I have only been popping in and out recently. We've had a few 'un-scheduled tests' on our emergency preparedness occur.

We came home after an overnight trip and arrived home late (for us). It was about 2130 hours (9:30 PM). We arrived to find our home at 88 degrees F. Now some may not find that too bad...but SW Florida is hot and humid. The house is usually 78-79 degrees. Our central air was broken. Fortunately it turned out to be a bad switch in the compressor. Ants got in between the contacts and prevented contact. That night however we decided to put up the little (and I mean little) window AC unit in the master bedroom. I really didn't think that this little Wal Mart special would really do much. Funny thing.....it cooled the MBR to 70 degrees. It took a bit to get there but it was good.

Fast foward....me at work....wife at home with the kids Friday afternoon...think 1630 hours (4:30 PM). Phone rings....honey the kids just went throught the living room window. Long story short.....few cuts and scrapes (not sutures needed...no butterfly strips needed either). Left work. Got home to find the lower window broken. Not wanting to get shafted on an emergency call to repair it, we boarded it up with the plywood and taped it to seal the drafts. Then closed the hurricane accordian shutters for security. This allowed us to go to the Kennedy Space Center for the STS 124 launch the next day.

There were other things but we've blocked them from our memories. We do remember that all of our plans worked just fine. A little discomfort but they worked fine. Now lets just hope we don't need to really use them...though it is nice to know we can.

"...the kids just went throught the living room window..."

The KIDS (as in plural?) went thru the window? That has gotta be one great story. Glad they survived pretty well. And happy to see that you apparently had plywood and tape on hand...

Ah yes... the window story (sliding door?) My uncle ran through a glass door in his teens, has some nice scars to show for it. In a weird twist of irony, his daughter was at my house about 10 years back (at roughly his age) and ran straight into OUR glass door... fortunately she wasn't running, but rather had just started to move, but it was funny, and even a bit of "bad juju" that the scenario would almost play out identically.

Glad things went well. Bet the shuttle launch was AMAZING. On my To-Do list.

Nothing like being prepared to keep a small crisis from becoming a huge one.

DO IT - been to one, unfortunately on 39B, not A, so instead of being 4 miles, I was 8. The sound was not nearly as impressive as I was told it would be. The strange part - 8 miles - 5 seconds/mile - 40 seconds - at 40 seconds - the shuttle is GONE - something like 70 miles-80 miles downrange - and THEN you hear the launch

Lost a couple of pints to such a scenario--glad the kiddos are OK.

Note to self: if window stuck, do not force.

Deja Vu all over again...

Now that I have a few minutes I can elaborate the 'kids through the window' part....horsing around.....closed vertical blinds (thank goodness).....both went 'into' the blinds which went into the window. Fortunately the blinds covered the worst of the glass breakage and did most of the protecting from the glass at the same time......Still cuts and scrapes all around.....basically all were fine.....knowing that they were horsing around, I was furious.....all the way home screaming 'at' them (in the car with no one around)...the brain got the better part of the 'emotions' under control and when I arrived (vocally hoarse) I was much calmer.....As I walked in the door, after confirming there were no REAL BIG problems (medically or safety) I just looked at them.....They KNEW what they did......all I asked was, "Did you LEARN ???" Nods and uh huh's......They won't be doing THAT again.

It'll be something different next time. Probably the same window. They'll probably just say something like...."But we didn't do ...... this time." Oh well. Just glad all were safe.

Glad they survived. Plate glass can be deadly at times...

"closed vertical blinds (thank goodness).....both went 'into' the blinds which went into the window. Fortunately the blinds covered the worst of the glass breakage and did most of the protecting from the glass at the same time"

Glad the kids survived. Note that they have made an important and historical discovery: vertical blinds are good for something.

Reminds me to put plexiglass in the back storm door. My kids are always racing through the house and slamming their hands on the glass to open the door; and I've actually seen someone else's child slice open his arm to the bone on another storm door, doing the same thing. Not the kind of lesson I want my kids learning experientially.