A short thought - even when you think you are prepared you can get bit in the butt by not double checking.
Spent quite a bit of time having a friend prep my snow blowers (yeah, I have two of them - long story) this past fall so that I could just wheel them out and rock and roll when the time came. Yet another instance of my feeling so smart when I really wasn't!
This morning I found out the hard way that "ready" does not necessarily mean "gassed up". Just as I was struggling through the plow pile at the end of the driveway my snow blower ran out of gas. Did I mention it was raining? and windy? and I couldn't get the machine out of the snowbank?
So walk around the house, get the gas cans and the gas "gloves" and trudge back up and carefully (using the funnel) gas the snow blower back up and pray it started easily. I lucked out this time - won't be a second time! I also know that you aren't supposed to gas up anything when it's hot but it wasn't any more by the time I got back to it.
So think about the things you are doing to get ready for winter/bad weather/bad juju and double check a few of them. I don't know about you but I hate having to eat off the mantle (which I don't have) because my butt is sore from getting chewed on by circumstances I could have controlled!
Nuff said...
Tuesday, December 29, 2015
It's Christmas morning and although I'm sure that there are better things for me to be doing I wanted to take another stab at this.
One of the things that amazes me is how incredibly unready most people are to deal with even a minor hiccup in their day to day lives. Watching TV the other night and there had been a local water main break and the town water supply was unavailable that day. They interviewed a man who was almost literally beside himself because there was no drinking water, no water to wash dishes, no water to flush his toilet and he just didn't know that he was going to be able to cope! Most of his questions to the reporter were aimed at finding out how soon "someone" was going to come around with water supplies for the duration of the "emergency"!
My first thought was unless the break is in your cellar it's not an emergency It's an inconvenience. A few months ago my water well pump had to be turned off overnight. Since it happened to be raining I just put a bucket under the edge of my roof and used that water to flush the toilet with. Drinking water was no issue since I have a good supply stored away. Actually felt pretty smart to use the rain and not waste the stored water for flushing. But this gentleman was in a total quandary and had no idea how he was going to deal with the situation which, by the way, may have been going to last at least 5 hours!
So lets take this whole concept of preparedness in small doses and start with water. Do you have some stored? Doesn't have to be in high tech expensive water containers...what do you do with your plastic juice bottles when they are empty? Is there any good reason not to clean them out and fill them with water and a couple drops of bleach and just tuck them away? Or catch a sale at the local Walmart on the 5 gallon containers. Do you have another source of water close by? A well or a stream or a pond? Do you know how much bleach it would take to make any of that water safe to drink? Or do you have a way to boil it for a couple minutes after maybe straining it through a coffee filter to get out the big particulates? How long should you boil it? Hint: a hard boil for 1 minute up to 2,000 feet of elevation or 3 minutes if you live higher than that. Then just let it cool and you're good to go.
A gallon on water only takes 8-16 drops of regular household bleach to make it safe if you're not boiling it. You might want to double that if the water is cloudy. Shake it up well (and get some on the cap, the rim and the threads) and let it stand for 30 minutes. It will smell a little bleach-y but that will disperse in a while. And believe me nothing will make you sicker than some of the little bugs that live in unclean water!
So now you have safe water and you can sit back, have a drink of water and make the rest of the plan! You don't have to do it all at once, you know!
One of the things that amazes me is how incredibly unready most people are to deal with even a minor hiccup in their day to day lives. Watching TV the other night and there had been a local water main break and the town water supply was unavailable that day. They interviewed a man who was almost literally beside himself because there was no drinking water, no water to wash dishes, no water to flush his toilet and he just didn't know that he was going to be able to cope! Most of his questions to the reporter were aimed at finding out how soon "someone" was going to come around with water supplies for the duration of the "emergency"!
My first thought was unless the break is in your cellar it's not an emergency It's an inconvenience. A few months ago my water well pump had to be turned off overnight. Since it happened to be raining I just put a bucket under the edge of my roof and used that water to flush the toilet with. Drinking water was no issue since I have a good supply stored away. Actually felt pretty smart to use the rain and not waste the stored water for flushing. But this gentleman was in a total quandary and had no idea how he was going to deal with the situation which, by the way, may have been going to last at least 5 hours!
So lets take this whole concept of preparedness in small doses and start with water. Do you have some stored? Doesn't have to be in high tech expensive water containers...what do you do with your plastic juice bottles when they are empty? Is there any good reason not to clean them out and fill them with water and a couple drops of bleach and just tuck them away? Or catch a sale at the local Walmart on the 5 gallon containers. Do you have another source of water close by? A well or a stream or a pond? Do you know how much bleach it would take to make any of that water safe to drink? Or do you have a way to boil it for a couple minutes after maybe straining it through a coffee filter to get out the big particulates? How long should you boil it? Hint: a hard boil for 1 minute up to 2,000 feet of elevation or 3 minutes if you live higher than that. Then just let it cool and you're good to go.
