Tuesday, July 2, 2013

Preparing to bug out.

I got off duty at work at 10:00 this morning, was home by 11:30, and by 1:30 I was hustling around the place, getting ready to evacuate if need be. 

There is a rather good sized fire, roughly 45,000 acres (yep, 3 zeros) burning on military land just outside our community.  Yesterday the fire quadrupled in size, and today the Borough has issued an evacuation warning.  An evacuation warning simply means get reay in case we tell you to bug out.

I only have an 8 compartment box on the truck, plus less than a handful of airline crates.  That's barely enough to evacuate and camp out with 20 dogs and 2 cats.  My newer trailer is currently at a friends place for some modifications so I can transform it into a really nice dog carrier, but that doesn't help me at the moment.

 For now, I can put two dogs in each compartment in the truck, three in airline crates in the trailer, and two dogs can ride in the cab of the truck.  I have a large tote box in which I've put my veterinary emergency medical kit, picket chains and lines, and other miscellaneous equipment that may be needed to camp out somewhere in a canine refugee camp.  Two bags of dog food (a four-day supply) are loaded in the car, along with sleeping bags, our important papers and our photo albums.



Truck set up next to dog yard, and ready to load if necessary
The two kitties are secure in their carriers, and only one of them put up much of a fuss.  Only about three band-aids worth, though.  Spats was easy, because he likes me.  Gus - not so much.

I've parked the tractor and four-wheeler in the middle of the front yard, as far from fuels as I can get them. 



Equipment parked in front yard


So, at this point all the important stuff is as prepared as I can make it, with the tractor and four-wheeler being a bonus.  I don't want to think about losing the house and it's contents, but if that is fated, I can live with it.  Long ago I heard a wise talk-show radio host say "Never fall in love with something that can't love you back." 

So, I think I'm as prepared as I can be at this point.  All I can do now is wait and see what happens next.

3 comments:

  1. Hey Swanny -- looks like the fire is sitting down a bit. That rain helped. Fingers crossed it goes east or nowhere at all. ...

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  2. So far so good. We had a short but heavy storm pass through that put a fair amount of water on the ground and the flame front of the fire, followed by little to no wind. The forecast for today is fairly cool with light winds at most. If the weather holds stable the fire fighters should be able to make really good progress containing this beast.

    There are fireworks and wood cutting bans throughout the borough, so hopefully we can avoid more fires until we can get a good, soaking rain to reduce the fire danger.

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  3. Swanny hang in there. UP thoughts and prayers sent. Jeff

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