Insurance

Right now, a ferocious Nor'easter is bearing down on poor little us again, and they're saying it'll make the last one of three weeks ago look like a summer day. 'Member that last one? The one where I had dueling electric fires in my front yard for two and a half hours? Yeah. Good times. Can't wait for the sequel.

So, along the lines of ensuring that it won't rain by bringing your umbrella out with you, I have Taken Steps.

1. Every time a hurricane has threatened for the last three years, I have bought a gallon of water. No hurricanes have done serious damage to my general area during that time. I bought four gallons of water today.

2. During the last storm, about the time sparks were starting to rain down on my roof from the nearby transformer, I realized I had no idea where our cat carrier was, and it certainly looked like evacuation was imminent there for a while. So today I climbed over the piles of gardening equipment, wine bottles, random bits of lumber, and Matt's mountain bike to reach the furthest back corner of the shed where the carrier lurked. I then brought it inside the house, where it lies ready with a comfy lining of an old bath towel.

3. The last storm used up our supply of candles, so I went and got more. Two bags of a hundred each. I also bought a massive valu-Pak of heavy duty kitchen matches, and three kinds of batteries. I also see it as a good omen that I found a flashlight on the ground the other day, and it works.

Of course, all this back-up becomes less comforting every time I check the weather channel, and they've starting tossing around the word "blizzard" with alarming regularity.

But I have the ultimate secret weapon: I even bought honest-to-God renters' insurance after that last storm. And in my experience, bad things only happen to the uninsured.

So I'll toddle off and make some beefy stew, then let it simmer on the back burner and fill the house with its aromatic steam. If the lights go out, so be it.

At least I know I have the newest transformer on the block. So it should still be under warranty, right?