Mid-Summer Night's Dream

Yes, I know. More dreaming. But, it's summer. And, it is hot out, so this is a good time to sit down with a cool beverage and sort out the stuff in your emergency kits. I will try to make it easy for you:

For Home, Car and Work or School...
___Check the integrity of your bin. Cracked? Water tight? Need a new liner?
___ If anything is bulging, rusted or beyond its expiration date, toss it.
___Check an adhesive bandage. Is it still sticky? If one is bad, they probably all are. The hotter the climate, the more likely they will go bad in a year or two.
____Is your phone, contact and insurance information still current?
____Give your wind up flashlight/radio a good cranking.
____If anyone has "grown" since the last check, replace the clothes.
____Replace the water in your large bins or drums. Your lawn needs the water anyway.
____Use the helpful checklist for emergency supplies at http://emergencypreparedness.fullerton.edu/TwelveSteps.htm for more kit ideas.

Don’t stress that you can’t do it all at once. In fact, do a little every day or two for a week and get the whole family involved. You will be up to date in no time.

Enjoy your summer and sweet dreams.

Happy New Year...Now Get Going!

I am not much of a resolution maker. I am, however, a great checklist maker. In fact I love finding just the right pen or freshly sharpened pencil to make neat square boxes and "things to do" beside each box. As much as I love my iPad and iMac, I am a pencil and paper person at heart and relish the opportunity to write something by hand.

Resolutions are full of baggage and stigmas. Checklists are fun and unthreatening. So, this year, get our some paper and your favorite writing implement and start your to-do checklist.

Of course this list will have something to do with emergency preparedness, but perhaps with a twist you have not expected.

Write out the name and contact information for your out of state contact, then CALL him or her. Say hello, how are you and, if they live anywhere outside of Southern California, how much snow are you shoveling out of your driveway? Ha! Ha!

You may think of friends or relatives this time of year and maybe send them a newsy Holiday Letter, but nothing replaces picking up the phone and talking to them. Like feeling the pencil slide smoothly across paper, we often forget the nice feeling we get when we actively participate in life. Even the simple little things.

Now what about your neighbors? You may wave to them, smile, and recognize them anywhere, but do they know where the spare key to your house is? Do they know the name of your pets so they can help them if you cannot return to your house as you expected? Could they turn off your gas for you?

So...the first item next to your top box is simply to reach out to others. Call them, talk to them, let them know that you there. Just don't wait until it is too late. For any reason and for many reasons.

Say Happy New Year today.