Preppy Prepping

 Let’s talk about keeping clean in an emergency - bodies, homes, work surfaces. The CDC recommends storing paper products and plastic ware for your family for two - four weeks for an emergency. Again, we’re having a small stash on hand so you can learn to adapt without being thrown in all at once. To your Stores, you might want to add disposable eating supplies, to include paper cups, paper plates, napkins or paper towels (using paper towels as napkins also gives you disposable towels for cleaning, thus they serve a dual purpose) and plastic utensils. The goal here is to use items initially that can be thrown out while you establish a routine of how to wash dishes with no running or hot water. Soap is a critical product in an emergency. You need it to clean your bodies, clothes, dishes, and wounds. The safest and easiest treatment for scrapes, cuts, bites, etc., is soap and hot water. Bar soap is the easiest product to purchase for cleaning wounds and bodies. Bar soap can also be u...

 We live in an old home. We’ve invested a good deal of money in renovating and adding on.  A number of years ago, we went to brick and mortar, removed the brick off the entire back, and added 1,000 sq. feet of space while redesigning nearly the whole interior.  Because of the age of our home, we were concerned about future plumbing problems. We knew, from experience, that all the pipes were very old deteriorating clay, and the bushes and trees in our yard had not been kind to them. Water pressure throughout our neighborhood was pretty poor.  So we decided, while we were at it, to replace water and sewer lines all the way out to the front street. Anything beyond that was the responsibility of the City. Our Contractor, an old and dear friend, took me out into the front yard. “This is whare you shut off your sewer lines,” he told me. “Don’t fohget that.” I nodded, pretending understanding. It wasn’t until years later, in a conversation with another dear friend, that I f...