Go Bags

Sometimes it takes property-threatening wildfires to show you your own priorities, when it comes to your "stuff." Most of my neighbors have bags packed and ready, some even loaded into their vehicles, in case a wildfire sends us off as evacuees. Packed items include clothing and other emergency supplies, as well as important things that cannot be replaced, should, Heaven forbid, our homes be threatened.

My comment- "Yeah, Dena packed all her photos in her trunk. I should at least box ours up."

Jeff's comment- "We should probably copy all of our computer data onto flash drives."

Brilliant thinking! Oddly, that never occurred to me. 

My aunt Ellie, one of several people who called/texted to check on us yesterday (we're fine, thanks!), lives by the beach on the Gulf Coast. Their hurricane bag has a flash drive with PDFs of all their important documents, like insurance papers, etc. That way they don't have to pack the actual papers. Smart!

So everyone in the drought zone, get your "go bags" ready! 99% of us won't ever need to use them, but it doesn't hurt to be prepared. (This reminds me of the "baby bag" that sat packed in my bedroom the last several weeks I was pregnant with Lauren. Never needed that one either, as she was patient enough to wait until my scheduled C-section date!)