Preparing for Irene: Shopping

So, we spent the day preparing for Irene.

– Checking weather updates regularily: We had decided that we would stay put unless we’d be getting evacuation notices.

– Pack emergency kits. Ready.gov has neat lists of most stuff that might come in handy

– Get stuff around the house secured.

– Find a safe parking spot for the car (no trees, no powerlines, no water that could block a quick exit).

– Get gas!

– Go shopping. The three stores we hit: Walmart (for everything), Grocery store (better groceries, get rid of depositable bottles etc), Hardware store (wonderland and grownup-kids’ fav. playground;-)

– Fill all sealable containers with tap water and freeze as many as possible

– Prepare cold foods such as burritos

– Charge batteries of all electronic devices

– Find out where shelters and hospitals are

The fun thing at WalMart (besides these) is:

WalMart, of all stores, was basically sold out of everything important: Bottled waster, peanut butter, unscented candles, generators, bread, toast,  duct tape, batteries, canned soup:

It’s not like the earthquake a couple of days ago, which came totally unexpected. Everybody has been talking about Irene for days. I would have expected slightly better logistics and planning from a global retailer like WalMart.

One of the few things nobody seemes to be buying, for obvious reasons: pink sausages:

So, we’re done with that now. Nothing remains besides waiting. Right now, there is no wind, no rain. It rained a little earlier today though.