|
Post by bretf on Mar 27, 2020 6:47:43 GMT -6
The Stay at Home Order
The number of confirmed cases of coronavirus were going up daily. Then the number leaped up. The morning headlines declared the governor would be making an important address in the afternoon. Having my suspicions about what he would say, I spent time saving my important work files on a flash drive.
I overheard one conversation in the office. A man was saying he hoped we weren’t ordered to stay home for two weeks. He’d go stir crazy. The other person agreed.
I considered that and didn’t think it would be a problem for me. But honestly, I didn’t know. I’ve never been told to stay in place for weeks.
As the time for the governor’s address rolled around, I found a site on the internet where I’d be able to watch it. I found it interesting that he would be speaking from the Idaho National Guard headquarters. The Commander of the Guard opened the press conference. The governor was sending a message within a message.
The governor took the podium and eventually got to the main message: he was mandating a statewide stay at home order for twenty-one days.
I set up my phone to receive work email and gathered my files, lap top, and all pending work.
We had a quick company meeting and then following goodbyes, it was time to begin working from home.
|
|
|
Post by bretf on Mar 27, 2020 6:48:44 GMT -6
Day One
I slept in, all the way to 5:20. I got up and dressed for work, a robe and slippers. With a cup of coffee beside me, I started work. In the time I usually spent making my breakfast, lunch, commuting, and listening to stories from a coworker, I had most of my work done. Soon after breakfast, I’d done all I could and it was time to do my own work. (I’d put jeans, boots and a flannel shirt on by that time.)
I wasn’t in a hurry to go outside because it was only 24 degrees. So I stayed in the kitchen re-read/edited a chapter of Chad Smoke’s tale, and finished my garden plan. Then it was time to go outside.
Last weekend I made a strawberry tower. The dirt had settled in a few places so I took care of that.
Last year, while recuperating from back surgery, my garden was ignored. I’d opened the gates and let the chickens have it. As I healed, I cut a bunch of small elm trees that’d grown up in the fence row, piling them in the main garden area. I worked on getting those trees cut up further and cleared out.
I checked in with my work mail often, and took care of a couple of things during the day.
By chore time, I had the trees off the garden. It’s now ready for the next step. I even remembered to close the gates to keep the chickens out when I shut them up for the night.
I went to the yard and did the “poop–scoop-boogie”, cleaning up after the dog, and got the trash out to the street. The sun was still up but I was tired from my work at home day.
I don’t know, it’s just day one, but I could get used to this.
|
|
|
Post by solo on Mar 27, 2020 7:52:23 GMT -6
Meanwhile in a Somewhat Semi-Populace Place in Northwest Florida:
For the first week of this unexpected exile, I traveled 250 miles to a state park the next state over and enjoyed a week long sojourn with my youngest daughter camping for her spring break. On the first day of our departure, the DoD issued a cancellation of all official travel with a 50 mile limit on leave travel. As I was already over that, I scrambled to get flag level permission to be further away. It was successful and I did not have to return.
For this week, We hammocked and tent camped, the campground was ours. Before we returned, our work center was closed down and we are only required to muster each morning via text and have a 6 foot face to face two other days of the week. So my days this week literally went like this:
Day 1: Meet at the work center for one hour then went home and began to re-sod my back yard. Day 2-4: Still resodding... Leveling the yard by hand has been a huge chore. Should be finished on day 5. End of Day 4 was exciting. Had a virtual Home Owners Association meeting and then did GMT for four hours. Today: Meeting for one hour. Finish sodding this after noon.
That's it so far....
V/R, Solo
|
|
|
Post by papaof2 on Mar 27, 2020 13:22:23 GMT -6
Very much like the real world. One son-in-law is working at a firm that has split the office staff into Group A and Group B and only one group is in the office each week to meet the 6 foot distancing requirement. However, you only get paid if you're in the office. But you can work up to 18 hours a day if you choose to. Not many that can manage consecutive 18 hour days on the accompanying reduced sleep. I'd expect this son-in-law to be working 12 hour days, maybe a bit more, because he knows his limits. That's still a 25% cut in income. That daughter works for a distribution management company and she'd been working with a company in Tennessee that provides surgical supplies (I don't think anyone will question that being an essential business - unlike marijuana and bicycle shops). Two of their warehouse people tested positive for Covid-19 so that location is shut down for a long weekend of disinfection. Daughter never had contact with either of the infected so is considered safe but I expect she's checking her temperature daily.
