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WhiteTiger · 02-07-2018, 01:13 AM

A conversation in another thread got me thinking. How prepared for 'an emergency' are you? What do you do to prepare? Have you prepared? Have you thought about it at all.

My wife and I have broken our prep down into 3 styles of emergencies. "Stay in", "get out" and "vehicle"

Stay in is pretty easy prep. We keep roughly 2 weeks worth of varied meals that are easily prepared on hand, make sure that at least one propane tank for the BBQ is full at all time, and that we have 2 propane canisters for our camp stove.

The 'get out' scenario we made some assumptions. First, we're lucky in that we have family and good friends in all corners of the city, so if we had to abandon our house for some reason (fire, flooded, whatever) we'd have someplace to stay. So the question became 'what do we take with us'?

We decided that all the stuff we have, whatever it is, is just 'stuff', and in an 'seconds count' emergency, we'd be saving our three cats. To that end, each cat has their own carrier. The three carriers are different sizes. The biggest one is kept upstairs, and can fit all 3 cats. They aren't likely to enjoy it, but it can hold them. It's also near the front door.

The other two carriers are medium and small. Two cats can fit in the medium, 1 in the small. Those are kept downstairs, and near the back door. If something happens, the plan is to grab the cats, carrier-stuff them, and get out. We've even practiced this several times, to make sure we have it in our minds what will need to be done, if/when the time comes to do it. Additionally, my wife has a small backpack that has a first aid kit, a change of clothes each and some cat food in it.

For 'vehicle', we've taken some prep steps there, too. We each have a key to the other's vehicle, and we sprung for an extra key for each vehicle, which is kept at our parents house.

We may live in the city, but we both travel outside of it on occasion. Each vehicle has, in the trunk, a heavy jacket for each of us, heavy toque, heavy gloves and heavy socks. A first aid kit with matches and candles as well as energy and granola bars.

We've both practiced using these items and putting the cats in carriers quickly. We both understand that when an emergency is happening is not the time to 'blow the dust off the emergency plan' or discover that your matches got wet a while ago and don't work. Or to realize that one of your pets runs off to a certain place you need two people to get her out of. You want to know that before you need your plan and your stuff.

Thankfully...never had to use any of these plans or gear. But I like knowing that if something happens, I will generally be prepared to take care of me and mine for a bit.

02-07-2018, 01:13 AM	#1
WhiteTiger Franchise Player Join Date: Nov 2010 Exp:	Realistic Emergency Preperations A conversation in another thread got me thinking. How prepared for 'an emergency' are you? What do you do to prepare? Have you prepared? Have you thought about it at all. My wife and I have broken our prep down into 3 styles of emergencies. "Stay in", "get out" and "vehicle" Stay in is pretty easy prep. We keep roughly 2 weeks worth of varied meals that are easily prepared on hand, make sure that at least one propane tank for the BBQ is full at all time, and that we have 2 propane canisters for our camp stove. The 'get out' scenario we made some assumptions. First, we're lucky in that we have family and good friends in all corners of the city, so if we had to abandon our house for some reason (fire, flooded, whatever) we'd have someplace to stay. So the question became 'what do we take with us'? We decided that all the stuff we have, whatever it is, is just 'stuff', and in an 'seconds count' emergency, we'd be saving our three cats. To that end, each cat has their own carrier. The three carriers are different sizes. The biggest one is kept upstairs, and can fit all 3 cats. They aren't likely to enjoy it, but it can hold them. It's also near the front door. The other two carriers are medium and small. Two cats can fit in the medium, 1 in the small. Those are kept downstairs, and near the back door. If something happens, the plan is to grab the cats, carrier-stuff them, and get out. We've even practiced this several times, to make sure we have it in our minds what will need to be done, if/when the time comes to do it. Additionally, my wife has a small backpack that has a first aid kit, a change of clothes each and some cat food in it. For 'vehicle', we've taken some prep steps there, too. We each have a key to the other's vehicle, and we sprung for an extra key for each vehicle, which is kept at our parents house. We may live in the city, but we both travel outside of it on occasion. Each vehicle has, in the trunk, a heavy jacket for each of us, heavy toque, heavy gloves and heavy socks. A first aid kit with matches and candles as well as energy and granola bars. We've both practiced using these items and putting the cats in carriers quickly. We both understand that when an emergency is happening is not the time to 'blow the dust off the emergency plan' or discover that your matches got wet a while ago and don't work. Or to realize that one of your pets runs off to a certain place you need two people to get her out of. You want to know that before you need your plan and your stuff. Thankfully...never had to use any of these plans or gear. But I like knowing that if something happens, I will generally be prepared to take care of me and mine for a bit.