Free Stock Photography of Cars and Travel Related Themes
December 27, 2011 by Tire Zoo
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Are you looking for a picture of a tire or a parked car? Maybe you need a photo of a stop sign or a street scene? The TireZoo has a Flickr site dedicated to common vehicle and travel related photographs to use under Creative Commons licensing. We’re happy to share these photos and make your day a little easier! Here is more information on how to use photographs from Flickr and adhere to Creative Commons license. Never simply use any photograph from Google Images, as they are likely copyrighted.
If you have a blog or other online presence where you need photographs, this article explains rights and regulations of stock photography, “Images 101- Copyrights and Creative Commons”.
If you use one of our photos, please don’t hesitate to post a link in our comments section and tell us about your article. We’d love to hear from you. We’ve actually heard from quite a few people around the world using our photographs, and it’s really fun to see the creativity in action!
A Kind-Of Funny, But Not Too Funny Winter To-Do List for Minnesota
November 2, 2011 by Tire Zoo
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Whether you need to buy some items to prepare for winter, or simply gather some things from around your house, this progressive “to do” list will help any Midwesterner get ready for the winter weather on its way.
While this list is meant to be funny, you really do need to make sure your vehicle and tires are in good condition.
What to do first…
Locate a Shovel for when the snow starts to fly. Shoveling seems easy at first; maybe even fun. Eventually shoveling will seem insurmountable and lose its appeal completely.
Get A Snow Blower Tune-Up for when the shovel no longer cuts it.
Buy Heat Additive and/or Block Heaters for those poor vehicles that sit outside and may need a little early morning help.
Find the Bags of Salt to melt snow and ice from sidewalks, parking lots, and driveways thereby hopefully reducing what we’ll call “incidents”.
Window Plastic might not be a bad idea if you have leaky windows, and we get the winter that’s being predicted. You’ll want to seal out old man winter if you can.
Put Out Mouse Traps so that furry friends don’t make it into your boat, camper, or house after they discover such places are warmer than the elements outside.
Snow Tires; Never a bad idea for many people’s vehicles. Call us if you’re wondering if snow tires, aka winter tires, are right for your vehicle.
Tire Chains are necessary for those who pull heavy snow duty, and you know who you are.
Flags for the end of your driveway or edge of your sidewalk so you don’t drive where you shouldn’t once everything is monochromatic.
Buy a New Pair of Gloves, as you’ll only find one from last year. It’s Murphy’s Law.
Pick up Some Hand Warmers, as these work great if you can find a pair of anything to place them in.
Sleds are a must to entertain the kids and get them out of the house on those inevitable snow days off of school. The buses won’t get them to school, but you’ll still have to go to work.
You’ll Need a Windshield Scraper to chisle the snow and ice off your windshield if you had to park outside of the garage due to a pile of sleds and snow gear left in your parking stall. Let’s face it. The less-desirable credit card you’re using to scrape ice really isn’t sufficient if you just admit it.
Assemble a Winter Survival Kit when things don’t go as planned and you need supplies until your ride arrives.
Get a Snow Rake! Do you not remember last winter? Keep snow off your roof and hopefully avoid ice dams.
Find Your Ski Mask so you can simultaneously stay warm, scare the neighbors, and scrape ice dams off your roof.
Put Extra Blankets in Your Vehicle, but don’t buy these. Well, you can if you want, but who doesn’t have a pile in a closet somewhere waiting to be put to good use? Saving a life in the frigid weather seems to be the best destiny possible for these blankets.
What’s on your list? What would you add to this?
Today is National Sunglasses Day
Did you know?
June 27th is National Sunglasses Day.
How many pairs of sunglasses do you have? Do you keep a pair in every vehicle? Protect your eyes from harmful UV rays, while avoiding glare and discomfort. Find a pair of sunglasses, protect your eyes from the sun, and hit the road for a nice drive.
