Well, the weekend is here and it is time to shift from work mode to play-and-relax mode - or maybe complete a few chores around the house and yard. While certainly spring is not here yet, if you get a chance to get out in your yard, take a look around to make sure that the storms of early winter have not caused any damage to your home. If you see any shingles lying on the lawn, maybe take a look at your roof and see if any have been blown loose-I found that 9 had blown off the ridge of my roof!

Also look to see if there isn any damage to other parts of your home, especially where wind could drive in the rain and cause problems.

Most of the leaves are off of the trees, so now is the time to make sure that your gutters are clear and to finally remove that wet, partially decomposed leaf pile from your entry way or sidewalk. These really are very slippery.

I guess even play time can turn into work time - my apologies. But if walking on the roof or cleaning your gutters isn't your thing, there are many reputable companies that are more than willing to do this for you.

And just think, if you get all this down this weekend, next weekend will be wide open to cheer your team to victory in the Super Bowl!

The old saying that "it is no use to close the barn door - the horse is already out" can apply to insurance too. Wouldn't it be great if you could totally insulate yourself from less? Yes, it would be - at least for you - but we would be unemployed.

Of course, there are always little things you can do to help prevent damage - a smoke alarm with working batteries, a driver safety course, and locking your doors. Sometimes, though, locking a car door can be the problem rather than the solution. One of our insureds, Lesley C., sent me an email about a scam she heard about that was fairly prevalent - especially at shopping malls - this holiday season. I had seen this on cable news too.

Most of us use a remote to lock and unlock our car doors. I'm sure most of us have grown to love the convenience of the "clicker". How it works is quite simple: the remote sends a signal to the car with a code to unlock or lock your car doors. Unfortunately, that signal can have a rather broad range. Test how far away from the car you can be using the remote to unlock or lock your doors and you'll see what I mean.

Thieves using a scanner can catch the unique signal from your remote when you click (or like some drivers I know double and triple click) to lock your doors. When you have left your car, they can use their remote with your code to empty your car of all its possessions. The iPod that makes the commute go quickly, the GPS for the directionally confused, and even the running shoes you hide in the trunk - gone. No car alarm, no broken window, no scratch marks - just an empty car.

So next time you're in a crowded parking lot, use your interior door lock button to lock your doors or be really retro and actually turn the key! Let's keep the figurative horse in the barn.