Final Episode of the Wannabehippie gets Prepared – Your Watermelon or Your Life!

After all the Gingerys have been through: a simulated earthquake, earthquake drill, securing a wrench to their gas line, and making pet disaster kits, you’d think they’d be done. Well, not quite. Now that Susan’s gone through all the things they need to do to protect themselves during and after an earthquake, she has a few key things they need to fix in their kitchen now.

As Susan says, kitchens can be dangerous places in earthquakes. But all it takes is a couple of bucks in earthquake straps, a screw driver, and some foresight to keep your kitchen safe. Considering that the kitchen is everyone’s favorite room in the house, what do you think the odds are that the Gingerys will be in the kitchen when a big earthquake hits?

Sue says to secure the refrigerator. Refrigerators can be dangerous, and they’re easy to secure. There are special appliance earthquake straps that bolt to your refrigerator and to the wall that are easy to install, and will keep your refrigerator from turning into a spinning Tasmanian devil during an earthquake. If you think we’re exaggerating, check out this video showing an empty refrigerator in an earthquake simulator. And then buy yourself some earthquake appliance straps for your fridge.

Sue also says secure the cabinets. The higher up stuff is, the farther it will fly during a big quake, as we found out doing Will It Shake. Did you see how far those wine bottles at the top fell? Your kitchen plates and glasses on the top shelves will do that too, unless the cabinets have latches that stay shut. It’s not hard to install those either.

Lastly, and just as importantly, Sue says, “WTF? You’ve got a 25 lb Kitchenaid appliance up on top of your kitchen cabinets? What do you have a death wish?” No, she doesn’t say that. We say that. Sue, the ever professional purple-haired emergency safety expert, prefers to show the Gingerys what a 25 lb weight will do a watermelon. Even if your head is harder than a watermelon, that would still hurt a lot. The Gingerys aren’t taking that risk – they move the appliances to the bottom cabinets where they won’t move at all, after the Gingerys put those cabinet latches on.

Media guide available: Episode 3 Media Guide Gingery.

Susan is going to teach the Gingerys a lesson in physics