Yesterday I heard three little warning tinkles that provoked some serious thoughts.
What If…
Yesterday morning Marla, the FlyLady, posted a list of practical things everyone should do to be prepared for an emergency. I went over this list of simple, obvious things like being sure you have at least half a tank of gas in your car, some cash handy, a few essentials in a flight bag.
— If there’s a big exit, such as happens in the US when a hurricane’s about to hit, cars may be bumper-to-bumper on the freeway for awhile, so be prepared. If the power’s out, gas pumps won’t work, so don’t let your tank run so low. In fact, many things won’t work if the power’s out: debit machines, ATMs, etc.
— Plan ahead and have your precious stuff near the door or where you can grab it in your rush to evacuate. Keep all precious documents in a safely deposit box, copies at home, duplicate keys and flash-drives a friend or relative’s home. Etc.
Another tinkle chimed in the news yesterday. After several days of record-breaking heat, topping at 49.6C – which is just over 121 F – a fire started and rapidly destroyed 90% of Lytton, a town in the interior of British Columbia. Horrible! Our sympathies to the folks without homes, and in that terrible heat wave. Thankfully the people of Lytton had enough time to get out. How would it be to have JUST ENOUGH time to jump in the car and go?
The next tinkle came when a friend, in the course of our visit, talked about the possibility of fire. On such a windy day as it was yesterday, which made our outdoors like a blast furnace, fire is a terrifying prospect. In fact, we heard that our son-in-law and grandson, members of the local volunteer Fire Dept, were out fighting a fire about 30 km from here. It’s not hard to imagine fires raging in the northern forests, but we’re not as immune as we’d like to think, either.
I’m not anticipating disaster but these tinkles remind me there are some things I could and should do to be prepared. If the need arose for sudden flight, we’d likely grab our two cats, our cell phones and my purse if we could, and dash for the car. Everything else would stay behind, come what may. So which of our belongings are really precious and what can we do to ensure their safety? For those of us who are pack-rats, these are questions worth pondering.
Christine's Collection 
Yes, it is always good to be prepared. I do worry about the risk of grass fire with these winds and high temperatures.
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Thanks for your comment. I thought yesterday was a blast furnace, but today is worse. 😦
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I think there is some relief coming.
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Rainclouds sweeping in as I type this. 🙂
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Hope you got some!
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A few drops fell in the night and wet the patio blocks, but at 4:30 this morning the grass was already dry. Lots of lightning, though.
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We had nothing down here.
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It’s horrible to live in an area where such situations are a possibility.
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Thanks for your comment.
Having lived in SW Ontario, where tornadoes touched down all around us, and been in Quebec’s “Enfer de glace,” I believe the prairie is as good as it gets on planet Earth. At least I can’t think of anywhere in the world that would be immune to sudden disaster of one kind or another. (Mind you, I’d definitely avoid the southern US.)
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Oh really? I didn’t realise that area was prone to tornadoes. I would have thought where you live now would be worse!
L’enfer de glace was definitely a crazy awful time.
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There have been a few exceptions, but for the most part tornadoes here on the prairie are “peanuts’ compared to the damage those eastern tornadoes do. And farms are so scattered.
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I honestly had no clue…
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I’ve been through the trauma of a wildfire. It came within 1/4 mile of my house. At the time it was the largest fire in California history. Terrifying. I was evacuated for 10 days with four dogs. The thing of having money in my wallet and a full tank of gas has definitely stuck with me. When I went to get gas during the fire; no chance. Ended up siphoning gas from my neighbor’s old pick up (he did the siphoning). It was terrifying lying in bed hearing propane tanks exploding in the distance before we were sent away from out town.
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I hit send too quickly — Most of all I hope you don’t find yourself in that situation. ❤
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Though fire is always a possibility and the ditches are dry right now, fire wouldn’t spread through green crops so soon. So this isn’t the worst possible time. Our volunteer firefighters were battling a grass fire. But at harvest time when the crops are ripe and dry, that’s another story!
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Thank you. It’s easier to fight fire on the open prairie with today’s big tractors and cultivators. Fighting a raging forest fire, especially in fir/pine woods, is a whole ‘nother ball game.
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It’s always better to be prepared. In the event that we don’t have much time to grab things, we will have to let go of a few precious possessions for the ones that truly matter. It’s terrifying to live in an area where this is a possibility, like Dale said. I hope that you won’t have to go through something like that.
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Thanks for your comment. I hope not, too. Actually one worry in this yard is that a powerful wind will topple a large tree onto our mobile home. In a rainstorm things would quickly be soaked.
Thinking more about what things I’d really want to save, I’m coming to the conclusion that a lot of the “precious stuff” I have stored away in plastic tubs really isn’t worth that much after all, if push comes to shove. Still I’d better work away at getting the most important info onto flash drives that are easily transported, and backup stored on a cloud.
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Oh. That’s a worry indeed. I hope that it doesn’t come to that .
You’re right – when push comes to shove, many things we think are precious aren’t worth that much. Getting everything backed up is a good way to start
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I’ve years worth of scribblings and such squirrelled away. “To be finished.” Now I’m wondering if chucking a lot of that stuff isn’t such a bad idea. It would definitely reduce the clutter, both physically and mentally.
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That sounds like a great idea. It’s worthwhile to clear the clutter both physical and mental, every now and then
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