Fix It

Today’s topic has several meanings.

First, know your literal, next-door neighbors.

Know their names and phone numbers. Yes, this means you might have to introduce yourself after having lived in your neighborhood or apartment complex for several years. (If your neighbors are a little weird, maybe use a Google Voice number so you don’t have to change your real number later.) Do it, just find a reason. Heck, blame me, I can take it. I’ve got four teenagers, everything is my fault anyway. UGH, I am the worst.

Know so you can call them if you get stuck in a ridiculous traffic jam and can’t get home to let poor Fido out.

Know your neighbors so that you can pick up their packages. I mean, really, you signed up to NextDoor and heard about the porch pirates in the area. You also know they don’t get home until late in the evening, and you saw the FedEx truck arrive early in the day. You don’t want them to worry when their package isn’t there when they get home. Please smile at their Ring camera AND send a text when you pick up the package. I mean YOU aren’t a porch pirate and don’t want to end up with your photo on Nextdoor, right? Right.

Also, know them so you can check-in if you don’t see them for a while to make sure everything is okay with them. If you have an elderly neighbor who is normally out tending her plants and the plants start looking poorly and she didn’t mention going to visit her grandkids, give her a call. Maybe she is on vacation and just forgot to ask someone to keep an eye on her plants, but aren’t you glad you asked?

Know your GEOGRAPHICAL neighbors.

You have a battery-operated weather radio, right? Right. How can you make sense of that monotone voice if you don’t know your neighboring counties and their general direction? Where is Rutherford County? Is that to our North northwest? or South southeast? Do we have to go sit in the closet now? See, knowing will help determine how long you spend in a stuffy closet or chilling in a storm cellar if you are lucky enough to have one of those.

How much is enough? It depends on where you live.

If you are out in the plains states, well, your monster tornadoes can go a long way even though your counties are gargantuan.

If you’re in New England, your states and counties are pretty tiny so severe weather can impact quite a few counties as it moves through.

I can’t think “Tri-State Area” without hearing Doofenschmirtz, one of my favorite villains of all time, thank you very much, but I think it’s a pretty reasonable range to be at least a little familiar with IF you are in a smaller state or near a border of a couple of states. If you are in the middle of a big state with gigantic counties—looking at you, Texas—know Texas.

But Heather, where can I find a resource to learn the counties in my state? Don’t worry your pretty little head; I’ve got you covered. The 2000 Census has an excellent resource with a list of state by state county outline maps. If this gets updated, I will update the link.

Know Your Physical Neighbors, Wherever You Are

This is being written in 2021 after many of us haven’t gone many places beyond the grocery store in the last year, but it counts even in the grocery store. Ask me sometime about my ridiculously bad encounter with a terrible person* at Aldi’s a couple of months ago. All I’m going to say publicly is you have probably never seen Aldi’s open up so many registers so quickly. There’s a six-foot guideline for a reason, and she had no idea I had that much emotional baggage hidden in my cart in addition to that week’s worth of groceries for a family of eight. She needed to step back; I had nowhere I could go. I had made the mistake of letting someone in my bubble without paying attention, and I was too wrapped up in making sure I had everything on my list.

*She could have just been having a bad day. I know I’d just been about to ask if she wanted to cut me in line when things went sideways.

The point is always to be aware of who is around you when you are out and about. This counts for in traffic, too. The next time you are out driving, pay attention to how many signs have been damaged by people just going off the road. Maybe they had to stop suddenly to avoid hitting another car, or perhaps they were driving under the influence. I don’t know. All I know is that just on the drive from here to my kids’ school (only a few miles), we see the evidence of a LOT of single-car accidents in the mornings. We don’t have that many deer, so it doesn’t take Sherlock Holmes to deduct inattentive driving or driving under the influence as a likely part of the problem.

This awareness doesn’t count only for yourself. Pay attention, and don’t be scared to make a scene if you have to. That scene may matter. Be a little nosy. Watch those interactions.

This scenario is pretty stereotypical, but it’s just an example scenario, so bear with my heteronormativity (as I’m sure my kids will fuss at me for):

Did that guy buying that tipsy girl another drink arrive with her? Go ahead and take a slight detour to the restroom when she goes to make sure she’s okay. (If you’re not a female home-eccer, obviously don’t follow her into the restroom. Check-in with the bartender and ask a couple of questions.) The important thing to remember is this. You can always apologize for being a little nosy. You don’t want to bear the burden of staying silent if something happens and you didn’t say anything.

