◆ PARALLAX

Been meaning to write this one for a while. A lot of the talk here assumes a basement and an acre, and I have neither. I am on the second floor of an apartment in Nebraska and I have made it work well enough that I mostly stopped worrying about it, so here is what I actually do.

Water first, because it is the part people skip. I keep two-liter soda bottles, rinsed and refilled from the tap, in the back of a closet and under the bed. Not the plastic milk jugs -- those split and leak on you after a few months, I found that out the hard way and the carpet paid for it. I mark the date on masking tape and swap them out when I remember to.

Food, I just buy an extra of what I already eat. Not special buckets I will never open. A couple weeks of canned soup, rice, peanut butter, the things that sit fine on a shelf. My rule is that if I would not eat it on a normal Tuesday I do not store it, and I work it into regular meals so nothing quietly ages out in the dark.

The real thing to plan for out here is winter, not some collapse. Lose power in January and the place gets cold in a hurry with no woodstove and no fireplace. So I keep extra blankets, a decent sleeping bag or two, and I do NOT run anything with a flame indoors. I have read too many bad stories about that.

That is most of it. No yard, no basement, not much money. Closets, rotation, and paying attention. Glad to answer questions if anyone else is stuck in an apartment like me.