Today's update: BEFORE they planned or ran the Electrical wire in the house, WE planned EVERY three-way switch, switched wall-plates, dimmers, where EVERYTHING would go, and most importantly: Which Circuits To Put On The Generator. With good GW counsel, we planned for a 20kv - a little more than we needed, but better have more than not enough, right? Especially with a small price diff between the 17 & the 20. DH gets out there, and finds they ordered, installed, connected, tested, certified & passed a 17kv. WHY?? Builder " oh. " AND, the items on the generator are TOTALLY RANDOM. If there is ANY overlap between what we planned, and what they did, it is complete coincidence. Front Door: They have fired the painters, and the cleaning crew (painter's wife & friends). Painter went on vacation (I had to look up the definition of what that actually IS, a "vacation") & left his somebody in charge.... and they left without coming to our lot for their work today. Someone on the cleaning crew was having a nervous breakdown, so they didn't show up. Check \- both Teams gone. We'd heard about the 'cleaning crew', and already left bilingual notes all over the house. TIP \- try www.freetranslation.com. They will convert ANYTHING you want into understandable destination language. Every 12 inches on every granite surface we put "Utilice Solo Agua" out of fear that they would screw up the sealer on the stone. Or stand on my Island. Or bleach the colorant out of the colored grout. Or any of the other things I'd already heard from other neighbors. Aside from all this, the Estimator has some great idea for some type of something that will alter the color on the door without having to order a new one. DAVE \- IF YOU ARE READING THIS \- LESS STUFF WILL BE SCREWED UP IF YOU WOULD JUST ORDER A NEW FRONT DOOR WITH SIDE\-LIGHTS. Measure the amount of Time that Whomever will be doing this, per hour, + cost, add deductions, and just figure it out. Be sure to matrix into that whatever you are docking the painter for these issues. SEE? That is called "ROI" calculations. Actually for the PMP, I think it is called something else, but you get the point. I haven't been to the house in almost a week \- I can't take it \- but I have been to the ABC store twice now. \*sigh\* And the packing is being done in an orderly fashion. Now it is 4:45, Gov't closed @ 4, and I haven't heard anything about the CO which needed to be obtained today, so the whomever has time for whatever so we can close in 48 hours. Anyone want to wager?

i always keep frozen empty 2L pop bottles in my small chest freezer to move to a cooler that lasts 5 days. i also keep atleast 1 bag of ice in there too. we use a power inverter for outages less than 3 days, it's not worth the time & $$ to drag out the huge portable generator. if you do have a generator, everyone w/in 100 mi of a coastline should, use only 10 gauge extension cords to lessen the effect on large appliances which operate on a different oscillating wave pattern of electricity (constant back up generators use correct wave) and sustain damage over time on generators. always have a small window A/C on hand for generators, starting & stopping your house A/C while refilling the generator every 4 hours can take a toll on it. you can buy a battery operated air pump for freshwater fish tanks, wish i'd had one in 04' when i lost all the fish in a 75gal tank :-( salt tanks must be on generators. if you board up windows, we still have custom cut 5/8" plywood, you can piant the side facing in white w clouds and something cheerful LOL. we stayed boarded up for 20 days in 04 thou you should not do that for fire hazard reasons, we didn't have time to re-do it every 2 weeks. make sure EVERYTHING in your house had been cleaned ahead of time, once you are w/out power for more than a week & it's 120 inside you will appreciate it LOL! bathe pets ahead of time. stock up on paper plates, plastic cups & silverware who wants to do alot of dishes in 120 heat! we keep 2 tanks of propane for the grill at all times. trim trees ahead, cut grass 2 days ahead, loose clippings will be plastered on your house if you wait too late. most importantly cook & bake a bunch of food ahead...no one wants to waste time cooking in the immediate few days afterwards. it is nice to have food ready too after doing alot of repair & clean up work! + you will need it to bribe linesmen coming thru your neighborhood! it's true LOL! ~ liz

Although I'm not in total agreement with some of the things stated, the basic concept is very sound. Keeping a list of important information is important. Don't forget any professional, including accountants, attorneys, and others unique to your situation. You should have a copy of your address book included. Hopefully you have emergency numbers for utilities in there too. That should include most important names and numbers in one area, including doctor, dentist, all utilities, local city/state numbers, health, life, car/home insurance policy numbers, agents names, credit card, mortgage and other creditors numbers and reference numbers, emergency contact numbers, First Call For Help type numbers, etc. Print it out in a text form. I prefer text or rich text (.RTF) format to .PDF (portable document format) since you need a PDF reader to read .PDFs and virtually any word processor will open .RTF and Notepad will open .TXT files plus its easier to edit as you need to add and delete information. But the choice is yours. Even in a safe it's a good idea to put things into heavy duty plastic bags to protect from moisture, not just floods but mildew and mold too. Important documents can easily be laminated and small cards can be laminated using everyday box sealing tape. Many counties allow you to file your Will with them and that's a great thing to do. And execute multiple copies of your Will and leave executed copies with trusted people and make sure people know who has them. This can be but doesn't have to be an attorney. Off site storage of documents is important but it's also a good idea to have important keys and things kept offsite. You could share a safe with someone who lives across town. You keep a bag of their stuff and they keep a bag of yours. Don't forget important prescriptions & medications. An extra set of eyeglasses (even old ones are better than nothing) or a magnifying glass if you need visual assistance is important if you have an emergency. One last reminder as you gather information: Don't forget pets! Vaccination records are incredibly important if in a crisis a beloved pet should bite or scratch someone. minnie_tx, you have contributed to several threads on emergency preparedness and I want to commend you for that. It's something that needs to be brought up often, not just for new people but as a reminder to us all to UPDATE this information. Just as I harp on people that having an antivirus on your computer is of little value if you don't update it, outdated info is of little value too. Has anyone backed up their computer(s) lately? I DID!! About a week ago. Got a new backup drive (6 months ago) and finally got around to doing a backup. Then I cleaned up the system and solved some problems. Feels good to accomplish something. But now I have to get my Will updated. Been working on it but got to finish it. You never know when your time will come and after seeing several estates turn into fiascos, I really want to have SOME say in how my piddly estate will be handled. But I digress.

Sandie-Thanks for the info-paintshop seems to a well thought of product from what I hear. Fran -the black box is a wonderful idea!! I will give that a go. I have Digital Image Suite 10 (bought on impulse)but the instruction book was so complicated I didnt even give it a go!! I will when I get a quiet moment. I think the black background brings out all the colour of the roses. Sandie your pics on black are outstanding. cheers Michelle