Protecting Your Pets During the Holidays

The holidays will be here before we know it. Halloween kicks it off with kids knocking at your door for tricks or treats.  Then comes the hunt for the best Thanksgiving turkey in town which quickly leads, and usually happens before Thanksgiving, to the Christmas music, ornaments, lights, movies, presents and anything Christmassy you can think of. Last but not least, we end the year with a BANG, welcoming 2016!

I’m sure all pets love this time of year just as much as we do. Especially the food part. Going into the holiday season, please know that there are several dangers that need to be avoided for your fur babies. With Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year’s, here are a few things to keep them away from:

Halloween*:

1. Candy and Halloween type plants (pumpkins and corn) for pets are no-no’s! Chocolate especially, is not a pet’s friend. Make sure that you keep all candy where your pets cannot reach it. Not just your dogs but your cats as well. Although cats may not be as sensitive to candy, it’s always better to be safe than sorry.  Candy upsets their stomachs, as does “Halloween plants”. Not because the plants are poisonous but if they eat large amounts of them, it will surely upset their tummies. And if you have Jack-O-Lanterns out that are lit, also keep them where your pets can’t get to them to avoid getting burned.

2. You can find all sorts of Halloween costumes for your pets, but make sure they are comfortable with wearing them. Make sure that the costume doesn’t obstruct their breathing or hearing, and that they can move freely in it. If you have a pet with sensitive skin, make sure you try it on before the big night to make sure it doesn’t irritate their skin.

3. On Halloween night:

a.      Make sure they have some sort of ID, whether it’s a microchip or on their collars in case the get out of your house and get lost.

b.      To avoid ‘a’ confine them in a safe place.

c.      Also to avoid ‘a’ keep them away from the door as in ‘b’.

Thanksgiving*:

1. Bones… Keep them away from turkey bones. They are choking hazards and if it happens to get past their throat, it can still injury them internally. So instead of giving them as a treat, trash them.

2. Take the trash out so that there’s no worrying about #1. Dogs especially just can’t help but nose through the trash, especially when there’s yummy goodness in there. Cats are not innocent either. They too have been known to paw through trash as well. As soon as it fills up, take it out.

3. While the sweet tooth comes out in all of us around the holidays, keep the sweets to yourself. Our pet's bodies don’t do well on sweets so it’s better not to share with them. Say no for your pet to chocolate, cakes, pies or anything like that.

Christmas*:

1. Tinsel can make your tree look great and shiny. It’s also the shiny that incises animals. If ingested, it can get stuck in the bellies and cause them pain. Avoid tinsel if you can.

2. Ornaments are enticing as well. They’re dangerous in the way that they are choking hazards. If they’re glass and are broken they can end up in their paws or in their months and that’s not good. Edible ornaments or tree décor is dangerous as well. For instance with strung popcorn, they can pull on the string and bring the tree down on them or others. They can also unknowingly swallow the string and that’s not good either.

3. Twinkling lights… while they look beautiful, they are another pet danger. Hide the wires or tape them down to avoid your pets chewing on them. Limit the danger of them being electrocuted.

New Year’s Eve*:

1. This is a bit of a loud holiday. If your pet is sensitive to noise, I’m sure this is not one of their favorite times of year. Some areas restrict fireworks but if you’re in one that does not, this is a tough time for some animals with their sensitive ears. While it will most likely be difficult to do so, try and put them in the farthest room from the noise.

2. Be mindful of any alcoholic beverages around your animals as well. If they get a hold of a festive, fun cocktail, the result for them is not so fun. In some instances it could cause death so put those cocktails where they can’t be reached.

Our pets can’t help but be curious about decorations that aren’t normally in their homes and definitely can’t help themselves around yummy food. It’s our job to protect them and make sure they don’t get themselves into any sort of trouble. Keep an extra protective eye out for your fur babies during the holiday’s season.

