Kyle Kellams: I’m Kyle Kellams.
Jack Travis: And I’m Jack Travis. Hey, Kyle, did you know it’s going to snow this weekend? Have you heard of that?
Kellams: Hadn’t heard that.
Travis: Yeah, haven’t heard that yet? Well, apparently some places might be getting up to a foot.
Kellams: That’s what I have heard.
Travis: Temps down to the negatives here. At least I saw the low on Saturday’s three, I think. Negative three.
Kellams: Yeah.
Travis: So how are you preparing?
Kellams: Well, I am bringing a lot of firewood down from our fire shed. We have a fireplace. We’ve already done the grocery run.
Travis: Nice. Just sent my roommate on that. He’s been texting me a whole or two percent. Which is actually a loaded question now.
Kellams: Yeah, it is. Yeah, it is. But we are, other than that, just getting ready.
Travis: Rob Mizell and the folks at Black Hills Energy have provided some tips for saving money on energy during cold weather events like this. Setting the thermostat down to 68 degrees on cold days when you’re at home and awake. So if you prefer it a little bit chillier whenever you’re sleeping, you can maybe stomach that because you’re going to be under some blankets. You don’t want to get too cavalier with your thermostat usage. Weather stripping and caulking around doors and windows to seal gaps and tightly closing the fireplace damper when not in use. That relates to you.
Kellams: Yes it does.
Travis: You’re bringing down all this firewood. Be sure you actually close that chimney up whenever you’re finished using it.
Kellams: When you’re done using it, you want it open when you’re burning fire.
Travis: Yeah. When you’re finished using it. Absolutely. Yeah. And remember to open it whenever you’re.
Kellams: Absolutely, absolutely.
Travis: You also want to, so I didn’t know you could do this. I actually learned this, lower the water heater, the hot water heater, to 120 degrees and ensure it is insulated properly. Speaking of appliances, they suggest using only one major appliance at a time, running full loads of laundry and dishes and limiting extreme temperatures. So maybe, you know, put it on easy care. Skip the dishwasher drying cycle as well. Instead, prop the door open after dishes are washed to let them air dry.
And then, of course, you can take advantage of rebates to help offset the cost of a smart thermostat, efficient furnace or tankless water heater, they noted specifically for Black Hills customers, they have multiple residential rebate opportunities for energy-efficient equipment detailed on their website.
Kellams: OK.
Travis: And then there’s also the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program, or LIHEAP.
Kellams: Mh-mm.
Travis: This is a federal assistance program which helps qualifying households pay their heating costs during winter and cooling costs during the summer.
Kellams: Available in all 75 counties in Arkansas. We had a conversation about that last week on Ozarks at Large. Just go to kuaf.com and look for LIHEAP.
Travis: And then if you want more information about LIHEAP itself, and that’s L-I-H-E-A-P, they have a page on the Arkansas Division of Environmental Quality’s website. You can go there for more information. And they even have a chart to see if your income qualifies for financial assistance. Black Hills has a similar program called Black Hills Cares for its customers experiencing an emergency or who need bill assistance.
And then, Kyle, there are some other preparations and considerations to make before a winter storm like this weekend’s, and some deal with creatures that are often overlooked during an emergency, which are our pets.
Kellams: Mine is never overlooked, but who do we talk to about this?
Travis: We are going to reach out to Linda DeBerry at Best Friends Animal Shelter in Bentonville. Linda, are you there?
Linda DeBerry: I am here. Hello.
Travis: Hello. Thank you so much for joining us.
DeBerry: You bet.
Travis: All right, so what should we think about with our pets when a weekend like this is approaching?
DeBerry: Well, for one thing, it’s going to be really cold. And, you know, if you’re cold, your pets are cold. Unless your pet is a malamute, they’re going to be cold out there. So if you can at all get them inside out of the weather, even if it’s just in a warm garage, it’s going to be really important to get them out of there because below 20 degrees they’re at risk of developing hypothermia or frostbite.
Travis: And how are you all preparing at the animal shelter?
DeBerry: Well, we’re going to get as many of the animals that we have here at the Best Friends Pet Resource Center out of our center. And that’s not because they’re housed outdoors, but because we have staff that will have to come through the snow to care for them during the day. And we’d much rather they were in a comfy home situation than here at the center.
But the shelters around our area, some of them do have dogs that are housed outdoors, and I know that they’ll be looking for foster homes, temporary foster homes for those dogs as well.
Travis: Where can we go to possibly connect if someone does want to be one of those foster families?
DeBerry: Well, if you’re interested in fostering temporarily for Best Friends, you can reach out to us at fosternwa@bestfriends.org. But if there is a city shelter closer to you and you’re interested in helping them out over the cold weather, just give them a call and see if they need a temporary foster. I’m sure they’d be more than willing to put you to work for them.
Travis: And then there are also animals out on our streets that don’t have homes or are not in a shelter yet. For my neighborhood, there are a few stray cats. Is there something we can do to help them during a cold weather event like this?
DeBerry: Yes. For one thing, keep them safe in that when you go out to your car, be sure to bang on the hood or look under your car. If your car is still warm, community cats will sometimes curl up in there, and they can get hurt when you turn your car over. You can also put out a community cat shelter, which can be as simple as a Styrofoam cooler with a hole in it and some hay, in areas out of the winds that they have a cozy place to curl up. And, of course, you can provide food for them if you need it.
A lot of places will be putting out salt or some kind of granule to melt ice on the sidewalks, and those can be damaging to a pet’s feet. So if you’re out and your dogs may have been walking in that, you might want to wipe their feet down just a little bit with a damp cloth. Be aware of that and also keep your eye out for antifreeze. We know that that’s really toxic to pets, and sometimes if people are topping off their antifreeze, they might leave a little puddle of it there, and it’s real tempting for a dog to lick at it. So if you see that, make sure you steer them clear of that.
Kellams: Linda, I have a dog that loves to go for walks, sometimes long walks, and after the storm has passed and maybe it’s warmed up just a bit, what is too cold to walk my dog in the snow? Or how long, if she wants to go for a long walk before her paws are hurt?
DeBerry: You bet. There’s really no timeline. It depends on how furry the animal’s paws are, how cold it is outside. But if you notice that she is holding up one paw, maybe shaking it, then holding up another, probably means that her paws are cold and you need to get her inside. You can always get some boots, put little snow boots on them, see if they’ll tolerate that and take them out in the snow. But if your feet are cold, their feet are really cold. So when your feet get chilly, bring them on in.
Kellams: And Daisy, sometimes she can handle the cold weather better than I can for sure. If she wants to go out in the backyard even when it’s super cold, I don’t want to let her out there for that long, right? Even if she asks.
DeBerry: Definitely. Even if she asks, yes. They might not realize how cold it is. And one of the things we ask people to be real careful about is dogs will get really excited about the snow. If you let them off the lead, they can take off running into the snow and really kind of lose their orientation. So they’ve got a possibility of getting lost that way. So even if you’re out playing in the snow, keep them on a lead.
If there’s any chance that they could run off, make sure that their microchip is up to date, that they’re wearing a collar with a tag, so that if they do run off and get a little bit turned around, they can find their way back to you really quickly.
Kellams: Linda DeBerry, thank you so much.
DeBerry: Thank you. You guys have a great afternoon.
Travis: And that was Linda DeBerry with Best Friends Animal Society in Bentonville.
Kellams: All right, Jack, stay warm.
Travis: Thank you. I will. You too.
Kellams: I will.
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