Emphasis on "getting back to work" is good but it needs to be constrained by the evidence that uncontrolled exposure is deadly - evidence in quantity from NYC and the Mayor and Governor are whining about "We need more..." when shutting down the subways for 14 days would have enforced the initial "stay at home" recommendation. It would have been a major inconvenience but one of the subway system's own studies showed a possible 200,000 riders infected if there was an airborne epidemic. So far, we've seen 20% of that. Some politicians are incredibly stupid. How many of the dead or their families will vote for those two in the next election?
|
|
|
Post by texican on Mar 28, 2020 0:09:14 GMT -6
Semi-isolating. Mother and wife stay in our home and I go to the little town that is 17 miles away to the bank, grocery store, Dollar General and hardware store. Dressed out with gloves and mask. My last trip was to the bank where the lobby has been closed since 3/23/2020 with only the drive up window open. Have not seen anyone in gloves or mask on any trip. Use liberal amounts of hand sanitizer during the trips on the gloves and use hand sanitizer on my hands before putting on the two sets of gloves and hand sanitizer on the first pair of gloves before putting on the second pair of gloves. Hard to put on two pairs of leather gloves, but it can be done. LOL.... I have been ordering lots off the internet and when the packages arrive the delivery guys and gals are placing the packages on the table set under the carport for the packages. The packages are liberally sprayed with bleach water on all sides let set until the bleach water. Wear gloves which are soaked with bleach water and spray my hands with bleach water before putting on the gloves. I then cut open the packages and remove the contents and then liberally all sides of the contents except the clothes which are immediately washed. Tried to order some additional supplies from Sam's last night and when I went to check out, four of the five dropped down to the saved line. Will try again later tonight. The lock down should have been instituted in February, but the potential crashing of the economy was to much of an influence on President Trump. So now we had crowds of people going to the beaches and other crowded places including Madri Gras which is spreading the virus across America. To see what happening to virus infections across America use: infection2020.com/The map shows all of the counties in each state and you can right click on each of the counties that are highlighted with different colors for different levels of virus infection and a info box opens in the upper right corner of the screen giving the county name, population, confirmed number virus infected and number of deaths. This is sobering. Be careful out there for the number of infections will be increasing thru April. Prayers help. God bless you all. Texican....
|
|
|
Post by supermag on Mar 28, 2020 14:06:22 GMT -6
Am I the only one that caught the part about a new installment of Chad Smokes story?
|
|
|
Post by papaof2 on Mar 28, 2020 14:26:49 GMT -6
No, but I don't mention things that might be scared away by too much MOAR ;-)
|
|
|
Post by bretf on Mar 29, 2020 6:14:01 GMT -6
Solo, sounds like a time to cherish with your daughter. My family’s Scout meetings are all online now. It made my daughter ask if “Zoom” is publicly owned and how their stock is doing now.
Papa prayers your family stays safe while working. And yes, the politicos and their crying are quite the sight. Subways, planes, buses; I wouldn’t get into any of them.
Tex: I was seeing a few masks and gloves before the stay home order. And I agree with you on the lockdown. Very haphazard at best for one area to be locked down, while their neighbors wander around, many spreading the contagion. I see the reports of the spring breakers, and am thankful my daughter has a functioning brain. She returned home for break with the car full. Then went back the next week to empty her dorm room. It’s great to have her here at this time.
Supermag, Papa: Did I really mention a new installment? I have done some work on a new story about the Smokes, but it is in its infancy and not fit for consumption. I can’t keep my mind on it at all with all that is going on. In the past, when I worked outside, I had to keep a pad and pencil nearby to make notes for the upcoming section. The voices seemed to always be in my head, telling me things. Now, the only voices are nagging me that this crisis is only going to get worse before it gets better. I won’t be able to count on the supermarket, so I have to produce more at home than ever.
