In my 1st blog post, I briefly talked about not panicking and how to prepare for a 3-day power outage. So, I hope you have a few gallons of water, some food, a way to boil water, and a way to stay warm. If not, please read my "Where do I start?" post. Again, don't panic and let's take a 2nd look at the 4 priorities: Shelter, Water, Fire, and Food. #1 in the list is Shelter. It's a place that gets you out of the weather. It could be a house, camper, tent, car, etc. When it's cold or wet, anywhere that is out of the wind and dry will do. We then need to get warm. That would be clothing, blankets, sleeping bags, or space heaters. #2 is Water. You should have several gallons of clean drinking water on hand at all times. If not, the hot water tank stores 20-50 gallons. Hook a hose to the drain valve at that bottom and open the valve. The first gallon or so will be dirty, but it should clear up. Other options are toilet tanks, swimming pools (not salt water or hot tubs). The last option is streams and creeks. Creek water is fine for flushing the toilet but it needs to be filtered and purified first before drinking. Warning! Surface water may look clean, but it probably contains cysts, amoebas, fertilizers, petro-chemicals, and micro-plastics. Ideally, you have a good water purifier and can skip the below steps. You can find these in our store. If you don't have one, a coffee filter will catch the big stuff. If you have some activated carbon like what is used for fish tanks, run the water slowly through that a few times. Activated carbon is the only way to remove the chemicals. NO, you CANNOT use barbecue charcoal to filter water. It's not pure and can leach numerous chemical contaminants into the water. Finally, boil the water for 5 minutes, let it cool and then store in a clean container. #3 Fire. This is for cooking and/or heat. Again, modern fireplaces are not a good heat source for your house. I recommend ventless propane heaters. You can find Mr. Heater's. To boil water and cook food, camp stoves or butane burners in our store. Just search for "stove". If you have a BBQ with a burner, that is an easy way to boil water. Unless it's windy and below freezing outside. NEVER use heaters that are not for indoor inside and NEVER user a generator inside or in your garage. #4 Food. Always keep several days of easy to prepare food on hand. Canned soups, chili, pasta, and meats store well. Anything that doesn't require anything but water to prepare. Also, things that are ready to eat like granola/power bars, peanut butter, potato chips, canned fruit, crackers, nuts, etc. Just to give you some ideas, I like to eat Cheerios as a snack without milk. In closing, our government actually has some good information on basic preparedness. Take a look at https://www.ready.gov/ Resident Prepper signing off. Merry Christmas!