Ready Blog

Good Morning America featured a story today on grocery buying clubs. Great concept over the big box stores. Families combine together to purchase in bulk, have it delivered (save on gas) and then distribute among themselves for greatest cost savings. This idea works great for long term staples, but they don’t provide fresh produce or vegetables.

Read more Associated Buyers and tips on how to manage a group for bulk purchases. Much like a co-op for larger purchases.

Here is how you know what you need for a hurricane or storm and the few days after when things get uncomfortable.

Pick a weekend, it can even be at random. If you need, tell your family ahead of time, but just shut off the power. Try it for 12 hours, a day… shoot, even a whole weekend. Put the car keys away, no shopping at the store, no internet… in fact, turn off the breakers at the electrical box. Ohhhh… this isn’t going to be easy. Nope. It is going to kind of suck. But, what if the power were off for 3 days from a storm and you couldn’t go to a hotel or family’s house? What would you need to be comfortable and safe?

If you really want to be strict, don’t use the water faucet’s either. Most major storms, floods, hurricanes totally jack with the water supply and it is usually regulated to a boil-only situation. Do you have enough water on hand for cooking and basic cleanliness?

You thought you were prepared and it would be uncomfortable, but you could hang. But, how about your family? How do you entertain the kids? Are there any special medications the family members need refrigerated or special diets to consider? Do you have a grill, is the propane bottle full? Extra bags of charcoal and lighter fluid? Can you unhook your garage door from the electric motor to get large items out?

The local energy companies in the Gulf region typically indicate that a small Category 1 Hurricane can leave residents without power for 7 to 10 days. A Category 2 can quickly extend that time to 2 weeks.

Mentally, run through this exercise a few times before the test and definitely before the real thing. Then, pick a day… you will feel better after the fact knowing how to keep your family happy and less stressed in a real power out situation.

We have been really focusing on food and back to simple basics. I figured if processed food is bad, then let’s keep working our way backward. Yesterday, we tried Wheatberries. They were freakin’ Awesome! Okay, maybe not that awesome, but definitely worth mention.

Wheatberries are the things we actually get from wheat, before it is hulled, cracked or ground to flour. How cool is that? I don’t think I am up for growing my own wheat, but these little buggers are available at most health and bulk food places. I grabbed these from Sandy’s in Houston. I soaked 2 cups of them for a few hours, then boiled with a little salt for about an hour on slow simmer. They have a wonderful texture somewhere between my grandmother’s tapioca and tabouli. I totally get the salad recipes where they are used instead of bulghur for a nice pilaf. I had these straight up for breakfast with a few fresh and sweet figs from the farmer’s market. They tasted like fresh wheat bread and slightly nutty.

Wheat berries can be ground to make your own flour and easily store as dry goods. Nutritional value is crazy good, and the price is a steal. Overall, healthy and local foods are rockin’ my chops these days. I am currently reading In Defense of Food, so you may hear more about this.

Tropical Storm Edouard is up and slowly moving West towards Texas while gaining strength. This storm seems to have caught most people with their pants down. It has formed and made the news within a matter of hours, not days. It is a perfect example of why planning early is necessary. I bet the stores will be a bit crowded Monday with a few people trying to buy last minute storm items including water and batteries. Help those that you can, many will be unable to evacuate if this storm strengthens and comes in as quickly as expected.

Top off your fuel tanks, grab a flashlight and NOAA radio, then settle in for some good rain and maybe a bit of wind. Read the Sci Guy at the Houston Chron’s blog for great analysis and interpretation.

Water and mosquito eggs are the only two ingredients for a world of frustration, pain and even worse. Now, with the pesky little Culex mosquito carrying stronger and more virile strains of the West Nile Virus, bites can lead to serious illness.

A recent trip to the Houston Hurricane Preparedness Workshop and meeting the Houston Mosquite Control team taught me how poorly I had underestimated the aftermath of a severe rain and flooding. Recent midwest flooding in the United States has produced a hatch of epic proportions. “For example, last week, 3,674 mosquitoes were counted in Ames-area traps, compared with 182 for the same week last year, Bartholomay said Wednesday. Trap quantities are just a tiny snapshot of the true numbers of mosquitoes flying around.”  The relief workers are being run out of areas or hampered with their efforts. The same thing happened after Katrina in New Orleans. Fortunately for the midwest, they are not fighting the particular types of mosquitoes identified as carriers of the West Nile Virus.

