Just a quick jot-down of some things I realized that would make chaotic times better, and also some things I saw other people doing that were no-no's:
*My hair is too long. Us prairie girls like our long hair, but in a water-shortage situation it takes up valuable resources to keep clean. A shorter "do" is in my future.
*Spam (the kind you eat, not the hated emails) is awful. It's not worth the stomach ache and potential diarrhea train that may rip through your group. Can or dehydrate your own healthy meats. (My kids asked for Spam for some reason Lol)
*Personal fans that run on 2 AA batteries are the bomb-diggity! Buy a brick of AAs a month to stock up. One fan for each person. The ones we have are made by O2Cool and they have a lanyard. The air blows up at your face, but they can be laid flat on a nightstand to cool you all night. The 2 batteries ran them 24 hours straight before I had to change them out.
*Try to keep the kids' hair damp so they don't overheat if there are no fans.
*Tap lights are amazing. I put one in every room of the house so that no one had to fumble in the dark. They light up the whole area and don't drain batteries fast. Highly recommended.
*Have an adapter for each cigarette lighter in your vehicles so you can charge as many phones as possible. Also, a fan that plugs into the cigarette lighter saves gas if you need to drive around (and functions well as a hair dryer!) Mine was $12 in the automotive section at WalMart. Try not to run the A/C. Its been 5 days and the gas trucks are still coming in slowly to refuel the gas stations.
*A power inverter and a car battery will keep your radio going instead of buying a million expensive D or C cells. And if you have a small solar panel for after the storm clears, even better! This is on my wish list...
*Stay home as long as possible after the storm passes. There will be downed lines and trees everywhere. Even more dangerous are the broken limbs that are dangling high above and will unexpectedly drop. We have over 30 on our property..ugh. Also, emergency services and electric companies are trying to do their jobs and really don't need more casualties or people in the way.
*Don't burn debris. If a wildfire starts and the fire trucks can't get through, you are seriously screwed.
*If you must drive: At intersections where the light is out, treat it as a 4-way stop. Don't drive over wires as they could be live. And most of all, treat each other with patience. Everyone is going to be edgy so kindness really goes a long way.
*EVACUATE. Avoid needing to go thru all this mess. Sitting in a closet wondering if your family is going to die is traumatic and life-altering. If a storm is coming your way and its a big one, just leave. I felt like the mom on the Titanic, tucking her children in to bed as the ship took on water. There is NO weight in the world like regret. Next big one, I'm getting my family out early. Lets hope that never has to happen, but there are already two more storm systems that are behind Jose off the African coast so......
Til next time friends....
Also, feel free to post any tips or suggestions below. There are people all over the world that can benefit from survival hacks!
THANK YOU FRIENDS!