Day 2 of the order:
It was very much like day one. Bounced between work, and garden prepping. I did stop at noon to listen to the governor talk. Then in the afternoon, I needed information on a job that was in my file cabinet at the shop. I was shocked at the amount of traffic. Quite a bit out for having a stay home order in effect.
Day 3: got potatoes planted and pots filled with seeds in the greenhouse.
I’d been thinking for a long time, I need to change my garden practices so I’d been studying raised beds. After wandering around my mess, I found I have material on hand to do some. The previous weekend, my son and I removed the trampoline from the back of the house. That space is the home of the new raised bed kitchen garden and strawberry tower. If things go well, by the end of day 4 I will two new beds in place.
Checking in with the news, we now have 98 cases (up 15 in one day) and 2 confirmed deaths in my home county.
Everyone, please be safe, and God Bless!
|
|
|
Post by sniper69 on Mar 29, 2020 6:47:52 GMT -6
bret - seeing you asked about Zoom. It is public- the founder/ceo added $2 billion in net worth since the beginning of 2020. Here is some information about it. Doing a quick google search for Zoom stock pulled up the following information. Market Summary > Zoom Video Communications Inc NASDAQ: ZM 151.70 USD +10.55 (7.47%) Closed: Mar 27, 7:55 PM EDT · Disclaimer After hours 151.74 +0.040 (0.026%) Open 145.70 High 154.97 Low 145.60 Mkt cap 42.32B P/E ratio 1,773.65 Div yield - Prev close 141.15 52-wk high 164.94 52-wk low 59.94 With that said - I wonder when that gravy train is going to dry up (when the stock will stop going up). I would be hesitant to buy right now (but if I had a time machine and went back 3 months I would have made 117% in stock value ). Then again I might be seeing it all wron gand kick myself in the butt in another 3 months. But as a wise man once told me - "don't put any money in the market that you can't afford to lose". I have investments for retirement - some are doing better than others, lol. But who woulda thunk Zoom as being a hot stock? Here are a few of the video conferencing capabilities available right now: Zoom. BlueJeans Meetings. Microsoft Teams. GoToMeeting. Zoho Meeting. Cisco WebEx. Join.Me. Google Hangouts Meet.
|
|
|
Post by papaof2 on Mar 29, 2020 15:24:06 GMT -6
Papa prayers your family stays safe while working. And yes, the politicos and their crying are quite the sight. Subways, planes, buses; I wouldn’t get into any of them. Supermag, Papa: Did I really mention a new installment? I have done some work on a new story about the Smokes, but it is in its infancy and not fit for consumption. I can’t keep my mind on it at all with all that is going on. In the past, when I worked outside, I had to keep a pad and pencil nearby to make notes for the upcoming section. The voices seemed to always be in my head, telling me things. Now, the only voices are nagging me that this crisis is only going to get worse before it gets better. I won’t be able to count on the supermarket, so I have to produce more at home than ever. A granddaughter (age 15) has a virus that's "going around among teenagers" in their area and involves swollen tonsils and adenoids. When her ear pain got bad (tubes blocked so no pressure relief and this is the kid who doesn't complain), they took her to the doctor's office and a tech came out to the car to get a throat swab to check for strep. Not quite the country doctor coming to your house but it's a good practice for our current circumstances. You did mention it. I know the feeling of being non-productive. Same chair, same cup of tea, same places for a muse to join me and maybe 800-1000 total words on 3 stories for the month. I'd be happy to be adding to my notes for future chapters and thrilled to be converting those notes into actual chapters but I'm doing a lot more reading that writing - even notes. Some of that is good, as I'm proofreading the pieces of the next book "Care and Feeding of a Fiction Writer's Muse and Other Stories" and finding things that spell and grammar check don't see. The final version of the book will be better for the time I'm putting in but I'd also like to be making progress on the stalled stories: one at 17 chapters and 41,000 words and might be a book of its own; one at 6 chapters and 9,000 words will be another short story in that next book and then there's the next book in the "Waif" series where my little muse can only add a paragraph or two before she's reminded of the scary-to-her events that happened here while she was finishing the previous book in the series and she has to stop. I'm still looking for positives and humor wherever I can find them and I share most of that here. Two senior adult men at our church have died of Covid-19 - I'd not had contact with either in several weeks - so we're very aware of how bad things could get. I will be baking some bread today - nothing like homemade comfort food - and getting the other batch of brownies out of the freezer - if you bake a double batch and freeze half of them, you get to enjoy them longer ;-)
|
|
|
Post by texican on Mar 29, 2020 21:11:48 GMT -6
Did I really mention a new installment? I have done some work on a new story about the Smokes, but it is in its infancy and not fit for consumption.
