Spring preparations

Aesop, over at Raconteur Report, has a very useful checklist-type post about checking your emergency gear and preps for the change of seasons.  Here's an excerpt.

And you probably moved your clocks up. Here in earthquake country, that's also when you should be checking over your emergency/disaster stuff. Add to your stash of supplies, rotate food and water. Pull old batteries and purpose them for everyday use, and put fresh ones in the O Sh*t! Kit. Change the batteries in all smoke and carbon monoxide alarms. (I do the clocks too. YMMV.)

Go through your car kit (you have one of those in each vehicle too, right?), and swap the cold and wet clothes for hot and wet clothing. Unless you have dehydrated or hardtack lifeboat rations, swap out what's in the car, rotate it into regular eating, and put fresh stuff in the car kit. Water your plants with the water, and put freshly bottled water back.

The medicine in your first aid supplies in the car should be nothing but tablets. No gelcaps. Unless you're very rich, or not too bright. (I don't know you, so I can't say which. If pressed, I'll make a guess.) But adhesives, including medical tape and band-aids, also die in hot-and-cold storage in a vehicle. Make sure yours are okay, and/or replace the ones that have gone bad. This is even more true of barrier gloves. They die in cars. Keep just a couple of pairs in the car, and swap them out several times a year, and whenever you use them ... buy a box, put 2 pair in car and first aid kits, and change them out every month or two. Then you'll never pull on a pair that disintegrates when you pull them on.

. . .

And if you're looking at this on a computer, make an inventory list of what's where: home, car(s), office/shop, etc.

Highlight the items with expiration dates, or that are perishable.

Put one list in the kit inside a sheet protector, or laminate it.

Keep one on the home computer or your phone. Now you have an easy way to make a shopping list for what needs to be replaced or added.

If you do this regularly, on time, 99.9999% of the time, you'll never need it. If you put it off and let it slide, you can count on Murphy making an appearance, and you with a half-assed set of gear to deal with things. Ask me how I know.

There are many more helpful (and important) suggestions at the link.

The man speaks wisdom.  Go read the whole thing, and follow his advice.  If you don't yet have comprehensive emergency kits in your vehicles, or any of the other things he recommends, now would be a very good time to start getting them together.  If you don't, a visit from Murphy is almost guaranteed.  Like Aesop, I speak from hard-earned and painful experience!

Peter