Feb 24, 2012

Are You Prepared

Lake Shore Drive, Chicago IL snowpocalypse 2011 photo credit
In most areas of life I think I'm pretty much a skeptic.  I wouldn't say I'm a pessimist.  I prefer to think of it as being a realist.  But for some reason when it comes to weather type stuff I seem to prefer to just be in denial.  Maybe it's because I've never really experienced serious weather related problems but I really just ignore the weather.  Last year it ended up catching up to me a bit. 
One morning on the way to work I was running out of gas. My gas light came on just about half way to work and was going to stop but then I noticed some serious storm clouds rolling in. I decided I could make it to work and to a gas station after the storm had cleared.  I just made it into the parking lot when the storm let loose and just inside the front door when the winds kicked up enough to bow the glass that covered the front of the building.  It passed quickly and left us without power.  I sat there in the dark without power or cell reception for awhile before my boss called it a day.  Being just of a major road I could see that the traffic was backing up because the signals were out.  I was slightly nervous about making it to a gas station without issue.  I found a gas can in the shop and tried to get the last few drops out of it into my tank and headed on my way.  I found that station after station was closed because they too had lost power.  And traffic was barely moving.  I literally prayed the whole way home as I didn't find a single place to stop to fill up.  Once I was home my husband took my car out and thankfully found a place and waited in line for awhile without running out of gas.  Our power was out for about 6 hours that day (possibly the longest I've ever experienced) but many in our area were without power for three or four days.  And that was just the first in a string of bizarre storms last spring.
You would think with spring approaching I'd be considering preparing at least a little.  I mean, I rarely know where a flashlight or candle is in our house.  We never have more than two or three days worth of food and we NEVER have extra water on hand.  But I think I might have to work on that.  For me I think I avoid it because it's scary to really stop and think about the 'what ifs' in order to prepare for them.  If you are like me and are totally unprepared, consider checking out the Emergency Food Storage Pros, their site has a ton of great information to plan ahead or to keep in mind when you find yourself in an emergency situation.  There's no reason to live like Chicken Little and be convinced the sky is falling, but maybe its not wise to live like I do assuming it can't possibly happen and end up being totally unprepared.




3 comments:

  1. You forgot to mention the fact that I had to go to 2 different gas stations and thought for sure I was going to run out of gas. 2 gas stations in a town of 20,000 people is never a good thing... :)

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  2. I have a fear of running out of gas so I always fill up early. Brian likes to push the limit of the amount of gas in the car and it drives me nuts to get in the car and have the gas needle almost at empty!

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  3. I always try to keep gas in my car. You never know what situation you might get into. So, when it hits a 1/4 tank, I fill up. My bf on the other will literally run on fumes. The gas light comes on and it's 2 or 3 days later before he fills up. I think it's a man thing because I notice it out of several men.

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