An Unexpected Real Life Disaster Drill

I have a few blog posts about being prepared and having your family ready for a disaster or other hardship.  In truth, I had thought my family was pretty darn prepared for just about anything that would come our way.

And then we got a lot of wind and our power went out for almost 10 hours.

Seems like nothing right?  Eh- 10 hours without power?  You'll live.  It's certainly not anything devastating.  No, no it's not.  But you guys- it was a much needed lesson for the entire family.  A really great disaster drill if you will.

A little background-

Earlier in the week we had lost power for the day.  Seriously, I have NO idea why and it appeared to be just my little neighborhood.  Since they were doing construction at the main intersection, I simply figured it was attributed to this.  No biggie.  The kiddo was at camp all morning so he didn't get to experience being without power for long.  Later, we went to the library so I could charge my phone and out to lunch and when we returned, the power came back shortly after.

But then over the weekend it was for casted to expect 60+ mile per hour winds, heavy rain and thunder and lightening storms.  Now- usually I just ignore these warnings.  I know....I know...but in my defense, we live in the Pacific Northwest.  These warnings occur almost weekly in the Fall and Winter and well....the news crews are a bit of hypochondriacs.

We've weathered storms much worse than this one and had no problems.  Since we have underground power lines, we almost never (see twice in almost 5 years) lose power so I figured we would be just fine.

What happened next had all the ingredients for an epic disaster.

The storm blew in hard and fast.  I had left work at noon to go pick up the kiddo from church with his Auntie and by the time we got home at 12:30 there were trees down everywhere.  Now, anyone knows that the first big storm of the season will blow all those loose leaves and limbs clean off- so it might look worse than it actually is.  Not the case here.  It was bad.  The kiddo was getting worried that it felt like the car was being pushed off the road and I wanted to get us home ASAP.

Literally two minutes after walking in the front door, the power went off.  Thank Goodness I had bought some tacos on the way home!

Now- here's the bad part.  If you've glossed over the story above, pay attention to this part.  This is where we learned all the lessons.

I had not gone to the grocery store in well over a week.  I should have gone on Friday but was simply too tired to deal with it.  Working non-stop will do that a Mama!  In addition to having a very bare looking fridge, we had also been eating out of our freezer/pantry as a part of our No Grocery Store Shopping Challenge.  So this meant that all those things like hot dogs, burgers, frozen lasagnas- yeah, we had eaten all of that good stuff.

I had nothing that I could BBQ (pretty much the only way to cook when you don't have power) and I didn't even have the makings for a sandwich.  Although we rarely have sandwich fixings because we just don't eat them often but you get the idea here.  No food.  No bueno.

Moving on, I had NOT charged a single thing and I didn't have ANY backups.  I had been using my cell phone while at work all day and by 2pm it was pretty much dead.  Since the husband was out working in this awful weather, I wanted to save whatever battery I had left so we could reach each other if necessary.  We don't have a house phone.  While I was prepared enough to have a portable power bank, you need to charge those.  Apparently mine was dead.  Get the idea here?  Everything was dead.  Great.

We have BOBS but I can't reach them.  Oh.  My.  Word.  You guys, I'm an IDIOT.  These emergency bags are a bit on the heavy side and the husband put them way up high in the garage.  There's simply no way that I can easily access them.  Our hand crank radio, that can also charge things like your CELL PHONE, was out of my reach.  Gah.  The other items in there weren't really needed in the here and now but that hand crank radio- yeah, that would have been nice to have.

And finally, I had no idea where the husband had put all of our lanterns and super powerful flashlights.  While we do have a few of those teeny little cheap flashlights dispersed throughout the house, the really good ones- yeah, the husband holds on to those.  We also have several free standing lanterns and I could only find one.  Thankfully it wasn't dark yet but I was trying to get us set up for a long, dark night and all I had were the cheap flashlights (that aren't very bright) and a butt ton of candles.  While candles are great, with an active 10 year old boy and a hyper Rat Terrier running around, they are not ideal.

We have a generator but the husband had long ago rotated the gas.  While we do make sure to start it up and check it yearly, we hadn't refilled the gas in the gas cans yet.  We typically don't do this until the Fall begins in late September.  This meant that we while we had the equipment needed (ie. the generator) we lacked the fuel to actually use it.

Let's Recap:

• No food that could easily been prepared.  No cold options and nothing to BBQ.
• Almost no way to communicate.
• Completely dead electronics.
• Emergency supplies out of reach.
• Less than ideal lighting options.
• No fuel.

Thankfully the husband got home around 5pm.  He dug out the lanterns and good flashlights and the hand crank radio and then we decided to venture out in search of food, fuel and a few provisions.  Umm....yeah.  With over 500,000 people without power- we clearly weren't the only ones in the same situation.

