Is
there anything around your house you do specifically because something
is going to happen?
For
example, snow. (And, if you’re running out of thoughts after snow,
I get it.)
Around
our house, we begin parking the cars differently in October. Every
so often, we’ll get a good storm that month, although the vast
majority of accumulation is in January and February. It’s not
too different than most people living in snow-zone areas, the
heart of winter brings the largest amounts of snow.
We
park the cars facing the street. Our driveway isn’t too long,
but it’s not short either. Moving a car forward in drive is far
easier in the snow than moving in reverse. Part of that is front-wheel-drive
vehicles, and I would say a good portion is not driving in snow
using mirrors as a guidance system. It’s also a trick we picked
up in our previous house, which not only included a longer driveway,
it also provided the added bonus of a decent uphill rise between
the street and the house.
We
also try to set things up for heading out with the snowblower.
Absolutely nothing like raising the garage door only to find you
have no way to get the snowblower out of the garage, or any room
to move in between vehicles. Also is a pleasure to see no way
of directing the flying snow out of the way without covering a
car in the process.
So,
we give a bit of thought to how we set things up for the winter,
and that’s especially true when we hear the forecasts of developing
storms.
When
I was a kid, I recall heading over to my grandmother’s to stay
with her during a hurricane. I don’t remember who was in the house,
such as my parents or sisters. But I do remember her filling the
tub up with water before the storm arrived. I even have a vague
memory of my mother doing the same at our house during another
hurricane.
Years
later, when Terry and I had our first house and a particularly
nasty storm was headed our way, I did the same thing. At that
time, however, it wasn’t because of some lesson or experience
learned during my youth. It was because we used a well for our
water in that house, and a prior power-outage had shown us that
when the power went out that meant the water was also gone.
The
more I think about it, the funnier it seems that really the only
precautionary advance work I do may be ahead of snow storms these
days. Hurricanes aren’t a threat where we’re located now. Not
having gas for the snowblower when more than a foot is predicted
is.
Now
there’s a good chance you don’t worry about snow and icy roads.
I get that. But hurricanes, tornadoes and severe weather of some
type happens everywhere, even if different types are more frequent
than others in different places. So, my snowblower and can of
gas could be your measured, cut and easily accessible plywood.
Neighbor
of mine from years ago used to have a list of things he considered
musts. Basically went like this: clean your gutters, check your
oil tank and gas can to make sure you have enough, and keep a
book handy for when the power goes out.
Sound
advice there. We’re going back decades, so I wonder how he might
adapt it to charging a cell phone or losing service, but the general
concepts are on target. It doesn’t scream at you to get to the
store before all the bread and milk is gone. It just tells you
that if you heat by oil and didn’t check when the weather turned
to see if you needed a delivery, you don’t get to swear when having
to clear a path through a foot-and-half of snow so someone can
get to the tank to refill it.
Prepare
for the worst, and more often than not you’ll experience the best
(or at least not be as frustrated as you could be).