Bret,
Your loyal readers will devour anything you write regardless of tweaking that needs to be done especially on the Smokes....
We have followed you and your stories for years and will enjoy whatever you post.
Pray for America and each other.
God bless all.
Be careful out there.
Texican....
|
|
|
Post by willc453 on Mar 31, 2020 18:29:43 GMT -6
If breft doesn't mind, been working on my own stay at home quarantine story, which is now 5 pages, of 3 installments. Want to keep it at 1 page per installment and for me, the front/back of a piece of paper is 1 page.
|
|
|
Post by bretf on Mar 31, 2020 19:28:45 GMT -6
If breft doesn't mind, been working on my own stay at home quarantine story, which is now 5 pages, of 3 installments. Want to keep it at 1 page per installment and for me, the front/back of a piece of paper is 1 page. I don't mind at all. In fact, I encourage all who'd like to contribute to this thread or start their own.
|
|
|
Post by bretf on Mar 31, 2020 19:29:16 GMT -6
Day 4-6, Sunday-Tuesday I’ve happily stayed mostly at home, keeping away from people. I did walk to my parents’ house down the road each day. They are both in their nineties and pretty frail. With my work and activities, it has fallen mostly to my brothers to help them out. Now that I have more time, I try to get down there more often. Although he walks hunched over with two sticks or a walker for support, Dad insists on growing the garden. My brother limited him this year, “only” allowing him to start 48 tomato plants. They are about ready to transplant, so my brother and I set up Dad’s hot box frames in the garden. The seedlings will be moved to those in a few days and stay there until moving to the row. I didn’t get as much of my own stuff done as I’d hoped. But I got a lesson. It is NOT a good idea, spectacular though the results may be, to knock a ¾ full gallon of stain off the work area onto the concrete floor. Especially with the van parked two feet from the impact zone. On Monday, I had the most work from the paying job I’ve had since the stay home order. I also received an email address to all employees we all need to file for unemployment. As you might guess, the labor department is swamped in that section. Tuesday, oh my goodness. It was online work and work in my shop due to off and on rainstorms. Then, as I was herding everyone to the kitchen so we could eat before our online Scout meeting, the house began to shake from a powerful earthquake. It was a 6.5 about 65 miles away. www.ktvb.com/article/news/local/65-magnitude-earthquake-rattles-idaho-and-6-surrounding-states/277-f791186e-3307-4fb6-9a48-0f6aa3b0b169World-wide plague, tornadoes, earthquakes; I’m afraid to guess what comes next. At a few peoples’ urging, I opened a file I haven’t spent any time with recently to try to get it fresh in my mind, so maybe it would wake the dormant voices in my head when I work outside or in the shop. Sorry, but the first chapter truly wasn’t fit for consumption. But if you’d like, here’s a bit of what it has. Twin Trouble
Chapter 1
Alison Smoke stared intently down the familiar street, not recognizing the turning point in her and her sister Brooke’s lives. The man stood ramrod straight and looked from one side to the other. She couldn’t see his face clearly but was certain she’d never seen him before. Even at a distance, there was something different about him, not present in the locals. Whatever it was, she didn’t care. To her, he presented an opportunity to escape from boredom. She smiled at the prospect of fresh meat.
“Hey, check it out,” she said. “A stranger. Doesn’t he look like a pigeon just waiting to be plucked?”
She had no way of knowing the stranger was far from a pigeon and would lead her and her companions down a dangerous path. More dangerous than any they’d tread before with ramifications that could potentially save and shape a nation.
