I think I measured once and it is three miles from our house to the high school, a staging area for the fire fighters for the Flagstaff fire. The fire was actually more behind Bear Mountain in Skunk Canyon but the road was Flagstaff thus the name. As the crow flies it may have been closer to two miles. That seemed pretty far until the Waldo Canyon fire jumped roads and burned up subdivisions in Colorado Springs. With that speed in mind, what to take with you if you were in evac or pre evac started to trickle down into everyone’s mind.
Weirdly and luckily last year because we had three separate computer failures, I have my words backed up, not to disks or a different backup drive, but to the cloud. I use a company in Dayton, Ohio, Myotherdrive.com for several reasons. First is that if I have a disaster here in Boulder, it will not be likely that there is a contemporaneous disaster in Dayton. Previous plans of mine had different sets of disks at other family members houses in Boulder. That might work for a single house fire or a flood issue, but not a wildfire or a massive flood. An external drive which we used for some time was supposed to handle computer issues, but it would not handle natural issues. This month the natural disasters are certainly catching my eye. Proximity matters now. One less thing to carry out of the house may matter.
Previous plans were all about, the child, the dog, dogfood, water, food and personal papers. Followed by my sister’s children, dog, etc. Now things have changed, we are nearly empty nesters, with a child in another state in college. Except in the summer, it will just be me, the dog, dogfood, water, food and personal papers. There might be time to grab something else besides the laptop. But what?
When the third computer, the new replacement laptop, crashed in 2011, I already had the Myotherdrive.com backup in place. It was not tragic. Once I had a replacement, It took no time at all to download the backup. It worked and I had my stuff back.
So my genealogy work is fairly covered, but…
I need to scan my pictures, photographs that are labeled on the back need to be in the computer labeled underneath. If the photos on the walls in the house burn also lost will be the identifying names written on the back. erg.
All my bills and statements should be scanned. Everything in the black metal file cabinet could be on the computer and backed up to the cloud. Why don’t I do that and what is my personal goal going to be for having it done? erg.
I have years of correspondence with various cousins in three four drawer file cabinets. I should be scanning all of those letters, family groups sheets, stories and photos. Another goal should be set. So much of what is in those cabinets is the proof cited in my footnotes, somthing like Marcia Cooke letter dated 7 July 1996, enclosure, Pickering wedding notice. I made that one up. So that is safe from a computer failure but not a natural disaster. erg.
Most of our furniture comes from someone else in the family, some might call them hand me downs, some might call them heirlooms, some might even be antiques. They all have a story and are precious to us. I could possibly fit one piece in the car. The art is hung on the walls, it would be nearly impossible to get it down. I could probably grab the quilts. The books, oh gosh, the books, are catalogued on librarything.com and so reading wise could be replicated but not emotionally the gifts. I can recommend LibraryThing.com. I have over four thousand entries catalogued and now only have to add when we acquire more books. Again, it’s in the cloud, safe from disasters.
These musings are not an answer, in fact there wasn’t really a question. If I had to leave in a hurry I would still get people, pets, food, papers and then the computer. Would there be time for something else? I don’t know. I do know if the lap top is the only thing I am going to take, I am going to put more on it.
