3/13/07

In Case of Emergency...

Here in our area today, many of the schools and local government offices are having an Emergency Alert System drill. While I didn't hear the collective sound of the familiar squeal coming from the radio because I was otherwise engaged (you know-on a conference call doing that stuff I get a paycheck for), knowing that it was drill day did remind me that this is a good week to double check our Emergency/Disaster preparedness stash o'stuff.

In third-trimester-insane-mom-mode two years ago I, for the first time in our 16 years of marriage, began to prepare for impending disaster of any and all sorts. Now mind you, I'd never done this before, even though we'd spent a good amount of years living in California (ready to slide off into the ocean and all) and lived to tell about the 1989 San Francisco earthquake. So, needless to say, I was regarded with skepticism about my mental well being. In short, the comment I got was "WHAT's WRONG WITH YOU?", accompanied by much hand gesturing and slow loud talking just in case I'd gone deaf and brain dead at the same time.

So, this is your mommy reminder. Check your disaster preparedness plan. If you don't have one yet but have been meaning to start one, don't go all gung-ho and try to do it in one fell swoop. Just a little at a time will do the trick and before you know it you'll be ready for everything from a power outage to a full scale post-apocolyptic, Mad Max, nuclear holocaust.



Also, preparing will ensure you won't have to run around in grungy, torn-up sweatshirts and eat gruel, a la Matrix style. Tres important!

There are a lot of great websites out there but I especially like Ready America because it makes things simple and easy with printouts and instructions as well as videos. Personally, I like to keep a clipboard with a list hung near my disaster cache and pick up an extra item or two every so often at the grocery store. Don't forget to raid the cache once in a while to keep things fresh.

Actually, I should probably follow my own advice, since I still have cans of Enfamil (blech) in mine and its been how long since Jude switched to milk (also known here as "Moke")?


1 comment:

Ginene said...

Thanks for the tips. I need to find out what our plans are.