[dila813]

there is a thousand year supply of water there, it falls from the sky.

Thank god it isn’t the desert, we will have more water than we know what to do with.

[Steel Wolf]

Ah, eastern Washington. Well, the next thing I would look at for you would be an organized defense. You need to know who you trust to join your local defense, and how you'd want to organize. You won't get many folks who are able to make it from Seattle to your area, but those that do will be a Darwinistic cut above. Nothing you can't handle if you have some friends, though. First thing is to figure out how many people you can count on. Do they have weapons and training of some kind. What's the key terrain, as far as roads and avenues of approach to where you all are.

Once you understand that, you'll want to organize an early warning network. Assuming your cell phones are not working, there are commercial radios that are quite handy, depending on the distance and line of sight. When we used to go into certain neighborhoods in Baghdad, there would be early warning networks run by kids. They'd radio or text each other. Some places would use air horns or smoke. Another would even release a big flock of pidgeons from a certain rooftop. Doesn't really matter, so long as you have a way to warn the neighborhood that outsiders are poking around.

More than anything, I'd avoid the temptation to make your house and family a lone fortress. Looters will dissolve in the face of organized resistance. I can't stress that enough. A common defense between 5 families is 10x stronger than 5 lone families.