Thursday, June 27, 2013

Firearm Safety and Storage

Today, I would like to take a minute to talk about firearm storage and safety. This article was inspired by a horrifying incident that happened to Mama about 2 weeks ago. She was at her parents house, which was being inhabited by her brother. Her brother is an avid firearm owner and owns a number of handguns and long rifles. This never really struck us as odd because he had attended the proper safety classes and had even made references to having a concealed carry permit. This is what we thought, until Mama went with baby to the house to help in the moving out process. Baby was walking/crawling around when she saw a plastic drawer set, so she crawled over to it and pulled the drawers out. Fortunately Mama was watching Baby closely and notices the two handguns in the drawer that baby pulled out. Mama checked them and found that not only were they loaded, but they had a round in the chamber and the safety was off. Hopefully this horrifies most of our readers and they can pick out the flaws with this situation, but just in case, I am going to take a few moments and discuss some of the points of firearm storage and safety for any house.

When Preparedness Pays Off

The Story
Yesterday my car battery died. Thankfully I was in the driveway and could ask my neighbors for a jump. Neither set of neighbors knew how to use jumper cables and thought I was 'just so handy' for knowing how and owning a pair. (Whats up with people and jumper cables? Is it just me that thinks everyone should own a pair?) Well my battery was completely dead so jumping it didn't work. My neighbor offered to call me a tow truck but I told her it'd be much more helpful if she'd give me a lift to Auto Zone to buy another battery. She was thinking I'd need to take it to a mechanic to have them put in a new battery, she had no idea

Thursday, June 20, 2013

Putting the car kit together

The end result, I need to get another container to put it in, but for now the bucket works.

Today I started putting together the emergency kit for my car. I added a few items to my previous list including a siphon, tarp, oil pan, cold pack, and reflective belt.

Tuesday, June 18, 2013

One Kit At A Time

We're slowly working on our family preparedness one kit at a time. First, we started with water. Next we moved on to the 72 hour kit and now we're tackling the car kits. We used to have well prepared car kits but in the last two years they've been picked over and items haven't been replaced. Last week when I was visiting my folks a pair of jumper cables was needed by the neighbors and out of 5 adults with cars I was the only one with a pair, this made me realize that a.) my family and friends aren't even prepared for everyday emergencies and b.) my car kit really needs some work.

Here's what I plan on putting in my car kit:

Monday, June 10, 2013

New and Improved 72 hour kit



During Baby's nap today I decided to start the 72hr kit makeover. I read about a dozen lists of what people put in their 72 hour kits and then constructed ours based on meals I knew we would eat that could be made simply by heating. We had most of the items around the house but they just weren't organized so I decided to put it all in one place with an inventory listing out the meals. This way in the event of an emergency I wouldn't have the added stress of supply gathering/meal planning in addition to everything else.  I decided to include some formula samples that were mailed to us as well as some Pedialyte; I think those are the only baby specific items as she tends to eat what we eat in addition to nursing. I chose to house it all in a Rubbermaid tote that can easily fit in the bottom of the closet until it's needed, or be tossed into the trunk of the car should the need arise. 

Thursday, June 6, 2013

Hurricane Season

Whelp, it's everyone's favorite time of year, hurricane season! Our first named storm is set to hit this weekend and as a precaution I'm looking over our 72 hour kits. As Baby is now mobile I'm realizing that emergency candles may not be the best idea so I'm looking into getting another electric lantern to add to the kit. Previously our 72hr kits were packed away in backpacks but now I'm wondering if transferring it all to a Rubbermaid tote might not be a bit easier. The backpacks were good when we lived in an urban environment because if we needed to evacuate we could just take the bags and go but now our plans are to bug in so mobility is less of an issue. Plus if we needed to leave we could always a.) put the totes in the trunk of the car or b.) take out hiking packs which would double as a fairy effective 72hr kit.

As Papa has been gone its made me realize that prepping with one person can be very difficult. I singlehandedly will have to secure windows and doors, make sure he mutts go out before the storm, have the kits out and accessible along with emergency lighting should the power go out and all this while watching an almost one year old, whew! I don't think it'd be too bad if t weren't for the windows. We need some new ply locks for the windows in the nursery so I'm going to have to swing by the hardware store and pick up wood and locks and then attach them, that should be fun. They aren't predicting that this storm will be too terrible but I don't want to wait until there is a bad one predicted and be there with everyone else. 

Do you have certain seasons/events you prepare for? Leave us a comment and let us know!