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.