This next part is very important and has to be said:

There is a caution I want to add to the first and last situations, and it’s going to be a little hard to phrase correctly because I am white and therefore privileged in ways that I often take for granted. When I say be nosy, I don’t mean you should interfere in BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, People of Color) existing and going about their lives. A BIPOC person walking down the street is not suspicious and just because you don’t recognize them is no reason to report it on Nextdoor or to the police. Stop and think. If the person were white and doing exactly what this person is doing, would it cause you concern? No? Move along and mind your own business. We ALL have biases. If we are ever going to improve as a society, it’s critical to allow ourselves time for second thoughts to check and question our first thoughts before speaking or acting. There’s too much hate in this world, don’t add to it.

Two things before we start this basic how to evacuate safely discussion.

Please note that this is a beginner look at emergency preparedness. It’s for those who are just beginning to think about how they or they and their families will handle an emergency and isn’t the place to show off how awesomely prepared you are and how you’ve got this down to a science. Yay, you, be nice if you have suggestions.

Additionally, note that we’re at what is hopefully the beginning of the end of the COVID-19 pandemic at the time of this writing. Some of the advice here will relate to that. After the pandemic is officially over masks may not be necessary, other sanitation suggestions will always apply to shelter situations where many households are staying in fairly close quarters.

Ready?

Often we have some warning before evacuations. Living in hurricane country, I’m pretty sure that “cone of uncertainty” is responsible for a lot of stress eating in the late summer and fall. (That’s the peak of the season.) If you live in an area known for flooding, you can generally see the weather patterns that will bring the heavy rain that can cause the water to rise, or dam inspectors may find stress fractures that indicate a dam is no longer safe prior to it giving way. Those of you who live in wildfire country know which way the wind is blowing, so you may have a couple of hours before having to leave.

But, there are also times when we don’t have a warning that we’ll have to evacuate, a chemical spill on a highway or train tracks, a fire at a chemical plant, the aftermath of a tornado, or earthquake are all examples that come to mind.

What to do?

Have an evacuation plan.

Where will you evacuate?

First, have conversations now. What friends or family members could take you, your family members (if you don’t live alone), and your pets, on short notice, if you have to evacuate? Which friends or family members could you take in if they had to leave their homes on short notice? Offers of reciprocation make these conversations much easier to have.

Will it be comfortable? No. Will it be a good time? No, everyone will still be stressed out of their minds, but at least there is one less thing to worry about, a safe place to stay.

Remember, if you have to evacuate and combine households during COVID-19, you need to mask up, until you are absolutely sure no one is carrying the virus, to avoid spreading it between households. How you manage this will depend on what resources are available where you evacuated to. If there is testing available, great! Just remember there is a window between when you catch the virus and when it can be detected. If everyone has been lucky enough to be vaccinated and had enough time for the vaccination to have taken effect, according to the CDC this is not necessary. (I am hoping this will soon be the majority scenario).

What if you don’t have friends or family you can use as an evacuation destination?

Pick three different motels that fit your needs in three different towns an hour or so away from your home and store their direct phone numbers in your phone (and in your readiness bag). When you are making your evacuation plan, think about the main reasons you would need to evacuate and choose the directions you would travel based on those needs. If you live in hurricane country, choose motels that are inland, but perhaps not right off of the interstate. If you live where wildfires are an issue, choose in a direction away from the general prevailing winds.

Then when you have to evacuate, call them as soon as you are on the road to reserve your room(s). By doing your research now, you are way ahead of the game. Check once a year to make sure they are still in business and update your list accordingly.

I can’t afford a motel.

It’s okay. You are exactly who evacuation shelters are made for and there is no shame in that. Your government has made plans for you, please don’t put off going if you need to use one. If you wait until conditions deteriorate, you may not only put your life in danger but any first responders who have to help you.

If you are a pet owner and must take your pet with you, pay attention to which shelters take animals, most only take service animals (not support animals). You must also supply everything for your pet, the shelter does not provide for your pet.

How will you evacuate?

Consider your transportation.

Look, I’m human, I’ve played the I’ll get gas in the morning game, too.

It’s not smart.

Try to always keep 1/2 a tank of gas in your car OR if you have the SAFE storage space, keep a rotating supply of gasoline at home. This is not advice for apartment dwellers, sorry folks.

It’s essential to rotate that gas on a last-in-first-out basis; gasoline does not store forever, gas with ethanol has an even shorter life-span, so have a few storage containers and rotate through them regularly. (Use them in your lawnmower, top off your car, etc.) and then fill them back up. Number the cans to keep track. If you have to evacuate, top off your car and bring any extra full cans with you. Traffic may be terrible.

