Certainly anyone who has turned on the TV or read a newspaper recently is aware of the pretty active hurricane season that's been going on, especially in the Caribbean this season. Even those of us on the Southern Plains, some distance from the Gulf, have dealt with the fringe winds and rain.

But we don't have to import the kind of weather that knocks out electricity, we make plenty of our own around here.

We've even had winters, such as in 2006-07, where ice and snow did a lot of destruction to roofs, fences and trees, as well as knocking out power. The hardest hit areas were northeast and central Oklahoma. But, those storms made the national news and resulted in appraisal reports for homes in southwest Oklahoma having to address whether or not local properties had suffered ice damage that winter. Not that many had, but lenders wanted to know.

There's not a lot that a homeowner can do to change the weather, but you can make yourself, your family and your home as prepared as possible. Much of it is just common sense. Start from the outside and work your way in.

If you should find yourself wanting a book to peruse under a lantern light some stormy night, a read you may want to pick up is Tim Matson's "The Book of Non-Electric Living " (2008, The Countryman Press).  Not that you could expect a very good appraisal should I visit your home and find out you've disconnected your electricity, but he offers some good pointers on getting by if you have to.

Finally, something else that helps home value, is a good neighborhood. Keep an eye out in weather disasters for the elderly and shut ins, widows or singles who may need assistance. Being a good neighbor is just being an Oklahoman anyway.