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Thompson: Safe hunting requires a harness
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If you’re a deer hunter, please make sure you wear your safety harness when climbing, hunting and descending a tree. Each year a number of hunters fall and suffer injuries from broken legs, paralysis and even death. It happened to a friend of mine last weekend; for the rest of his life he’ll now have a steel rod in one of his legs. Be careful out there!



I love rubberized shelf liner. Here’s the latest tip I got for this wonderful stuff: Put some in the bottom of your pet carrier. The liner will keep your pet from sliding around inside while traveling.



OK, here’s a bonus rubberized shelf liner tip: Put some under your bed skirt to keep it from sliding.



Duct tape tip of the week: Take a folded piece of duct tape, sticky side out, and put it on the top of your washing machine. When you find buttons that have come off during the wash, put them on the duct tape. When you have time, you can sew them back on.



If you have any questions about cable or satellite TV, you should check out the Web site www.
connectmycable.com. The site provides pricing information on all of the major providers. It also has a number of articles that look at the pros and cons of both services and even compares DirecTV and Dish Network.



If you can’t afford a fancy home security system, consider putting up fake security cameras. Do they work? You bet. I personally know of a very large company that uses them to protect their locations. You can find the faux security cameras at Radio Shack for less than $25.



Guys, do your razors get clogged up on you? If so, keep a can of pressurized air nearby. You know — the kind you can find at the office supply store. It works great!



If you’re going to be on the road traveling with the kids this holiday season, I’ve got a great tip for you. Check out www.redbox.com. The company has DVD rental machines at thousands of stores around the country. You type in your ZIP code and it will tell you where the nearest ones are. The DVD rentals are $1 per night. So, rather than buying or renting a bunch of DVDs before you start your trip, just rent and return them as you travel. Most Wal-Mart stores now have Redbox rentals as well.

Tim Thompson lives in Gainesville. E-mail Tim your ideas for tips, tools or tricks.