Know more than one route to your destination. For example: if you are being evacuated because of a chemical spill on the nearby highway, you will not be able to use that as your route. If you are leaving to escape wild fires, your usual route may be in the fire’s path and you may need to go a different way.

If you don’t have your own vehicle, you either need to have more conversations with friends/family or learn the emergency routes of the public transportation system closest to where you live.

And finally, we’re back to your go bag or as one reader suggested, your readiness bag—I really like that idea. What goes in that? I’ve got you covered.

In addition to your readiness bag, I strongly suggest taking a quick tour of your home and using your phone’s video capabilities to record as much of the contents of your home as is safely practical in the time you have. This includes, the contents of your refrigerator and freezer. This will be a handy reference if, you have to file an insurance plan after the event has passed.

A simple tip to tell if the power has been out and restored while you are gone is to freeze a small paper or plastic cup of water. Once the water is frozen, place a coin on top. When you return home, if the coin is no longer sitting on top of the ice and is instead either covered by a layer of ice or at the bottom of a cup of water, you know that the power has been out for an extended period of time during your evacuation.

What suggestions, do you have for creating a basic How to evacuate plan?

Interested in further reading? Check out Ready.gov.

I live in a part of the country where our usual emergency preparedness includes being ready for hurricanes from June until the end of November, small tornadoes in the spring, and extremely rare earthquakes. 2020, of course, threw in plague and civil unrest. Your home may have other risks, including some that you didn’t expect—looking at you, Texas, and praying for your safety and sanity, I know things are miserable.

I don’t talk about my former marriage a lot, but my ex-husband was and is into the prepper mindset, and some of the useful points stuck with me on how I live my life. I want to be very clear that there are things associated with that mindset that I do not embrace and it’s not up for discussion.

It’s time to go back to the basics and talk about emergency preparedness that can benefit anyone no matter where you live. Please remember to slowly build up these assets over a matter of weeks, months, or years. Each step you take helps.

Do not spend your rent money doing this, you need your place to live, that’s step one.

A certain, very popular financial advisor talks about having an emergency fund of one thousand dollars. 2020 taught many that this only works in good times and really only if you have other safety nets to fall back on. With that said, that emergency fund is still a good idea and one that is a good thing to work toward but know that it’s not enough for anything beyond what will end up being a minor inconvenience once you’ve experienced an actual crisis or disaster.

What do you need for basic emergency preparedness?

This list is mostly in order of priority

• A quality first aid kit
• A fire extinguisher, in your kitchen.
• Safe water storage or purification for 72 hours minimum for each member of your household, optimally, a week.
• A blackout pantry
• A “go bag.”
• Common sense

First Aid Kit

Yes. Accidents happen, knives slip, kids fall, people get hurt all the time. It’s important to be able to at least be able to patch up a wound before getting real medical attention, especially if there will be any delay. That laceration that needs six or seven stitches? It ranks pretty far behind the person with chest pain and the vehicular accident.

Fire extinguisher?

Yes, a fire extinguisher, keep it in your kitchen.

Think of it this way, if the roads are icy and emergency crews can’t get to you, exactly how are they going to help you if your cat knocks over a candle and your couch is now on fire? While you are at it, learn how to properly use the fire extinguisher and make sure it is not expired and replace it if it is.

Also, remember, if you are cooking and start a grease fire. Smother it. Do not use water, which will spread the fire. Yes, you can use a chemical fire extinguisher, but if you hadn’t gotten around to it yet, you could also use baking soda or salt. Do not use flour, which is highly flammable.

Water Storage

Water storage gets tricky as your household expands. This post goes into detail on an innovative solution for larger households.

Blackout Pantries?

Blackout pantries, what do I mean by this?

Well, it’s a combination of things and it’s not just the literal closet right off of your kitchen. It’s food you can eat without cooking. It’s the food you consume as it thaws from your freezer if you still have ways to cook.

Please remember, never use a charcoal grill indoors.

Also remember that if it is below freezing and your power is out, the entire outside world is a freezer.

Put your food on your porch. Yes, some wildlife might get into it. It’s possible… You could also figure out ways to try to prevent that. A laundry basket with something heavy on top. (A pot filled with other heavy items would be a good example).

When I was college-age-ish and we had a party, we would put beer out in the snow to chill it faster. It’s a thing. Utilize what you have available, be creative.

Everyone, lean in, this is vital. Get a little closer. Listen to me:

BUY A MANUAL CAN OPENER.