On a side note, here are more food to keep away from your pets throughout the year:

Farmers also cares Pet Insurance. If Pet Insurance is something you want to know more about, give us call or check out Instant Pet Insurance Quote. 

*Tips were taken from the following websites:

Halloween Safety Tips

Thanksgiving Dangers 

Christmas Dangers

Holiday Safety Tips

September is Life Insurance Awareness Month

With September being Life Insurance Awareness Month what does that mean for you? Well, it depends. If you have life insurance, that’s awesome but is it the right fit for you and is it enough? If you don’t have life insurance, we need to talk. It’s not an easy topic to talk about but it’s something that many of us overlook or just think that it’s not that big of a deal if we don’t have any. Truth is, it is a big deal. In an unthinkable tragedy, it could mean leaving your family with all or nothing.

Family dynamics have drastically changed over the years and it’s not the norm anymore for dad to go off to work every morning, leaving mom to stay home with the kids. There are more stay at home dads, single mothers and the woman of the house sitting in the primary breadwinner seat these days than ever before.  With this being the case, it’s important to know your options and what the best route is when you invest in life insurance for your family.

Having the right amount of coverage is essential for your family’s financial future. Who may need life insurance the most in your family? Let’s talk about that:

The breadwinner absolutely needs to have life insurance. The entire family depends financially on whom ever the breadwinner is so it’s vital that they are covered. Whether it’s the man or the woman of the house, coverage is definitely a necessity.

Some may not think that older couples don’t need life insurance when in fact they do especially if they are still paying on a mortgage. Leaving the surviving spouse with the financial support to pay the mortgage would be a huge burden they don’t have to worry about.

Single parents should also have a life insurance policy. Giving your children more of a secure financial future is peace of mind for you if something were to happen to you. Come by the office and let’s look at your options with Farmers Life® to provide that peace of mind.

If you have the ability to have one parent stay home with the kids, that is definitely something to be thankful for. If this is the case you for, it is still important to have coverage for both parents. In an event of something happening to the stay at home parent, costs for child care, keeping up with the house, transportation and such needs to be taken into account. Having this breakdown will help fit you with the best life insurance for your needs.

There’s no set amount when it comes to knowing just how much life insurance is enough. What it boils down to really depends on your individual situation. For more information on life insurance, please give us a call. Also, a great tool to use is lifehappens.org. There you can explore what options are available to you.

I Got A Ticket... Now What?

It can happen to anyone. You’re running late dropping of the kids for school, trying to get to an appointment or late getting to work and so you’re driving over the speed limit to try and make it on time. Zooming in and out of traffic, trying your hardest to get there when you hear the sirens go off. You look in your rear view mirror and sure enough, it’s not a fire truck that you need to move over for, it’s a police officer pulling you over. So what do you do, you speed up and try and lose him! NO!!!! Worst idea ever! Pull over and wait for the officer to come to you before you get your driver’s license and insurance out. It’s not against the law to get it out before they get to you, but it makes the officer feel a little safer. You’d hate for him to think you have a weapon or something. Just wait for them to approach you and ask you for it.

Whatever kind of moving violation you receive, make sure you don’t sit on it because chances are you could forget about it and then you’re in even bigger trouble. Take care of it as soon as possible to avoid any more penalties that may come with forgetting to take care of your violation.

How do you take care of a moving violation? Well you have a few options. You can pay for it outright, go to traffic school, or you can go to court and plead your innocence.

Why not just go with paying the tickets and moving on? That way seems to be the easiest, least time consuming way to be done with the issue. We are all just too busy these days that, yes, paying it and moving on would be the easiest. However, if this is how it’s taken care of, that is you admitting that you are at fault and knowingly accepting the conviction that could show up on points that you don’t want on your Motor Vehicle Report. On top of that, then comes other possible penalties that could affect your premiums.

