The 7 Day Challenge - Day 3 - evacuate

After embarrassed acknowledgment that I've failed miserably at the Day 2 challenge, I decide that I will actually DO the Day 3 challenge.

I'm cheered. For Day 3, the Food Storage Made Easy Ladies tell me I'm off the hook and have the rest of the day free as soon as I perform the challenge! YAY! Plus, the challenge is only 30 minutes! SUPER-YAY! I can do anything for thirty minutes! Except maybe listen to Barry Manilow CDs.

Day 3 the ladies tell me a hurricane, fire or flood is heading towards my house and I have to evacuate. We have 30 minutes to do so and when we come back our house will not be there.

I was good right up to the house not being there part. All I can think is that we've just finished renovating the bathroom.

All righty, then. Evacuate. Thirty minutes. Gather the dogs, the cats, the laptops and other electronics, the photographs, get in the car and...find a decent hotel, I guess. Hmmm...maybe I better grab some camping supplies and a couple of crates of food. And a can opener.

The spouse has long departed for work, having made good his escape before I opened the Day 3 email. Besides, he's in the kind of work that in the event of an evacuation catastrophe he'd probably get called into work, not be allowed to leave and get out. This is all on me. But, hey! I'm a capable, intelligent, and resourceful woman of a certain age. I can do this.

Thirty minutes later, I'm still trying to rouse the teenagers.

"Fine!" I shout up the stairs, "Drown! Burn! Get carried off like Dorothy and Toto! See if I care!"

I don't actually shout that, but I want to.

Here's what I learned:

1) putting two dogs on leashes is no big deal. Suddenly remembering that they'll need something to eat and something to drink out of is a big deal. Precious minutes lost.

2) Uh...cats are hard to find when they don't want to be found. Don't bring out the cat carriers until the very last moment. Also, the cats will want to eat and drink, also.

3) Get those 72 hour kits pulled together, or something I can pass off as a 72-hour kit.

4) I deserve kudos for grabbing the photographs. However, they should all be in one place and not squirreled away in 5 different and disparate places.

5) Keep the gas tank at least half full. While it's fun to see how far a tank will take me in my beloved Prius, it's not wise to be sucking fumes on the day the world collapses.

And the teenagers? Sorry, no wisdom there. All I can say is that if we ever have to really, TRULY evacuate, it better not be on a Saturday before 9 am.