Blog – Page 2

This Is Only A Test!…Unless It Isn’t.

April 20, 2022 By Forrest Dailey

Back on April 7^th, we had a statewide tornado drill. It just so happened that it was the day after the emergency alarms are normally tested. It certainly didn’t help that just a few short days later we had some very real severe weather.

All of this goes to illustrate the need to stay on top of when “this is only a test” and when it’s time to actually get in your actual basement.

Horihan Insurance, for one, posted on our social media on two separate occasions leading up the tornado drills, because we wanted our followers to know they needn’t be concerned, but that it was an opportunity to get in some practice. It was surprising then, to hear how many people were confused when the sirens sounded at 1:45 and 6:45pm that day.

Maybe the local news did a good job of giving a heads-up about the tests, but an ever-growing number of people do not get their local weather from the televised evening news in the first place. So how to stay on top of these things?

Most of us are pretty much fully mobile news consumers. If so, we’ve got some apps for you to consider. They may not all be free, but if they are not, the reputation that precedes them makes them worth considering.

Maybe you use a PC or laptop, in which case you’ll want to bookmark some of these websites. Either way, we want you informed, when it’s the real deal and when it’s only a test. Since all of these sources of information are dedicated to keeping you informed on actual weather conditions, they are most likely to fill you in when test alarms are coming up.

Here are just a few good ones, whether you get your apps on Apple Store or Google Apps or what have you:

Apps

Dark Sky – Widely known to be the most well-designed, easy to use weather app with the most detailed information available.

AccuWeather – Another widely used app recognized by no lesser entity than the World Meteorological Organization for its accurate data, user-friendliness, and – most importantly to the matter at hand – for its timely and useful weather warnings.

Weather Channel – One of the most widely-used and widely-trusted source of weather information, nationwide, but also geared toward each user’s local conditions.

National Weather Service – The NWS issues all of the local weather warnings in the first place, so they are most certainly a good source of what is going on. If there is a storm, the NWS probably knows about it before anyone else does, indeed before it happens.

NOAA Weather Radar – Okay this one is a deep dive. Almost literally. Because it stands for National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Which just means that it covers the full-on global origin as well as the fallout of the current weather conditions you’re experiencing. In case you are a person who likes to get your weather with context – a backstory, if you will.

Wireless Emergency Alerts/Emergency Alert System – This is an initiative of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC). This app will text you emergency alerts pertaining to your specific location. It is the same system that sends alerts about missing people in your area, which is very prompt so you know you can count on the same when it comes to severe weather.

Websites

Weather.gov – This is the website of the National Weather Service, so again, it’s really the be-all and end-all in what’s going on in our skies nationwide. No matter where you live, they’ve got you on their radar, so you should have them on yours.

Department of Public Safety – This is a good site to have handy, particularly the Homeland Security and Emergency Management page under the “Divisions” tab.

Final thought, though. Even if you’re not watching the evening news, your local TV station’s news very likely offers an app to download as well as an informative webpage and social media accounts that will keep you up to the minute with developing situations. Your local meteorologists are the most immediate access you have to what is or what will soon be happening in your town, weather-wise.

Stay informed. Stay safe.

Because We Need Another Hole in the Road Like We Need Another Hole in the Head.

April 7, 2022 By Forrest Dailey

Ask anyone “What does springtime mean to you?” and you’re liable to get a variety of answers.

It’s baseball season. It’s wedding season. It’s wabbit season!

While each of these responses are quite valid, it might as well officially be declared pothole season.

It is not a spectator sport. It is certainly no occasion to propose a toast. And if only we could hunt them down. Well, actually we pay our taxes so trained professionals can hunt down potholes and humanely remove them from society.

Ironically, speaking of hunting, part of the function of a state-sanctioned deer hunting season is to “thin the herd” which, in turn, keeps deer from spilling over onto our roadways too much, a very dangerous scenario indeed. But with potholes comes another string of traffic perils. The great chasms in the middle of the road are dangerous enough, but around here, pothole season is better known as the beginning of road construction season.

For a time, annually it seems, we have long stretches of road where we are confined to one lane where we’d grown accustomed to two or more. While we are navigating that narrow corridor, construction workers, vehicles and equipment, orange cones, and dust flying all around divide our attention and obstruct our view of the road.

Have you noticed that even though all along you’ve been expected to stick between the lines, when there are cones up and construction going on in the next lane, suddenly that one lane feels about 75% narrower than it did before?

But I digress.

It’s just a lot, and it calls upon us to be the most skillful motorists that we can be. This may just mean taking a moment before getting behind the wheel to mentally prepare ourselves to avoid anything that will further captivate our attention (food, drinks, !phone calls!) and to be sure that if we have children in the vehicle with us, that they are (a) well-secured in their seats, and (b) sufficiently occupied that they will not create any diversion for the driver while crossing the One Lane of Peril over to the Land of Re-Opened Spaces.

And seeing as road construction is inevitable and apparently an eternal work in progress, sure it’s nothing to celebrate, but a spoonful of acceptance can improve one’s attitude toward what is otherwise an annual festival of gridlock, logjam, and bottleneck, and let’s face it, probably a fair amount of honking and swearing at times. We don’t have to celebrate it, but once it’s done, there will be fewer potholes.

For a while anyway. It’s never done!

Okay, breathe…and remember, a well-aligned vehicle certainly is something to celebrate.

This Raging Debate Over Umbrellas in the Winter and Other Related Issues.

