Yes. Old bio. Good to see you hanging around here some more, Elisabeth.
How’s your family doing, Geoff?
We’re doing fine — we got power two days after Wilma came through. The house is finally cleaned up. Many of our appliances got blown out during the electrical surges, but we needed new ones anyway. There was no school for nearly two weeks, but the kids went to school again today. There’s talk of Saturday classes to make up for missing eight school days, but this has parents and teachers up in arms. It’s all part of the drama of living in hurricane country.
It’s worth pointing out that the hurricane has been a huge burden for many of the poor and working class people in Miami. Hundreds of homes and apartments were destroyed, and there’s no moderate-priced housing available in Miami (housing prices have jumped nearly 100 percent in a few years, and most locals are priced out of the market). A lot of the poor don’t have insurance. It’s really a mess, and one that is not getting much national attention (especially compared to Katrina).
Read here and here for more on the Miami hurricane crisis.
Have some friends in Miami that were affected by Wilma. Apparently the media was telling people to not be concerned, that Wilma would hit at a Category 1 and to not bother stocking up. My friends felt strongly that they should make sure they had sufficient supplies on hand–which luckily they listened to the Spirit.
They were very blessed as they had only a few shingles taken off their roof and small amounts of water come in through poor sealings around the windows. Their neighbors all around were not so lucky–I thought that was interesting.
Anyway, the citizens of the world have been trained by their governments to be too reliant on their government for help and support. We need to all make sure we are living the teachings of our prophets and be prepared for any of these kinds of crisis. 72-Hour Kits (see http://www.FullnessOfTimes.com for a printable check list), year supply, etc.
Bottom line — don’t rely on others for help in a crisis — especially the government.
As somebody who lives in hurricane country, I’d have to agree with Fullness of Times that it is dangerous for people to rely on government help during crises rather than their own resources. There is a place for government help, but it certainly shouldn’t be the primary source of assistance, and many people apparently believe it should be (witness the reaction to Katrina).
Geoff, we were in a similar schooling situation not too many years ago when ice storms broke power lines and shut the schools for an identical eight days. Parents similarly were upset with the idea of Saturday school or extending the school year by 8 days.
Eventually, the school district got permission from the state assembly to make up the time by extending the school day by 15 minutes for the remaining part of the school year. The redefined a school year as 180-days or 1260-school-hours, allowing for extra instruction time to make up the difference with no Saturdays, no extra June days. I bet the Florida Legislature could be similarly persuaded!
My heart goes out to those people. For Christmas this year we are giving our kids backpacks with crank radios, shake flashlights, sterno stoves, and other items like that. Plus a case of water.
I’m also stocking up for refugees. I think here in southern Utah, that may be what we will be dealing with rather than our own disaster. Not that I think we’re immune, but I want to be able to help people who have to leave nearby areas in a hurry.
Nice report, Geoff! Thanks for sharing that.
P.S. Don’t you have three children?
Yes. Old bio. Good to see you hanging around here some more, Elisabeth.
How’s your family doing, Geoff?
We’re doing fine — we got power two days after Wilma came through. The house is finally cleaned up. Many of our appliances got blown out during the electrical surges, but we needed new ones anyway. There was no school for nearly two weeks, but the kids went to school again today. There’s talk of Saturday classes to make up for missing eight school days, but this has parents and teachers up in arms. It’s all part of the drama of living in hurricane country.
It’s worth pointing out that the hurricane has been a huge burden for many of the poor and working class people in Miami. Hundreds of homes and apartments were destroyed, and there’s no moderate-priced housing available in Miami (housing prices have jumped nearly 100 percent in a few years, and most locals are priced out of the market). A lot of the poor don’t have insurance. It’s really a mess, and one that is not getting much national attention (especially compared to Katrina).
Read here and here for more on the Miami hurricane crisis.
Have some friends in Miami that were affected by Wilma. Apparently the media was telling people to not be concerned, that Wilma would hit at a Category 1 and to not bother stocking up. My friends felt strongly that they should make sure they had sufficient supplies on hand–which luckily they listened to the Spirit.
They were very blessed as they had only a few shingles taken off their roof and small amounts of water come in through poor sealings around the windows. Their neighbors all around were not so lucky–I thought that was interesting.
Anyway, the citizens of the world have been trained by their governments to be too reliant on their government for help and support. We need to all make sure we are living the teachings of our prophets and be prepared for any of these kinds of crisis. 72-Hour Kits (see http://www.FullnessOfTimes.com for a printable check list), year supply, etc.
Bottom line — don’t rely on others for help in a crisis — especially the government.
As somebody who lives in hurricane country, I’d have to agree with Fullness of Times that it is dangerous for people to rely on government help during crises rather than their own resources. There is a place for government help, but it certainly shouldn’t be the primary source of assistance, and many people apparently believe it should be (witness the reaction to Katrina).
Geoff, we were in a similar schooling situation not too many years ago when ice storms broke power lines and shut the schools for an identical eight days. Parents similarly were upset with the idea of Saturday school or extending the school year by 8 days.
Eventually, the school district got permission from the state assembly to make up the time by extending the school day by 15 minutes for the remaining part of the school year. The redefined a school year as 180-days or 1260-school-hours, allowing for extra instruction time to make up the difference with no Saturdays, no extra June days. I bet the Florida Legislature could be similarly persuaded!
My heart goes out to those people. For Christmas this year we are giving our kids backpacks with crank radios, shake flashlights, sterno stoves, and other items like that. Plus a case of water.
I’m also stocking up for refugees. I think here in southern Utah, that may be what we will be dealing with rather than our own disaster. Not that I think we’re immune, but I want to be able to help people who have to leave nearby areas in a hurry.