Blogging About Preparedness

It's only April and already this has been an eventful year for preparedness issues from snow and ice, to tornadoes, flooding, and wildfires.

Just last Friday, a wildfire broke out on the west side of town from high winds knocking down a power pole. Industrial employees as well as residents were evacuated while firefighters battled for 12 hours to contain the blaze that consumed 3500 acres, returning the next day to put out flare-ups. Although multiple homes were scorched, only the trailer at the site of the fire's origin was totally destroyed.

On Monday, trying to absorb that 80,000 acres had burned in Oklahoma and Texas, a 200-acre fire destroying at least 30 homes in Texas, I learned that another wildfire on the east side of town caused a friend to leave work because her 15-year-old daughter was at home. Fortunately, any concerns were quickly dispelled because the firefighters had the fire out by the time she got home.

At 3:30 early Tuesday morning, firefighters began evacuating residents of a mobile home park RIGHT ACROSS THE STREET FROM MY APARTMENT because of a big grass fire in a field behind it. The raging flames got within 100 feet of the nearest line of mobile homes, making great footage for the local TV news along with the billowing smoke, but again, the firefighters were able to contain the fire; this time within only 30 minutes, and no property was damaged.

Whew! May God bless firefighters! And all our emergency response personnel!

Residents so close to my own home being awakened at Oh-dark-thirty to evacuate within mere moments emphasizes the necessity of our having Grab & Go bags at the ready.

I admit that even by my own standards, I've been extraordinarily slow about finishing my series on Fifteen Essential Systems. It's because I got snagged on my post about hydration, discovering that I bit off a whole lot more than anticipated. I thought I could pose situations, possible solutions, and product recommendations to help other people save the time on all the research I had to do for myself and got overwhelmed by what I was learning. Do I address those with wells? What about those manufacturers snowing consumers with words and numbers that mean practically nothing in regards to keeping us from getting sick from drinking water? Plus, the product line-up has changed, making newer products available before I have the post ready to publish, trapping me in an endless loop of research to keep up. Auwe! The only way to break out of the loop is to eliminate product recommendations.

Since I resolved my own hydration concerns two years ago and many of the others since then, one might wonder why I bother. It's simply because I said I would. Plus, it's great being able to share information about something I really care about.

The greatest benefit about being prepared is the confidence of knowing I'm able to face just about anything I might encounter at home or on my travels.

Psalms 91:
5. Thou shalt not be afraid for the terror by night; nor for the arrow that flieth by day;
6. Nor for the pestilence that walketh in darkness; nor for the destruction that wasteth at noonday.