Hurricane-ready

[bjarvis]

I think we're set for Hurricane Irene.

• We buy most of our household items in bulk so we're well stocked with just about everything, especially paper products (toilet paper, paper towels, napkins, tissues, etc.).
  
• We have a tonne of candles standing by.
  
• We have a battery powered radio with a solar panel and hand crank.
  
• All battery powered devices are charging currently.
  
• We have a large stock of spare batteries. If the economy collapses and dollars become useless, we can probably use the extra batteries to barter for food. :-)
  
• All vehicles are fully fueled, especially the minivan: it has multiple electrical outlets so we can charge all of our mobile phones simultaneously if needed.
  
• We have two power inverters for the cars so we can recharge batteries or even briefly power small appliances as needed.
  
• We have plenty of propane for the backyard barbecue.
  
• The food in the freezers has been reshuffled so the items we're most likely to use are the freezer of the refrigerator rather than the chest freezer. That will minimize the times the larger chest freezer has to be opened, preserving its items longer if the power is down for an extended period.
  
• We have ice and more being made currently.
  
• Our kitchen stove and water heater are fueled with natural gas. While we'll have to manually light the burners of the stove, the water heater has a pilot light so we'll have hot water as long as there is running water.
  
• I'm not concerned about our water supply as the municipal supply is gravity fed and the tower down the street from us is enormous. Even if the power is off for five days (think Hurricane Isabel in 2003), we'll still have water. We are setting aside a couple of jugs of water for cooking though, just in case.
  
• The dishwasher and laundry will be caught up Saturday, just in case.
  

At the moment, I'm confident we're ready for the apocalypse. We have nothing to fear except days of unemployed yokels rioting & looting or perhaps a tsunami disrupting power to our nuclear reactors causing three of six to go into meltdown contaminating the area for centuries to come.

Comments

[bjarvis.livejournal.com]

I'll use one of the husbands as bait. That's why I call them "an heir and a spare." :-)