Emergency Kit

So what if our apartment had gone up in flames?

Today wildernessguru and I took an accounting of the dollar value of the furniture (a few grand to replace), his outdoor gear (holy cow, he has six grand in gear!), my collection of books (bloody four thousand dollars worth in books, not including the rare Buddhist texts)... we have twenty thousand dollars worth of stuff just in our living room.

And no, you may not have our address and a key. ;)

We're getting renter's insurance. This is our second wake-up call in the last few months. First the attempted theft of wildernessguru's car, now the fire. Turns out it only costs about $200 a year -- and it lowers the car insurance by fifty bucks. Though we laughed when the girl there threw out an initial value for our stuff, "So that would be, um, about fifteen thousand dollars?" Kiddo, you have no idea who you're talking to.

Check this out: we learned if your place has any damage at all from fire the insurance company will put you up in a hotel. And it covers items stolen from your car.

We're now creating a list of our stuff (I've already done my regular Buddhist library, the replaceable books) and uploading a copy of it to WG's site. So if we do have to replace things, it will be a simple matter of going down the list and shopping. I'll never forget wracking our brains trying to figure out what was stolen from the car.

Though I confess my cataloguing fetish is taking over (this is where wildernessguru and I are a lot alike). Whee!

On Preparations: Discuss what you'd do in an emergency

I believe most people don't do these kinds of preparations because it makes disaster seem... more possible. It's almost superstitious. But the reason why wildernessguru and I didn't panic the day before yesterday is because we had discussed what we'd do in an emergency -- or rather, he had brought it up. Granted, we were talking about an earthquake, but we already knew that I was going to get Monte into the cat carrier while he grabbed the emergency pack. The cat carrier is stored in an easy-to-reach place for just this reason. There was no confusion.

Some people have asked about emergency kits. Off-the-cuff wildernessguru recommends that you have in a medium-sized backpack:

- 72 hours worth of food for your pet, in single-serving pop-top containers (because while emergency food for you might be available, most people don't think of pets)
- a ziplock bag of kitty crunchies
- something to use as a bowl
- bottled water
- a couple changes of underwear/socks
- emergency food that lasts (he has energy bars in flavours we don't like so we won't raid the pack, enough for three days)

He had, just through luck, his backpack already geared up for a trip. When he grabbed the custom pack it was also out of his genius for last-minute practicality. It had most of the other things he recommends for a kit:

- a camp stove with extra fuel
- plastic bottle for water
- dried soups, trail mix, hot chocolate
- his rainjacket and warm clothes
- hat & gloves
- t-shirt
- synthetic longjohns and top
- mini first aid kit
- toiletry kit, toothbrush/toothpaste, deodorant, shampoo, brush, kleenex, toilet paper in a ziplock bag, Q-tips
- individually sealed water purification tablets
- a tent and down sleeping bag we could share
- a Swiss army knife (with can opener)
- other stuff like rain pants and gaiters, map/compass/etc.
- LED flashlight (then you won't have to pack a million batteries)

Other things he recommends that we didn't have:
- a battery-powered AM/FM radio
- a cell phone or a couple of calling cards
- synthetic sleeping bag is better than down (in case you get wet)
- alcohol wipes to keep your hands clean
- a P-38 can opener, because you might be stuck with cans
- prescriptions you need

One thing I noticed as I looked around the crowd: most people hadn't thought to grab their wallets.

If it's just ten seconds extra (and the fire isn't blazing in your face with firemen breaking down your door) it could save you a lot of trouble to grab that. And little things like your glasses.

Another lesson learned: I always put my car keys in the same place, but wildernessguru has the habit of leaving them in his jean's pocket. That morning we could only find my keys.

Anyhow, I didn't mean to post about this but I seem be up late tonight anyway. Too much chocolate I suspect.

Still awake. SG-1 ficcers, there's hope yet.

dustandroses commented on my fire posts (the fire is fast disappearing in my happily short memory) and D&R means: Stargate!

And The Puppy is coming to town, and he's a big Sam fan. WG and I pre-ordered Season 8. *Icarus rubs hands together in glee.*

I'm reading SG-1 fic again as I'm too tired to write Lucius Gen (my body certainly remembers the exhaustion). I now have 28 stories to add to the Stargate rec-list. Oh, only three of those are from tonight, heh. I've promised an SG-1 story to lizardspots in exchange for cover art for Beg Me For It.

Hey, I've a question:

Are there any really good Gen Sam-centric fics for The Puppy? I mean, first class, non femme-slash.

(no subject)

Thank you to everyone for your well-wishes.

After school today (I have just one more professor to hear from to see if I can get into his class *Icarus crosses fingers*) I checked out the apartment where the fire started.

It is a shuddersome sight. The ceiling and walls are dark with soot from knee level up, the window smashed in panic, screens shredded and torn out... a picture of fear. My blood ran cold looking at it. The owner's furniture, his or her bed, the comforter, the posters are all still there, blackened and burned.

There are gaping holes in the wall where fire fighters ripped them open to reach the fire as it travelled up, engulfing insulation. You can see its path. The space between walls is like a chute to the upper floors. Piles of rubbish, shards and strips of wood and insulation make it difficult to walk.

This was a bad fire.

I thought the kids on the first floor had over-reacted. There was a much saner route than out the window -- very dumb to risk a broken leg next to a burning building when you're twenty feet from a fire escape -- but they had reason to fear.

( By way of a thank you, I have little to offer at the moment but here is a cute kitty - the Monte fuzz himself, safe and sound. )