I hope everyone had a great Christmas and was able to slow down long enough to catch a little of that Christmas spirit. When I have a few days to chill, I tend to start looking around my house for little projects that I haven’t had time to do. I have to make myself stop and take time out to rest, think, and do things with my wife and girls. Things like going to my little river cabin, building a fire in the fireplace, or watching a movie together in the middle of the day. It seems to be the only time of the year this can happen.

2008 is coming fast and with it the opportunity to look ahead at what can be accomplished. I’m very excited about all our new projects here at Today’s Homeowner® which we’ll be announcing soon. I also hope to be able to answer more of your questions in the Ask Danny section of our website. We want to be your source of home improvement information—both online and on the air—and hope you will continue visiting us.

I hope you have a very happy New Year and would like to thank each of you for the great support, comments, and e-mails we have received.

Hey, let’s all have the best year we’ve ever had.

I just returned from attending the “Greenbuild Show” in Chicago where we shot some great footage on a ton of new ideas that have hit the market as well as a few new twists on some old ideas. This recent interest in green building and living is big. The effort and focus that is being placed on this trend should produce some very innovative products in the months and years ahead. I remember when the energy crunch of the 80’s hit, every one was looking for alternatives and many were found. This push to develop the latest and greatest ideas will be something we’ll be following closely and look forward to sharing with you…..online and on the air.

We’re also in the process of putting together a list of cool gift ideas for that handy person around your home. We will have that ready for you soon. This is not a list that companies pay to be on, it’s our effort to comb through all the information we receive and share it with you.

If you find something on our site that proves helpful or have any suggestions, bring them on….feedback@dannylipford.com or leave a comment.

It’s been a while since I have had a chance to write a piece for my blog, it’s been a little busy here.

We got our 10th season launched and I’m feeling pretty good. Thanks for all the great emails about the show especially those from the new cities we are now airing in.

More than ever, homeowners are really focusing on how they can save money this winter on their utility bills. Well, there won’t be any shortage of information out there because I have been doing either a newspaper or magazine interview every day for the last two weeks about that very subject. It makes sense, do a few simple things around the house now to save energy when it really gets cold. We have numerous articles on our site right now that can help you. If you have any questions, let us know.

We are getting some fantastic comments on the articles on our site. Check out the great advice that is coming in from all over the country.

Can you believe its all ready November? Holidays are coming and some of the best times of the year, plus more time to blog…..

Everyone is always talking about how busy life is these days. Well, if my recent schedule is any indication, they’re right.

I just returned yesterday from a very pleasant trip to the West Coast where I taped a segment in Portland, Oregon, that will air on my “Clean and Green” series September 24-28 on The Early Show on CBS.

I also spent a couple of days with one of the most impressive companies I’ve ever had the pleasure to visit. Phantom Screens—located in Abbotsford, British Columbia—held their 15th anniversary celebration in the beautiful resort town of Whistler, B.C. What an event it was! Over 200 distributors and employees from this unique company came together to celebrate their modest beginning and subsequent growth to become the leading retractable screen company in North America. It was heartwarming to see the product’s inventor, company owners and CEO all glowing with pride during the events. So organized, so thoughtful, so professional, so perfect. Congratulations Phantom! Check them out at www.phantomscreens.com.

I arrived back in Mobile, Alabama, to tape segments for our 10th season and record spots for The Weather Channel. Then on Saturday I’m off to Fish Creek, Wisconsin, for a series of live segments on The Weather Channel to mark the first day of fall on Sunday, Sept 23rd. After that it’s on to New York for my special week long run on The Early Show starting Monday, September 24th.

I hope you had a chance to check out the article we contributed to in last Sunday’s edition of PARADE magazine, the country’s biggest magazine. It offered several innovative ways to save money this winter on your heating bills.

Our 10th season of Today’s Homeowner starts next week, and we’re really pumped about it. I just reviewed the first show of the new season and it’s awesome, the best we’ve ever done. I have a great group of people working with me, and I appreciate each and every one of them. I hope you get a chance to see our first show. Check the local listing in your area.

Send us an e-mail, and tell us what you think. We would love to hear from you.

Our country is so diverse especially when it comes to weather. It can be 95 degrees in Mobile, Alabama, where I live and 60 degrees in New York at the same time. What this means is, some parts of the country start thinking about fall and cooler months a lot quicker than others and if you think about it, the first day of fall is only 16 days away. Hard to believe. It’s a good time to start thinking ahead about what you would like to do to your home to prepare it for colder weather. We have numerous articles here on our website and will be posting more soon to help you save money and be more comfortable.

Speaking of fall, I will be live all day on the Weather Channel September 23 from Fish Creek, Wisconsin, sharing ideas of things you can easily do around your home to prepare.

I have never been more excited about a new season than I am about our 10th season that starts the week of September 23rd. New graphics, great new music, a few new faces and an overall facelift/remodel that will allow us to provide you even more useful info in a slightly more contemporary style.

Yesterday I completed my 100th appearance on the Early Show on CBS and now I’m near Youngstown, Ohio about to tape a piece for my CBS “Clean and Green” series that will air the last week of September. This series will highlight many new ideas that have been submitted by viewers across the country on how they are “living green”. We are receiving many very interesting methods homeowners have adopted in their homes to make our world a better place. I hope you will tune in.

Thanks for all your support and great comments we have received on our website, our show, and my appearances on CBS and The Weather Channel.

If you ever wanted to know more about what happens behind the scenes at the Early Show on CBS, let me tell you about something that happened there a few days ago.

