Food/Water Safety During & After Emergencies

FOOD SAFETY DURING AN EMERGENCY Did you know that a flood, fire, national disaster, or the loss of power from high winds, snow, or ice could jeopardize the safety of your food? Knowing how to determine if food is safe and how to keep food safe will help minimize the potential loss of food and […]

In Its Path

One of my least favorite memories of the USS San Francisco was the stop we made in Guam in 1982. In an earlier blog, I talked about the first part of the visit where the wives came to visit. But in the middle of the stay, two things happened that made it a very bad […]

Agnes, How Could You?

Fate is a funny thing. You just never know when it’s going to kick in. June 15, 1972, was my ship out day to go to Great Lakes recruit Training Command. Graduation had only been a short period before that date, and I was very busy for those few days tying up loose ends before […]

The Right Stuff

“Seaman Schmuckatelly, what in heaven’s name do you have there?” “It’s my emergency box, sir!” he says proudly as he places the large, overflowing cardboard box on the deck. “Emergency box?” “Yes Warrant, the Chief told us we might be in for a storm and we should check our gear and be ready.” “Are you […]

Update 4 on Hurricane Irene

http://blog.fema.gov/2011/08/irene-update-4-those-along-east-coast.html Irene Update 4: Those Along East Coast Should Be Ready Last minute Planning: While its better to be prepared well in advance, it’s still not too late to review ready.gov and see how well prepared you are if the worst comes to pass.

“May the Power protect you.”

Zordon’s last words: “Andros, listen to me. It is your duty as a Power Ranger to save the universe. Now is the time.” One of those quirky moments in my post retirement career as a highly paid consultant (insert laughter here) was an assignment in southern California giving a maintenance training session to some operators […]

Are you ready? Are you sure?

Preparing after a Disaster strikes is like trying to learn how to swim after you find yourself in the middle of the ocean with no life jacket With the recent storms in Florida and the south, I was reminded about another large storm and it’s impacts. We are praying for the folks in the South […]

Monkey See, Monkey Do

As I have gotten older, I have discovered that the words on pages seem to have grown smaller and less distinguishable. I was convinced for some time that this was a result of printing companies using cheaper and less effective ink and smaller letters to conserve costs. Kind of like the fast food restaurants are […]

Wouldn’t it be grand?

After years and years of following a path set by others, I have thought recently how nice it would be to finally have my say about everything that touches my life. Wouldn’t that be grand? It’s an old saying from my Grandmother’s age, but her definition and the one of today’s world would probably be […]

The Old Metal Box

We have moved 18 times in our thirty one years of being married and I moved quite a few times before that dating back to 1972. As far back as I can remember, I have kept two things with me in all of those moves. One is a tattered old World Atlas that I faithfully […]