San Antonio Express-News (Sunday)
The ultimate prepper list
12 things we wish we’d had during the winter storm
CORDILLERA RANCH
families with school-age children to empty nesters. Several celebrities, such as country music legend George Strait, call this community home.
Properties currently on the market in Cordillera Ranch include a 50-acre estate with a 6,550 square-foot house. It has a six-car garage, an equestrian center with living quarters, and a riding/roping arena with cattle pens. The list price for this four-bedroom, five-bathroom home is $4,900,000. Also for sale, a four-bedroom, five-bath, 5,905 squarefoot home on 23 acres. The equestrian center on this property has six stalls with turnouts, a rotating tack wall, and an oversized tack room. The asking price is $2,999,000. A Tuscan-style home with two bedrooms and two baths is on the market for $1,189,000. It has 2,678 square feet, custom ceiling details with wood beam accents, a chef ’s kitchen, and a large covered patio. For those who prefer to have a new custom home built, lots are still available. Sizes range from ¼ acre villa lots to ranch estate lots with more than 12 acres.
The neighborhoods offer both security and privacy. A guard monitors the gate off Highway 46, and there are cameras at all four entrances.
Despite the pandemic, home sales in the Hill Country have remained strong. Many luxury homebuyers from states such as California and Florida have opted to move to The Lone Star State because of its economy and less expensive home prices.
Barbara Baldwin-McNulty and her family moved to Texas from South Florida in 2004. They rented a home in Cordillera Ranch while their first house was under
San Antonio Board of Realtors® construction. She was impressed with the planned community and the top-rated schools in the Boerne Independent School District. Baldwin-McNulty is now living in her third home at Cordillera Ranch. It is an Italian-style, one-story across from the golf course with what she describes as breathtaking views. The vistas, privacy, and serenity are among the things residents say they love about Cordillera Ranch. “You have the peacefulness of the country without all the traffic and all the hustle and bustle,” she said.
Baldwin-McNulty is CEO of Dean Baldwin Painting, a military and commercial aircraft painting company. The firm’s corporate office is in Bulverde. She doesn’t mind the commute to her office or even the 15 to 20 minutes it takes to drive to the grocery store. Cordillera Ranch is less than 30 minutes from The Rim, The Shops at La Cantera in San Antonio, and numerous stores and restaurants in Boerne.
Communities like this one will continue to attract homebuyers as more people look to trade city congestion for wide-open spaces and a small-town atmosphere. Baldwin-McNulty said she doesn’t see a downside to living at Cordillera Ranch; she loves all it has to offer. “The people are what’s most valuable,” she said. “No matter who you meet, everybody is just so friendly and welcoming and helpful.”
Texans are not new to disasters, but the severity of last month’s winter storm took many by surprise as we went days without power, heat or water. Many times during the freeze we found ourselves saying: Man, I wish I had this or that right now.
Here is a prepper list for the next weather crisis.
1. HEADLAMP
Let’s face it, candlelight is romantic but doesn’t deliver the level of light needed for tasks, and holding up a flashlight to a book always ends in arm cramps. The Black Diamond Spot 350 headlamp ($40; blackdiamond equipment.com) emits up to 350 lumens, has an adjustable light feature, uses AAA batteries and can last about 200 hours on the low setting.
2. CHARGER
Everyone has multiple devices these days that feed off electricity. When that’s not available, a portable charger comes in handy. There are many of these on the market, often costing as low as $10, but you get what you pay for. We recommend the HALO Bolt Wireless portable charger ($110; zagg.com/en_us/halo), which has a three-prong outlet, two USB ports to charge your phone, and a car jump-starter function with jumper cables included.
3. CAR POWER INVERTER
When all power and portable chargers are depleted, your car can come to the rescue. If your vehicle doesn’t have a USB port (or even if it does), go out and buy a power inverter, which plugs into the cigarette lighter. Try the Scosche 200W portable power inverter ($45; scosche.com), which has three AC outlets and four USB ports.