I was standing in the studio at 59th and 5th Avenue very early the morning of Aug. 8th wondering if the rain was going to stop long enough so that I could do my “Fencing Options” live segment planned for the outside plaza. The rain didn’t stop and got so bad that it started leaking on the inside of the studio along the front and one side. The water seeped into the lower control rooms and offices and caused a dangerous situation since we all know lots of electrical equipment and lots of water does not mix. At this point it was 6:15am and the show was to go live in 45 minutes to over 3.5 millions households across the country?

Let me stop right there and say the staff and crew at The Early Show are awesome!

The decision was made that the show had to move to the Broadcast Center and the entire staff of over 40 people and guests made the journey over to the studios of the Evening News with Katie Couric approx. 15 blocks away by jumping in every available cabs we could find with some of the crew riding in the back of prop trucks. I caught a cab with Dave Price who was receiving his weather info for the day over his cell phone while we were traveling fast to get to the studio. Props, computers, music tracks, graphics, wardrobe, and even my bulky fence sections and tools somehow made it and the show went live on time. I still don’t know how they did that?

It’s like any fine tuned machine, when tough times hit, you work together with the same goal in mind and your effort is successful. I am glad to be a part of this amazing team of professionals at the Early Show.

As I write this, I’m jumping on a plane to head back to NY for a segment that will air on Wed. Aug. 15th. I will be announcing a special opportunity for viewers of the Early Show to send in their ideas for different green living approaches and methods with chances to win a $3000 gift card.

Then we have a very busy week of taping more segments for our 10th Season that starts 3rd week in September.

Summer is flying by and has been very busy. Over the last couple weeks I have been to NY, Columbus, Ohio, Cleveland, Marianna, Fl., Pt. Clear, Al. and even had a little time for a nice canoe trip down a small river in Mississippi. I had a chance to meet a number of very interesting people over these weeks. Had a conversation with CNN’s Lou Dobbs, Harry Smith from CBS and the new Price is Right host Drew Carey while I was doing the Early Show on the 7-24. I met a number of very bright and energetic people from advertising companies across the Ohio area and I met a whole a lot of homeowners in between and they all seemed to be interested in one thing…Going Green. I have never seen a building trend that so many people have become aware of so quickly and it seems to be the focus of many home enthusiast and consumers across the board.

We are doing our part to get you as much information as we can. We are taping a number of “green” segments for the Weather Channel, working on a five part series for The Early Show and in our 10th season on national TV, we will be doing a two part special and web series on Today’s Homeowner called “Going Green.”

Right now we are in the framing stages of our Today’s Addition special. (You can follow the progress on our website, and a webcam will be live in a few days.) We are even incorporating a number of green building/remodeling ideas throughout this addition.

Hey, I’ll be back on The Early on CBS this Wednesday Aug 8 around 8:00am(all time zones.) If you are thinking about fencing in your yard check out the segment.

We are in the process of taping for our 10th season, let me know what you would like to see on our show and online. Thanks for reading.

We just finished taping one of our Today’s Homeowner shows for our upcoming 10th season. It’s a show we are calling “10 Steps to a Successful Kitchen Renovation”. We filled this show up with all the things you need to consider when remodeling your kitchen. It will air nationally in October.

We also just broke ground on our big addition project call “Today’s Addition” This will be a 2 part episode that will air the later part of September. We will have a live webcam up and running soon.

Hey I’m headed to NY on Monday for a special live segment on The CBS Early Show on Tuesday morning. The segment will be about “Home Irrigation Systems”

I made it to New York yesterday to prepare for my 97th appearance on The Early Show on CBS (Stepping Stones: 6 Steps to the Perfect Path). The segment which I just completed worked out great, I hope you were able to see it, if not you can view it on-line at cbsnews.com/earlyshow.

I make about 20-25 visits to the Early Show every year and its always fun. I have a lot of friends here that always have a few home improvement questions. Some of your friends may show you pictures of kids, vacations, etc. I get pictures of bathrooms, kitchens, and patios. It’s ok, I love being able to point people in the right direction on improving their homes.

The whole CBS Early Show crew is great and has a tough job producing that much content, every week, all year long. I did this segment with my old friend Russ Mitchell. Russ is so talented. He can do the evening news when Katie Couric needs a fill in, he can handle interviewing anyone in the world and he can ask great questions during a home improvement segment like today. I am always looking for suggestions on segments you would like to see on The Early Show or my weekly show Today’s Homeowner, so any ideas?

I keep getting asked, “When are you starting a blog?” … Well, I thought I would give it a try.

Why Blog? That’s how I respond to the first question, “Why would I have a blog?” I never started out to be a TV guy either, but the experience has been fantastic. Being on TV has given me the chance to encounter homeowners all over the country. I’m hoping this blog will be a great place to share ideas and comments I receive from those homeowners. Besides, I’ve always wanted to write a little about what goes on behind the scenes of Today’s Homeowner® as well as the fun at The Early Show on CBS and The Weather Channel.

But don’t be shy. I’ve been told that a blog is a great way to start conversations. If you’ve got something you’ve been dying to say leave a comment. There’s a good chance your comment will influence my next post.

I’ve been getting pretty excited about dannylipford.com. Sure, TV is great, but great stuff can happen on the web too. We’ve already answered tons of personal requests for help. While we can’t answer them all, we plan to answer the ones we miss with detailed articles, tons of new videos, and tips from experts in different fields. Feel free to drop off your questions too.

Hey, help me out, what would you like to read most in a blog like this?