Hurricane Sandy passed by us last night. We didn't expect much more than rain and high winds, and that's exactly what we got. Power flickered throughout the neighbourhood but we didn't loose it for more than a few minutes at a time. It was little more more than a bad fall storm but we did learn a few things.

We were pretty confident with our supplies, bug-in and bug-out plans but, in a perfectly timed turn of events, our 9 year old came down with the stomach flu yesterday. He had a few bouts of vomiting overnight and this morning. Cleaning up puke sucks at the best of times but all I could think was how much worse it would have been had the power been out.

Lesson one - he normally has a flashlight in his room (we all have one bedside) but had taken it to the basement to play. Ditto the one he borrowed from our bedroom and his sister's room. There was only one working flashlight upstairs instead of four. That's being rectified today. (Lesson one A - get a big bucket for anyone with nausea so they can stay stationary rather than try to navigate through a dark house.)

Lesson two - we have lots of extra AAs and AAAs stored but forgot about the 6v lights. Those spotlights would have really helped in the clean-up had the power been out but they were all dead. We've go a bunch of oil lamps and candles but you just can't beat the convenience of a good LED. (Even the photon I edc around my neck let me down.) Batteries in emerg lights all get checked when we change the clocks every six months, along withe fire alarms and carbon monoxide detectors. We're still a week away from that so clearly we need to either buy better batteries or check them more frequently.

Lesson three - we had kid's gravol in the medicine cabinet but it was expired. Had to break into the family bob for more. Complete meds check happening today.

Lesson four - we've been slack on re-stocking the pantry with ready to eat meals and snacks. We've got lots of staples (dried, frozen and canned rice/pasta/beans/veggies/meat/etc.) and could probably survive a month or more with what we have on hand. I stock up with more every week, but most require cooking. We only had a few days of ready to eat food in the cupboards. We were out of the line of fire for this storm but might not be so lucky next time. Putting canned soups/stews/pastas/fruit/etc. and ready to eat snacks like granola bars back onto my weekly stock-up list to extend our non-cooking a little while longer. Especially with a sick kid to deal with, grab and go stuff will be so much more convenient.

Lesson five - there's not much propane left in the BBQ tank and the two extra ones are empty. If we needed to cook, we would have been stuck using our camp stoves. They're great but I'd prefer to keep them as back-ups for home cooking.

Lesson six - there was a potential for snow and ice. We have lots of road salt in the garage but it hasn't migrated out of it's summer hibernation spot yet. Time to rotate it back to the front of the garage for easy access, and move the summer gear to the back.

Lesson seven - we've done a good job around the neighbourhood of trimming the trees, but not so on clearing the leaves. The street sewers got covered a couple of times and we would have had the beginning of a flood had we got more rain. It's happened before so everyone on the street kept an eye out.

Lesson eight - some poor smucks (including my hubby) went out every few hours to clear those leaves from the gutters and they risked being hit by flying halloween decorations, hanging pots and recycling when we did. Some of my neighbours need to be reminded the those turns turn into projectiles in high wind and need to be moved into the garage.

Lesson nine - we still don't have a good solution for heating the house if the power goes out, other than extra clothes/blankets, food, warm drinks, pocket warmers, etc. We live in a townhouse and I'm leary about using the Coleman propane heater in the house. Researching installing a woodstove has been moved up the priority list.