Preparedness and spouses (sigh!)

Big storm yesterday woke me up; power went out twice while I was awake, but only for a few minutes each time. Later on, hubby told me power had gone out for about 15 minutes while I was napping, and came back on right as he was about to light the lantern. Amusing chuckle.

The sun actually came out before sunset, and all was quiet after dark. Then for no weather reason whatsoever, our power went out. I waited a few minutes to see if it would return, and when it didn't, I used the flashlight to find the other flashlight, and lit the one lantern that was out, as well as a huge candle with four wicks I bought on sale after Ike.

Then I stepped out the back door to see if the neighbors we share the transformer with had their backyard floodlight on, and if the back-fence neighbors' TVs were glowing through their windows. No lights, but the rest of the neighborhood had plenty of lights.

So I go back in and call the power company while trying to light the other lantern. The fuel looked a bit low, and the wick barely caught, but fizzled out while I was going through the power company's voice menu. After I'd given the information to the power company, they said it had already been called in, and would hopefully be restored by sunup.

Uh oh, that's many hours away, I better top off this lantern to make sure there's enough light for hubby in case he woke up to use the bathroom. So off to the prep storage area I go to get the kerosene -- it's not there!

I looked in a few other places where it could have been, and no kerosene to be found, despite hubby saying we had enough to last us through until fall (when I called him last month doing early hurricane preps to avoid the desperate panic rush with empty shelves).

I decide to buy ice since I'd bought quite a bit of fresh meat last shopping trip, and put the lantern that was lit, and the candle in a safe place, with a flashlight next to each one just in case hubby woke up while I was out.

I wasn't gone that long, but the porch light was on when I returned, and I found hubby awake, but just barely. I put out the lantern and candle, and put them up while telling him about not being able to light the other lantern because it was low on kerosene, and the kerosene wasn't in the prep storage area. Oh, he'd put it in his mess of a garage.

Well isn't that helpful?! I had planned on moving the storage prep from the kitchen to our central hall anyway, so now's a good time to start, so I can see what else isn't there anymore. And he wonders why I stash stuff LOL

Help: Prescriptions, hurricanes, and insurance

Backstory: Hubby started on prescription drugs about 1 1/2 years ago, and we're still learning all the ins and outs involved with it. We were both very relieved that I remembered to call in his prescription for refill once they determined that we were in Hurricane Ike's 2-3 cone, and was able to have another month's supply of his medicine. It could have been really close to running out because of how long it took to get power back up in the SE part of Houston.

A short time ago, his dosage was increased, but the PA didn't call it into the pharmacy -- she just instructed him to double his dosage. So he ran low quicker than usual, and I called it in for a refill. But CVS wouldn't fill the prescription, because according to their records, it was too soon for him to be needing more medication. I had to call the doctor's office, and the nurse called in the new prescription to CVS, who filled it right away since they knew what was going on.

Looking back, I wonder if the reason we were allowed to order his medication before Hurricane Ike was because of the hurricane, or maybe he was nearing the end of that month's supply (too long ago to remember).

Questions: What if a hurricane is going to strike about two weeks into a prescription? Will we having problems filling the next month's prescription ahead of time?

• Maybe this is a CVS only policy.
• Maybe it has something to do with insurance not paying unless the medication falls within a certain time period.
• Maybe there's a hurricane provision that cancels out whatever the reason is that doesn't allow pre-ordering during normal times?

If someone reading this has any experience with this, or knows how to handle this potential problem, please let me know. Thanks!

Raised bed garden started

Big trash is coming up, and neighbors are putting out stuff that got ruined the the floods a few weeks ago (we were the only ones on the dead-end block to not get water in the house). I saw a wooden bookshelf, so it popped into my head that would be easier than building a raised-bed garden with scavenged boards. I grabbed the dolly and wheeled it into the backyard.

I put it near the clothesline in a place that gets sun almost from sunup to sundown. I poured two bags of potting soil I had on hand, and put in the better boy tomato and poblano pepper plants that are growing in some kind of organic planter that will disinigrate as the plants grow. I have a few tomatoes from last year that survived our somewhat mild winter, but they're very leggy, so I'll have to lookup how to propagate or air layer them. One of them has a flower though, so maybe it's too late?

The Chayas won't go in the raised bookshelf garden though, since they're perennials and will grow fairly tall. Hubby still hasn't told me where he'll "accept" one of them, but one place has been approved at least: corner of the front yard between the giant oak and house. The seller said they do better in partial shade in Houston. He said they're from the Yucatan; I guess they're cooler there than here, maybe because of the seabreeze or elevation?

The other bags of potting soil I had are in the back of the truck, so I couldn't get to them until hubby got home, and it was hot then. But it's cooling off now, so I'm going to put those into the first shelf so I can plant the Asian Yard Long beans (yum!)

Bunnies update

It's a bit warm today, but the baby bunnies are still in their box with shredded newspaper and mama-fur. Hubby said they were out yesterday, but he thinks mama flipped the box. I weighted it down with half a brick, but I guess she's stronger than that.

Their fur has filled in; there's two light red bunnies, and one gray and white bunny. One of the red bunnies has a white start on their head, so we can tell them all apart easily. Hubby hasn't sexed them yet, but if the starred bunny is female, he'll probably name her Star. He named one of the kitties Smokey. I need to reinstall Bluetooth on this computer, so I can transfer my photos to hubby's phone, so he can transfer them to the computer (my phone and computer "recognize" each other, but won't transfer, grrrr). ATT tech-support had me uninstall all networks except theirs when our internet went down. Hubby installed Bluetooth the first time; I dread it, but want my baby critter photos on the pc, so I don't have much choice.

