Most of the time I tend to blog about head and heart stuff, which is important for sure; however, every now and then it’s good to refresh our memories to follow our common sense.  Right now Texas is undergoing one helluva drought and today was our 80th day with triple digit temperatures.  It’s gotten to the point where many of my friends in Central Texas are willing to take their chances with a good ole hurricane or two coming up from the Gulf Coast and making a bee line for Austin and surrounding counties and hanging out for awhile!  The most recent one, Hurricane Lee went straight up from the Gulf Coast to Louisiana and other southern states sending dry high winds over to Central Texas (which is NOT what we need right now). There have been brush fires and home fires burning all over Central Texas today.

Now would be a good time to refresh our minds with some good ole common sense.

* When we were kids our parents used to have fire drills every once in a while and review with us a). If we smelled a fire to get out of the house and meet at the light post in front of the house b.) do not go back into the house to get anything no matter what.

*  Today, my husband and I have our own version which includes a.) calling 911  b.) getting ourselves and our dogs/cats out of the house  c) remember that we can pretty much replace everything else in our home–lives cannot be replaced  d.) we do have garden hoses in three different areas around our home which, after we call the fire department, we could use to keep a fire from getting to our home unless it is huge and in that case…don’t try.

* We cleaned out our barbecue grill of all excess grease and if we use it, make sure it is not underneath any structure of our house.

* Pay attention to not cause sparks with tools etc.

* Keep posted with our neighborhood group and remind others not to park cars on grass, throw cigarettes into the yard, etc.

* Keep the trees and brush near our home watered and don’t let them dry out.

Turns out there were several good common sense kinds of things that our parents taught us that have proven to be helpful to us when all hell breaks lose and and you’re just responding by habit.  Just this past winter my brother, sister-in-law and I were driving home on a cold icy night and we hit a black patch of ice. The car began spinning out of control, did a 180 and we were suddenly facing on coming traffic and heading for a culvert. Luckily, my sister-in-law has great reaction sense and was able to take her foot slowly off the accelerator (just like we are taught in driver’s ed) and calmly turn the steering wheel in the direction of the skid. The whole episode took less than five minutes and I can promise you our adrenaline was running high for several minutes after!   What could have been a real disaster turned into another great story to regale over the years.  But it was because Lyndy knew how to use her common sense.

We don’t hear too much lately about common sense but I’m here to tell you that it’s great to have and very worth our while to dust off and remember for those times that we don’t see coming and we need it the most!

When was the last time you reached inside and used  your common sense?

common sense