All the Things I STILL Have to Update and Accomplish Because of Our Move…

Moving is both a blessing and a curse. As I pointed out in a previous post, moving was a great time to get re-organized and even caused me to do a major overhaul of my preps which was long overdue.

The problem, however, is that I have to literally re-do many things that had already been done. Obviously, there’s tasks like getting new driver’s licenses, plates for the car, library cards, bank accounts, and so on. But these tasks are not necessarily prepping-related.

Instead I’m thinking about the many things I do as a prepper that now need to be redone or recreated. Here’s a list of things I still need to accomplish over the next few weeks (most of them, anyway) because we’ve moved. List is in no particular order:

• Get more water barrels and fill – I like to have one 55-gallon water barrel for each person in the family. I still need a few more and would prefer to find an IBC tote but have to do some more digging on Craigslist and elsewhere.
• Devise rooftop collection plan – Since it seems to rain virtually all the time here, rooftop rainwater collection is a great way to go. But, since I’m renting, I have to figure out how I would modify the downspouts so that I don’t ruin them and at the very least choose which downspout(s) to use.
• Order seeds, build garden – Though we’re surrounded by tall trees seemingly everywhere, there is a rather large open area that’s just begging for a garden to be put in. 🙂 Apparently, however, the solid is a bit too acidic and without first amending it I may need to build some raised garden beds and, of course, get plenty of vegetable seeds.
• Visit local LDS Cannery – I’m fortunately to have an LDS home storage center relatively close so that I can replenish the bulk foods that I couldn’t take with me in the moving pod. The good news is that these foods come already canned!
• Learn about our water well – Fortunately, we get our water from a well that’s shared by a few other homes. As I’ve never had any experience with a well I need to understand how it works! So, I’m looking forward to that.
• Develop bug out plans (evacuation routes) – The is a big one and actually much more difficult where we live since we’re literally surrounded by water on multiple sides!! To make matters worse there are bridges to cross if we really wanted to get out of the area and so I have to think about this one for a while.
• Create new “one pager” list – I like to keep a single page that lists, among other things, local and out-of-state emergency contacts. This file simply needs updated.
• Develop disaster action plans – Again, part of my disaster “paperwork” is to develop an easy-to-follow action plan for the top 5 emergencies we’re likely to face. In the midwest that included disasters such as tornadoes, flash floods, and even severe thunderstorms but in the Pacific northwest that includes disasters such as earthquakes, volcanoes, and liberals… ha, ha, just kidding… mostly.
• Buy and fill new gasoline cans – As I mentioned in a previous post, I left my gasoline cans and am now regretting it because they’re getting expensive and the new ones suck.
• Visit nearby gun range and join – I’ve already mentioned this in another post but it’s nice to hear the sounds of gunfire in the morning. 🙂
• Secure house (doors, windows) – Still need to do something with the doors and windows to better secure the. Since we’re renting I can’t do anything permanent.
• Exterior lighting – There are two major areas of the house that don’t have any exterior lighting and I don’t like that at all. I think I’m going to order a few Mr. Beans Wireless Spotlight (motion-sensing floodlights) for those areas.
• Make DIY cleaners – One of the things I vowed to do was to make more of my own cleaners… as many as I can, in fact.

Of course, there were some prepping actions that I did get accomplished thus far, including:

• Filled the 2 water barrels I brought
• Setup NOAA weather radio with local frequencies
• Installed emergency night lights in each bedroom and placed flashlights where I like them (e.g., at bedside, in kitchen, etc)
• Installed additional smoke alarms  (one in each bedroom, kitchen) and placed fire extinguishers where I like them (e.g., bedroom, kitchen, workshop, etc)
• Setup Wonder Junior Deluxe grain mill in workshop
• Setup Royal Berkey water filter in the kitchen

I’m sure there are other things I’ve done and/or need to do but that’s just off the top of my head. Like I said, moving is both a blessing and curse but I’m choosing to look at it as a blessing today.