Zorba Paster: 4 Tips For A Safe Summer

It’s that time of year for farmers markets, outdoor potlucks and, of course, brats on the grill. With a bit of vigilance, you can make this a wonderful summer you’ll treasure because “nothing bad happened.” The “bad” here is health and injury stuff. To have a safe summer, take precautions to reduce your risks.

The downside to this advice is that no one, including me, wants to hear what they can and cannot do. But just as we all learned in kindergarten, it’s smart to be safe.

I recently wrote about protecting yourself in the sun. Now it’s on to my other safety tips. So here’s my big four “adult kindergarten” summer safety list.

1. Food Safety

Before you go on a picnic or grill out with the family, be prepared. Make absolutely sure the cutting board you use to cut that raw chicken or make those burgers is cleaned up before you cut veggies and other foods. If not, you just may end up paying homage to the porcelain goddess — or worse.

The bad players here are salmonella and E. coli, which can be found in raw meats. These bacteria are destroyed when you cook chicken and beef to an internal temperature of 165 degrees. Pink chicken is a no-no, but also be sure to trust a thermometer — it’s better than your eyesight. The instant-read thermometers are cheap. Buy one and use it. We worry about mayonnaise but meat is the real culprit.

Homemade mayonnaise is another story. It’s the bad guy. My mom would use a mayonnaise substitute for her famous 15-bean salad because mayo was made with eggs and she worried about salmonella. The commercial mayo, the stuff you buy in the store, is pasteurized and therefore salmonella free. You can use it in your special dish with impunity. As for the homemade stuff, it’s a no-no — and who makes that anyway?

Oh, and one more thing — remember to wash those veggies. They may look pristine but some are not.

2. Grill Safety

I remember when I was 8 years old and I picked up a dusty coal from the fire. Boy, oh, boy, was I surprised! Kids love to explore, so put up a barricade of lawn chairs around the grill to keep those youngsters out. It just might save you a trip to your local burn unit.

3. Water Safety

With more than 10,000 lakes in Wisconsin, I know someone in our state will have too much to drink, fall out of that boat and drown. And we’ve all seen stories about some young child who drowns because they didn’t know how to swim and someone neglected to make sure their life preserver was on and buckled. My son and I have a boat. I love sitting in the middle of the lake sipping a cool brew. But too many of those cold ones can mean bad judgment. Be responsible.

Life preservers are the seat belts of the waterways. Don’t be lax; they save lives. Most boaters use cushion life preservers because the vest ones are so uncomfortable, but consider the ones that are a belt. They’re easy to snap on and they inflate when they hit the water.

When it comes to children, they should wear the life vest or they shouldn’t be in the boat. And for adult non-swimmers, you might consider making the summer more fun by learning to swim.

4. Insects

Every day in my office, it seems like I see a tick bite. If you’re in the woods, wear long sleeves and lightweight clothing. And use bug spray on your clothes — it’s safer than spraying it on the skin. If you see a tick on your body, remove the entire critter, head and all, with a tweezers. If you take off a bit of skin as well, I’d say you’ve done a good job.

Those tiny deer ticks have to stay on you for at least 24 hours to transmit Lyme disease. So that may mean taking a nighttime shower to look at your entire skin — and, yes, that means your backside, too.

If you do find a tick that’s been on for more than 24 hours, then 200 mg of the antibiotic doxycycline can protect you from Lyme disease. If you’re outdoors all the time, gardening, traipsing in the woods or walking the dog in one of our beautiful dog parks, ask your doc for this to have on hand. It’s worth it.

My spin: I’m shutting off my computer now and going out for a picnic. I always think about a day, way back, when my daughter Vanessa and I went out to have a picnic. I was having a bad day. I don’t remember why it was but I was in a sour mood, uncommon for me. While we were spreading out the blanket to sit down, she looked at me and said, “Daddy, there’s no such thing as a bad picnic.” Boy, was she right. Have a safe and happy summer. And stay well.