Maybe I can make something out of it. I’ll see. Everyone keep your distance and stay safe!
|
|
|
Post by papaof2 on Mar 31, 2020 19:55:39 GMT -6
Good start. Now you just need the other 100,000 words ;-)
|
|
|
Post by 9idrr on Mar 31, 2020 22:05:12 GMT -6
Hope all's goin' well for everybody. I know it's goin' great for me when there's more comin' from the Smokes.
|
|
|
Post by mnn2300 on Apr 1, 2020 11:28:05 GMT -6
The lock down should have been instituted in February, but the potential crashing of the economy was to much of an influence on President Trump. So now we had crowds of people going to the beaches and other crowded places including Madri Gras which is spreading the virus across America. Its the Governor's and Mayors instituting the quarantines - not the President.
|
|
|
Post by willc453 on Apr 1, 2020 15:05:33 GMT -6
The Virus: 30 days staying at home Day 1: Son of a b*tch thought Oscar. IF there was ANY kind of justice in the world and IF God would smite some of those liberal, mealy mouth mother f*ckers, I'd have gotten my usual 2 Foster Farm family packs of wings and 4 packages of gizzards last week from Walmart for the month. Now is that too much to ask God? That a man wants some plain, simple food to put on ones table? And let's add NO potatoes at Scolari's or WinCo? Cr*p. Of course, in a way kind of feel sorry for those regular, non-liberal people, but then no doubt they too thought nothing bad would ever happen and if so, why the government would take care of them and everything. What would it of cost them to put at least $20 away in extra food each month? And let's not forget toilet paper, paper towels, off the counter meds, etc. they SHOULD of been stashing away. But oh no, let's get some pizza from Domino's, eat out at Applebee's, etc. And now, guns and ammo are flying off the shelf, being bought by those same “guns are bad” liberals in California. And laughing my a$$ off when they find out there's a 10 day waiting period before they'll actually have a gun in their hand AND have to buy that $25 permit AND have it in their possession in hand BEFORE they can buy ammo! And of course, because of them, they can't order/have ammo sent to them thru the mail. What I'm REALLY hoping for is someone hacking into the food stamp program and bring it crashing down in California. The riots from people not being able to buy food will make the Rodney King riots and that one in Ferguson look like childs play. And I noticed Oriental Americans are buying guns, but then their parents probably told them what it was like in L.A. and the grocery stores they owned that the rioters TRIED looting. Ain't it amazing how NO ONE wants to loot something when there's people ready to shoot them for trying or thinking of it? Thing is, NONE of these liberals/ordinary people in their full blown panic mode have thought of one thing: LONG TERM repercussions as in if what if this virus gets worse as in getting more deadly due to some mutation? I mean, look at the sh*t holes L.A. and San Francisco have become due to the homeless with their needles being left on the street, sh*tting in the street in front of everyone and TONS of garbage they generate. And now, rats have become a problem in at least both cities because of this. And already, WHO has now declared this virus to be a pandemic and NOT an epidemic like they were sprouting a week or so ago. And while many businesses are now closed, some are exempt...supermarkets I can understand, but liquor and grass shops?! And NO ONE has talked about THE boogeyman just waiting to come out: what happens after the 30 days are up with the virus spreading even more? And again, laughing my a$$ off watching those 3 fat ladies FIGHTING over a package of paper towels?!
The way the system is set up now is all based on point of sales where when something is sold today at a store, the next day, it's SUPPOSE to automatically re-ordered and shipped the following day, MAYBE two days later. With me being retired for a little over 5 years, really haven't done much with this place, so thinking bad thoughts, up my preps a bit by getting into square foot gardening. Vegetable seeds? Got a lot of 'em and glad I bought another hundred packages of them from Dollar Tree two months ago. Was going to use my 6x8x2 lumber to replace the sagging gate to the backyard, but that can wait now. Taking off for Home Depot and Harbor Freight for stuff. Back from both places, hitting Harbor Freight first for their largest portable generator. Maybe I'm over reacting and really didn't want to put it on my credit card, but want to make sure I've got as much cash as possible in my bank account. Which meant hitting Wells Fargo drive thru for 5K in cash from savings and possibly pull the rest of it out tomorrow. Who knows if the government will limit how much you can withdraw like they did in Italy a few years ago? Also grabbed a dozen packages of shop towels at Harbor Freight because I can always wash 'em instead of throwing/burning paper towels/tissues. At Home Depot, bought enough lumber to build a total of 12 square foot garden beds, along with 2 boxes of screws and mulch/cow manure. Check Craigslist for free manure in next few days.