Depending on what state you live in, Farmers usually won’t raise your rates on a first time, (depending on what the moving violation is). If the violation occurs while you are covered and no claim is filed, there’s a chance you will be forgiven on your first violation. Now if you have several moving violations in a short period of time, your chances for forgiveness are not so good. This could actually result in higher premiums or cancellation of coverage.

In some cases, you can attend traffic school. While this may not be a whole lot of fun, there are comedy traffic schools that you can go to, that make it at least a little fun. But seriously, in some states, if you attended traffic school the ticket will not go on your record, as if it never happened. There are some rules that apply to this method. If your driving record is clean and there are no major incidences on your record, your chances are good to be able to attend traffic school.

We’ve talked about how paying for your ticket is admitting to your guilt. Well, you can always go to court and contest the ticket. Yes that would mean taking time out of your day, possibly taking off work or finding a sitter for your kids. It could also mean the possibility of the ticket being thrown out and never hitting your record or even a lesser fine. It may be worth a try to plead your innocence.

There is no such thing as a perfect driver. We all make mistakes and sometimes that results in a moving violation. The good thing about being with Farmers is that there is a little thing called Incident Forgiveness*.  While the ticket process and all that needs to be done to get that taken care of isn’t convenient and by far is it fun, if you’re not a repeat offender, the Incident Forgiveness could be an option for you.

*To receive the Incident Forgiveness, as long as the violation happens while you are covered under Farmers and no claims are filed. Any incidents prior to your policy with Farmers are excluded. 

Liven Up Your Small Talk

Awkward silence is… well it’s awkward. What do you talk about? What don’t you talk about? Do you just power through the silence and hope the other person has something to say? I guess it depends on whether you’re fine with the silence.

I found an article from Chris Colin and Rob Baedeker on TED Talk, How to Turn Small Talkinto Smart Conversation. In the article they talk about several different ways to have more of a conversation to fill in the silence. What it talked about is asking for a story and not just a one or two word answers. Ask open-ended questions to make the other person talk to you. Ask questions that will start up more of a story instead of just a yes or no answer, leading to the awkward silence. I thought this could be beneficial to those of us who aren’t comfortable with the silence.

Chris is an author/journalist and Rob is a writer/performer/and a comedian so there are some pretty off the wall suggestions, I’m guess from Rob. Here are a few of their “Instead of” and “Try” ideas to use:

Instead of:                                                                    Try:

How are you?                                                                What’s your story?

How was your day?                                                       What did you do today?

Where are you from?                                                    What’s the strangest thing about where you                                                                                                                                   grew up?

How long have you been living here?                           If you could teleport by blinking your eyes,                                                                                                                                      where would you go right now?

What line of work are you in?                                       How’d you end up in your line of work?

How was your weekend?                                             What was the best part of your weekend?

Mirroring in a conversation. Have you heard of that? It’s were a reply back is pretty much the same as what was said in the first place.  For example:

Donna: It is so hot outside.

Steph: Yes, it sure is hot outside.

And that ends that conversation. Instead of ‘mirroring’ what Donna said, Steph could have gone with something like, “It sure is hot outside. The weatherman said it’s a good idea to stay inside because you may melt upon exiting your house.”

The article also suggested to jump on the conversation and try and make the most out of it as you can. Being absurd or comical was encouraged. Be creative and “leapfrog” over the conversation by taking the boring out of what the answer typically would be and answer with a complete tangent.

Instead of:

Greg: Where did you get that fishing rod?

Eddie: Cabela’s.

Try:

Greg: Where did you get that fishing rod?

Eddie: At Cabela’s but I also saw the coolest thing there! They had this deer blind that was so camouflaged that you had to put a tracker on it so that you could find it so I bought that, too! You get this free app with it to track it. And then, a couple weeks later I got a hardback catalog in the mail. Now that is some good reading material there.

Some of us are completely fine with silence and that’s ok. For those of us who are not, I hope this helps.

Author’s of TED Talk: Chris Colin and Rob Baedeker

Date: 7/28/2014

Title: How to Turn Small Talk into Smart Conversation