The evolution of the self storage industry has been an interesting one. The industry began simply as a place for people to store personal belongings. The industry then morphed into one that also offered moving services. It changed again when it started offering storage in containers instead of various sized rooms in a facility. [More]

Many people use car storage and truck storage in the winter. Others use vehicle storage to hold their motorcycles, snowmobiles, all-terrain vehicles, or bicycles. Many also rely on toy storage during the winter, for items such as plastic ride-on toys, tricycles, and wagons. But Judy Foster and Fred Keller of Wasilla, Alaska, must be the first couple ever to need storage for a toy the size of a truck -- a giant Radio Flyer. The couple constructed their giant wagon, which may be the only one in the world like it, out of an old pickup truck. [More]

Self storage companies are famous for supporting charitable organizations, especially organizations that are focused on helping veterans, troops overseas, or military families. But Wounded Warrior Outdoors may be the only such charity that was actually founded by members of the self storage industry. Wounded Warrior, which offers injured veterans and disabled veterans from the United States and Canada a chance to recuperate while on a hunting trip in British Columbia, has announced that it is starting a new campaign: One for the Troops. [More]

One of Alaska's volcanoes, Mt. Redoubt, is beginning to rumble again. Volcanologists at the Alaska Volcano Observatory have put Redoubt on a code yellow state of alert. Code yellow means that Redoubt is showing signs of unrest, beyond its normal background level. Volcanologists use a four-tiered color coding system: green means activity levels are normal and that scientists do not expect an imminent eruption, yellow means that there are signs of unrest, orange means that there has been increasing unrest with a strong potential for eruption, and red means that the volcano is currently erupting.

Most Alaskans are not worried about having to evacuate from their homes -- most live too far from Mt. Redoubt for their lives to be in any danger from an eruption -- but Alaskans do worry about the possibility of an ashfall. It is not unusual for clouds of ash to spew from Alaska's volcanoes as they become more active. To protect machinery and sensitive equipment from ash contamination, it is wise to cover and store them during any periods of ashfall. [More]