Prepared for Odd Emergencies?

There's a saying in the preparedness community: You're always preparing for the last emergency." Well, to me that has 2 meanings: 1. you are improving on what you weren't ready for in the previous emergency OR 2. It really is the LAST one and you're stuck with what you have.

Our recent experience with the Monument Fire was a doozie. Whether you were evacuated or in a 'pre-evacuation' warning area, your mind wasn't on work. That meant that about 5,000 people may have left their homes, but the largest employer was not fire-affected yet, so work went on. Sure there was some special assistance for the family members who were displaced, but the actual employees were expected to be at work or on leave.

My GO! bag did not include high heels and a few office-appropriate skirts and jackets. Whoever heard of an emergency where you need to scrounge to find a place to stay or stay in a shelter, and report to work as though nothing odd was happening! It was a new one on me, but apparently it happens!

See -- I had to do some new planning for this twist on an emergency, which frankly could happen every year around here. So I now know what 8 pieces of clothing, plus 2 pairs of shoes, I can shove in to a small duffel bag to have 14 outfits for a work wardrobe. Pretty goofy, eh?

My selections include 4 tops, 2 soft solid-color (Chico's travelers collection) jackets that I often wear in summer, and 1 each black trousers and skirt. One more top would be really nice, as you wouldn't need to repeat or wash one during the week. One of the tops only goes with one jacket rather than both, so it gives me 7 top-and-jacket combo's that can be worn with the trousers or with the skirt, so 14 outfits. Everything is washable except the skirt.

Are you ready to go-but-not-go?

Random Post-Fire Pictures

The third of three major canyon 'blowouts' caused by fire storms shooting out the mouth of the canyon, taken about 4 miles from the area.

Not much left but ashes

When wildfire gets too close for comfort....

The corner of this house caught on fire. Debris was thrown out the window (boarded over in photo) by the Hot Shots trying to put out the fire.

GOD BLESS THE HOT SHOTS!

Another few minutes and the entire house would have been lost.

Bare wires show where the insulation melted.

Opportunites to update the landscaping!



Go out and try new restaurants because the best fajitas in town won't be available for a while.

And then there were three....

It's never what you prepare for!

It is good to be prepared for a number of potential emergencies. Again, despite my significant preparation, we are in a slow emergency that is unlike anything I imagined. The Monument Fire is slowly creeping toward a population center of about 40,000 people after already affecting about 8,000 people. We've already had a houseguest whose home survived, but they can't go back yet due to the road and canyon closures. They decided to get away from All-Fire-All-the -Time and went to visit friend who live beyond the line of sight of the smoke.

Hotel rooms are already filled for miles around. Some shelters are already filled. By the time we get evacuated we may need to drive an hour to find a room. Until we are formally evacuated, my employer expects us to be at work -- possibly after that as well.

This was not in my wildest dark fantasy of what I needed to prepare for. We live in town for goodness sake! We don't have forest fires! Live and learn!

So, my work car is packed and so is my husband's truck. Last minute stuff that can't take the heat is next to the door. Just got word we are in the recent update to the 'pre-evacuation' zone. Here we go!

Big Savings at Big Lots

If you have a BIG LOTS near you and haven't been inside, you are missing an opportunity to save on dry and canned foods, and some other staple items. Contrary to what many people think, many of the items at Big Lots, including food, are name brand products, including US, Canadian, European and Mexican. Savings on dry goods can be 50% to 60% less than even some of the 'discount' stores like WalMart and Target.

Several categories of name brand products are available for only short durations. These include the discontinued products and the annual rotation of seasonal stock items, like Gatorade powder. If your favorite shampoo is discontinued at Walgreen's, keep checking Big Lots. It may show up there for clearance as much as 6 months later. For seasonal products, say on regular store shelves between March and September, you may find them available at a discount at Big Lots in November until it sells out.

Another category of items are the packaging changes. When crystal light changed from little plastic cups to Mylar pouches, the outgoing cup-packages were at Big Lots for about $1 under the Target price. I have seen this with other products, including when they reduce the volume of a product in essentially the same container.

