Took my daughter for a short drive to Ace Hardware down the road from our house to see if they had service open for propane. My current obsession is camping just in case no one was aware of this so in these weather emergencies I have somewhat of the upper hand in comparison to someone who doesn’t practice outdoor adventuring. I’m not that skilled at bushcraft. I’m not into building lean to shelters, bushwhacking or skinning hides to wear for winter

But

I’m capable if it’s the only option. Another hobby of mine is reading material that’s relevant to those skills so I have the knowledge. I’m just a little too busy/lazy to practice it. I can purify water in an emergency, I can set a bone or treat a wound. I can read a compass and navigate a topical map. I can use a flint to start a fire but I think I’d rather keep some matches and lighter on me at all times. And I do

I prefer not to be put in charge of these tasks . I’m no expert on any of these in fact I hope to never have to do these things in real life because most of my knowledge is literary not experience.

But

At least I’m aware and could do it if called upon. Knowledge is power

Took my kid with me because I wanted her to be involved in certain preparations should god forbid something happens to me or when she’s on her own wherever she resides she’s physically and mentally prepared for such an emergency. We should all be doing this.

I have camping propane somewhat stocked. I have propane cylinders and a mini tank I use for long camping trips. I have three on me at the moment and my small tank is about half full. It’s fine and dandy for the weekend but I can’t take for granted the power coming back on by the end of the weekend so just to be safe I figured we’d go ahead and fill the big one I keep in the garage. We were literally the last ones that were able to get propane. We got lucky. While we were in line I was discussing emergency scenarios with her and how to react. The line was a long one and people were already getting fidgety and upset. The registers were moving slow due to the power outage and card readers were taking their time. I told her to watch how everyone was behaving and how to learn to read body language. We paid cash and were whisked out quickly.

“Always have emergency cash on hand even if it’s a $20 bill”- I told her. I keep cash on me and have some in some quick grab spots for emergencies. I keep some in my truck also.

She asked why we were getting more propane since I had several containers so I explained to her that you can’t have too much when it comes to valuable resources.

“We can find propane today but if the power is out all week it may be more difficult to find.” I had no doubt that the supple chain would probably provide more soon but why put yourself in a situation if you can head it off. It wasn’t that long ago that the supply chain shit the bed. I told her to look at the faces of the other customers. “They’re frazzled” – I said. Some are scared and buying chainsaws, bottled water, outdoor grills, tools, running around looking for $1k generators that started selling out as soon as the weather man said to stay indoors.

“It doesn’t pay to procrastinate” I told her. “Let me show you what the gas stations look like right now”

We drove near Spinx and when I say near I mean I stopped about 1/4 mile and showed her the line around Spinx for gas. We passed several cars out of gas on the side of the road. Ive seen several people walking to the gas station with a gas can in their hands. We filled our tanks Wednesday. I also filled up my gas can just to be safe. This isn’t bragging I’m just doing what my parents brought me to do. Technology is amazing until it’s not accessible. I’m old enough to know how easy it is to get fucked if you aren’t prepared. If your car broke down on the side of the road you either walked to a phone booth or a gas station. There were no cellphones. Bought a generator last year had never been used so it came in handy yesterday. It’s not a big one but it keeps the refrigerator fridging and I have a solid lithium battery for charging essentials that I keep charged from the generator. We are lucky it’s not July. I’d be buying a window unit for the house. If this happened two months ago it could’ve been considerably worse. I don’t tell my daughter that.

I’m not that concerned for our safety. Not at the moment that is but I’m anxious. It’s in my primal instincts to protect my family at all costs. Like a woman with her first child you follow your instincts that have been ingrained in your DNA since the first ancestor hit a large piece of meat over the head to feed his tribe. I’m sitting in a cozy (not so cool right now) bungalow with a roof over my head, running water and a decent amount of food. Pets are lounging and my family is safe in bed. That’s about all I can hope for at the moment so my instincts are at ease.

For now.

