Issue #011
160 characters gets through when a phone call will not
Pick your out-of-state contact tonight, and refill prescriptions before the school-year rush.
Monday, August 10, 2026 · Emergency Skills
Cell towers rarely die in a disaster. They clog, and your call to the school two miles away fails while a short text to another state slides right through.
Today’s Skill
The number that works when local lines jam
Local circuits jam first because everyone nearby dials at once. Pick one contact who lives several states away. Everyone in your family calls or texts that person instead of each other, and that person relays the messages. Write the number on an index card for every wallet and pack. Add a meeting spot and a check-in time. Send short texts, not calls. Texts queue and get through when voice will not.
On The Radar
Muggy nights and a long pharmacy line
August brings the stickiest heat of the year, and warm nights keep bodies from shedding it. Heat exhaustion often looks like cramps, gray damp skin, and a pounding headache. The standard response is shade, loose clothes, cool cloths on neck and armpits, and slow sips of water. Get real help fast if the person stops making sense. Refill prescriptions early this week too. Schools reopen now and counters back up.
The Drill
Four index cards, one out-of-state number
Tonight, write four index cards. On each: your out-of-state contact’s name and number, one local meeting spot, and one backup spot outside your neighborhood. Put a card in every wallet, backpack, and glovebox. Then have each family member text that contact right now, so the number sits in their message history. Fifteen minutes, and your plan stops living only in your head.
Ready beats lucky. Rise.
- Survival Rise
P.S. Forward this to the family member who never answers the phone, and tomorrow we cover what belongs in a truck box in August heat.