinois Vegetable Garden Guide at: http://web.extension.uiuc.edu/vegguide

It has broad information on vegetable gardening ranging from 10 steps to a successful garden, problems one might encounter, growing tips by specific vegetable, and how to exhibit vegetables.

Another first stop should be Watch Your Garden Grow at: http://urbanext.illinois.edu/veggies

The website covers vegetable gardening basics, how to plant the garden, a directory of vegetables, and a glossary of terms.

This is an ideal time to get children involved in gardening by providing a healthy, outdoor activity that also is a learning experience. To help parents with this, Extension has a youngster-oriented site, My First Garden at: http://urbanext.illinois.edu/firstgarden

This website is often used by teachers who have class gardening projects. It has user-friendly information on the basics and fundamentals of gardening, as well as guidelines for planning a garden.

Finally, new and experienced gardeners alike are likely to appreciate Common Problems for Vegetable Crops at: http://urbanext.illinois.edu/vegproblems/

This website allows users to browse by vegetable or by problem to get answers to what is troubling their garden.

- Jane Scherer, U of I Extension Programs