Since I’m in Florida, and we’re officially in the “storm season,” I’m very conscious of what I might need if a hurricane came through this area. I have been reviewing storm prep publications which provide checklists and I think I’m in pretty good shape.

I’d still like to look into the possibility of hurricane shutters or storm-rated windows in my dining room, master and guest bedrooms. (My great room already has hurricane rated windows so, until I get the upgrades, I could just close off those other areas and reside in the safe-window part of my condo.) I’m also considering getting a propane generator with wheels. Otherwise, I have most everything.

I could use more bottled water, but I’ve been washing out large plastic bottles and storing them in my garage freezer. Since the daily suggestion is three gallons per person, and they suggest a 3-5 day supply, I need quite a bit. I should also get more canned food and dog food, because I keep using what I buy. But I also have a lot of good frozen food which would stay frozen for a while.

If there’s ever a predicted storm, I’ll fill the bathtub in my guest bathroom with water for “flushing.” And maybe put pails of water in my master bath shower. (Reminder: Check to see if I have pails. If I don’t, buy plastic pails at Nearly New.)

I hope it never happens, but I want to be prepared. Actually in Sun City Center’s 50+ years of existence, it’s never directly hit this community. In 2017, a storm was predicted score a hit and then it veered easterly and only minor damage was inflicted on our area. But the prediction showed it could happen so I want to be ready.

If you go to my blog pages for September 2017 (to the right of this post under the “Archives” heading), you can scroll down to September 7, 2017 entitled, “Praying for friends in Florida,” and then after you read that post, read through the later posts to September 12th to see what happened when Irma went through our area.

I might buy a small propane camp stove for cooking but my grill would also work. (I would need to be able to make my coffee, even if it’s instant which I have in reserve.)

I’d need to move the deck furniture. My deck is an open area with only a roof. I’d move the furniture from the deck to my screen-enclosed lanai and stack the screened lanai furniture against the block wall. I think that would keep things from blowing around. Actually I could move the long lounge chairs from the patio to my great room (instead of the screened lanai) but that would probably bring in small critters because they crawl up into those chairs and would come inside with them. They wouldn’t hurt anything, but I’d rather not have geckos in my greatroom.

I do need to always keep my golf cart charged, my gas tank filled, and maybe fill the extra propane tank in the garage. I might even get some water purification tablets in case I need to use “questionable” water.

My radio has a hand crank on it so it’ll work with a little labor. I have a large battery intended to be used to charge cellphones, etc. As long as my smart phone is charged, I’d have communication but I need to keep everything that is battery operated at full charge status. I’d want to pre-charge my camera batteries, my computers (x 2) and my Kindle. (And yes, I can recharge my Kindle reader from that large battery.) Even if I lost power for a week, I could easily get by.

I love it here and I understand the risks from a hurricane, but I purchased flood insurance and I think I’m set.