Carthage's Grand Ole' Christmas.

The Carthage Chamber of Commerce, Carthage Convention and Visitors Bureau (CVB) and Main Street Carthage have joined forces to help promote the holiday season in Carthage. "Carthage’s Grand Ole’ Christmas" is a special holiday promotional campaign that is scheduled to start in November.

"Ultimately the goal is to promote our local holiday events along with our various attractions and retail outlets well enough to draw not only visitors from near by areas, but from larger markets like Kansas City and Tulsa," said CVB Director Teresa Gilliam.

"We’re asking for area attractions, community organizations and businesses who host holiday events to send us that information. We want all holiday oriented activities to be part of this promotional package, but first we need to create a detailed calender of what celebrations and activities are already planed for Carthage," said Director of Member Services for the Chamber of Commerce Debra Smith.

There will be grants available to fund promotions for Carthage’s Grand Ole’ Christmas campaign. Types of promotions include brochures, flyers, inserts in local newspapers, magazines and advertizing in regional media outlets.

To submit your holiday event or seasonal activity for Carthage’s Grand Ole’ Christmas promotional campaign send the event, date, time, location, sponsors and any additional details (logos, photos, etc..) to the Chamber of Commerce and The CVB at 107 E. 3rd, Carthage, Mo 64836 or to Main Street Carthage at 335 S. Main, Carthage, MO 64836 in care of the "Christmas Committee". Submitted items are subject to approval by the planing committee.

This time a year is when, as a kid, I’d get my annual blisterin’ sunburn. Typically the worst would be on my shoulders, but the nose and tops of my feet also seemed particularly vulnerable.

Various remedies such as vinegar and alcohol (rubbin’ not drinkin’) would offer temporary relief, but mostly sufferin’ for a few days was the only real cure.

I eventually learned that havin’ a t-shirt handy at the swimmin’ hole or at the ball field was a necessary piece of equipment early in the season. This allowed me to get a little sun, but cover up if I felt the sting of over exposure.

Some a that early sunscreen, white grease of some sort, was help for the nose but not particularly appealin’. These days it’s just a lot easier to stay in the shade.

This is some fact, but mostly,

Just Jake Talkin’.

by

Carthage Printing

THIS IS A HAMMER

By Samantha Mazzotta

A Toasty-Warm Basement

Q: This winter I had to replace my boiler, and someone also came to remove the asbestos-laden insulation on the steam pipes in the basement. I was told they didn’t need to be reinsulated because "warm air rises." I know we all learned that in eighth-grade science, but if you were in my basement this winter, you would know by how toasty warm it was (compared with the rest of the house) that this ain’t necessarily so. Do you think it is worth it to re-cover the pipes with fiberglass insulation? The basement is not "finished." Thanks. — Iris T., Westfield, N.J.

A: Yes, I would. As you could tell by the toastiness of your basement this winter (which was probably very nice), the steam pipes emitted plenty of heat, and much of it stayed in the basement.

Warm air does indeed rise, but it didn’t have an expedient way to leave the basement area. And because the basement is not finished (I assume it has no insulation or wall paneling), the heat that did escape took the fastest exit, which may have been directly outdoors.

However, the steam pipes for your heating system are designed to carry that heat up to all the living areas of your house. The purpose of the old asbestos insulation was to keep that heat contained within the pipes as the hot steam rose upward, rather than allowing it to radiate out immediately (into the basement instead of your bedroom).

Insulating those pipes will cool off your basement and warm up the rest of the house. This will also lower your heating bill, as it will take less energy (electric, oil or otherwise) to generate the amount of steam heat necessary to keep you comfortable. You may not have noticed a tremendous change in heating costs even with a brand-new boiler that is probably much more efficient. However, when you run the heat with insulated pipes, you should notice a drop in the operating cost.

Compressed fiberglass insulation (rather than foam) is the best type to use with steam pipes, which can get rather hot. And it’s quite inexpensive — you’ll probably spend less than $20. Measure the length (from boiler to ceiling exit) and width (or diameter) of the pipe and then purchase the wrap-on type with a half-inch thickness at any hardware or home-improvement store.