March 8, 2022 By Forrest Dailey

Do yourself a favor. Do a Google search for “snow umbrella” when you’ve got some time.

You’ll find that for years there has been a raging debate over whether it is necessary, or even socially acceptable to use an umbrella during the winter. The arguments, pro- and anti-snowbrella are all there to provide you with as many hours of entertainment as you’re willing to spend.

To summarize though, some point out that snow is precipitation, and as such, if you’re out in it, an umbrella is a perfectly sensible accessory to have on your person.

The counter argument comes down to how, in the winter, you’ve already got (or should have) layers of clothing protecting you from not just the cold, but also precipitation. And anyway, snow isn’t even as wet as rain, is it?

Whatever that means.

But not everybody has good layering available to them. And anyway, what about using an umbrella to limit exposure to UV rays and the risk of melanoma? The sun doesn’t feel as hot in the winter, but it is.

Whatever that means.

Either way, you really don’t see people running around holding umbrellas as much in the winter as you do in the spring or summer. Horihan Insurance is not going to issue an official stance on the matter. But we can’t help wondering, why is National Umbrella Month during what – for most of the country – is still the dead of winter? Is it because March is the month when department stores have their huge door-buster sales on umbrellas for the upcoming season?

That sounds highly unlikely.

We can only assume then, that March is National Umbrella Month because it gives society the chance to discuss the merits of umbrella insurance policies.

Alright, let’s discuss them.

Umbrella policies ARE NOT policies that protect you from the loss and/or trauma incurred when the wind picks up and the ribs of your umbrella give out and the canopy gets yanked upside-down and inside-out on you.

Umbrella policies ARE optional policies which extend liability coverage of, let’s say, a homeowner’s or car insurance policy. Imagine your regular policies as a poncho. The umbrella policy, then, would be…well, an umbrella. It’s extra coverage. Your poncho may keep $500,000 worth of yourself dry, but the umbrella coverage keeps another $500,000 worth – or however much umbrella coverage you buy – of the area around you dry. Just in case. The rain, just like life, can switch directions real quick and suddenly it’s raining horizontally in your face. If you have an umbrella, you can tilt it down and fend off the wet.

With umbrella policies, you’re thinking in extreme situations, but for good reason. You don’t buy insurance for the little things. You buy insurance for the catastrophic. Which will all too often exceed your regular policies. An umbrella policy is simple more. And, as is often the case with insurance, it is inexpensive considering the amount of extra security it provides you.

Call your local Horihan agent if you’d like to go over how much “more” your unique situation requires. And that’s 365 days a year, rain or snow or shine.

Hey, How ‘Bout a Little Love For February?!

January 31, 2022 By Forrest Dailey

Many consider February to be underappreciated because, weighing in at a mere 28 days, it is the shortest month.

Because it was the last month of the year in the old-timey Roman calendar, one might assume it was crammed together with the scraps of what was left at the end of the year. Kind of an afterthought. As a matter of fact, in that version of the Roman Calendar, because the Romans considered even numbers to be bad luck, all the months had an odd number of days. Except one of them had to have an even number in order to conform, mathematically, with the Lunar year. The Roman king at the time bestowed that particular dishonor on February. The joke’s on His Excellency though, because the system was imperfect and thus today February is the only month that periodically gets an extra day.

So that’s kind of special.

Because it is short, though, as we approach the end of February we all know that our rent or our monthly insurance premium will come due two to three days sooner than in any other month. If that isn’t a good reason to want to skip ahead to March, I don’t know what is. If you did that though, you’d run the risk of skipping past that payment altogether though.

So no.

Also, have you ever noticed that February gets so little respect that even though the letter R is in its name twice, most people only bother to pronounce the second one? It’s true.

Now, on the other hand:

Probably due to its original position as the final month of the year, February gets its name from the Latin “februum” which means “purification” as in a fresh start, a clean slate for the new year and all that. And what in the world is purer than love? Valentine’s Day is in February. What better way to show a month some love than to place the very day that is synonymous with love smack dab in the middle of it?

Speaking of the heart, February – probably because it contains Valentine’s Day – is American Heart Month. When you consider that heart disease left unchecked can lead to all manner of malfunction such as, obviously, heart attacks, but also strokes, it becomes clear that when you take care of your heart you take care of your very life itself. One of countless reasons a sound health insurance plan is essential to overall well-being.

February is Black History Month which, while originating in the U.S., is now celebrated in many countries, honoring the vital and enormous historical and cultural contributions of people of African descent, world-wide.

Then there is Presidents’ Day in the United States. Think of it. We chose to honor the leaders of our nation, past and present, on the third Monday of this month, most likely because both George Washington and Abraham Lincoln were born in February. That can’t be a coincidence.

And speaking of auspicious incarnations, I haven’t even mentioned that a Beatle, George Harrison, was born in February. That certainly is…Something.

The Super Bowl, the Winter Olympics, and the day that pitchers and catchers are expected to report to Spring Training (usually) are all in February! So before you go underestimating February, think of all the wonders that are packed within. If that doesn’t do it, remember that by mid-February, winter is half over. Well, depending on what the Groundhog says, obviously.

I could go on and on, but I only have 28 days.

« Previous Page

This Is Only A Test!…Unless It Isn’t.

Because We Need Another Hole in the Road Like We Need Another Hole in the Head.

This Raging Debate Over Umbrellas in the Winter and Other Related Issues.

Hey, How ‘Bout a Little Love For February?!

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