Hurricane Ike Lessons Learned

We thought we were prepared for Ike. We found out we were not prepared at all. Here is what we learned.

1. Just because you make it through one hurricane without losing power, this does not mean you will make it through another one. We never lost power during Hurricane Rita, but we went 6 days without power for Hurricane Ike.
2. Be prepared to lose water. We are on Day 8 of no water. Well, we got water Tuesday night and Wednesday morning. But then it went away again. Fly By Night Water, aka HMW Utilities, has 1 roving generator.
3. Put every bucket you have in the house ready to put out to catch rain as soon as the worst of the winds are over.
4. Make sure your grill works before the hurricane hits. I got propane but didn't check to see if the grill worked. Fortunately I managed to score one at Lowe's on Monday.
5. Get containers and fill them with water and put them in the freezer. Big blocks of ice last longer. Also put bottles of water throughout the freezer. We actually saved food this way! One of the few smart things I did.
6. Have a battery operated radio and TV.
7. Have a big lantern for each bedroom, living room and kitchen/dining room. Have a small lantern for each bathroom. Each person should have their own individual flashlight for moving room to room and outside. 1 big flashlight for going outside. Leaving the laterns in place makes it easier to remember where they are.
8. Have a battery powered fan or two. We did not have this but we are purchasing two off the net.
9. Have bottled water for washing your face and brushing your teeth as well as water for drinking. I am picky about my bottled water for drinking, so buy the cheapest water for washing face and giving cats water.
10. Have a charger for the car that can charge multiple things at once. We have a charger that you can plug in a regular plug which is great for laptops. Then we have one that has 2 charger outlets and 2 usb outlets. We can recharge the dvd player, Bill's cell phone, my iPhone and the iPod all at once.
11. Have plenty of DVDs to watch.
12. Fill your car with gas. They were not kidding on that one.
13. Have a window unit air conditioner and a small generator to run the fridge and the window unit. And to recharge all portable devices. Plus have a place for the generator that is not inside a garage or house. Our neighbors put theirs in the bed of the pickup that they parked away from the house.
14. Put your drinks in a cooler. We lucked out with Bill's office having ice. So he went to work every day with a cooler.
15. Have batteries charged for your cameras and put the cameras in a baggie.
16. Have plenty of hummingbird food made up. We also feed the birds suet that I make with peanut butter, lard, flour and corn meal. So make sure any food is prepared.
17. Have kitty litter for 2 weeks. Amd cat food for 2 weeks.
18. Have a way to leave your windows open and lock them so no one can get in.
19. Get more batteries than you think you can use in a lifetime. Most batteries have a 10 year life span. Use the oldest ones first.
20. Wash all of your clothes the day before the storm hits, and put clean sheets on the bed.
21. Paper plates and paper cups are a must. We missed this one. The dishwasher stacks up and you can't rinse anything without water. We did have plastic forks, spoons and knives.

That is all I can think of for now.