Could you do it?

For those of you that don't know, my parents live about an hour and a half north of Houston. They came to the metroplex last Thursday for a planned visit. It just also happened to be the weekend that Ike came to town. We watched the weather channel all weekend and talked about the what ifs of possible damage to their house. Thankfully, they did not have any damage to the house. But their surroundings have changed.

So many people have evacuated from Houston and Galveston to their area. All of the shelters are full. Mom said that everyone looks totally beaten down. They drove home last Sunday and stopped at Walmart to grab a few things. There was nothing to be had. Literally. The produce and dairy departments were completely bare. This 24 hour store was announcing that they were going to close at 10 pm so that they could restock. Mom says that thing have not improved much this week. The surrounding small towns to the east and south so not have any power. They are being told it will be mid October before they will have power. Without power, they can not get gas in their cars. So they fill up "in town". Kids can not go to school. They can't go to work to make any money to pay for the bills that are still accumulating.

How long can you live without power? I not talking about not having a/c, cable, internet, refrigeration. I am talking about literally camping in your house. Cooking what ever non-perishables you have on a gas grill in the back yard. If there is even anything to cook. Best case scenario, you have running water. You can bathe. But you can't dry your hair. You can pee by the light of a candle.

These are just the random thoughts in my head this week. I've always told Chad that I can't camp unless there is a flushing toilet. I guess I would learn right. I've been looking around the house to see what we could use and how we would manage. If nothing else, we have enough diet bars and peanut butter crackers to last a least a week.