Survival kits

Picture this: You're driving home when snow hits hard and fast. The flakes are huge and the roads become slippery fast. With visibility at almost nothing, you notice the curve too late and your car slides straight into a snowbank. You are still miles from home, night is falling, and the cars that pass can't even see you through the blizzard. Your phone shows one weak bar of service, and your gas tank is running low. That emergency kit you kept meaning to pack? Still on your to-do list. Don't let this be you. During the winter season it's critical to have supplies...

  Every good pet owner makes sure that pets are fed, groomed, exercised, sheltered, and sometimes even clothed, but one area of care that many pet owners forget is to prepare their pets for emergency situations. If you are in the process of gathering supplies and knowledge to get your family prepared for a disaster, don’t neglect your favorite furry, feathery, or scaly friend. For the most part, pets’ needs in an emergency situation will be very similar to humans’ needs. The most important things you can do to prepare your pet for a disaster are to put together a...

Winter has arrived and with it all the cold, icy trappings. While some of us might love the beauty of the snow and the recreational activities that go along with it, most of us don’t love the driving conditions winter weather creates. If you live in an area of the country that gets a lot of snow, it’s important that you be prepared for hazardous snow conditions. You can do this by storing essential emergency supplies in the trunk of your car and knowing what to do if you find yourself stuck in your car in the snow. What follows...

Perhaps you’ve heard the good news that the world didn’t end this week. Whether you put your stock with the Mayan prediction or not, you probably agree with me that it’s a good thing life as we know it is still running along, if for no other reason than that it means you’ve still got some time to sharpen your survival skills. (I’m also pretty happy that I’ll get to see my two-year-old open her Christmas presents, but you know.) We talk a lot about the importance of emergency food storage on this blog, and today I want to switch...

Just over a year ago, in the mountains near my hometown, there was a fire.  A BIG fire.  Around 1,400 homes were evacuated, and a state of emergency was declared.  My daughter’s friend in Colombia even heard about it on the news.  It was surreal to stand on the street corner with the neighbors at midnight watching as the fire approached our homes.  The wall of fire was reportedly 15-20 feet high, and it was moving very fast toward the homes due to high winds. Although my street was not evacuated, some neighbors left voluntarily.  We decided to stay, although...