Day 2: Left home at 06:30, heading for Walmart in Stead. Hours for them is now 07:00 to 22:00, just like WinCo. Get there maybe 10 minutes early and there were maybe 18 people already in line? A lot of 'em have masks and keeping a 6 foot distance between each other. If they had it, planned on getting toilet paper and paper towels. THOUGHT I was buying toilet paper, but the cashier said there was a limit of 1 on paper towels. The h*ll with that bs....$4 for TWO rolls of paper towels?! Got my wings, but no gizzards. Got some other things, with total being $80. Only reason for that much was having to buy another deep fat fryer after the cord on my old one shorted out several weeks ago. And been STARVING for fries to go with my meals. Fried or microwaved potatoes are okay, but..... First replace the backyard gate and that took a few hours with me just copying what Uncle Walt had built 25+ years ago. Then realized (after the frames were built), I needed to also replace the fence boards. Another trip to Home Depot and also picked up 40 pounds of bird seed. Cut and drilled all the boards using the radial arm saw that I bought a few years ago and finally had enough. Also called the VA for refills on ALL my meds since it's now basically closed except for emergencies. Thing is, the recording says some of them wouldn't be filled until some time next month?! So talked with a pharmacist and she said she'd have no problem getting refills on my stuff considering how the situation is now health wise for us vets. Been checking the news about the virus and it is getting worse, especially in New York City with the dead now being put in reefers as there's simply not enough room for them in the cities morgues. And more than one New Yorker has left for their 2nd home where ever that may be. Not that they're being greeted with open arms now. H*ll, even the Tahoe mayor is telling people NOT to come there during these 30 days AND asking those who rent homes to these people, not to. Oh yeah, it's going to get worse. However, I'd doing fine especially having some wings & fries for supper, along with buttermilk ranch dressing and a couple of dr peppers. And need to stock up on those too. Tired, write more tomorrow.
-------------
Got 2 more chapters done, will be working on 4th chapter during the next week. Will post another chapter once I got at least 2 more chapters ready to go. And thanks to breft to letting us use his thread for our stories here.
|
|
|
Post by texican on Apr 1, 2020 18:16:33 GMT -6
Willc, No gizzards. Now that is a crying shame. Love gizzards deep fried or stove grilled with a little salt, black pepper and garlic. It is getting bad out there. The DW went to the store with a friend and they wore masks and gloves. All of the stores employees were wearing masks and gloves and limiting number of shoppers into the stores. Most of the shoppers were wearing masks and gloves, except a few had only gloves on and handkerchiefs or scarves around their noses and mouths. The sheep are waking up to the threat. The friend's ex-husband lives with her. He went to the local little hospital two weeks ago and they misdiagnosed him and he was transferred to the big hospital in McAlister where they treated him and he got better and came home and told his ex that they need to get married so that she could have his SS if anything happened to him. They got divorced so that he could collect full SS as being disabled. Yesterday, he took another spell and went back to McAlister and they had to revive him twice. Then he was sent to Little Rock and she was told that she could not visit him since no one but patients were allowed into the hospital. Hospitals are limiting the number of people into the hospitals which is good practice. No word yet on his condition. Sad situation. If he lives, The DW and I will see that they get remarried. It is getting bad out there. It would not surprise me to see all of the populace state to do into lockdown. No cases reported in our county is SE Okieland. Ordering stuff from Sam's, Walmart and Amazon, but wonder how long this will take. Have now been surprised that the last two times ordering from Sam's, items selected when ready to check out have been put in the wish category because the warehouse was out and the website had not been updated. I spray all packages with bleach water and let set until dry or nearly dry. The contents are removed and the contents are also sprayed with bleach water and allowed to dry. I always wear gloves which are also sprayed with bleach water. Never wrong to be safe. Be ready for it will be turning violent out there especially in the medium and large cities especially in the poorer sections of the cities. If you live in a city, it would be expedient to consider relocating to a rural location if you can. Being away from the areas of violence is the best defense against violence. This is the very reason we moved to SE Okieland. Virus details from infection2020.com/ as of 7:02 pm. CONFIRMED CASES - 214,925↑ 14% (+26598 past 24 hrs) DEATHS - 5,095↑ 31% (+1217 past 24 hrs) RECOVERED - 8,538 ↑ 22% (+1514 past 24 hrs) Be careful out there. Texican....
