18
September 17, 2013 • Page 18
shop online at www.missourivalleyshopper.com
How To Prepare
Your Yard For Winter
Winterizing Vehicles
An Important
Step For Drivers
dead battery, which, in
warm weather, is more of a
nuisance than a health concern. In cold weather, a
dead battery can threaten
your health if you find
yourself stranded in cold
weather. Especially low
temperatures can compromise a battery’s power by as
much as 50 percent, so
have your battery inspected
in late fall and replace it if
need be.
•Don’t be caught off
guard. Part of winterizing a
vehicle is being prepared if
the vehicle breaks down.
Make sure you have extra
washer fluid in your vehicle’s trunk, and don’t forget
to include an ice scraper,
snow brush or even a snow
shovel in the trunk as well.
A snow shovel may be necessary if you need to dig
your car out if it’s been
buried somewhere other
than your driveway. Other
items to carry in your trunk
include a blanket, a change
of clothes, an extra hat, an
extra pair of gloves, some
nonperishable food, and a
few bottles of water.
Winter can be especially harsh on automobiles.
But drivers can take several
preventive steps to ensure
their vehicle is safe and
sound on the roads this
winter.
n Metro Creative Connection
before fertilizing or applying any treatments. Such a
test will reveal which spots
need the most attention,
and treating trouble spots
now will make spring lawn
care that much easier.
•Aerate the property.
Aerating can help a lawn
recover after a long summer and help it survive the
potentially harsh months
that lie ahead. Aerating,
which involves puncturing
the soil or removing cores
of soil from the ground, can
restore a lawn to health by
improving its drainage and
allowing more water and
air to reach the roots of the
grass. Aerating also makes
it easier for nutrients to
penetrate the soil, which
encourages a healthier
lawn over the long haul.
Aerators can be purchased
or rented, but homeowners
uncomfortable with the
process may want to enlist
a professional to tackle the
job. Parents of small children who spend lots of time
in the yard may need to
aerate their lawn more
than most, as heavy lawn
traffic compresses the soil, a
potentially harmful process
that can be reversed via
aeration.
•Take steps to strengthen the roots. Aerating promotes stronger roots, but
homeowners might also
want to find a winterizing
product with potassium
and phosphorous, both of
which can strengthen
roots. Different types of
lawns will respond differently to certain winterizers,
so discuss your options
with a lawn care professional who can help you
find the right fit for your
property.
•Remove debris from
the lawn. Debris left on a
lawn over the winter can
prove very harmful. Piles of
debris left scattered around
a lawn can suffocate the
blades of grass, leading to
long-term damage and a
potentially unsightly lawn
come the spring. In addition, piles of debris might
make good homes for
organisms that can damage
the lawn. As fall moves into
winter, periodically remove
all debris, including leaves
and branches fallen from
trees.
•Make the lawn offlimits once the temperatures dip below freezing. A
lawn should be off-limits
once the ground freezes.
Stepping on grass that has
frozen will leave noticeable
footprints, and walking on
frozen grass can kill the
turf. When winter arrives,
people should avoid using
the lawn as a shortcut into
and out of your home and
stick to driveways and sidewalks instead.
n Metro Creative Connection
GREGG’S AUTOMOTIVE
FULL AUTOMOTIVE
SERVICE
Quality
TIRES • BRAKES • OIL CHANGE
EXHAUST REPAIR
HEATER REPAIRS • TUNE-UPS
- Computer Diagnostics Gregg Hanson, Owner/Auto Tech
35 Yrs. Exp.
1999 Pontiac
Bonneville • $3,400
Used Cars
1999 Pontiac
Montana Van • $3,200
1998 Buick
Century • $1,500
FREE VEHICLE INSPECTIONS
MOTORCYCLE TIRE SALES & SERVICE
606 E. 8th St., Yankton
665-8683
Winter Indoor Storage Available Now!
M.C. Storage
• Boats • RV’s • Jet Skis •
605-665-7800
3702 Leader Lane • Yankton, SD
2008 Locust St. • Yankton, SD 57078
by Lewis & Clark Lake (Highway 52 - Deer Blvd. & Leader Lane)
Local Phone: 665-7080 • Toll Free: 800-834-7081
5276JN
vehicle may recommend
you use a lower viscosity
motor oil to counter the dip
in temperature that’s synonymous with winter.
When the temperatures
outside fall, the oil inside
your vehicle thickens, and
a thicker oil won’t circulate
through the engine as well.
This can cause engine problems because the engine
won’t be adequately lubricated. A low-viscosity oil is
naturally thinner, so it may
improve
lubrication
throughout the winter. The
vehicle owner’s manual
should recommend oils
based on climate. If not,
talk to your mechanic
about changing from the oil
you use throughout the
year to a low-viscosity
alternative during the winter.
