Make an Emergency Supply List... And Check It Twice Are you stockpiling emergency supplies? If not, today is the day to start. Here are some items you and your family will need to weather a storm without basic necessities such as electricity and tap water: *A three-day supply of non-perishable food items (canned goods, rice, beans, dehydrated fruit, pudding cups, beef jerky, whole grain crackers, nuts, granola bars, dry cereal) *Water; two-gallons of bottled water per family member per day (bathtub liners are commercially available to store additional water) *Water-proof jackets and shoes; blankets *First-aid kits; medications; medical prescriptions *Important documents (birth certificates, drivers' licenses, insurance papers and other proof of residence, medical insurance cards, passports) *Survival cooking kits (rice cookers, hot plates, pots and pans that can be used on a grill) *A battery-powered or hand-crank radio and a NOAA Weather Radio *Flashlights *Batteries *Candles and matches *Coolers for food and ice storage *Credit cards and cash (with power out, banks and ATMs may not be available) *Hand sanitizer; disinfecting wipes and sanitizing hand/body wipes *Cell phones/chargers/important phone numbers (Charge phones in advance of a storm in the event of power outages) Residents should purchase supplies over a period of time and build up their emergency kit throughout the season. Also, prepare to secure your home and belongings. The Governor's Division of Emergency Management suggests obtaining items needed to board up homes and windows. Other precautions include reviewing insurance policies for protection against wind and flood damage and obtaining waterproof containers for important documents. Coming tomorrow: Planning an evacuation

Growing up in Vizag and then Madras, very hot summers were part and parcel of life, and mom - with her fine adaptive skills that all fauji wives must possess - had learnt to fight the heat as much as one could, without ACs and coolers. It was the 80s, and middle class families like ours had fans, khus curtains, and loose cotton clothes for defence. Not ACs. Her logic was to fight it more from the inside than the outside - with light and cooling foods - cucumbers, water-melon and gallons of lemonade and buttermilk. AND neem juice. Have you ever had neem juice? It's a death brew. To say it is chokingly bitter is to put it mildly. But it works. And how! If you know a child that suffers from prickly heat come summer... throw out the useless Nycils, and make them drink 2 spoons of neem juice everyday for a week. The problem will go away. For life. Meanwhile, in school, year after year, hindi text-books would carry at least one poem about the Koel - singing its sweet song in the summer - waking up the sleepy kids, ripening the mangoes, hurrying up the rain. I don't know if the Koel really did any of that - but the books said they did. So the other day - spotting a koel in a neem tree - brought back a rush of these sweet memories from the 80s! And told me what I already suspected - the summer is here!