|
|
|
Post by willc453 on Apr 2, 2020 15:47:27 GMT -6
Yeah, I'm waiting for things to possibly turn ugly, especially in the big cities. Been checking the news and now people are ORGANIZING attacks on food stores/ supermarkets in Italy. So now they've got armed cops watching these places. Those in the north are trying to get south for food, while those is the south are saying KEEP OUT. In one video, saw where someone had hung a basket from their balcony. The note on the basket said if you have extra food, please put it in the basket. If you need food, take what you need. And will be looking for info on all those who fled those middle east countries the past couple of years and what's happening to them. Got one video where the Italian cops are beating the hell out of a bunch of them. And remember the gun grab in Australia last year? Blacks (non-Aussies from what I understand) are becoming a problem. So what's the solution? Why, the neighborhood will hire ARMED guards who will shoot these people if necessary. Funny ain't it....how the govt. says nothing bad will happen and we'll protect you, so you don't need guns. But here in the U.S., they're flying off the shelves along with ammo.
As to food, wings & gizzards is my main forte. And yes, I mean that literally, though I do have the occasional pork chop or steak. And since it's warming up, going fishing and seeing if the crawdads are out of hibernation. And yes, I'll include how I did in one of my chapters. Gizzards/wings get fried, though from time to time, wings are on the grill with barbeque sauce. And gotta have my Hidden Valley buttermilk ranch dressing to go with the wings/gizzards. Will try Walmart for wings/gizzards and some veggies from WinCo because Walmart's prices higher than WinCo. And outta potatoes and I usually eat 10 pounds a week. Brother's tried for paper towels/toilet paper at Scolari's/Dollar Tree and no luck. Before too long, he'll be coming over for some. Ain't going to say a thing, but give him my best I'm your older brother and I told you so look.
Got half a dozen boxes of latex gloves and regular dish washing rubber gloves that I've picked up from Harbor Freight/Dollar Tree. Didn't know Sam's Club made deliveries and never thought about Amazon/Ebay. Wonder if Costco does delivery service. Cousin and nephews wife have cards, so something to think about.
Of course, us G.I.'s are known for our black humor. Check out Youtube and search for Coronavirus music. There's a lot of GREAT songs now coming out. And remember the Florida governor who refused to issue a state wide stay at home order? He finally did, AFTER all the college kids were done partying down there, so now they're returning home. Can anyone say hello to more infected people? And 2 cruise ships that wanted to port in Ft. Lauderdale were refused until Trump said do it. Now the governor says "I didn't know Americans were on that ship. Thought they were all foreigners". Reminds me of the Jews who tried fleeing Germany for the U.S. in the mid/late 30's. They were refused entry and had to return to Germany as no other nation would take them in. Many of those on that ship didn't survive to see the end of the war. And China reports it has lost TWENTY-ONE MILLION cell phone users, though now they're putting a spin on all of this. AND there may be a 2nd go round of the virus there. CROWDS of people gathering in front of a funeral home to collect family member ashes.
|
|
|
Post by papaof2 on Apr 2, 2020 19:52:17 GMT -6
Costco delivers SOME things, if it's on their "business" site. Not sure about other things at this point in time as it's been a month or more since I ordered anything. After you log in to costco.com, click on "business". I've been buying toilet paper there for a long time (Marathon, 2 ply, 470 sheet rolls, box of 48 about every 5-6 months). Some things are ONLY deliverable to a business address but those are so marked.
I think the count of no-longer cell phone users might be a good indicator of sick people numbers.
|
|
|
Post by texican on Apr 2, 2020 23:45:59 GMT -6
And outta potatoes and I usually eat 10 pounds a week.