A gallon on water only takes 8-16 drops of regular household bleach to make it safe if you're not boiling it. You might want to double that if the water is cloudy. Shake it up well (and get some on the cap, the rim and the threads) and let it stand for 30 minutes. It will smell a little bleach-y but that will disperse in a while. And believe me nothing will make you sicker than some of the little bugs that live in unclean water!
So now you have safe water and you can sit back, have a drink of water and make the rest of the plan! You don't have to do it all at once, you know!
Monday, December 21, 2015
Just wondering...
Let's start at the beginning (although you may consider it the end) - how much toilet paper do you have?
I know, I know - you put it on the list every week/month/whatever but do you actually know what you have? Do you know how long your supply would last or is the duration of a roll of toilet paper the least of your concerns? Not even on your radar - you know you always have "some" so why worry about it?
The other day I was talking with some friends about the upcoming winter (it'll be here at some point) and they said that in an emergency they'd be coming to my house. Why would they come to my house? Because they like me or they think I might be more ready than they are to go a few days without a visit to the grocery store? Of course they like me - they have to: they are my friends!
But they do know (or suspect) that I tend to be a little more prepared. Look, it doesn't have to be Armageddon or an EMP strike or a major terrorist attack that would send us all spinning out of control. How about a major Nor'easter? How long does it take the local grocery stores to run out of just about everything when the Weather Channel says a bad storm is coming? Two days? Three days? Check it out the next time - it takes barely a day! And in a really bad storm those resupply trucks ain't going to be making any deliveries for a while!
So, what do you have right now if they said you have to live on it (or with it) for the next week?
It's winter - do you have a source of heat if the power goes out? Do you have a wood stove or perhaps a generator? What about fuel for either of them? Do you have a few sticks of wood left over from the last bonfire of the summer or do you have a cord or so stacked and dry? Do you have gas for the generator or are you relying on the partial can that you didn't use up in the lawnmower last summer (and is it straight gas or mixed with oil?) or do you have a separate stash of fuel with stabilizer in it for just such an occasion?
Let's say you have plenty of fuel for whatever is going to keep you warm - power is out - how will you cook? More to the point, what will you cook? Do you have easy to prepare things stocked away "just in case" or is the pantry pretty much empty because tomorrow was shopping day? It's my personal contention that money spent on freeze dried foods that only require hot water to re-hydrate and that will last if unused for many years is money well spent. You can just forget about it until you need it. If you're not into that sort of stuff then how about at least a few cans of soup - or canned meats - or vegetables - or cereal - or fruit?
Things to think about until the next time around!
I know, I know - you put it on the list every week/month/whatever but do you actually know what you have? Do you know how long your supply would last or is the duration of a roll of toilet paper the least of your concerns? Not even on your radar - you know you always have "some" so why worry about it?
The other day I was talking with some friends about the upcoming winter (it'll be here at some point) and they said that in an emergency they'd be coming to my house. Why would they come to my house? Because they like me or they think I might be more ready than they are to go a few days without a visit to the grocery store? Of course they like me - they have to: they are my friends!
But they do know (or suspect) that I tend to be a little more prepared. Look, it doesn't have to be Armageddon or an EMP strike or a major terrorist attack that would send us all spinning out of control. How about a major Nor'easter? How long does it take the local grocery stores to run out of just about everything when the Weather Channel says a bad storm is coming? Two days? Three days? Check it out the next time - it takes barely a day! And in a really bad storm those resupply trucks ain't going to be making any deliveries for a while!
So, what do you have right now if they said you have to live on it (or with it) for the next week?
It's winter - do you have a source of heat if the power goes out? Do you have a wood stove or perhaps a generator? What about fuel for either of them? Do you have a few sticks of wood left over from the last bonfire of the summer or do you have a cord or so stacked and dry? Do you have gas for the generator or are you relying on the partial can that you didn't use up in the lawnmower last summer (and is it straight gas or mixed with oil?) or do you have a separate stash of fuel with stabilizer in it for just such an occasion?
Let's say you have plenty of fuel for whatever is going to keep you warm - power is out - how will you cook? More to the point, what will you cook? Do you have easy to prepare things stocked away "just in case" or is the pantry pretty much empty because tomorrow was shopping day? It's my personal contention that money spent on freeze dried foods that only require hot water to re-hydrate and that will last if unused for many years is money well spent. You can just forget about it until you need it. If you're not into that sort of stuff then how about at least a few cans of soup - or canned meats - or vegetables - or cereal - or fruit?
Things to think about until the next time around!
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