After the disaster

So the fires are almost out, the floods are coming and where are we now? People are rushing to close the barn door after the horse has already escaped! Whoops, I’m showing my age. That’s an old saying which means that we don’t think something is going to happen until it does and then we try to fix it, instead of preparing for it to happen before it happens. I keep thinking about how we can let the people out there know that it is inevitable …. as long as we live in a desert like community and the weather offers the exact same contributing factors every year, how can we not prepare for what will one day most likely happen – a fire, a flood, a burglary.

 Get those precious pictures of the kids, grandkids, great-grandkids, etc. in a safe rated for fire. Get those cd disks or negatives, full of the years of memories into the proper safe so they will survive a fire. Putting them into a safe purchased from a box store or stationary outlet will not save them they are for the protection of paper which burns at 451 degrees. These safes will allow the interior of the safe to reach 350 degrees. Disks and negatives melt at about 200 degrees.

And they definitely will not keep the burglar out. If you put anything that a burglar would be happy to take to steal your identity into one of those safes, you are asking for trouble. Just think about it – you get in your car, you drive down to the nearest stationary outlet or big box store and you walk in. You pick out the safe you want, what you think will protect your valuables. You put it in the basket and you wheel it to the counter, pay for it and wheel it out to the car. You put it in the trunk, you take it home and carry it into the house. You put it in the closet, gather up all your valuables and put them inside. Everything’s safe, right?

You don’t bolt it down, you don’t make it hard for anyone who breaks into your house to pick it up and carry it out. Boy are they going to get a great holiday present when they open it up! Because of the nature of these safes small size, you wrap your valuables up in a nice neat package that a burglar can pick up and carry out.

And the saddest thing to me is that people out there always think “It won’t happen to me”. I was never a boyscout (since I’m a female) but I certainly agree with their catch phrase “Be Prepared”.