4. MOBILE HOT SPOT
When the power goes out, the Wi-Fi goes out. These days it’s important to be able to access the internet in times of crisis for the latest updates from officials and news organizations. And there’s also only
so much reading or puzzling by candlelight one can take. The Verizon Inseego Jetpack mobile hotspot ($200; verizon.com/ internet-devices/inseego), has a battery that lasts about 13 hours, and it can charge your phone and tablet, too.
5. WATER BOILER
During the freeze, what was initially a power crisis quickly became a water crisis. Many people had no running water, or they had bottled water but no means to boil it because they didn’t have power. The Jetboil flash cooking system ($110; jetboil.com) is designed to boil
2 cups of water in 100 seconds.
6. WATER FILTER
Even when people got running water back, the boil water notice lasted for days. While boiling water is the go-to recommendation, there are also devices that filter water — for camping or emergency preparedness.
The LifeStraw personal water filter ($20; lifestraw.com) can treat up to 1,000 gallons of contaminated water and protects against bacteria and parasites.
7. PORTABLE STOVE
When my power went out on 12 items continues on M3
Between no power and heat, no water, food shortages, extreme temperatures, snowfall and ice, Texans, who thought they had seen the worst of winter this year, endured a winter storm that took everyone by surprise.
Looking ahead, preparation will be critical to protect you and your family from a situation this serious. Being ready is easy to do with a premade emergency kit. According to www. Ready.Gov/Plan, the goal is to be able to survive for several days with stored food, water, and a wide variety of supplies.
The basic kit, which can be stored in airtight plastic bags and then put into portable containers or a duffel bag, should provide supplies for at least three days, including nonperishable foods, 1 gallon of water per person, flashlights and batteries, and first aid kit.
Once basics are covered, it can be further customized with:
■ prescriptions,
■ pain relievers,
■ eyewear,
■ infant supplies,
■ pet food,
■ important family documents,
■ blankets,
■ transistor radio,
■ change of clothing,
■ plasticware,
■ paper towels,
■ feminine supplies,
■ a notebook,
■ pencil, and
■ activities for children.
It’s key to prepare the home as well. Insulating outside pipes ahead of time protects against the elements, and insulating hot water pipes reduces heat loss. Get materials early on to have on hand when situations arise so you’ll be ready.
For storm preparation, the first thing to do is determine if you have to evacuate or shelter in place. Always heed authorities regarding whether you should evacuate or stay put.
Before dangerous weather and other disasters, according to the CDC, do the following for the home:
■ Clear front and backyards. Make sure there’s nothing that could move around during winds and damage your home. You’re essentially putting away all dangerous projectiles. Store bikes, lawn furniture, grills, propane tanks, and building material inside or under shelter.
■
Cover windows and doors.
Use storm shutters or nail pieces of plywood to the outside window frames to protect your windows. This can help keep you safe from broken glass.
■ Get ready to turn off your power. If you see flooding, downed power lines, or you have to leave, switch your power off.
■ Fill water containers with drinking water. Do this in case you lose the water supply during the storm. Also fill sinks and bathtubs with water for washing or commodes.
■ Check the carbon monoxide (CO) detector battery to prevent CO poisoning.
If a power loss has left you unable to prepare meals or boil water, cooking with propane and charcoal can come in very handy — even to cook items thawing in your fridge with extended power loss. Propane tanks, which come in sizes small enough for tabletop grills, or can go from mid-size to very large.
Most importantly, make sure to have the correct equipment to get your gear going, from connectors to filling tanks. Many tend to forget those flame-starting matches or lighters as well. Propane and charcoal can be found at big market retailers, hardware stores, grocery stores, gas stations and online shopping venues.
Last but not least is the importance of staying connected with power to get the latest information on supplies, weather advisories and being able to get in touch in case of an emergency. Portable batteries and battery packs are a necessity and come with larger capacities than previous models.
Whether looking to power up your phone, tablet or laptop, know that a battery pack’s capacity is measured in milliamp hours (mAh). The capacity can range from 1,000 to tens of thousands of units. The largest could even weigh as much as a laptop. Most importantly, keep your charging gear together to simplify the process during an outage.
For storm preparation, the first thing to do is determine if you have to evacuate or shelter in place. Always heed authorities regarding whether you should evacuate or stay put.