Freaky Dreams: Painful Halloween

It's been quite a while since I had a freaky dream, but I had a doozy last night:

Hubby brought someone home from his work; I don't know who it was, or why he brought them home. I just know he woke me up from napping on the couch to tell me he brought someone home. We all went into the kitchen to see a dog -- I don't know how it got there -- hubby and coworker didn't seem surprised the dog, but I was. The dog was missing chunks of flesh that had been replaced by electronic circuitry (think Borg).

There were lots of fancy, expensive boxes and bags of candy on the dining table that the dog was trying to get into when the doorbell rang; it was trick-or-treaters (in April!). I handed out some fancy candies and they left, but I saw more trick-or-treaters down the street and figured word would get out that we were giving fancy candies, so I started to move the candies from the kitchen area to the front door area so circuitry dog wouldn't get into them.

That's when things started getting weird.

There were lots of people in our house now. They were helping themselves to the candies, as well as drinks from the kitchen, and using our bathroom. I didn't know if hubby or coworker had let them in, so I went looking for one of them to ask.

One of the unexpected guests grabbed me, and kissed me. A woman! The next thing I knew I had pushed her away by gouging one of her pressure points, and went into defensive stance. She tossed her head back, laughing, and said: "Well, she's in defensive mode now". But she didn't make any more moves on me.

I was livid! I went to find hubby or coworker to find out who had let these people in our home, and get their help to get everyone to leave. I entered the back bedroom to find a homeless man wandering around looking for the many critters in there. There were a few pet birds and some small critters people keep as caged pets, all wandering freely in my back room!

I became more angry, and was about to tell the homeless man to gather his critters and get out now, when his pet spider I hadn't seen crawled on my hand and begin biting me repeatedly -- the bites hurt bad. I woke up after about the third or fourth bite because I was hollering. Once I was aware that I was actually awake, I thought I had really been bitten while I was asleep, and looked at my hand for bitemarks. Nothing, and the pain totally disappeared too! There's still no marks on my hand hours later.

I had no idea dreams could make us hurt when we weren't actually being hurt in reality.

Storage order

My order for Walton Feed supplies:

• Pak-Main Course Pack


• Pak-Imitation Trial Pack (various TVPs)


• Pak-Soup Starter Pack


• Pak-Fruit Pack


• Mountain House 72 hour meal kit


• Case of MREs


• #10 Whole dried eggs


• #10 Butter powder


• #10 Non-fat milk


• #10 Sample Pack


• #10 Garden seeds


• 2 Blue 55 gallon water barrels


• 1 spigot


• 1 pump


• Aquamira water filter


• Aquamira replacement filter


• Wonder Junior Deluxe wheat grinder

Adding these items to my canned goods, dried beans, rice, powdered milk (grocery store), pastas, and 100 lbs wheat should be enough to get the two of us through a hurricane or quarantine, even if we have to feed others. I wish I was a better gardener, but I can still grow some food. I don't kill too many perennials at least, so there's hope for the Chaya and Chayote. And there's always Nopales, if I ever learn to make it so hubby will eat it 8^)

Perennial Vegetables - starting out

I now have three Chaya trees, aka Tree Spinach. I paid for two, and he gave me a smaller one, along with some picked leaves to cook (which I haven't done yet). He told me that theirs do better in partial shade, probably because of Houston's heat. Hubby's particular where I plant permanent things, I guess because he doesn't like to mow around things in tight places. So I'll let him pick where we'll plant them so I won't hear about it later on.

Although I've read about some Chaya varieties not having the stinging hairs, the ones I bought do have them. The seller showed me a few; they're on the leaf stems. He showed me how to pinch off a leaf without touching much of the stem. He also explained that if they touch the stinging hairs on the stems, they mostly just itch a few minutes, and don't get a rash. But I showed hubby how to pinch off the leaves just in case, so I won't hear about it later on LOL

The seller also explained how easy Chaya is to propagate. His family just puts the woody sticks in soil; they don't put a plastic covering over it, and still gets 50% rooting. He says they put two sticks in each pot to make sure they'll get at least one Chaya.

The seller, as well as Wikipedia article say they'll grow fast, so I'm looking forward to propagating more for family, friends, or neighbors, whoever wants them. We've noticed the next-door neighbors having more and more edibles planted (her father brings them; he's nice and always offers us food when they're grilling), and they're Mexican, so I bet they might want some. They already have a few peppers, nopales, and some kind of sturdy fruit tree/shrub (the girls can't remember what they're called in English); they survived Hurricane Ike, and the three floods from the last few weeks. So I'm thinking of giving them the smaller tree I got for free the next time I see the Grandfather next door, since we know he's the one wanting his kids and grandkids having edibles and is pushy that they get planted. My across-the-street neighbors are into fruit trees, so maybe he'll want one also.

My chayote, aka choto has sprouted and needs planting too. Since it's an aggressive perennial vine, I've chosen the backside of the boat shed converted to a bunny shed in the back corner of our yard that.Hopefully it'll smother the wysteria and honeysuckle I'm constantly having to hack down (and people in cooler regions actually desire our weeds ROFL). The rabbits could use the shade too. I read that they don't like standing water, so I'm going to have to build up the soil with some bricks we have, since we flood with the heavier rains.

All parts of the chayote are edible, so it would be a great sustainable/preparedness perennial to have should any disaster affecting food happen (hurricanes, animal-named influenza pandemics, depression).