If you plan on weathering a severe storm or returning to a hurricane or flood zone, bring lots of safety measures for working in the area. This also means considering your family and pets. Make sure you have basic quantities of repellent and in your work and emergency kits. Then add more. Here are some basic measures for mosquito control:

• Wear insect repellent containing deet, picaridin or oil of lemon eucalyptus and apply it frequently. Don’t skimp, get 30% or greater percentage of Deet if possible.

• Drain standing water from backyard bird baths, discard old tires and other containers that trap water, and frequently replace water in wading pools. Don’t overwater plants and keep drains and woodpiles clean.

• Avoid going outside from dusk to dawn, peak activity times for some mosquitoes. Mosquito hatches can be present all day, but start as early as 3pm.

• Avoid dark clothes, which can absorb heat and make you more visible; choose neutral colors that blend in with the environment. Purchase mosquito netting for your head and cover other parts of exposed skin with netting if possible.

• Avoid perfumes and sweet-smelling lotions and cosmetics, including lavender scents, which attract mosquitoes.

• Perspiration is a lure, so wash after exercising or sweating heavily.

• Antihistamine tablets taken throughout mosquito season or after being bitten can help reduce bumps and itchiness.

Notes included from Chron.com and Associated Press.

Many people get a little spooked when they think about being tracked by satellite. Too many Martini’s and bad spy movies in your spare time? But, for those who shun the black helicopters, here is a non-implant way of letting your friends and family know you are safe when traveling or making your way through your latest adventure. SPOT. 

I can’t claim to be the first to find and use this cool service. Brian takes little jaunts around the country on his motorcycle (for days and hundreds of miles) and uses this to let his family know where he is via updated GoogleMap and leaving messages. The intro price is fairly steep, but the peace of mind this brings is probably well worth it for most families. Track your favorite hunter, biker, business traveler or wayward kid. Once activated, it updates your location every ten minutes to let loved ones know where you are in your progress.

My car keeps failing me L

It should start, Triple A came to the rescue during lunch…but just in case I have to give it another jump after work, does anyone have any cables?

This was the email around my office yesterday. We all snickered, gave our colleague a hard time, but also realized how dependent we are on knowing what to do vs. doing it?  Ask just about anyone, should you carry battery cables in your car? Few would deny that there should be a basic car kit. I replied back to the email with a quick yes and a link to the Red Cross site for recommended car kit. I couldn’t help myself. The real question is, how do you actually encourage someone to do something about it? What is the motivational factor required to not just think about insuring yourself or situation?

Not sure on the answer to that, I am sure it differs across situations and people. Either way, here is the list from the Red Cross. 

Emergency Kit For Your Car

• Battery powered radio and extra batteries
• Flashlight and extra batteries
• Blanket
• Booster cables
• Fire extinguisher (5 lb., A-B-C type)
• First aid kit and manual
• Bottled water and non-perishable high energy foods, such as granola bars, raisins and peanut butter.
• Maps
• Shovel
• Tire repair kit and pump
• Flares

This is a minimum, but surely is a good start. There are tons of more extensive checklists out there. If you get adventurous, make one for yourself and for each car in your family!

Hurricane Workshop - This is a free event scheduled in Houston on Saturday, June 7th, 2008. It’s good to see several local organizations working together to promote this workshop on preparing for the Gulf Coast natural disasters. Looks like they even have a nice blog started at 2008 Hurricane Workshop

From the blog:

Focused on providing families with the information they need as the hurricane season begins, this year’s workshop promises to be even more popular, with an agenda that includes:

• An update on hurricane forecasting techniques and the region’s 2008 hurricane outlook
• Emergency management experts explaining the latest plans for hurricane preparedness and evacuation along the upper Texas coast
• An interactive kids’ learning activity center

Free and open to the public, the 2008 Hurricane Workshop is once again being sponsored by CenterPoint Energy, the City of Houston the National Weather Service. Harris County, Interfaith Ministries for Greater Houston and the John C. Freeman Weather Museum are also active participants.