I haven’t really thought about the deli this morning because my concern circle is extremely small and tight. My proteins and cheeses are resting in a good friend’s walk in. He reached out without provocation like good friends do and saved the day for me. My prep as far as sauces, dressings, desserts are all slowly dying in their closed coffin cooler caskets (A+ for alliteration). When graze does reopen it’ll be quite a prep day. Being closed for the weekend is the equivalent of a paycheck and a half. It’s gonna sting a little.

But

I have my family safe at home. 60 miles up the road my deli would be under 5 ft of water. And so would we.

I’m much better prepared than some but if I had to give myself a personal grade of preparedness it would be a C minus. I didn’t underestimate the storm I knew it was going to be shit I just didn’t think of how easy it is to miss the little things. If you indulge in the outdoors and camp like I do you get a little idea of what it takes to live without the comforts of your home and resources but you still have access to the finer things in an emergency. I’ve been in some sticks for a few days and try to maintain self sufficiency because I enjoy the skills it takes to do these things.

But

If I forget something I can drive an hour or two and find just about everything I need. I’ve never been camping and thought “I forgot this item, it’s paramount to my survival.

Camping is a hobby it’s not a situation of survival. It can be if you make some bone head decisions but I stray away from those type of things. Also I’m not a sportsman. I don’t hunt or fish. I can shoot a gun with fair accuracy. I’ve been hunting I know all the rules of the game I just don’t enjoy it. Has nothing to do with shooting Bambi it’s just not my thing. Fishing? Fishing scares me because I’m a gear geek and I’ll go spend $5k on fishing gear in a heartbeat. I don’t need that right now.

I suffer from “What If’s” a lot. The past three days it’s all been those two words. I deal with these stressful situations by staying busy. I also do my best to make my family feel safe at home. It’s not my job it’s my primal programming. It kicks in without me flipping a switch. I go out and forage for food while my family sleeps, I find fuel and resources to get through the day to make sure we are fed, warm and healthy. This isn’t a “I’m a better man than you” exclamation. My instincts are wound up like a toddlers toy and set me out to do what I’m supposed to do.

My biggest fear is letting my family down in these scenarios.

We aren’t in any danger. I am blessed to have a healthy family and live in a stable environment

But

If another big one dumped right on top of us again well we might be in some trouble. Then the resources and infrastructure can breakdown and that’s where the “what ifs” come into my brain on tumble dry.

I have 30 gallons of water on hand in case of an emergency. If only used for drinking water sparingly that amounts to about 15-20 days and that’s a stretch. If you’re eating mres it’s an average of 12-16oz of water per serving. Three meals, three people is over a gallon of water. So now I have 10 days of water. You’ll spill some I do all the time camping, might have to wash your hands, brush your teeth. I can wash my hands and face with 4oz of water but it ain’t easy. So now we have a week of water. I moved my cold water pod into my backyard to catch water for practice just in case. I would’ve used that for ware and body washing had I needed it. Still scares the shit out of me. I’ve gone 8 hours without hydration in a camping debacle and it was tough. Some of you drink sodas and tea to stay hydrated. You’d dehydrate much quicker. Just stating facts y’all.

I got up to hit the gas station at 4am this morning to fill up my gas can for our generator and I went ahead and topped off my wife’s jeep. Just about every pump was full but I didn’t wait in line. Some of you are getting angry about gas stations being too busy or out of gas.

You don’t go shopping on Black Friday at noon. It’s fucking Black Friday all week yall.

I kicked myself for having only one gas can. Even more so that I bought it on the way to work Wednesday at a gas station. My other one has old gas and probably sediment now. I could use it to fuel a fire if need be but that’s about it. I’m aware in an emergency I could siphon gas out of my truck but I’d rather not drink any gasoline.

I drove up to whole foods yesterday and bought some essentials, proteins and canned foods. Whole Foods was at about 50% capacity. Food Lion was packed to the tits. I didn’t mind spending the extra few dollars to save some hassle.

