And now we return to blogging...

First, my sincere thanks to those who left comments on my last post. The reason it took so long to post and then reply to some of them was because we are in the midst of changing what was once the office or computer room into a bedroom, and we were off line due to connection problems for a while (wiring and such.) Thennnnn, after we got that worked out, the server went down after a couple of hours, and finally came back on line this morning. So, I am looking forward to checking out what I've been missing on other blogs later....

One of the things that popped up in my rearranging of rooms is a preparedness survey created by my best source (Mom), along with notes that look like they were a precursor to making it. I'm taking a little liberty with the format and notes, but I thought I'd include the questions here in case you wanted to see how you would answer:

___The number of people in our house

___The number of weeks I know we have enough food for everyone

___The number of days I know we have enough water for everyone

Please answer yes or no to each of the following:

__Each member of our family has a 72-hour kit
__Each kit has cash and current personal information
__Each kit has emergency phone numbers
__Everyone has their own sleeping bag
__Everyone has a pad to place under their sleeping bag*
__We have a shelter in case we have to live outside
__We have an alternate source of heat
__We have an alternative way to cook
__We have a designated meeting place if we are unable to get home
__We know how to turn off the gas to our home and the tool is handy
__We know how to turn off the water supply
__We have a comprehensive first aid kit
__We have an evacuation plan in case of fire/earthquake/insert emergency likely in your area
__We have an arrangement to use or set up for a toilet
__We have a plan for washing hands, dishes, etc.
__We have a plan for washing our clothes
__We have a list of what to take and in what order to take them if we were asked to evacuate quickly
__Our children know how we will find them if an emergency occurs during school hours
__We have a place out of state (or area) for everyone to check in
__We know what emergency plans are in place (24-hour kits, perhaps) at the schools our child/children attend(s)

*Learned relatively recently that you need a pad under you if you are sleeping on the ground, or your heat will be sucked up by said ground and you will get awfullllly cold. Cold + outside does not equal anything close to comfort or happiness....

Um, yeah--I don't have everything in place that I need to have in place according to this survey, and the food and water supply need work too, but it gives me some goals to work toward, or motivation to just actually get some things done, whichever of the two applies. How did you do? (Absolutely rhetorical question, but one worth asking...) Hope this helps you in your preparedness activities. Thanks to my best source for providing the survey material. Sure is nice to be back online again... :)