We actually have an additional area with storm prep materials that they didn't include in the final piece, given the time limitations, I understand why. We have 12 10' furring strips stowed in between the floor joists of the basement in my workshop - these were added after the tree hit.

They also didn't show:

- Out in the shed are 25 gallons of gasoline (5x5gallon cans) - I rotate these 1x can a month - the oldest (front of the line) goes into my car's tank, I then drive it to the gas station, fill the can and my car, come home and put that can to the back of the line. I do this with the 87 octane gas supply (generator), I also have a 7.5 gallon (5 plain, 2.5 Oil Mixed) supply of 92 Octane for my chainsaws, leaf blower and weed whacker, all of which are Stihl brand and require 92 Octane for Warranty.

- In the closet, not seen in the video, are 2 new chains for the chain saws (one for each of the two saws I have), as well as spare spark plugs for each and spare bars for each.

They also didn't look at the backup-backup power system for the sump pump (71 Amp/Hour AGM Battery & 2000w Inverter, this was in place before - and needed during - the Sandy incident.

Additionally, post Sandy, the phone lines were down for weeks. I got tired of waiting, and finally got rid of our landline wired phone, replacing it with the Home Phone Connect Device . This is a small device, about the size of two blocks of cream cheese side by side, and inside it is a tiny cellular phone, a dialtone and ring-current generator and a few other things, and it replaces your wired landline. It connects to the existing in-home phone wiring, all of the home phones work just the same as before (you hear a dial tone, the phones ring, you dial numbers as normal), but the "backhaul" to the central office is via cellular.


They also edited out some of the stuff about "Storm Cash" - without going into specifics, I did tell them that, as expected, with the telecom infrastructure out of commission, most local stores that could open, opened "cash only" for people they didn't know and trust. I mentioned that we are "ready to get what we need - like gas for the generator - without credit cards" and left it at that. Storm Cash can be very important, managing how you store it is up to you, all I can say is that it's exactly the same as the bottle of bleach in my supply closet - you don't touch it until you actually need it because you can't physically go get some more.

I'm glad that the Red Cross reached out - and I have to say that many of my neighbors up here are at the same prep level as me - and certainly we were all glad for it in hurricane Irene, Superstorm Sandy and a host of other long-duration power outages we've had over the years I've lived here.