My generator’s job is to keep the food in the house cold and my lithium battery charged and that’s it. In the evening I turn off the generator and transfer my perishables to coolers with ice and ice packs I keep in the freezer. Next morning when I cook I hook it all back up again and place the ice packs back in the freezer. If I feel there’s something I’m doing well it would be that. Food preservation is my itch to scratch. I’ve worked in enough restaurants with shitty old refrigeration to know how to keep it cold. I’m looking at you AZ steakhouse.

My cache of food is below average though. We don’t eat at home that much. I have an emergency supply of boring dehydrated food that would last me 30 days.

Just me

I don’t like the idea of ever having to ration out food. It’s terrifying.

I always kept it around for a just in case in fact I have a lot of things around here for just in case and it has just in cased. From my perspective it’s not nearly as sufficient as I thought it would be.

My instincts at this time tell me this is just a practice round.

My brain is a full time analyst. My career has made me that way by proxy I didn’t go to school for it. For the last 30 years I’ve been programmed on how to analyze purchasing, inventory and stock rotation for a dozen restaurants. It comes in quite handy in these situations. I know consumer habits and how they react in stressful situations. Yeah these aren’t super powers and anyone can form their own logistics for food and supply but for me it’s a knee jerk reaction.

Things that worry me are how the general public reacts to emergency situations. Some people require leadership and guidance. We’ve gotten way too comfy with letting our infrastructure take care of everything for us and we’ve all taken it for granted. It irritates me to see some of you sitting at home pissed off that no one is helping you when you did nothing to help yourself. There was plenty of warning to heed. I watch people roll right through 4 way intersections and blow horns at the others who stop. People are breaking in line for gas. If that continues for a week I’ll put money on someone getting shot. And you know what? You probably shouldn’t have broke in line.

Imagine if it were a line for food or water supply? Imagine human nature patiently waiting in line for food and water? Can you see it? I sure as fuck can’t. We are chimpanzees that can operate heavy machinery.

We turn off the empathy when we are knee deep in shit. Whole lot easier spouting virtue on your keyboard than to actually observe it and practice it.

I’ve already comprised a list of things to get for next time. My instincts are instructing me to and that also terrifies me because these are the same instincts that said that this storm would be the one of the century and well it hit the fucking nail on the head.

It’s the ant and the grasshopper y’all.

If you have any capital or assets I’d encourage you to invest into some materials and resources that will help you and your family out in case there another shit storm. They seem to come around a lot more these days.

The more of you that prepare the more resources will be available for those who cannot. Not everyone can prep for a disaster but if the ones that can did there wouldn’t be as many breakdowns in the supply chain.

We were lucky in comparison to our northern neighbors. I can’t imagine my family being put in that situation.

I’m writing on my charged cellphone, on my dry sofa, sweats, hot coffee and I’ll be frying eggs and bacon on the last tank of propane that was available from Ace Hardware yesterday. I’m capable of cooking over an open fire if needed. My family is sleeping soundly, cold safe food in my two yeti coolers that I’m actually thankful for over spending money on. I’m extemely fortunate. We are safe, yeah we have guns but I’m not worried about marauders and looters.

But

If another storm hit on top of this one I’d be a little more on guard. Best time to fuck someone up is when everything is dark and the local infrastructure is too busy to help. No cellphones to call for help or ring camera to record a break in. I remember what it’s like to walk three miles to a phone booth to call someone.

Most of us don’t even have change to make a phone call. Not that you could anymore. Now is a solid time to shake hands with your neighbors (yeah I know the irony in this statement) and get a better foothold in your community so you can ride the wave together. That’s literally what communities should be for.

Human nature scares the shit out of me. I used to watch people throw hands over mask mandates.

I hope for everyone’s sake the power is returned soon. This’ll get real interesting by the middle of the week. Some of you are already getting unhinged and that puts me on edge.

My old baseball coach always told us “have a clue before the ball comes to you. Don’t wait to make a decision where to throw the ball after it’s in play. Play the situation in your head each time a batter is up at bat. Always assume the ball is going to be coming your way and have a gameplan as to what you’re going to do with it when it does”. I’ve used this philosophy for just about everything I do and it works well for me.

Stay safe yall