Declutter Your Garage
June 15, 2011 by Tire Zoo
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Is your garage the place that gathers all your household and vehicle cast off items? Unless you are in the 1% of people who have a garage floor clean enough to eat off of, most of us find clutter builds up over time in our garage. Cold, long winters mean we pile stuff up, knowing we’ll have to spend some serious time cleaning up later once the warm weather arrives.
Guess what?
The warm weather is here, and it’s time to declutter your garage. Choose a nice day with a light breeze, so you can open the garage door. Enlist help from family members, while working methodically through these tips to a cleaner, more organized garage.
Tips to Declutter Your Garage
- Create walking space: If your garage is so cluttered you can’t walk or move around, haul things outside while you get organized.
- Keep items you use: Items you use frequently all year long should be kept in your garage such as your air compressor, tool box, and maybe your bikes.
- Store seasonal items: No sense in stepping around sleds and ice skates in July. Store items in a separate shed, storage room in your basement, garage rafters, totes, or even walls of your garage.
- Reduce: While this is a kind word for getting rid of items, many things need-not go in the garbage. Donate those old training wheels or snowmobile helmets you no longer need.
- Find homes for odd items: Do you have a collection of coffee cups building up in your garage that simply need to hitch a ride into the dishwasher? Spend some time putting things away around your house and yard that don’t belong in the garage
- Return what you can: Call that neighborhood kid over to get his sweatshirt he left 9 months ago and forgot to come back and get. Return the items you’ve borrowed from friends.
- Use hooks and nails to hang as many items on the garage walls as possible, up and out of your way.
- Designate totes, baskets, or boxes to gather smaller items like toys and lawn games.
- Restock your vehicle: If items were taken out of your vehicle and not returned, make sure you put them back before you need them. Double check you have jumper cables, tow rope, tire gauge, ice scraper, etc in the trunk of your vehicle.
- Recycle what you can: Never throw anything that can be recycled. Now days you can recycle almost everything. Batteries, tires, pop cans, wine corks, crayons, computers, etc should all be disposed of properly.
- Find a junk service: If you have a large amount of clutter that can’t be donated or pawned off on someone, you will need a junk collection service that will know how, what, and where to properly dispose of miscellaneous clutter.
- Reuse: If you have an old cupboard from a remodeling project you could use in the garage, or some shelving units to help you store things, repurpose and use items you already have.
Do you have any tips for decluttering and organizing a garage? We’d love you to share your tips.
photo credit: MelvinSchlubman
How NOT to Lock Your Keys in the Car
June 9, 2011 by Tire Zoo
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If you have ever locked your keys in your car, you know the feeling – helplessness, panic , disgust. Then, anxiety and realization of what it will cost you to get a locksmith to come to your rescue. Here are some ideas on how to avoid the situation of locked keys in your car all together:
- Pay attention to the beeping in your car that means your keys are in the ignition. It is not just there to annoy you, it is warning you to bring your keys with you.
- Never take your keys out of the ignition and place somewhere else in your car. Bring your keys with you as you get out of the car. Have a spot where you consistently place your keys, so you know where they are in a hurry.
- Don’t let your kids play with your car keys! As obvious as this may sound, it happens often and is a safety issue also. Kids are notorious for starting panic alarms on keypads, and even putting the keys in the ignition or locking themselves in the car with the keys.
- Always have a spare key handy. Whether this is in your home, wallet or purse, with a friend, or strategically placed in a well-hidden location under your car with a magnetic key holder, a spare key can save you when you need it most.
AAA or other auto clubs with roadside assistance are great to have if you run into frequent car problems, like a flat tire or locking your keys in your car. You may also want to check with your insurance carrier to see if your policy includes lockouts.
If you do lock your keys in your car, don’t panic. Although most local police departments do not perform the unlocking service any more, there are other options. If you have a newer car, you can call the local dealership with your VIN number, and they can make you a new key. Another option would be to call a local locksmith to get your car open.
Tell us about a time you locked your keys in your car. What did you do to get your keys back?
photo credit: House of Joy Photos
Safe Tires – Safe Families – Happy Kids
