Water, Water, Water

Laurie LongBlog

I was recently reading a newsletter and as it opened, the first headline was “Health News”.  It grabbed my attention so quickly that I thought I would share it in this blog. After traveling around, introducing My Life in a Box at workshops, and talking to so many people about emergency issues,  and building their Get Away Bag, I realize more and more … Read More

Is There Ever A Good Time To Prepare For Personal Losses?

Laurie LongBlog

My mother passed away January 23, 2013.  She had been failing for several years, but was still clear minded and enjoying life from her recliner and wheel chair.  I wrote the book My Life in a Box…a Life Organizer to help people through family emergencies and natural disasters and honestly thought that I would be able to go through her … Read More

Funeral Costs

Laurie LongBlog

Here are some examples of funeral costs in 2022 Professional & Administrative Services – Consulting with the family, and working with medical and government agencies to file documents. $3000.00 Body Transportation – From home or hospital to the funeral home. 395.00 Embalming  –  Note that embalming is not required by law but is necessary for an open casket viewing at … Read More

First Things First – Preparing for a Power Outage

Laurie LongBlog

If the power goes off for longer than an hour, and you cannot contact your power company. Make these preventative emergency decisions: Get a Radio: Locate a battery operated radio and go to the emergency channel. You will be informed if the problem is long term or short term, and you can keep up with the progress. Rechargeable batteries are … Read More

Procrastinating…We All Do It

Laurie LongBlog

To Procrastinate Procrastination: pro•cras•ti•na•tion Main Entry: pro•cras•ti•nate transitive senses : to put off intentionally and habitually. intransitive senses : to put off intentionally the doing of something that should be done. I have a very old dictionary that belonged to my Great Grandfather.  It weighs over 10 pounds and the pages are thin and yellowing.  However, the words in the … Read More

What to Buy, How Much, and Where?

Laurie LongBlog

I live in Central California.  We are known for our agriculture, and if you have ever eaten a raisin, it’s probably from around here.  All of that being said, Fresno is not known for it’s natural disasters.  No hurricane’s, tsunami’s, torrential rain, and we do have a substantial earthquake every 10 years, or so, but we do have fires!  Wild … Read More

Tornados

Laurie LongBlog

Growing up, it was an annual event in our home to watch the Wizard of Oz movie.  I was fascinated with the tornado and remember thinking how I might try to outrun one if I ever had the opportunity.  It was years before I realized that tornado’s were real and run rampant through our Country.  I also  realized that you … Read More

Family Vacation Preparedness

Laurie LongBlog

There is a common mind set that if we go on vacation everything will be great. Get out of town, away from our jobs, walk the beach, hike…disengage from the pressures of life. I totally agree! Relaxing is good and vacations can be wonderful, however we need to have the mind set that anything can happen on vacations and we … Read More

Senior Family Members and Emergencies

Laurie LongBlog

    For over 14 years I have been addressing emergencies, personal loss and natural disasters.  Yet, one of the areas of life that we will all face is that of getting old!    Many of us in our ’40’s, 50’s,     How prepared are we?  Do we have the right kind of insurance for ourselves, and do and 60’s are facing … Read More

A First Hand Story of the Midwest Ice Storms

Laurie LongBlog

This is a guest post by my friend Janet Wendland who lives in Kansas and had first hand experience with enduring natural disasters. The weather in Kansas can be brutally extreme, from blizzards and subzero temperatures in winter to severe thunderstorms with damaging winds, hail and flooding in the summer. People living here are quite pragmatic about those events and … Read More