First we tried our local grocery store.  They were open but with only limited emergency power.  The kiddo had great fun using his flashlight in the store and thought it was a great adventure!  The employees were covering all the perishables with plastic wrap and had completely sealed off anything in a freezer or refrigerator case.  A surreal sight for sure!  The deli was also closed.  So I was unable to buy any cold cuts for lunches and couldn't buy a single thing to BBQ.

I bought bread (we could at least make some PB & J's), apples, cereal and alcohol.  Hmph.  But the husband was less than thrilled at the idea of PB & J for dinner.  The grocery store also had a gas station attached.  But since they didn't have power either, this meant no gas.

We decided to venture a little further down the street to see if we could find a store and gas station with power.  Thankfully we came across one and only about 10 minutes out.  Sweet!  I bought some hot dogs to BBQ, stuff to make sandwiches for lunch the following day and pre-popped popcorn for a snack.  Ick.  Healthy right?  The husband was able to fill up at the adjoining gas station while we were inside shopping.  On our way out, we noticed that one of our most favorite restaurants was open so we decided to place a take out order and save the hot dogs for the following day.  I was sure that with this many people without power, it would be awhile before it was restored.  This way, we had food for the next day and could get a hot meal for tonight.

Gah.  Worst decision ever.

We waited well over an hour (even though they only told us 20 minutes) and I'm sure this was actually much faster than others in similar situations.  I heard that many of the restaurants open had a wait time of 2 or more hours.  Holy Buckets.

Tired.  Hungry.  Bored.  I'm over it.

The kiddo enjoyed eating by candlelight and he even took a shower by lantern light.  Thankfully by the time he was out of the shower, the power had been restored.  Praise Jesus!

Let's highlight the good:

• We had plenty of flashlights, extra batteries, candles, lighters and matches.  Proper lighting was never an issue.  We just needed to find them all!
• We did have a hand crank radio that runs on solar as well and can charge your electronics.
• I had purchased a back up power bank prior.  Next time I just need to make sure it's fully charged.
• We had plenty to keep us occupied.  Books, games, portable DVD player etc.
• We had alternate means of cooking via the BBQ and had plenty of lighter fluid and charcoal on hand.  Sadly, just nothing to throw on the grill.
• We have plenty of emergency supplies and fully stocked BOBS.
• If the credit/debit machines were down, we had enough cash on hand to buy a few necessities.

This entire 10 hours proved to be a great learning experience!  Seriously, think about it.  If you were to loose power right this very second, would you be prepared?  The answer for our house is that in general we are very prepared.  However, since we typically don't worry about wind storms we were simply not as ready as we usually are.

If I could say anything to you, it would be to simply encourage you to think NOW about becoming prepared for LATER.  Because I can promise you that one day, later will happen and you'll need to be ready.

Want to read more?  Check out my previous posts about Emergency Preparedness.

• Do You Have a Car BOB?
• The First 72 Are On You.
• It's An Emergency!

Resolutions and Goals for the New Year

Well here it is- 2014.  Seems only right that we begin the New Year talking about resolutions, or as my son calls them- revolutions.

I for one, am not too big into declaring a New Year's resolution simply for the sake of doing so.  Seems pointless to me.  However, I do believe in setting goals.  Personal goals, goals for your family, goals for your home, etc.  Goals are great!  And since I love organizing and planning- goals are something I think about often.  They don't simply pop up at the beginning of the new year as a resolution that I'll forget about several months later.

The New Year is a chance to re-evaluate your progress, make some changes and perhaps add in a few new goals.  My advice is to break it down into categories and try to set realistic goals.  Think about your time constraints, finances, your life, when outlining what you want to accomplish in the coming year.  Basically, set yourself up for success!


The categories that I use are pretty straightforward and easy for everyone to adopt.  Or come up with your own- whatever works best for you!

Personal

• This is strictly for your own self improvement.
• Things such as drink more water, give yourself quiet time to reflect, work on your patience & understanding, read more books, drink less caffeine etc.
• My personal goal this year is to go for a 20 minute walk at least 5 times per week.
• Last year's goal was to reduce stress.

Family

• Items can include- visiting with family more often, watching less TV, spending more time together, eating meals at the table each night etc
• My goal for my family this year is to take a few small, mini weekend trips together.
• Last year's goal was to focus on the father/son bond and have my boys spend more time together just the two of them.

Health/Wellness

• Is there a change you've been wanting to make in your diet or your family's diet?  How about spiritual health?
• Lots of great topics covered in this category- eating more veggies, meditating, going vegan, adding supplements, taking up yoga, attending church, eliminating GMO's and processed foods and on and on the list goes!
• My health and wellness goal for my family this year is to get rid of the toxic cleaners and soaps we use and to find a better alternative.
• Last year's goal was to eat out less, especially fast food.

House/Home

• Such a fun category full of projects and home improvements like adding a garden to your backyard, cleaning the carpets, buying a new couch, organizing the garage etc
• I usually have several tasks to accomplish in this category each year.  And this year is no exception!  This year I hope to build an outdoor firewood storage, add a 2nd pantry for my food storage, replace the nightstands in the master bedroom and re-tile the fireplace.
• Last year's goals were to build my son's swing set, put up shelves in the living room, frame more pictures and get a fridge/freezer for the garage.