Get a back up one, too. Thank you for coming to my Ted Talk.

Additionally, if you are one of those wonderful people who donate to the little pantries and blessing boxes that have sprung up all over the place. Occasionally leave those with your canned food donations. You have no idea how much people need these to use the canned food.

Back to your preparedness…

Not counting the food you can use from what is currently in the refrigerator and freezer, you should have a minimum of 72 hours worth of food for your household members. That’s at least nine full meals and plenty of snacks that do not take electricity or power of any kind to prepare.

Why snacks? Because stressed people eat and eat and eat. Just watch Twitter while people wait for a hurricane to hit.

Take a look at what people have been doing during 2020.

Food is comfort—have comfort on hand.

What else should be in your blackout pantry? Batteries, flashlights, matches, candles, and a weather radio at minimum. If you have kids, make sure you have items that will entertain them while the power is out. TRUST ME.

You know them best, make sure there are goodies hidden away for them. Treat whatever is happening like an adventure and they will be okay.

The “Go Bag”

I hate this term. I hate it because it conjures up a mental image I don’t care to visit, I will happily replace this term if any of you have a better term that people will immediately recognize.

Each individual needs a bag and this bag needs to contain at minimum:

• A change of clothing
• Two pairs of socks
• Two pairs of underwear
• Sturdy shoes
• Non-perishable food for 48 hours —This can be a mixture of camping food/granola bars, etc
• A couple of water bottles, maybe a Lifestraw if you feel fancy
• If it’s a child’s bag, contact information for relatives in case of separation, any medication they have to take daily, if necessary.
• In an adult’s bag, a copy of their critical information—Insurance information, IDs, cc info, some cash, and if possible, maintenance medications, this will have to be rotated regularly.
• *During COVID-19: alcohol-based wipes or gel and cloth or kn-95 masks

This bag then lives under a bed, in a closet, or in the garage, anywhere it can be grabbed in a hurry by the individual it belongs to.

Will you ever need it? I hope not, but:

• if you ever have to leave your home for a hurricane
• head to a storm cellar for a tornado
• there’s a wildfire
• you receive a call that a family member is critically injured and you have to go now

You don’t have to think, you just grab, and you go. Not all of it is needed for each situation, but in others, you’ll be glad you have it. The less thinking you have to do in high-stress situations, the better. They will certainly make things like staying in a shelter or hospital rooms more comfortable.

Common Sense:

This is the one that is out of order because it’s hardest to itemize and make a checklist for.

It’s different for everyone’s situation, but some things are the same.

Minimize your risk.

Don’t do stupid things, especially when resources are limited. Has there been a hurricane? Don’t drink beer and run a chainsaw. Has there been an ice storm? Don’t run on the stairs.

A simple thing that can make a big difference, keep your car, if you have one, as full as possible at all times.

If you have young kids, run a couple drills.

Make them very, very random and gentle. DO NOT SCARE THEM. Kids are under enough stress right now. Take them for ice cream or some other treat if they get to the car or out to your designated point in good time with everything they are supposed to have. Don’t do this for one week and never again. It needs to be done enough that they know it by heart. If you move, do it again and again until they know it again.

If you have teenagers, it’s even more important, because they often think they know everything and have all the answers and know that nothing bad will happen to them.

Take them to random points of the town and make them navigate home. No, they can’t use their phones. For that matter, can you navigate home, without your phone?

Make them recite your phone number. No, they can’t look at their phones.

Make them recite their address. No, they can’t look at their phones.

You might be surprised by what you assume they know or what you assume you know.

When things are safer, if you live in a smaller city, like we do, take them somewhere with a functioning public transportation system and teach them how to use it. I was an adult before I learned. In fact, it was when I started traveling for work with Home-Ec101 and it was very intimidating.

Yes, it’s easier now with smartphones, but what if your kid and you have a fight or if they get caught up in some dumb kid thing and change their mind and want to get away and come home. Help them know how to find their way back to you. Assume they’ve had the worst day of their lives and the battery of their phone is dead or their phone got stolen.

Teach them to handle situations so they aren’t scared when they have to deal with life’s little emergencies. A flat tire on the interstate, fender benders, etc. Will they handle it well or have a meltdown?

Emergencies come in all shapes and all sizes. At that moment, what matters about an emergency is whether or not it affects you or the ones you love. The powers that be often can’t or maybe won’t be able to help. You need to set up a system to ensure you have a safety net in place.

What would you add to these very basic starting points?