Grilling Safety
-Position the grill well away from siding, deck railings and out from under leaves and branches.
-Place the grill at a safe distance from lawn games, play areas and foot traffic.
-Keep children and pets away from the grill area: declare a three-foot “safe zone” around the grill.
-Use long-handled grilling tools to have plenty of clearance from heat and flames.
-Propane and charcoal grills must only be used outdoors. If used indoors, or in any enclosed spaces, such as tents, they pose both a fire hazard and the risk of exposing occupants to toxic gases and potential asphyxiation.

Charcoal
-Use the proper starter fluid and store it out of reach of children, and away from heat sources.
-Never add charcoal starter fluid when coals or kindling have already been ignited.
-Never use any flammable or combustible liquid other than charcoal starter fluid.

Propane
-Use only equipment bearing the mark of an independent testing laboratory. Follow the manufacturers’ instructions on how to set up the grill and maintain it.
-Never store propane cylinders in buildings or garages.
-If you smell gas while cooking, immediately get away from the grill and call the fire department. Do not attempt to move the grill.

Ask Ron Spencer the top speed of his hot rod, and he’ll say he’s “not brave enough to find out.”

Spencer, 63, Fishers, gave up racing sailboats a long time ago because he likes his hot rods more.

The Canadian-born car enthusiast, who raced on drag strips in Canada when he was young, no longer races, but he still loves hot rods.

“If it’s got wheels, I like it,” said Spencer, who says he’s been a hot rodder since high school. He liked to drag race against friends in his family’s 1937 Singer, 1958 Ford sedan, 1960 Chevy Impala or 1962 Volkswagen.

“Depends on what car I had that day,” said Spencer, who also fixed up a couple of other old Fords to drag race.

Spencer is president of the Indianapolis-based Cluster Buster Hot Rod Club. In conjunction with the 10-day Sheridan Sesquicentennial celebration, the club will host the Lucas Oil Wheels & Wings Fly-In, Cruise-In Plane, Car and Motorcycle Show on Saturday at Sheridan Airport.

Established in 1948, it’s the second-oldest continuously operating club in the nation, starting as a drag race club, he said.

The club was instrumental in the development of Indianapolis Raceway Park, now O’Reilly Raceway Park, and annually hosts Ray Skillman’s Classic Car show in Greenwood in July.

Spencer said owners of planes, hot rods, street rods and motorcycles are invited to register by noon to participate in the show. Admission is free to spectators. Shuttles will run from downtown Sheridan.

He owns a 1929 blue Ford roadster he built from the ground up. It sits on a 1932 Ford frame and has a 350 Chevy V-8 engine.

Spencer built the car just the way he wanted it. “A lot of car parts I made right here on my workbench with a hacksaw and a grinder.”

He used old switches he’d saved in a toolbox from his grandfather, fog lights from his grandfather’s car and a gearshift made from an old door handle.

Spencer also owns a 1946 red Ford convertible that he disassembled down to every nut and bolt, and put back together, making changes he wanted.

“I’m not a trophy hunter, though I’ve certainly won my share of them,” he said. “I’m just more comfortable in my garage than in my kitchen, messing with cars.”

He said Saturday’s show would draw about 200 cars.

Register at the front desk or by calling 844-3362

Tickets are $5 for Chamber members and $10 for the general public.

During January and February Wyant Photography will host their annual Tiny Tot Contest to benefit Smile Train.

With a $20 donation to Smile Train you will receive a free session of your choice and a free 5×7 from that session on Thursdays and Fridays during January and February.

Each child will then be entered into the Tiny Tots contest where they will have a chance to win a $50 gift card from the children’s store of their choice.

Limited appointments availalbe, please call today – 663-4798

Catching the Last Shooting Stars
As for the Geminids, patient stargazers might’ve already caught its beginnings on December 6, but the meteor shower reaches its peak on the nights of December 13 and 14. For those disappointed by November’s Leonid show, the outlook for the current Geminid shower, which lasts until December 18, is good.

Astronomers believe the Geminids are increasing in intensity every year, yielding 120-160 meteors per hour during the shower. Astronomy magazine expects great conditions for viewing “100 ’shooting stars’ per hour—an average of nearly two per minute.” People in China and Indonesia have the orchestra seats for the Geminid show, and might be able to see more than “300 meteors per hour.”

You don’t need a telescope to see the streaks shooting across the heavens. For optimal viewing, NASA pinpoints 12:10 a.m. EST/9:10 p.m. PST, and suggests going somewhere away from the “light pollution” of cities and towns, to an area dark enough to see the stars clearly. Keep your eyes roaming all areas of the sky to spot a meteor. (And dress warmly, bring a blanket, and fill up on hot drinks.)

No Comet Here
At their best, meteor showers provide an intense display of the violence of the cosmos, at a safe distance for earthlings to watch. Meteors are streaks of light created by particles of debris from comets and other celestial bodies hitting the Earth’s atmosphere. These particles, called meteoroids, can measure as small as a grain of sand to as large as a boulder.

Usually that space-dust dance comes from lively comets. The Geminid meteors are an exception: They emanate from a dead comet called 3200 Phaethon. As for their name, it’s derived from the constellation Gemini, the area of the sky from which the meteors appear to originate.

Astronomical Anniversary
Four hundred years ago, Galileo Galilei invented the telescope and Johannes Kepler came out with his 650-page documentation of Martian motion. That, according to the United Nations, is reason enough to call for a year-long celebration. The International Year of Astronomy hosted events all over the world, and the heavens apparently joined in and threw their own 2009 shows, like the solar eclipse that darkened the skies over Asia.

In the United States, NASA underwent a lot of scrutiny. But even as the bosses were evaluating its core mission, the agency got a few projects literally off the ground—and lots of Web attention: The buzziest may have been the highly risky (and rousingly successful) mission to repair the Hubble Space Telescope. The oddest may have been a March contest for naming a wing of the International Space Station: NASA opted for Tranquility over the more popular “Stephen Colbert,” but the satirical TV host got a space-station treadmill named after him.

The Americans weren’t the only busy ones: Selected Russian and European volunteers willingly isolated themselves for 105 days here on Earth, to prove their Mars mettle (and next year, the lucky crew gets to spend 520 days in isolation). And tourists who can afford the airfare to the International Space Station always get lots of envious queries—the first clown in space proved no exception this year.

Once in a Blue Moon
The sky shows aren’t over yet. The Ursid meteor shower gets its turn December 22, the Pleiades will brighten up the night on December 29, and a blue moon will entertain New Year’s Eve revelers. (And no, the moon doesn’t turn a shade of turquoise: The phrase just means a second full moon appears in the same month. But don’t let that stop you from singing its praises.)

Location

Description

Cookies and punch, entertainment, caroling and crafts!

$40.00 per family get’s you a pre-fab gingerbread house, a pound of bulk candy, and everything else you need, as well as a facilitator (to help you with those creative questions). Just reserve your pre-fabricated gingerbread house with us by calling 818-9866 or emailing info@30northrangeline.com. Then plan on coming in on December 19th between 10:00 am and 2:00 pm to pick out your pound of candy and create your family gingerbread house masterpiece and leave the mess here!

Can’t make it on December 19th? That’s O.K., we have options for you! You can purchase your very own pre-fab gingerbread house for just $20.00! For $30.00 you can walk away with a pre-fab gingerbread house and a pound of bulk candy. That way you can create your very own masterpiece in the comfort of your own home…but cleaning up the mess is up to you!