Thursday, September 15, 2005
What would you do?
Lately I’ve been thinking “if we had to evacuate, what would we take? Are we ready?” The list is long, and no, I don’t think so!
First and foremost, we would definitely take the dogs. If there was an evacuation mandated by the city or the state government, there would be no way I’d go to a shelter that wouldn’t allow our dogs. So we’d have to just get in the truck and drive. Of course we’d need dog food, and water. Which got me thinking, “how’m I gonna fit 2 ginormous dogs and a month’s worth of food and water in the back of the Escape!?” Plus we’d need food and water for me and James. Luckily we’re campers and have one of those car top carriers, we’ve got room for more stuff!
We have a few of the basics. We have a few bottles of frozen water in the freezer, to put in cooler, and also for drinking. I should probably defrost those and make some fresh ones. They’ve been there a year or more. We have some backpacker’s dehydrated foods, just add boiling water. Assuming of course we have fresh water. I do have an MSR water filter that works very well to filter out normal level contaminants from lakes and streams, if that is your water source. If the flood waters are contaminated with sewage and whatnot, I dunno how well it would work. Maybe I should get some water purifying tablets. Plus we’ve got a couple of week’s worth of canned goods. Beans mostly. And some soup base mixes, and Ramen noodles. Again, always assuming we have fresh water.
James is a bit of a packrat when it comes to first aid supplies. He’s got a tackle box full of bandages, gauze, tape, gloves, antiseptic wipes, expired analgesics, etc etc…plus another kit on the kitchen wall, same stuff, smaller quantities.
We’ve got flashlights galore, but do you think I can ever find any of the dang things? I should get one or two of those newfangled ones that you just shake and it turns on. No need for batteries. We have a crank radio, needs no batteries.
Of course we have several dozen candles. It’s a fetish ok! What kind of witch would I be if I didn’t have candles!? The Apocolypse could ride right thru my house, and it will never be dark!
We have James’ laptop, and one of those plug in converter things for the car so that we could charge the battery for that, and our cell phones. We wouldn’t be totally cut off, unless aliens attacked and knocked out all our communication systems.
Of course I know where the sleeping bags and backpacks are so that I could stuff those with necessaries. And there’s a roll of TP in the car already. No idea why James put it there, but there ya go. Plus I have a roll of camper’s toilet tissue in my handbag. Its pocket size and comes in handy when in public restrooms that have run out of tissue! Go to www.cottonbuds.com to see what I’m talking about. I need to stock up, I’m down to my last roll.
I have no idea what to do with my 2 goldfish tho! That’s what’s been bugging me. I don’t think I could put them in the car with us, and if the power goes out, they’ll die in about 3 days without filtration.
After seeing what happened in New Orleans and the people in the Superdome and the Convention Center, there is NO WAY I’m heading for a public shelter. I’m heading for the hills!
What will you do, if a Katrina like disaster strikes your hometown? Will you stay and “ride it out” and possibly die in your attic? Or will you pack up the car and go…somewhere? ¶ 11:44 PM
First and foremost, we would definitely take the dogs. If there was an evacuation mandated by the city or the state government, there would be no way I’d go to a shelter that wouldn’t allow our dogs. So we’d have to just get in the truck and drive. Of course we’d need dog food, and water. Which got me thinking, “how’m I gonna fit 2 ginormous dogs and a month’s worth of food and water in the back of the Escape!?” Plus we’d need food and water for me and James. Luckily we’re campers and have one of those car top carriers, we’ve got room for more stuff!
We have a few of the basics. We have a few bottles of frozen water in the freezer, to put in cooler, and also for drinking. I should probably defrost those and make some fresh ones. They’ve been there a year or more. We have some backpacker’s dehydrated foods, just add boiling water. Assuming of course we have fresh water. I do have an MSR water filter that works very well to filter out normal level contaminants from lakes and streams, if that is your water source. If the flood waters are contaminated with sewage and whatnot, I dunno how well it would work. Maybe I should get some water purifying tablets. Plus we’ve got a couple of week’s worth of canned goods. Beans mostly. And some soup base mixes, and Ramen noodles. Again, always assuming we have fresh water.
James is a bit of a packrat when it comes to first aid supplies. He’s got a tackle box full of bandages, gauze, tape, gloves, antiseptic wipes, expired analgesics, etc etc…plus another kit on the kitchen wall, same stuff, smaller quantities.
We’ve got flashlights galore, but do you think I can ever find any of the dang things? I should get one or two of those newfangled ones that you just shake and it turns on. No need for batteries. We have a crank radio, needs no batteries.
Of course we have several dozen candles. It’s a fetish ok! What kind of witch would I be if I didn’t have candles!? The Apocolypse could ride right thru my house, and it will never be dark!
We have James’ laptop, and one of those plug in converter things for the car so that we could charge the battery for that, and our cell phones. We wouldn’t be totally cut off, unless aliens attacked and knocked out all our communication systems.
Of course I know where the sleeping bags and backpacks are so that I could stuff those with necessaries. And there’s a roll of TP in the car already. No idea why James put it there, but there ya go. Plus I have a roll of camper’s toilet tissue in my handbag. Its pocket size and comes in handy when in public restrooms that have run out of tissue! Go to www.cottonbuds.com to see what I’m talking about. I need to stock up, I’m down to my last roll.
I have no idea what to do with my 2 goldfish tho! That’s what’s been bugging me. I don’t think I could put them in the car with us, and if the power goes out, they’ll die in about 3 days without filtration.
After seeing what happened in New Orleans and the people in the Superdome and the Convention Center, there is NO WAY I’m heading for a public shelter. I’m heading for the hills!
What will you do, if a Katrina like disaster strikes your hometown? Will you stay and “ride it out” and possibly die in your attic? Or will you pack up the car and go…somewhere? ¶ 11:44 PM
