5. PRESCRIPTIONS: Take your medications with you. Don't forget the ones that have to be refrigerated like insulin. Have a small ice chest and several of those blue freezer cold packs readily accessible to pack and go. If you have babies, remember their formula or medications.
6. PURSES: This is where the ladies keep their identification, credit cards, and cash. Men, know where the little lady usually sets her purse down so you could quickly lay your hands on it as you both rush around. Keep a stash of cash for emergencies and grab it. You may not be able to use an ATM in the event of a power outage. Divide the cash among the adults in case you get split up. I figure cash for fast food, trips to Walmart, and gas with a credit card for the motel and bigger restaurant meals. Cash instead of a credit card may get you a motel room if the card zappers are not working.
7. PROPER CLOTHES, COMFORT ITEMS, PERSONAL PRO-TECTION: According to the weather conditions, gather up a change of clothes along with outer clothing: coats, rain gear, boots, gloves and hats. Clothes for several days is even better, but don’t spend time color coor-dinating things. If it’s winter time and the power may be out, you’ll need extra layers of clothes to stay comfortably warm. If you have babies, grab those disposable diapers.
Remember to grab your children's favorite blanket, stuffed animal or toy. A game or a deck of cards could keep them occupied and a book for you to read would help while away the hours. Have an emergency bag of food and water for your family: dried fruit, nuts, trail mix, peanut butter, potted meat, crackers, and granola bars.
Many of us still have “that time of the month”. Be sure and grab a box of your preferred protection. It may be hard to find if you have been evacuated. Stress can cause our bodies to do strange things so be prepared. Take medication for cramps too.
8. PHONES and RADIOS: Many of us have cell phones now. Always keep them charged up and have a charger in the car or an extra battery. How about a list of phone numbers of family, friends, rabbit people, etc? They all are probably not saved in your phone address book. Maybe the easiest on this last group would be club membership lists? Cell phones may not work in certain areas or in the event of power outages, but then they might. If you can’t reach a family member, consider leaving a message with your ARBA District Director and tell family and friends to contact that person in case of a severe emergency. Know which local radio station has emergency bulletins. Keep your battery powered radio tuned to that local station and have plenty of batteries for it.
9. ANIMALS WITH YOU AND ANIMALS LEFT BEHIND: This is a tough one and one that you should address now. As far as rabbits, I would walk thru my barn now and put a clothes pen on the feeders of the rabbits we would take with us. How many carrier holes do I have and how many carriers can I pack in the van/truck? When you have only a very few hours to pack and leave, that is not the time to be having to decide this. Don’t take time to put feed cups and water bottles on each carrier hole. Dump them in a large trash bag and do that later. You can put pine shavings or kitty litter in the carrier pans later. Decide how much rabbit feed you would need to take to cover this number of rabbits for a week. Fill a few jugs of water to cover at least 2 days of rabbit drinking water.
Then decide what to do with those rabbits you have to leave behind. I've heard people say turn them loose in your barn or yard but be sure to pour out a bag of feed and throw some hay somewhere in the barn where it hopefully won't get wet. Set out some pans of water if you close them up on the barn floor.
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