Water - got some?

I apologize to the readers for not posting for a while – life intrudes, I’m sure you understand.

I am a member of a small country church and we recently went through some major cleaning up and slight renovations. We have a refrigerator in which we store mostly soda/coke/pop (it’s called different things in different parts of the country). We used to buy it in 2-liter bottles and every time we’d empty one, I’d rinse it out, fill it with tap water and stash it in a closet, or under the sink, or – wherever. While doing so I would comment that everyone should do this at home, explain that we did this in another church I attended years ago and so on.

The reason we went through the big clean up was because we actually appointed a “Kitchen/food Committee” and the ladies wanted to make a good first impression. One of the things they did was throw out all of the water bottles I had stashed. To their credit, they asked if I wanted to take them home but I have enough at home and my protestations to keep them in the church fell on deaf ears. Next, they switched from 2-liter bottles of pop to cans. And they added a couple gallon jugs of apple juice.

A bit later, someone mentioned that if we kept our freezer full, it would run more efficiently (bear with me – we are almost there) so, as we emptied bottles of apple juice, the ladies would fill them up (no rinsing) and stash them in the freezer. They froze solid and I’m sure the freezer then ran more efficiently.

Last Saturday we had a men’s prayer breakfast. It was real cold outside. I got there early to find another man waiting with his son. In we went to get everything set up. Of course the most important thing was what? COFFEE! So I grab the carafe and move to the sink, turn the spigot and ....nothing. Ughh. I am a Coffee Person. I live on it. I require it to get started in the morning. (Yes, it is a part of our personal food storage program) This particular morning however, I had rolled out of bed, thrown on some duds and moved out smartly – coffee and donuts awaited me, right?

We have a lamp that we keep lit under our slightly exposed water pipe and when I checked on it, I noticed it was not under the pipe so I moved it back but this did not solve my problem. I needed water. Think Joe, think! I have 2-liter bottles of water in my vehicle – solid ice. I also have a half full metal canteen in there and the means to build fire to melt it – a lot of work for not a whole lot of gain. Then, BINGO! - it hit me. I removed the frozen apple juice container (full of water, remember?) and popped it in the microwave. Soon we had apple flavored water. Not perfect for true coffee connoisseurs, but at this point Joe just wanted a cup of Joe. About the time I filled the carafe with apfelwasser the light bulb had done its trick and the spigot started pouring out good water. Our coffee turned out okay afterall.

So, we once again are building up a small water supply in the closet at church. One of my goals is to store a decent amount of water there – perhaps a gallon per member. Not a lot – but more than most churches have I reckon. And a lot more than we currently have. Baby steps.

What’s the point of this little story? Preparations aren’t just for the end of the world or regional disasters. They are for everyday life.

Do you have water stored at home? Yes, you can drain your hotwater tank for useable water in an emergency. You can also use the water in the back tank of your toilet assuming you don’t put that blue stuff in there. Wouldn’t it be a whole lot easier to just have few (a bunch) of 2-liter bottles stashed in out of the way places? Sure it would.

Just rinse them out (no need for soap), fill them with tap water, and store in a dark place. It really is that simple.

Water – got some?

If you have any comments I’d love to hear them. If they really interest me, I may even post them. You can reach me at vikingservices@hotmail.com

Prepared Americans for a Strong America