Why don't the people on House Hunters
ever choose the house I think they're going to choose?
Of course, when I bought my house this spring, it wasn't quite what I thought I wanted, so...
Here's a question - a serious question for everyone - how ready are you for a disaster? Yes, the disaster in the Philippines made me think of it, but it's not the first disaster we've all watched from afar and thought omg, how horrible. No, it isn't a rhetorical question, I'm really curious, given that at any time, any one of us could be vulnerable to something so far beyond our control that, for even a few days, our lives could be completely disrupted. I live in a fairly uneventful area - we may have snow, we may have ice storms, we could have an earthquake (although compared to the other places I've lived, where earthquakes are commonplace, Portland doesn't seem to be a hotspot), and we could have a volcano eruption (Mount St Helens is just up the road, I can see it from my office, but it ain't likely).
I myself am woefully unprepared. I used to have a bag with a change of clothes and extra pet food, but that's about it. Now I'm not sure where that bag is. I was looking at smartphone chargers earlier - last year, when we had the ice storm and I was without power for days, I had to drive around with the phone plugged into the car to recharge. Which involved learning how to manually open an electric garage door opener, so yeah, the things you learn to do when there's hot coffee a few blocks away. How dependent I am on technology...and caffeine...
Do you have an emergency bag? What's in it? Water, food, meds, pet food, chocolate? I'm so curious but I'm also looking for what everyone thinks of as essential in the face of disaster - or even a few days of inconvenience.
Of course, when I bought my house this spring, it wasn't quite what I thought I wanted, so...
Here's a question - a serious question for everyone - how ready are you for a disaster? Yes, the disaster in the Philippines made me think of it, but it's not the first disaster we've all watched from afar and thought omg, how horrible. No, it isn't a rhetorical question, I'm really curious, given that at any time, any one of us could be vulnerable to something so far beyond our control that, for even a few days, our lives could be completely disrupted. I live in a fairly uneventful area - we may have snow, we may have ice storms, we could have an earthquake (although compared to the other places I've lived, where earthquakes are commonplace, Portland doesn't seem to be a hotspot), and we could have a volcano eruption (Mount St Helens is just up the road, I can see it from my office, but it ain't likely).
I myself am woefully unprepared. I used to have a bag with a change of clothes and extra pet food, but that's about it. Now I'm not sure where that bag is. I was looking at smartphone chargers earlier - last year, when we had the ice storm and I was without power for days, I had to drive around with the phone plugged into the car to recharge. Which involved learning how to manually open an electric garage door opener, so yeah, the things you learn to do when there's hot coffee a few blocks away. How dependent I am on technology...and caffeine...
Do you have an emergency bag? What's in it? Water, food, meds, pet food, chocolate? I'm so curious but I'm also looking for what everyone thinks of as essential in the face of disaster - or even a few days of inconvenience.