Been tied up
at work the past two days -- should resume blogging this evening or Saturday.

In the meantime, ask yourself this: if Katrina hit your neighborhood, and, for whatever reason, you were not able/chose not to evacuate, what do you think you would need to stay alive and healthy for six days until rescued? Presume your house was not damaged, and your house was not flooded, but that you were unable to obtain supplies or relief from any external source. Count on water and electricity being gone throughout this period of time.

Part two of this question: Do you have those things in your house right now?

For me, it would be (1) six day supply of bottled water for six people; (2) .45 Colt semi-auto with two boxed .45 ACP; (3) six days supply canned food for six people; (4) shovel or entrenching tool for toilet facilities; (5) personal hygeine items, including soapless antibacterial cleanser, feminine hygeine products for MrsSpkr and TeenSpkr, towels, and deodorant -- lots of deodorant; (6) bug spray -- lots of bug spray; (7) am/fm radio; (8) cellular phone, fully charged; (9) matches; (10) cheap flashlights; (11) batteries for all the above; (12) first aid items; and (13) a black permanent ink sharpie marker.

Why the marker? Simply put, if we are ever trapped in such a situation, it might come to a point that putting our names and social security numbers in permanent ink on the inside of our wrists or arms might be important for subsequent identification if we all die.

Morbid, unsettling and distasteful? Yep. But there will be thousands of folks in New Orleans who are pushed into unknown or pauper's graves because their bodies cannot be identified visually (or there is nobody left to identify them).

And no, I don't have all those items right now -- but I will have this box prepared by the end of the year. We'll make reviewing and updating this kit part of our holiday traditions.

Enter your list in the comments section.
- posted by MrSpkr @ 12:00