It’s here…maybe this storm will crack the top ten worst storms to hit the area!!  Preparing for the storm…well…some of these you can still do..some you may already have done.. I have not done half of these….. but I’m up late and read up on some of this and thought I’d share.

So……I started today with filling my tank since I was heading to Warrenton to swim ,  anticipating 3 days off from swimming :(…and probably running…and biking…..some of these are common sense , really.

1. Hope you filled your cars with gasoline!  This may save your life if you’re in your car and end up stuck in the snow. Over the years, many drivers have frozen to death in a cold car that’s stuck in the snow.  I keep toe heaters, hand warmers..and usually a flashlight. Since I bike at night I charge my bike-head-light — it lasts for hours and has come in handy walking my puppy late hours of the night!!

2. Keep a blanket, water, food, a little bit of sand and shovel in your car at all times. This will come in handy if you get stuck in the snow. Even if you can’t dig yourself out, the  wool blanket, food and water will sustain you until help arrives.  Newspapers  will help here too. Toe heaters, extra gloves…ski pants…seriously .

3. Charge the cell phone. You may lose home phone service during a snow storm and you’ll need your cell phone battery charged to call for help in the event of an emergency. And remember, portable phones are useless without power! So dig out the hard line phone just in case. Remember, your charger in the car will come in handy:)

4. Get gas for the snow blower and emergency generators. A snowblower is useless without gasoline. And you can’t drive to the gas station to get more before you snowblow the driveway! This is another benefit of gassing up the cars – if absolutely necessary, you can siphon the gas from your car’s gas tank to power an emergency generator or snowblower.  Well…our snowblower is on the fritz…we used it once in 3 years…go figure…and it wasn’t running well since we didn’t drain it :(  …life lessons…got me a good shovel though at the True Value at LOW earlier today!

5. Food shopping. Get plenty of non-perishable, ready-to-eat food. And remember the manual can opener! If you don’t have a gas stove, you won’t have any means to cook and if the power is out, your refrigerator will be useless (though you can always fill a cooler, bathtub or clean trash can with snow to keep at least some of the perishables cold to prevent spoiling).  I have hot water in a thermos for ramen noodles..or oatmeal..even a cup of tea or hot cocoa  if I run out of coffee!  I love peanut butter….now I am low on it and will have to eat cream cheese and crackers …

6. Store water. You’ll want one gallon of water per each person per day. Keep a four-day supply of water on-hand. And don’t forget the pets! The dog, cat and other pets will need water too.  I  filled a thermos with HOT coffee, hearing over and over that power outages were very likely to occur.  I want my a.m. coffee!! I also filled one with HOT water for my oatmeal :)   ON another note..you will need extra water to flush your toilet if you are out in the country or on a well….no power, no water is pumped up!! So , I filled my bathtub up this morning…we also have gallons of spring water that just got delivered the other day..*whew*

7. Get plenty of firewood! You’ll need dry firewood as a heat source in the event that you lose power during the snow storm. Some winter storms – ice storms especially – can result in power outages that last days, sometimes more than a week!  I thought about getting an extra propane tank for my grill, to maybe heat up water, or cook something outside ;)  We do not have an extra source of heat for inside…guess I’ll be under a blanket with my hubby and puppy, lol

8. Find the snow shovel! Dig out the snow shovel and keep it handy. To make snow shoveling a bit easier during a large storm, make a trip outside every 3 to 4 hours to shovel. For most people, it’s easier to shovel a couple inches of snow on 2 or 3 outings vs. shoveling a foot of snow all at once….I have a new puppy…I’ve been shoveling every 2 hours….to help her find her spot!   I did picj up a couple of bags for “ice melt” at Cherry Street earlier today.

9.  Get flashlight/ candles out and matches–power can go out in the middle of the night..and finding your way to a bathroom could be tricky w/o power….then you can save your batteries and use candles , but blow out the candles b/4 you leave the room!!

I read ealier there are shelters downtown , and often churches will help out here.  Don’t hesitate to walk over to a neighbors…check in with them , especially any elderly or single parent — stay relatively active, but not sweaty active — you can save that for a “combat” class with me on another day :)

Hey, if you have any other suggestions please share those in here if you don’t mind :)  thanks so much.

Blessings to all for safe winterizing . Keep warm, help someone out.  Bring your pets or lost pets indoors .