THE GIANT BABY IS COMING RIGHT AT US!!!

They're predicting a Super El Niño for fall/winter 2026-2027. Potentially the worst we've ever seen, which, considering where we're at in the process of climate change wouldn't surprise me.

That means that my rural, farming area is facing a potential drought. Considering over-construction has drained the county water table (did I mention I live in a coastal county?), Nestle's been paying off the state government for water-drawing rights that are nowhere near sustainable up north of me, and they're building a data center to the SE of the metro area I'm in... this should be interesting. I'm typing this as there's a hard downpour happening, ironically.

I think we're all about to learn that Water Is Life. It's not just a catchy protest slogan.

The good news? We have all summer to get ready. Stockpiling water is impractical for the average citizen (understatement of the year), but summer is a great time to brush up on your non-shower personal hygiene techniques (it's the bonus section at the end). Take some time to get used to your low-water lifestyle so it doesn't hit like a pile of bricks when it happens. Buy a new pack of micellar wipes every couple grocery trips.

Other places are looking at catastrophic flooding, because the water has to go somewhere. Which means potential evacuations are something folks living in these areas need to consider. Now is the time to make plans with your family, who's in the car with you and where you're going. Now's when to be sure you have all of your important documents on hand, in a waterproof container, and in a place that's easy to grab and pack. It's also the time to have your pets vetted, and have their important documents ready to go, along with their travel gear. As for preparing yourself for a bug-out (as someone who learned all of this as a pre-teen with severe anxiety, I hate how fucking loaded the word "bug-out" is in the prepper's lexicon, but that is what we're putting together here if we're bring honest. Congratulations, you'll also be prepared for zombies 😅😅), having a Dopp kit packed with your hygiene items, an "adventure bag" packed with your day-bag basics, a bag with a functional selection of clothes, and anything from a few shelf-stable just-add-hot-water meals to a full camp mess setup will have you ready for all kinds of outings, evacuations included. Why not get all of this ready while you're chill and have time, it's a lot less to worry about if you do get the call to pack up and go and you do have a very serious time crunch in which to do it in.

Hopefully, that level of preparation gets you on the road well before the rush, but if you think you'll be spending a crazy amount of time in your car, and want to fix yourself hot meals while you're there, I have a list of small electrical appliances for that over on my recipe blog. I also wrote a guide to sheltering in place in a snowstorm last winter, that discusses how to bug-in in electricity-free cold conditions. Even if you're not expecting cold conditions, there's tips for pantry and bathroom prep that can be used any time you need to shelter-in-place without electricity.

And since nothing brings a community together like shared trauma, here's a recipe for Chicken & Rice Soup that's made straight from the pantry on a single burner, which means it's easy to scale and serve to your neighbors.

If you clicked through any of those links, you probably noticed that most of them aren't specifically about disaster prep. They're about theme parks, and music festivals, and beach days, and girls' weekends, and camping trips. They're about cooking for yourself from scratch in all kinds of situations, because that's what you have to do when you have a ton of food allergies. I made that soup for dinner last night thanks to leftover rice that needed to be used, and my family demolished the pot.

I've been scolded for prepping before by "manifesters" who think that putting any energy towards a negative outcome will assure that outcome, so prepping is the worst thing you can possibly do, will I THINK OF THE CHILDREN???

Yeah, glad Joseph didn't say that when God Himself gave him dreams and prophecies of seven years of plenty followed by seven years of famine, so Joseph was able to work with the Pharoah to create grain stores during the "time of plenty" that saved Egypt during the famine.

But aside from that... I'm prepping for FUN. I'm prepping for travel, I'm prepping for live music, I'm prepping for time in nature... and I'm making my kitchen an ingredients kitchen to cook around my food allergies, but this had been nothing but miraculous for my health - my lipidema went away. Nothing about this is coming from a place of fear. It's coming from a place of living my life in the best and richest way I can, and realizing that these methods can be adapted to any situation if needed.

So, bring it Giant Baby. I'm ready for you, tantrums and all. And hopefully, these posts can help more folks get their shit in a pile before he gets here, too. And have a good time in the meantime.