A recent trip to the Houston Hurricane Preparedness Workshop and meeting the Houston Mosquite Control team taught me how poorly I had underestimated the aftermath of a severe rain and flooding. Recent midwest flooding in the United States has produced a hatch of epic proportions. “For example, last week, 3,674 mosquitoes were counted in Ames-area traps, compared with 182 for the same week last year, Bartholomay said Wednesday. Trap quantities are just a tiny snapshot of the true numbers of mosquitoes flying around.”  The relief workers are being run out of areas or hampered with their efforts. The same thing happened after Katrina in New Orleans. Fortunately for the midwest, they are not fighting the particular types of mosquitoes identified as carriers of the West Nile Virus.

If you plan on weathering a severe storm or returning to a hurricane or flood zone, bring lots of safety measures for working in the area. This also means considering your family and pets. Make sure you have basic quantities of repellent and in your work and emergency kits. Then add more. Here are some basic measures for mosquito control:

• Wear insect repellent containing deet, picaridin or oil of lemon eucalyptus and apply it frequently. Don’t skimp, get 30% or greater percentage of Deet if possible.

• Drain standing water from backyard bird baths, discard old tires and other containers that trap water, and frequently replace water in wading pools. Don’t overwater plants and keep drains and woodpiles clean.

• Avoid going outside from dusk to dawn, peak activity times for some mosquitoes. Mosquito hatches can be present all day, but start as early as 3pm.

• Avoid dark clothes, which can absorb heat and make you more visible; choose neutral colors that blend in with the environment. Purchase mosquito netting for your head and cover other parts of exposed skin with netting if possible.

• Avoid perfumes and sweet-smelling lotions and cosmetics, including lavender scents, which attract mosquitoes.

• Perspiration is a lure, so wash after exercising or sweating heavily.

• Antihistamine tablets taken throughout mosquito season or after being bitten can help reduce bumps and itchiness.

Notes included from Chron.com and Associated Press.

I can’t claim to be the first to find and use this cool service. Brian takes little jaunts around the country on his motorcycle (for days and hundreds of miles) and uses this to let his family know where he is via updated GoogleMap and leaving messages. The intro price is fairly steep, but the peace of mind this brings is probably well worth it for most families. Track your favorite hunter, biker, business traveler or wayward kid. Once activated, it updates your location every ten minutes to let loved ones know where you are in your progress.

My car keeps failing me L

It should start, Triple A came to the rescue during lunch…but just in case I have to give it another jump after work, does anyone have any cables?

This was the email around my office yesterday. We all snickered, gave our colleague a hard time, but also realized how dependent we are on knowing what to do vs. doing it?  Ask just about anyone, should you carry battery cables in your car? Few would deny that there should be a basic car kit. I replied back to the email with a quick yes and a link to the Red Cross site for recommended car kit. I couldn’t help myself. The real question is, how do you actually encourage someone to do something about it? What is the motivational factor required to not just think about insuring yourself or situation?

Not sure on the answer to that, I am sure it differs across situations and people. Either way, here is the list from the Red Cross.

Emergency Kit For Your Car

• Battery powered radio and extra batteries
• Flashlight and extra batteries
• Blanket
• Booster cables
• Fire extinguisher (5 lb., A-B-C type)
• First aid kit and manual
• Bottled water and non-perishable high energy foods, such as granola bars, raisins and peanut butter.
• Maps
• Shovel
• Tire repair kit and pump
• Flares

This is a minimum, but surely is a good start. There are tons of more extensive checklists out there. If you get adventurous, make one for yourself and for each car in your family!

From the blog:

Focused on providing families with the information they need as the hurricane season begins, this year’s workshop promises to be even more popular, with an agenda that includes:

• An update on hurricane forecasting techniques and the region’s 2008 hurricane outlook
• Emergency management experts explaining the latest plans for hurricane preparedness and evacuation along the upper Texas coast
• An interactive kids’ learning activity center

Free and open to the public, the 2008 Hurricane Workshop is once again being sponsored by CenterPoint Energy, the City of Houston the National Weather Service. Harris County, Interfaith Ministries for Greater Houston and the John C. Freeman Weather Museum are also active participants.

These ideas don’t require radical changes to every day life choices. Simple things can be implemented over time to reduce your carbon footprint and help make life more sustainable. Reducing hot water time in the shower? Makes sense. Passing on all those free give-away items you will throw in the trash the next time you declutter your house anyway? VERY EASY. Read through these ideas and see how you can go a bit greener without turning your life into a hemp wearing hippie commune.

As I have indicated before, the only good emergency system is one that is familiar and we use on a nearly everyday basis. This seems one step closer to a viable system of alerts.

