I haven't really discussed the swine flu here much (if at all). The thing is I kinda felt like it was getting enough attention already. I did toy with the idea of a post on decorating face masks, but, by the time I was getting around to that, the (real or perceived) threat to North America was dying down.
This morning an article about the media and people's reactions to the swine flu caught my attention. On Exurban, Inc., Ted Villa wrote:
"One of the most interesting things to me has been the reaction to the 'pandemic' as defined by the WHO on places like Twitter: skepticism, lack of concern, some outright mockery. Meanwhile, compare this to some of the reaction in the print and broadcast media where it seems it’s time to stock the water, rice and beans and line up for the Tamiflu vaccination."Good article. (And worth reading the rest of.)
But I'm wondering: what's wrong with stocking up on water and rice and beans? I mean, pandemic pandemonium aside, isn't it just generally a good idea to keep some of that stuff on hand just in case of...whatever?
I'll admit, we're not always so great about that emergency preparedness stuff around here. (My parents - good scouts who are very into Being Prepared - are cringing as they read this.) Maybe it has something to do with living in Phoenix. We don't have a lot of natural disasters here. No blizzards or hurricanes or earthquakes (if there's a biggie over in L.A. we might get a little swimming-pool-sloshing tremor, but those don't really count). So we tend to get a little lazy and put off filling the water bottles or stocking up on staples.
But hearing about how one of the world's biggest cities basically shut down because of a little teeny virus made me think. And, flu or no flu, I think we shouldn't be quite so reliant on being able to zip out to the store at any moment. You just never know.
So, we're gonna work on that. And I bet my dad could help us come up with a check list.
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Photos by me. Apple pie filling bottled by Mom, who is most likely ready for anything.
I want some of that apple pie filling. I've just recently branched out and tried some canning...
ReplyDeleteI should clarify: Mom did the apple pie filling. I haven't tried that yet.
ReplyDeleteHey thanks for quoting and linking to my post about the swine flu -- I just noticed the incoming link.
ReplyDeleteJust so we're all clear: I do have a pretty ample supply of rice in the basement (I bought a 20 lb bag of Basmati) but am sadly low on beans. I do believe a provisioning trip to Costco is in order, just because.
thanks again for reading, stop by any old time!