This whole potable water shortage thing is seriously harshing my buzz.
Of course, I mocked a former roommate when he went on and on about being “earthquake ready” in terms of water available.
And I always figured Mark was a bit of a sucker when he moved somewhere that a hurricane kit is necessary (though the beach is a damned nice tradeoff), and that people in his neighbourhood were just insane when it came to weather warnings and stocking up more than necessary at the grocery and hardware stores.
Well apparently people in this part of the world are pretty insane as well. Shelves have been bare for weeks, and I had to do the unthinkable, and drive to Richmond to get bottled water.
It’s all planted a serious bug in my ear about getting a proper emergency kit in place should something happen that raises the crisis level significantly above Starbucks Shortage.
I’ve got another post up at Kitsilano.ca about what the Red Cross recommends we all have in our emergency kits, though you KNOW the first things in mine will be a heat source, a kettle, a crank operated coffee bean grinder, and a french press.
It’s all about priorities, people.
I’ll spare you a complete listing of what’s in my hurricane box (big-ass rubbermaid thing) but might post it up on my site next May when hurricane season comes around again.
Get yourself a folding ‘sterno stove’ that uses the little gel-fuel cans as a heat source without wasting most of the BTUs to the general area of the can. it folds flat, big enough to put a 2qt saucepan on and boil water for food (or just for boiling to drink)
4 or 5 drops of bleach per gallon of water and let it stand for about an hour will kill the greeblies, and then you can filter it through a coffee filter to get most of the silt, dirt and dead bugs out.
Close your eyes and drink.. or pour into a martini glass and pretend it’s dirty… really dirty.
After that, all you need is a nice sharp machete to keep all the UNprepared suckas outta your shit 🙂
Maybe I’m a dork, but once I have a dwelling with enough room for it, I’m going to make myself a killer earthquake/tsunami/alien invasion kit. One such event can ruin your whole day.
I share your scorn for the suburbs, but what are you using bottled water for that boiled water isn’t fit for?
We just drink a LOT of plain water. In addition to the 6 cups of bottled water we’re using to make coffee in the morning, we end up drinking about 3 litres at home per day. We’re not using it for cooking.
Were we juice people, boiled water would probably suffice, but the stuff looks, smells and tastes like dirt, no matter how many times we run it through the brita and/or a coffee filter.
Our boiled water is coming out pretty clean through our brita… maybe you just need a new filter? or a slice of lemon to mask the taste if you find it offensive – I haven’t noticed a bad taste after it’s been filtered.
I’m trying to visit as many of the NaBloPoMo blogs as I can and I thought I’d say hi, I liked your blog.. 🙂 I don’t like drinking the local tap water either, I’m in Australia. I buy bottled water and use it for everything from making coffee to putting in the kettle. I suppose I might be a water snob 😉
I’ve been drinking the water since the day the advisory went out. Granted, the first couple times I drank it I had forgotten about the advisory, but since the first couple times had no effect . . . meh. It’s still infinitely better than the water used to be in Kamloops during spring runoff.
I’m with Jen — no matter what I do to the water, it just tastes like dirt. But different areas will have slightly different water. I’m happy that ours was never brown (heck, on day one, it was still clear…) Now it’s mildly cloudy and tastes like dirt. I don’t LIKE drinking dirt.
As soon as Starbucks started selling hot drinks again, I was in line looking for a buzz. Bought a bottle of water from them, too. 🙂