I recently asked a fellow-blogger what I should do because I can’t seem to find enough interesting content to keep up with my blog on a weekly basis. Her response was that I should write about life in Okinawa. It could be related to being a military spouse, running in Japan, or working overseas. Little did I know that I would take her up on the idea for my next blog. This post will be short and sweet because I am currently doing a little more typhoon prep.
For those of you who don’t know me, I am a military spouse, currently living in Okinawa, and because I go home in the summers to work my real estate and networking marketing businesses, I have only been through a couple of typhoons. I am still trying to figure out the preparation process.
I got tricked last week into thinking that I didn’t need to prepare for the small storm we had, so I had nothing in place when we lost water and almost experienced flooding. Within a week, a much larger storm is expected to blow by our small island, so this time I am prepared. I am one of those people who likes to do a little over a period of days, so that I am not frantic, and so that I don’t feel rushed. The great thing about storms like this is that you usually have perfect weather leading up to the storm, and we did in fact, have perfect weather.
Some of the things that I wanted to make sure we had in place included WATER. We drink a lot of water, and we use it to prepare our meal-replacement shakes. We need water for our dog, and if we lose water again, we will need it to rinse off our bodies. I purchased water. I filled up containers of water for our dog, Gus, and I filled up our tub. I cleaned and cleaned the tub, but I am not sure if I would actually use it to drink. However, it can be used for bathing and to flush toilets. It could also be boiled if we get desperate. Boiling can be done on the grill that has a propane tank or our gas-stovetop.
Another thing that I wanted was to have sandbags placed in front of my side door, which is the one that almost flooded last week, and I wanted them in front of the house because high-tide and the heaviest rain will be at the same time. Our front door faces the beach. I don’t anticipate needing either sets of sand bags, but they were essentially free, and the peace of mind is worth it!
Important documents have been placed in a backpack. Each of us owns a folder with our important paperwork (to include the dog), and all three folders are in 1 bag. Once again, I don’t anticipate evacuating, but I also don’t want to scramble and to be looking for them should we face an emergency evacuation.
We have flashlights, candles, batteries, and battery packs for our cell phones (in case we lose power). We also brought in my favorite plants, our paddleboard, and tied down the kayaks. Our cars each have full tanks of gas, and we have plenty of non-perishable food. We are ready.
The great thing about Okinawa is that this island has been built to withstand storms. I know that we will be safe because we can hunker down in our safe, concrete home. We may be inconvenienced should we lose power or water, but we are prepared this time. In some ways, I am grateful for the last little storm because it was a good wake up call for me to be ready for this one.
Monday Morning with Mona 