EVACUATION!

I have been watching with increasing concern the news of all the wildfires around the western United States that are causing families to flee from their homes.

Colorado

This disaster is monumental and the immense destruction of homes has been devastating!

How many of those who had to leave immediately had 72 hour kits ready to grab?  Were they thankful they had prepared for just such an emergency? 

( self reliant sisters )

I have never had to evacuate. Am I as prepared as I should be for this type of disaster?

What would I grab? (besides my 72 hour kit)    What should I try to save?

I found an evacuation list on a blog by Valerie

http://preparedldsfamily.blogspot.com/

 I am going to update my own evacuation list and have it with my 72 hour kits.

It's disasters such as this one that bring home the reality

 that you never know when you will need to use your emergency preparedness.

(my 72 hour kits are in the closet by the front door, which includes a binder with all my important papers and documents)



UPDATE:

I walked thru my house to make a list of things I would rescue in case of a fire, and found that there is surprisingly little I would take with me.

My shoes, clothes, and hobbies take on no importance in the reality of a disaster. That's all just stuff.

The most important thing I don't want to lose are my family pictures

and I have them all on my laptop and external hard drive, so even if I lost all my scrapbooks and pictures on my walls, I still have a copy. I am very grateful for this technology.

EARTHQUAKE!

(here's an old blog I started, then didn't post)

I watched a disaster movie yesterday. It was an old one I had bought at a garage sale. I really do love disaster movies! (I'm not recommending it, I just watched it) This one was an earthquake disaster, and it was staged in the west, where I live. I particularly loved seeing Las Vegas destroyed. (I lived there 30 years.)

No - I don't like seeing people hurt. I just like the special effects.

It's always funny to me to see how people act/react to disasters, in movies. It's dramatic!

it's unrealistic!

What I really need to watch is a disaster survival video.

I know they are out there, on youtube.

I've been thinking about earthquakes lately. I know there's going to be a big one, where I live. It's not a matter of if (as they say), but when.

This Saturday May 5, 2012  there is going to be a Supermoon. That is when the moon will be closest to the earth in it's orbit.  Some people say the moon affects / causes earthquakes, tsunamis, etc.

My personal belief:  it's a coincidence if an earthquake happens during a supermoon.

God has been throwing earthquakes at us with no consistent timeline. It's always unexpected. That why I expect one sometime.

It's better to be ready. (knowledgeable and prepared)

Oh, and the moon is supposed to be spectacular this Saturday - bigger and brighter!

My how things change!

I went on a little vacation with my hubby. Part of the fun was going to a city with stores.

(we live in a small town.)

Normally I would want to hit the fabric store.

 

I wasn't even interested in that.

 What I really wanted to do was go to the survival store right next to the fabric store and check out the solar ovens.

 

The minute I walked into the survival store I wanted to look at everything! And I made a mental wish list of things I would love to buy!

My, how things change!  Since when did I choose survival over sewing????

Saw some solar ovens I really liked!  But, I'm going to do some more research before I purchase my solar oven. 

  I will post what I find out about solar ovens, rocket stoves, volcanoe stoves,

My goal is to get something soon -since I have emergency food - I'm going to want to cook it!

maybe after I get my solar oven, I can test it out by baking some bread in it?  Yum!

STRENGTH OF CHARACTER

I have been away from my blog for a while because I was doing something that was very hard for me. I was working 10 hours a day 7 days a week at a power plant. I put on hard hat and boots and went to work every day. It was a temporary job, but it was still hard work.

I thought about how this experience has made me see that I (a pampered diva) can do hard things and survive. I am stronger than I think I am. And doing something that is hard has helped me - I now think to myself - if I can do that hard thing, then I can also do this hard thing.

Maybe our lives are so easy with our modern conveniences that we don't know how hard our lives can be.

Another thing I noticed about this experience was my emotions during this "trial". I get cranky when I am tired. If I can learn to change my attitude and be nicer to others before the DHTF, life will be a lot more pleasant for all of us. The time to improve ourselves is before we are under stress. Because under stress is when our true colors come out.

Thinking of colors and character - maybe I can work on my rainbow:

red - courage

orange - resourcefulness

yellow - cheerfulness

green - serenity

blue - loyalty

purple - my royal heritage - a child of God