By the grace of God we missed the worst of Irma, she saw that we were prepared and decided to change her course. So even though we didn't get to utilize our preps to their fullest extent I'm sure there are folks thinking, "Darned, I wish I had thought to get ________" What were your TOP 2 things??
Vermouth
Olives
But seriously, I got nothing groundbreaking really.
I've been at it so long, or I should say my family has been at it so long, plus the way we were raised growing up, we GENERALLY don't need to get anything last minute.
I did have my wife run out while I was at work and make one "last minute" purchase.
I wanted a nice lighter weight chainsaw that I could operate longer since running the big ones post-hernia surgery is still painful.
There was a little bit of a rush at our local Stihl dealer. But, she got the little 14 inch saw and some more pre-mixed fuel and a couple extra chains. We keep plenty of bar oil on hand already. If you are around Chatham County or even Alamance don't hesitate to do business with the guys at Silk Hope/Gum Springs Garage. I know the little shack they are in looks kinda run down, but those guys are salt of the earth type folks and REALLY know what they are doing with Stihl equipment and are good at working on tractors too.
I have one of the DeWalt cordless chainsaws that I got because of the hernia surgery, and I LOVE it, but, I did not want to operate it in heavy rain or standing water. I was worried that it was not built for those conditions. I don't know that it would fail but for $400+ I am not gonna be the one to find out.
This line of thinking brought up something else for me.
I have all daughters. My oldest is now 15. We joke that she is my "mini-me". She deer hunts, squirrel hunts, has a safe and multiple guns of her own in her room. I try to teach her how to do a lot of things. She can split wood okay. She drives the 4 wheeler good. Thanks to some love and guidance from certain members of this forum she has started shooting the 2 gun rimfire competitions. She shoots a lot on her own.
Anyway, I haven't taught her how to use a chainsaw yet. It scares me a little, but I guess I need to do that. As I and my body get older, it would be nice to have some backup there. And for safety sake as well. At this point, if I were to get pinned under one while cutting, there is no one else in my immediate family that could cut me out without killing themselves and/or me in the process. Along with proper learning of how to mechanically and safely run the saw, you of course learn a lot of theory about actual cutting that many of us know translates to other activities.
So, I think some chainsaw training will be on the agenda this fall.
The only other area that peaked my interest this go around was that the beginning of hurricane season can be very different than the end, weather wise.
Heat and mosquitoes.
We already stock plenty of mosquito repellent. We found out a long time ago that if you are gonna stockpile, do not stockpile aerosols. They gum up before you can use them in some cases. So we stock the pump kind. Mosquito repellant and sunscreen both.
Why? Because after a hurricane in the early part of the season we spend an "inordinate" amount of time outdoors. More mosquitoes from the rain and more sun due to our activities. There is cleanup to be done and help to render to neighbors. And it's hot and stuffy in the house with no AC so we sometimes gravitate outdoors for meals and stuff. I find that bug spray and sun screen both may sometimes be in order.
I already stock tons of citronella candles and oil. I may want to get a little deeper into buying some mosquito netting. We'll see.
The only other thing that popped up on my radar wholeheartedly falls into the "creature comfort" category. No matter how hot and stuffy the house is (I am not gonna expend generator fuel for AC) I still have to fall asleep at night eventually. I think I am gonna chase down some fans that run on batteries. Maybe the kind that clamp onto a table type deal? I think all that is really out there is the cheap Chinese junk. But that may be okay in this regard. I plan on digging into that soon.
Oh yeah. Early one when we heard that the storm was so big, we put away extra pet food and livestock feed. We usually keep at least a couple of weeks worth on hand anyway, but I wanted more just in case. We have alternatives for pets and livestock, but both involve extra work at a time you may be busy with other stuff.
That's all I got off the top of my head.
