Woke up this morning and checked e-mail. Top of the queue was from a buddy I was going to grab breakfast with and he said he couldn't make it, he was gonna ride out the Tsunami on his rooftop ... TSUNAMI?!? Sure enough, the solar panels on the Civil Defense sirens in our area weren't serviced so the sirens didn't go off for us. Needless to say, we went into gear fast ... I can't tell you how thankful I am that it turned out to be a lot of nothing by the time it hit our island, like a 1m swell that a few knuckleheads caught on longboards. But it was sure a wake up call for me, and learned alot about how the family rolls in a crisis.
My wife got scared, my daughter got sullen, and my son was "Aye Aye sir!" So turned my wife loose on things to keep her busy - she did a few loads of laundry, load of dishes, packed up some food and stuff for the car, filled a tub, anything that came to her hand she did to keep her mind going. She did pack a good BOB, but literally stuffed it, not well thought placement of gear for future use. My son operated well on little to no instruction, but there's a lot he just didn't know. My daughter packed her gear, helped her mom, responded to direct orders, but basically stayed quiet. I figure she was scared, but didn't want to be, so threw up a facade personality she thought appropriate.
And I had a brain freeze. I had a lot of the right gear, just not in the right place to get at it. Spent way too much time put all the extra guns in place that they'd be secure and hopefully above a water line. Way too much time trying to figure out how to load up the go-to guns and ammo in a way that wouldn't draw attention. Lingered too long on "which gun, really." Discovered I don't have a good holster for my primary handgun (how did that happen?). Finally got the suv packed with food, water, some basic tools, cash & passports, 4 BOBs, appropriate armament. Totally forgot the field surgical kit under the downstairs sink, but did manage some basic meds. Turns out we stayed in place, but we were ready.
But I did discover a great piece of gear: Eton microlink FR160. I had a freeplay summit before this that was always squirrely. This little unit dialed straight to the tsunami station, kept going on a light crank and a little sun. Used it to charge up an ipod and a phone. Weighs under a pound, and about the size of a can of soda.
But now I'm doing an afteraction on myself and realizing I put a few things off I need to fix before the next one where we might not be so lucky.
