A Prepared Bear

After hearing about Superstorm Sandy and the havoc that it caused on the East Coast, Sandy began to wonder about our own emergency preparedness. After all, the West Coast is prone to earthquakes and windstorms and power outages. So he asked Mama what she had in the way of emergency supplies...

Mama happily reported that she had a one-person basic emergency preparedness kit which she kept in her truck, along with a big first aid kit.

Sandy decided that he should take an inventory of the emergency kit and see if there were enough supplies for one person and a little bear!

Oh very good... two mini rolls of "personal tissue" - also known as toilet paper! One for Sandy and one for Mama! Hmmmm....

Rummage, rummage... dig, dig...

Oh... here we have an emergency blanket. One of those space age metal ones that are supposed to be good for all sorts of things. Sandy figures he could snuggle under a corner of that, so one should be enough.

And what is this big blue package? It is beary heavy!! This is a vacuum sealed package of emergency rations - enough for one person for three days... Of course it would probably slide down better if there was some honey to go with it!

And then we have several foil packets of emergency drinking water... enough for one person... and a little bear as long as he doesn't drink too much!

Oh, and there is something way down at the bottom... what could it be...

Ah! Emergency light sticks! Each stick is good for 12 hours once it has been unwrapped and snapped to activate it. Although Sandy thinks it would still be good to have matches along!

Surveying all of the supplies, Sandy takes a look at the food and water packets to see if they have an expiry date... (Mama starts to whistle nervously...)

The numbers are beary small but it looks like the manufacturing date was March 1994 and the expiry date is March 1999...

And the same with the water... (Mama starts to shuffle her feet and cough nervously)

Sandy is not impressed!! He stares at Mama with a beary disapproving stare (as only a little bear can). Mama nervously mutters that she has been meaning to restock the emergency kit for a while... for the last 13 years in fact! It turns out that the emergency food rations lose their nutritional value after 5 years (or more).... and the water ends up tasting like foil packets...

Sandy squeezes a promise out of Mama that she will update these supplies tout-suite (super quick!). Do you have an emergency kit?? That's up to date??