Be prepared

Between the earthquake in Haiti and the earthquake in Chile (the effects of which were seen all the way up the Western coast of the United States), Jeff was motivated to get working on our preparation, because what if that earthquake had hit California...... We have 7, 55 gallon barrels in our garage for water storage.

Are they full? Nope. 

Are they in my way....yes! 

How long have we had them....you don't want to know.

So off we go to Home Depot to get to work on platforms for the barrels to be stored in our side yard. We figure out how to make them, get the supplies. And we immediately run in to problems. Both batteries to the cordless drill are dead. Great, run to Palfreemans and borrow a corded drill. Get a few more screws in, ugh!? I go to take pictures of the progress Jeff is making and he's just standing there. Staring at the boards. Apparently 8 ft boards can also be sold as 7 ft 8 inches and still be an "8 ft" board. 4 of the 6 boards we needed were too short. End of day one on the project. 

Back to Home Depot the next day. Return the boards, get new ones, Thompsons water seal and back to do more work. This time I got to work prepping the boards. Moved them to the back yard and waterproofed them. Jeff made another run to Home Depot the following Saturday: came back with a circular saw, corded drill and 2 rain catchers the kids had made at the FREE workshop they happened to be there at the same time for. He got started and was quickly done with one and onto the next. Although another trip to Home Depot was needed - one of the boards was not going to work - AGAIN and the drill was not working either. I think there were at least 6 trips to Home Depot in a couple weeks.

This last week of spring break, Jeff had taken Thursday off and was able to finish the project. I actually helped with the drill too. I was kind enough to break a drill bit - thankfully it was Jeff's and not Scott's and put in a few screws. I had to get practice for my project.

We used 3, 8 ft boards, screwed them to the end shorter piece and then covered the top and bottom with 8ft plywood panels.

Still not full of water yet, but don't they look great! Baby steps here - we are so much closer than before.