Wednesday, December 19, 2012

Fireplace Safety

Here are the top tips you need to stay safe!

What are the best rules for Fireplace Safety?
  • Don't burn trash, smoke and ashes can be toxic
  • Don't use charcoal lighter of kerosene to light your fires, could flame up
  • Use a spark screen while burning, and a grate to lay your wood on
  • Be sure the damper is open before lighting your fire.
Read more...


What safety precautions should I take with my gas fireplace?

Rosie urges anyone who converts a wood-burning fireplace to gas to take precautions to protect your family and your home from harm and practice good gas fireplace safety.

Whenever you use a gas appliance in your home, you run the risk that excess carbon monoxide will poison your family or that an untended gas flame will cause a fire.

You can prevent those tragedies by studying your manufacturer’s gas fireplace safety instructions and by following Rosie’s tips for enjoying your gas-burning fireplace without incident.

Read more...

Can I clean a wood burning fireplace flue myself?
The biggest issue with a wood burning fireplace is that wood never burns completely.  Wood smoke is a combination of unburned gases and a fog of unburned tar-like liquids.  When they come in contact with a cool surface they will condense and form a nasty substance called Creosote.  Creosote is highly combustible and can leave a undesirable odor. When allowed to form a blanket in the interior walls of the fireplace, it could result in a chimney fire.  Other dangers can be:  faulty dampers, obstructions in the flue pipe, deterioration, exposed wood, and no chimney cap/spark arrestor.  This is all part of the chimney inspection and cleaning process. 

Read more...

For more information, check out our Fireplace Category Page and for answers to all YOUR Landscape, Garden and Home Improvement Questions, visit our website at Rosieonthehouse.com


Thursday, December 13, 2012

Christmas Traditions at Rosie's

Hey y'all!

You think of Rosie on the House as the most popular home-improvement radio show in Arizona.

For me, Rosie on the House means something much more literal.

For the six kids who grew up in Rosie’s house, Christmas officially
began on the Eve with the reading of a Cajun Night Before Christmas, because you know, chere, dem dere flyin' reindeer what you call dem, dey can't fly low through dem cypress kness and Spanish moss, no! Who better to share that story with y'all than my grandpartners, Baby Kay and Dr. Rosie? Here’s an audio recording.
Just click the following link to play
Cajun Night Before Christmas!

*Originally aired on Rosie on the House Christmas Eve 2005.

Shortly after the reading and our second glass of Southern eggnog is when we’d hear Santa Claus on the roof of our Scottsdale home, stomping around in his big, black, cowboy boots, jingling a string of holiday bells and shouting, in a curiously familiar Cajun accent, “Ho, ho, ho!” into the chimney so we’d be sure to hear him as he unloaded our presents from his sleigh.

We were always already tucked into our beds, eyes wide open, hoping that our parents, Rosie and Jennifer, had been wrong when they warned us that Santa never entered the homes of boys and girls who weren’t asleep.

That stompin’ Santa, of course, had Rosie cheeks and a big Rosie voice. And he really did climb up onto the roof every Christmas Eve yelling, “Ho, ho, ho!” to get us kids to go to sleep.

We didn’t. Once the noise trailed off, we raced to the Christmas tree to see what he left. We were up so early, in fact, that our parents had to make a rule: We couldn’t wake them until 5 a.m. — and we had to have the coffee ready when we did.

Then we unwrapped our toys and gag gifts before chowing down on what we’ve always called a
“Joe” breakfast — a skillet of potatoes, onions, eggs, bacon and cheese, watching whichever movie Santa had left us that year and taking a nap. Then it was off to Mama Kay and Papa Rosie’s house, where we spent the rest of Christmas with aunts, uncles and cousins — sometimes 30 or more of us gathered for the day — and more presents and food and singing with Uncle Pierre playing Linus & Lucy from A Charlie Brown Christmas on the piano complimented by the rest of the great family pianists including Aunt Karen and Baby Kay herself!

Like all family Christmases, ours has changed as we’ve gotten older, welcomed new family members and said a sad goodbye to others. But the memories are so crisp, and our traditions — food, music, family — all remain.

I’d like to share some of our Romero family Christmas traditions with you. Starting first with some of my favorite Christmas songs always heard around the holidays...If you are like my sister Rachael, you stared listening to Christmas music back in August...

Artist -> Album -> Favorite Song on Album

Dolly Parton & Kenny Rogers -> Once Upon a Christmas -> Once Upon a Christmas
Elvis Presley -> Elvis Christmas -> O Come, All Ye Faithful
Amy Grant -> A Christmas Album -> Heirlooms
Vince Guaraldi Trio -> A Charlie Brown Christmas -> Linus & Lucy
Alabama -> Christmas Volume I -> Christmas in Dixie & Volume II -> Little Drummer Boy
Alan Jackson -> Let it Be Christmas -> Let it Be Christmas
The Carpenters -> Christmas Portrait -> Carol of the Bells
The Nutcracker -> St. Louis Symphony Orchestra -> Waltz of the Flowers

And what would a Romero Christmas be without some good pecans? By popular demand, here’s Mama Kay’s recipe for her famous Cajun-spiced, roasted pecans, along with Rosie's Buttermilk Biscuits and the family secrets on deep-fried turkeys! But make sure you read the safety tips for deep-frying your Christmas turkey first!

I hope your holidays will bring back warm memories for you, too, and that you’ll put a little Cajun spice in this year’s celebration!

Sincerely,




Rosie on the House
www.RosieOnTheHouse.com

Tune in your Radio every Saturday morning!
Call in Number (888) Rosie-4-U


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