What Would You Do?

  If you lost power right now for 24 hours how would you do?  Most of us would be okay for 24 hours.  What if you lost power for a week?  Two weeks?  A month?  I would be okay for, maybe, a week.

   After watching a few more episodes of the show "Doomsday Preppers", I began to think about what would happen if a disaster struck.  I've lived up and down the eastern seaboard.   I'm no stranger to hurricanes or snowstorms.     I've been evacuated from a hurricane in South Carolina.   I've lived through hurricanes and severe storms in other areas.   I've lost power to an ice storm for 3 days here.   I was lucky.  Others in our area lost it for two - three weeks.

    However, now things are a bit different.  I no longer have my couponed food stockpile to fall back on.  I have a well.  Without electricity, I don't have water. I live in an area where winter lasts for months.  Growing season is very short.

    I had to ask myself:  If I lost power, right now, for today or a week how would I do?  I have enough food and water on hand for a week.  I'd be okay.  If I lost it for a week it would be hard, but we'd survive.  If I lost it for over a week we'd be in trouble.   It's common knowledge that most grocery stores and warehouses only have enough supplies for 3-7 days. It's also common for areas around me to lose power for weeks during bad weather.

   I've seen how people, who have lived here their whole lives, freak out when a storm is coming.  I was surprised.  They're Mainers.  They should be used to this by now but many aren't.   The stores are mobbed.  Generators disappear from the shelves.  Water supplies are decimated.   I guess it's not fair to say this state only.  We've seen it in every state we've lived in, and we have been guilty of doing it as well.

    After our first year here, and being unable to find water for the kids in an emergency,  I always keep two cases of water on hand, though we've never needed more than one.  We rotate them out every few months, before the plastic bottles start to really break down.  That first year, with upset thirsty children, was a definite lesson I don't want to repeat.  Thankfully, we found water at a gas station of all places.   But - what if we hadn't?

That thought alone is a constant reminder to keep water on hand.  I have two cases, but I want to store at least four.    My current goal is to make sure we have back-up food and water for a month.