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FOUR SEASONS BREEZE | MAY 2018 9 on? "Here they go again in March. Page 18. This is a reprint, of all things. I know Jean Sandoval was a retired R.N. and did a whole lot of great work for the E.P.P. But here she said that you have to take care of yourself. YO-YO she called it. 'You're on your own.' And this from a nurse, of all people. Someone who spent her whole career taking care of others. "Geez. Now that I think about it, that emergency committee, or whatever they are, even sent out this emergency handbook to everyone. Where is that thing? Did we toss it? No? You actually saved it? Because… why? What did you say? Yeah, I guess that makes some sense. "So you're thinking that if so many of our friends participate in this stuff there might be something to it? Like what? We have food, water, cell phones. "It says our cell phones might not work? That cell towers might be overloaded. Or down. Wow! Now that might be a bit scary if neither landlines nor mobiles worked. But that's just catastrophic thinking. I guess. "I know that Fred and Wilma next door got CERT trained. They came over in their helmets and vests one night. So I guess they believe in all this stuff. And it sounds like you might too, a bit. "Well, what else does that handbook say? We need WHAT? Almost four gallons of water for each of us? Every day? Huh. With all the pills both of us take, and our dry eyes and our dry mouths, we probably need even more. And with all that water, where do we pee? And, you know, poop? Let me see that. Oh my. Look at those pictures. Better than squatting in a bush, I guess. Leave that to the camping trips we used to take. "Ya' know, now that we're talking, I realize that it's our friends and neighbors and other people who live here who are putting all this stuff together. And if they're willing to give their time to learn about emergencies, how to take care of themselves, and how to maybe help others, maybe we need to pay attention. Maybe it's not just baloney. "OK Charlie. I see you. Time for a walk? Yes, yes. I'm coming. Let me get a poop bag. "Oh gosh. Ya' know what I just thought of? The little ones, here. Charlie and Bella. What do we do about them? Charlie needs his medicine and Bella has that ointment for her paw pads. If we have to take care of us, we have to take care of them. They're family. "So let's sit down for a sec and go over this stuff. And I'll do my best not to pooh-pooh it all. "OK. Something happens. If we need to leave, we need "Go bags" packed with essentials. For us and for the fur children. "If we need to stay, we need all kinds of things. And first of all, we probably need to attach our refrigerators, bookcases, cabinets and stuff to the walls, so they don't fall over. And put some kind of locks onto our cabinets, like we had when the kids were little. "And then we can go through the Emergency Handbook and see what we have and what we might need to do. "And if YO-YO is the operative word, then maybe we should get CERT trained. You'd look real cute in the vest and helmet. "We've already said we should go to the AED training when they have it. "And remember the FRS class you went to with Wilma? You guys learned how to use those little handheld radios, those walkie-talkies to communicate. As I remember, the Amateur Radio Club holds training sessions and they have plenty of walkie-talkies to borrow and practice on. I know they keep saying that they need more people to be involved, so that there is good communication inside Four Seasons Beaumont if we need it. I used those radios when I was a Boy Scout. It was really cool. And easy. I'd enjoy doing it again. The Amateur Radio Club meets the last Friday of every month at 10 am in the RCN Conference Room. "And maybe we could look into a meeting of the Emergency Preparedness Committee. They meet the third Tuesday of every month at 10 am in the RCN Conference Room. "Ya' know honey, I'm not really sold that something terrible is going to happen, but I don't think I'm willing to just ignore the possibility, either. So let's figure out what we need to do, and then let's do it. Just like we've done so many times before."

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