Overstocks and near-expiration items can also be found there. Consumables like cereal and crackers abound, and tend to be about 50% of the WalMart price, but these are often within 6 months of their 'best by' dates. I list them because if you normally eat these products, you can use what you save to help fund your other preparations.

The last type of product that is really interesting to me are the market trials. When a new product or new variant of an old product completes a market trial, left over stock often heads to Big Lots. You may never see it again if the trial was a bust, but you can enjoy it while it is available.

Brands I have seen there over the years include most of the national coffee brands; Yogi, Good Earth, Twinnings and Bigalow Teas; Swiss Miss cocoa; Del Monte fruits and vegetables, Progresso soups; Gatorade; boutique beverages like Hansens and Jones; most national brands of cereal, crackers and cookies; Reach, Crest, Colgate and Oral B dental products; Hanes undergarments and socks; Northern paper products, most major national brands of cleaning products, etc..

So why list this on a frugal preparedness site? Some of these products are packaged to support longer-term storage. Some of the BL products in my prep stash include salmon and Danish canned hams with expiration dates in 2015, individually packaged coffee or cocoa products, crystal light, toothbrushes (I have both Reach and Oral B from BL in my storage) and a couple of really nice Nalgene bottles. Most of these items cost about half of the price at the 'discount' chains across the highway.

Don't forget the pet

What are your potential emergencies? Have you made a plan for your pets for each of the possible scenarios? If you shelter in place, do you have a few weeks of their special food or other needs on hand? Great to have an indoor cat, but not so pleasant after a few days if you have no litter for their inside box.

What if you need to GO! due to flood or gas leak? Will your pets fit in your escape vehicle? Do you have room for Fido, his food, the kids and your stuff? Do you need a special carrier to keep the iguana from being crushed under the accelerator as you get out of Dodge? Do you have a place to land that will welcome your 12 foot Boa constrictor with open arms?

If you plan is to leave them behind and let them fend for themselves, you are either naive or cruel. If you do this, their future is between short and bleak because they have no skills or are not native to your area. Small pets will probably be eaten alive by larger predators. Tropical reptiles may freeze to death or find others and multiply, like the brown snakes of Guam. Larger dogs may find one another and form packs to attack and eat the smaller animals or attack people when they return. For that, Fido will probably be shot if he doesn't starve to death first.

If you haven't included these trusting creatures in your plans, and thought about the least-cost way to manage them, start now. If you do not have pets now, be sure to think though these issues before you get a special friend.

Another Great Giveaway!!

Check out the great giveaway, and other informative postings, at Preparedness Pantry : http://preparednesspantry.blogspot.com/ or to get right to the giveaway page, use the button on this blog!

Their great new Mexican Food combo is the featured item-- a full case of fiesta goodness, including rice, refritos, beans, onion, corn and a delicious TVP taco filling! Even if you don't win, this high-protein combo is a bargain for long-term storage at this price.

Cache O'Le

The recent scenes of tornado devastation reminded me of a past post at survivalblog. There are other posts on the web as well that provide information about packaging preparedness supplies and burying them in a location that allows you to find them when you need them. In tornado country, that could be as simple as your back yard.

You need to be a bit inventive about how to find them again if all the local landmarks, including trees, are blown away. In addition to a waterproof and vermin-proof container, you will probably need to have them in a shallow spot in some sort of non-degradable mesh bag (like a big bag from oranges or a large nylon mesh laundrybag) that will allow you to find the mesh with only hand digging, then pull the bag, with the container inside, up to the surface. Hey, it's your yard so put a couple of stepping stones over it to hide the disturbed soil and call it done!

Imagine if you find yourself with absolutely nothing but the concrete foundation of your home (Oohh!! landmark!). Many people in the southeast and mid-west US have had this experience in the last month or two. Wouldn't it be lovely to have easy access to your recycled bakery 5-gallon bucket (with the water-tight screw-on Gamma seal lid) containing a change of clothes and shoes, toiletries, freeze dried food, a water filter and collapsible container, and $200 in cash! It doesn't need to be quite as fancy as the one described in the post, and the contents could be enough to give you the strength you need to persevere.