The article indicates the carriers could voluntarily deliver messages for any of these three types of events:

Two other technology things of interest right away. Technology solves problems, only when it is available. And used. I have been playing with FAST or http://www.firstalerttext.com/ this past couple of weeks. It worked great last week when I quickly received a notice about a weather alert in my area. My interest of course is if it will stand during a major technology onslaught during a disaster. The premise is there, now it needs more implementation by multiple groups. Check it out, especially if you are a parent and want alerts from your children’s school.

The second is redundancy hit me again. Need back up batteries and more than one major source of power for digital devices. I am constantly dragging around adapters, cords and looking for recharge stations as I work off my laptop, cell and others throughout the day. I am always open to suggestions on ways to slim down my backpack and still have the necessities for work and safety. Ooof… my shoulder hurts already!

In tracking down the lost and found kit, we found it traveled to a different volunteer’s house back in Houston. During Thanksgiving, he accidentally sliced his hand pretty seriously while sharpening the knife in preparation for carving a turkey. Hmm.. wonder if they still ate Turkey? He owned several first aid kits at his house and for his own travels, but needed a few extra items out of mine as well. Again, the kit came in handy. Mr. Turkey Carver has since had surgery on his hand to repair some of the damage to his cut (giving you an idea of the severity). We quickly compared notes on what worked and what was missing in our kits.

Gauze patches with a slick-no stick cover slide and are a pretty useless. They slide when wet from sweat, moisture, or especially with an unusual amount of blood. Ick! (stuff that visual back down in my brain) Cloth tape works almost better than duct tape. It sticks to just about anything. Steri-strips and butterfly closures need a clean surface, but will then stick and hold. The other item that might have been helpful would be one of the new emergency coagulants such as Celox. Does all this sound like overkill? Maybe, but ask the people who received relief during an endurance event, and the home emergency that we think will never happen to us. Or even more likely, most of us know we need a first aid kit, may even have one, but plan on getting around to adding to it and organizing it better “some day” maybe.

Sure, calling 911 or going to the Dr. is the ultimate answer. But, what we do in the interim can make a difference on how quickly someone recovers, how much damage and just plain basic comfort. Do you have an emergency first aid kit in your house beyond a few band-aids and Hydrogen Peroxide? Is there one in your car? at work? do you travel with your own kit? How about a power outage during a storm when you or your neighbor is injured and the emergency medical personnel are slow to respond due to emergencies all over the city. What would you need?

The basic lost and now found (on it’s way back to me when Mr. Turkey Carver recovers) kit measured only about 4 x 6 in a pouch, but included basic things like antibiotic creams, burn creams, extra pairs of gloves to deal with blood, various tape, bandages, and strips for wound closure and management, scissors to easily cut tape. It packs lightly and any medications such as advil or antihistamines were kept up to date. I have a larger home kit, but they even seem unwieldy in most cases. Adventure Medical makes some of the most comprehensive kits for their size I have seen. If you want to get started making your own check out Adventure Medical or Chinook Medical for a strong basic kit, then add items you might need for your particular activities.

Let me know what is in your kit. What have you found worked or didn’t? I knew the scissors in my kit would be helpful, but never thought that a person trying to help themselves with a hand injury would need them so seriously. Think about trying to tear your own gauze or tape with one hand and teeth? It could be done, but having the correct tools made the job easier.

Most of all stay safe and learn basic first aid before you need it!

To use freeze dried foods, you can eat in this state as a snack in the example of fruits. Toss some freeze dried strawberries on your cereal or keep a handful nearby as a natural healthy alternative for the afternoon blahs. Rehydrate others such as onions and other vegetables to use as you would in normal cooking recipes. Once rehydrated, the food returns to it’s normal size and shape with little or no loss to the original texture. My favorite vendor for freeze dried food is Honeyville Grain and Food Products who only charge a one-rate shipping fee. That seriously makes this a economical bulk purchase for those trying to be frugal.

PacSafe uses an Exo-mesh technology they have developed to protect luggage and travelers. I will be getting a few of the motorcycle accessories as well as a new improved version of document and money belt/purse. I have alway been a little concerned my helmet lock was easy to defeat. Their purses, belts and other products all sport a wrapped stainless steel cable to prevent slashing or being slipped from your notice.

The best way to describe the main product, the PacSafe, is a mesh of high-tensile stainless steel cabling that you wrap around your belongings while out of your sight. This net protects your backpack or bag while be transported on top of a bus, in a cargo bin, or locked to a street pole while you venture quickly into a shop. If traveling and staying in hostels or similar establishments, this would be worth the very reasonable price. Various sizes and other travel accessories make their site worth visiting.