•Inspect your vehicle
before winter arrives. No
one wants to be out on the
road during the first snowstorm of the year only to
discover certain components are not working
properly. Belts and hoses,
while durable, can be put
through strenuous conditions during the winter
months, so a close inspection of belts and hoses
should be conducted in late
fall. In addition, windshield
wipers are especially important in winter, when snowfall can drastically impact
visibility. You will want
your wipers working at full
capacity once the winter
begins, so replace older
wipers (shelf life for standard wipers is typically one
year) and use a de-icing
windshield washer fluid to
maximize visibility.
Another component
that must be inspected is
your car’s battery. Many
drivers have experienced a
MAGNAFLOW, FLOWMASTER, OEM MUFFLERS
Mon-Fri 7:30am-6pm • Sat 8am-2pm
We’re more than
just Auto Parts!
1509 E. Hwy 50 • Yankton, SD
605-665-3693 • 800-658-3388
www.sturdevants.com
ecker
1702 Broadway,
Yankton, SD
B
B
AUTOMATIC UNDERGROUND LAWN SPRINKLERS
As fall gradually gives
way to winter, vehicle
owners often sigh at the
thought of driving in winter weather or spending
weekday mornings clearing
their vehicles of ice before
heading to the office. But
manning
the
wheel
through another snowstorm or whittling away
another night’s worth of ice
from a car’s windshield are
not the only rites of passage
motorists must endure as
cold weather returns.
Winterizing a vehicle
can improve vehicle performance during a time of
year that, in many locales,
can be especially harsh on
automobiles. Low temperatures make for less than
ideal conditions for engines
to run, while potholes left
behind by snow plows can
damage a vehicle’s wheels
and may even result in flat
tires and a damaged suspension system. In addition, salt used to improve
traction on roadways can
cause rust. Short of moving
to a locale with mild winters, there’s little drivers
can do to protect their vehicles from harsh winter
weather. But winterizing a
vehicle can prevent some of
the more common issues
drivers may encounter
when the temperatures dip
below
•Take time out for your
tires. Winter weather can
limit traction, putting the
safety of drivers and their
passengers in jeopardy.
When possible, avoid driving in the snow, and steer
clear of roads where ice and
black ice are known to
form.
While such measures
can greatly reduce your risk
of being in an accident, you
likely can’t avoid driving
entirely come the winter.
Drivers
who
want
improved traction from
their tires throughout the
winter can purchase winter
tires for their vehicles. Such
tires can more effectively
handle roads that are covered in snow and ice than
all-season tires. Another
way to improve traction
during the winter months
is to constantly monitor tire
pressure, which decreases
more rapidly when the
weather is cold. Properly
inflated tires provide better
traction and protect against
damage that may occur
when driving over potholes.
•Consider a low-viscosity oil in the winter. The
owner’s manual of your
Changing seasons can
be tough on a lawn. Always
exposed to the elements,
lawns can fare especially
poorly upon the arrival of
winter, a season known for
its harsh and unforgiving
weather. Even the most
perfectly manicured lawn
can suffer at the hands of
winter weather, causing
homeowners to sit idly by
and hope spring arrives that
much sooner.
But as punishing as
winter weather can be on a
lawn, homeowners are not
without recourse. Much
like homeowners can take
steps to help their lawns
survive sizzling summer
heat waves during the
warmer months of the
year, they also can take
steps to help their lawns
make it through the often
stormy weather synonymous with winter.
•Don’t procrastinate.
Putting off the process of
winterizing a lawn can put
that lawn in jeopardy.
Lawns will turn dormant
the closer you get to winter,
and they may reject the
nutrients found in fertilizer
as a result. Those nutrients
will prove valuable once
spring weather returns, so
start the winterization
process in early fall so the
lawn has sufficient time to
absorb nutrients and
strengthen itself for the seasons to come.
•Treat trouble spots.
Summer can be even harder on a lawn than winter,
especially for those lawns
located in regions where
heat waves and drought are
common. In such instances,
certain spots on the lawn
seem to be hit harder than
others, and those spots
should get special attention
when winterizing the lawn.
Check the soil’s pH levels
dy Shop
o
Direct Repair Facility for all
major insurance companies!
Paintless Dent Repair - Glass Installation
Fiberglass Work - Complete Body Repair
605.665.5925
RADIATOR REPAIR, RECORING & NEW COMPLETE RADIATORS AVAILABLE.
WESTERN SNOW PLOW DEALER
“The best place to take a leak”
MIDWEST RADIATOR &
EXHAUST
1211 East Hwy. 50 • Yankton, SD
(605) 665-2410
Backhoes
Drain Cleaning
Equipment
Construction
Drains
Repairs
Repairs &
Maintenance
Irrigation
Maintenance
Plumbing
Remodeling
New Construction
Parts
Complete Sales & Service
605-665-9269
Sprinklers
Sprinklers &
Irrigation
Fejfar Plumbing and Heating, Inc.
1209 W. 9th • Yankton, SD
Residential • Athletic Fields • Commercial