Pearls&Grit

This weekend has been heartbreaking. The devastation and loss that continues to pile up as a result of the hurricane in Texas is inconceivable. A fairly significant system of storms is expected to hit us here in East Texas as a result of the hurricane, but nothing compared to what has happened in Houston and the surrounding areas.

I got the very sobering chance to travel down to the Houston area twice and help victims of the storm clean out their houses. How heartbreaking and how eye-opening.

It made me think about my own state of readiness for a catastrophic event, as I shoveled wheelbarrows and wheelbarrows of sodden, moldy heaps of someone else’s belongings onto a garbage heap.

I do have a tornado closet that is ready if we needed to shove ourselves into it, but I realized that I don’t have any 72-hour kits organized or ready. The items I do have are disorganized, spread out all over the place and not easily found in the event of a large immediate catastrophe.

So over the next several weeks, I am going to outline what I’ve been doing and create some lists to help you prepare yourself in whatever way you feel you should. As the saying goes, being prepared is the greatest source of joy. I may have just made that up.

Ah well. It should be a saying.

My thoughts and prayers continue to be with the victims of Harvey, and the other people who are experiencing so many terrible calamities this year. We can’t change circumstances, but we certainly can be ready to handle them.

Here are some quick links to get you right to the directly related Emergency Preparedness Posts: Part 1, Part 2, and Part 3