Emergency

• The wild card category.  Most people don't think about this category when setting goals but don't overlook its importance!
• Items in this category include, starting an emergency cash savings, buying a fire extinguisher for your home, putting together a car BOB, starting a freezer stockpile, making sure you have a well stocked 1st aid kit, etc
• My goals for this year are to increase my food storage and complete a weekend without power challenge to see how we can better improve ourselves and our home in the case of a major storm.
• Last year's goals were to finish our BOB's, increase our savings, add carbon monoxide detectors inside the home and get a fridge/freezer for our garage so we could increase our freezer stockpile.

So there you have it- whew!  Now that's a lot of goals for the new year!  But when you break it down into categories, it doesn't seem so overwhelming.  To better increase your chances of success you can assign yourself a task to focus on each month.  For example, this month I am choosing to focus on buying a second pantry and getting the husband to assemble it so that I can continue to work throughout the year on increasing my food supplies.  Next month, we will be taking a small weekend trip to celebrate my son's 9th birthday.

I love setting goals and I love accomplishing my goals.  Good luck to you in the New Year!

The First 72 Are On You.

Say what?

The concept is pretty simple and everyone from FEMA, Red Cross,  to your local city recommends that you have enough emergency supplies to last you for 72 hours.  That's 3 days folks.

Why am I talking about this here?  Well, first of all, it's my blog and I can discuss whatever I want.  But most importantly, I feel that the job of a Wife and Mother is to care for her family in every situation.  Every single one.  And that includes emergencies.

Do you have enough food on hand to feed everyone?  What about water?  Would you be able to find your flashlights if the power went out?  How would you cook a meal if you didn't have electricity?

My goal here is not to alarm you or lead you to think I'm some sort of crazy conspiracy theorist.  Trust me...I'm not.  What I'm trying to have you do is simply prepare your family for an emergency.

First- think about where you live.  Is your region prone to earthquakes?  What about a flood?  Research what has happened in the past in your area and how long it took to get things back up and running.  Then plan for that.  Simple as that!

For example, I live in the Seattle area.  We have snow, ice storms, lots of rain and sometimes heavy wind.  OH- and we are due for a major earthquake.  Several years ago when my son was 18 months old, we lost power for almost 2 weeks in the home we were renting at the time.  This was in part to a wicked series of wind and snow storms.  I thought we would be fine because the house had a wood burning fireplace.  What I did not know at the time was that the fireplace was inoperable- completely.  We went without heat in the middle of winter, no showers and hot water and all our food spoiled.  I resorted to heating our home with candles and at night we all huddled in the master bedroom in order to be warm enough to sleep.  And by all, I mean- husband, kid, dog and rabbit.  Yes, even our rabbit.

By the end of those 2 miserable weeks, I learned a very valuable lesson.

1. It could have been worse.
2. I didn't ever want to be unprepared again.

In the last few years, I have slowly taken steps to ensure that my family won't be caught in the storm again.  Literally.  I began working on our 72 hour emergency kit.  I grabbed an old duffle bag and put in a good first aid kit, some food that only needed water to be cooked, flashlights, candles, extra dog food- basically anything I thought we would need in the first few days after a major storm or event.  In the last couple of years, I have started increasing that 72 hour kit.  I now have enough emergency supplies on hand to last 8 days.  My goal is 14.

I am also careful to make sure that I have a well stocked home.  What exactly does this mean?  Well, I always have lots of canned items in my pantry.  Extra freezer meals, a large first aid kit, extra toilet paper, firewood, charcoal grill and plenty of charcoal.  Think about it- what good would all that food be if you had no way to cook it?

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I have also made sure that I have enough water for my family and our 2 dogs for at least 3 days.  The rule here is to have 1 gallon per person per day.  Surely you can find room in your home to store 3 gallons of water per person for an emergency?  We all know that we can go a week without food, but water- now that's a true necessity.  So if you do NOTHING else- please do this!

My hope is that you'll take 15 minutes and simply stop and think about what you need to provide for your family in an emergency.  Really think about....if you have canned foods, do you have a manual can opener?  How would you cook those foods?  Do you have enough water?  What if there was NO running water or the water was contaminated?  How about heat?  Do you have extra blankets?  Candles?  Matches and lighters?

Another important factor to remember- don't assume you'll be able to buy what you need after the storm.  If the power is out and a store's backup generator is also out, that means your credit and debits cards won't work.  If there's trees down or power lines down and they are blocking your road- how are you going to drive to the store?  And do you really want to wait in hour long backups to buy gasoline or bottled water?

A little prep time now will save you down the road.  And it will definitely add to your sense of security.  I hope you'll think about it!


***Want to read more?

Have you got the first 72 hours covered?

Well check out my follow up post that tells you what you will need for the next 2 weeks.  It's an Emergency!