WillC,
I take it you french fry those 10 pounds of potatoes....
Walmart also does internet orders as does Sams, but many grocery items at Walmart and Sams are not available. You have to go back several times to the site until they become available.
Be careful out there and go packing for people are starting to go crazy.
Got to go to Sherman Texas to Sams to get a laptop replaced that Sams messed up the warranty on. Spent over two hours on the phone to get this straightened out and have an email from Sams saying to refund the laptop or replace it. The wife as decided that she would rather have a good radio since she uses her tablet most of the time.
Will be using gloves and a mask and packing.
God bless all.
Texican....
|
|
|
Post by willc453 on Apr 3, 2020 18:33:30 GMT -6
Bought 2, 5 pound bags at Scolari's a little over a week ago and that was with a 2 bag limit. They've been gone for about 2 days or so now. Hit the store again today, got a 10 pound bag, 1 per customer. And yeah, will hit 'em again tomorrow. Basically all I do is fries, though I also use 2 potatoes as hashbrowns with 2 over easy eggs on 'm. I also like making that cheap instant gravy, with me adding 2 pounds of Farmer Johns sausages from Dollar Tree on the hashbrowns. Clerk at Scolari's said they're only getting a couple of cases of toilet paper each day when they actually need pallets. They had gotten some in earlier today, but it was gone right after they opened. As for me, everyone should know what Andy has with him...he had a lot more at home. Even with no CCW, better to be judged by 12, than carried out by 6. Going to cooling ponds tomorrow as I'd like some fresh, baked fish with a little lemon juice. Daryll's (brother) is going though he won't fish because he doesn't have a current license. He's going to wait until August so he can get the senior fishing/hunting license. The hunting is good for rabbit, quail and ducks. No deer, sheep, etc. And hearing news how this lock down may extend to some time in May, possibly June. And I was wrong about the north/south parts of Italy. It's those in the south that's hurting and many of them won't get any govt. funds because they don't work at some business and pay taxes. They work on a cash basis only. So the govt. doesn't know who these people are or their situation.
Anyone remember the Marshall Plan that was enacted at the end of WW 2? Considering how the U.S. fed a lot of the world after the war, why not sell our excess crops instead of the govt. paying subsidies for NOT growing food? Italians may love their pasta, but figure they'll scarf up cooked rice in a heart beat when there's nothing else to eat. Confiscate/unload all those Chinese container ships and fill containers with food to be distributed to various ports in Europe. And no, I'm not saying let's give this stuff away either. Since the Chinese started this dance, it should bear full responsibility for all of this. Tht should be a good kick in the nuts for their economy and yuan.
That's it for now and going back to Youtube and working on my stories.
|
|
|
Post by papaof2 on Apr 3, 2020 20:45:04 GMT -6
We're going for minor grocery items about every 10 days (fresh meat if available, plus bananas just don't keep long, even if you refrigerate them when the skins first start turning brown). If international shipping shut down it would be a long time before we saw bananas again.
One of us will most likely be out tomorrow or Sunday to get the minor necessities. If push came to shove, we have plenty of basic, from-scratch, pantry food but not even fresh-baked bread can replace Wheat Thins or Ruffles when you want a crunchy snack ;-) My better half did follow a suggestion to buy the milk she'd need for XX days but in half-gallon jugs instead of gallon jugs so some of it could be frozen and extend the expiration date by as many days as it stayed frozen. Yes, two half-gallons cost more than a single gallon but you're not driving to the store again as soon. Other than a half gallon of milk taking 2+ days to thaw in the fridge, it works fine - just remember to start defrosting that next half gallon a couple of days before you'll need it ;-)
If I wind up doing the shopping, I'll swing by Lowe's while I'm out to get the bricks to finish the rocket stove and some 1x2 and aluminum sheet to complete the UVC disinfecting box. With the aluminum sheet cut to be reflectors on the inside surfaces of the box and a web of fishing line tied to screw eyes as the platform for whatever is to be disinfected, one six watt UVC bulb shining down from the top of the box and one shining up from the bottom would provide 360 degree coverage (reflectors behind both lights and on all four sides for complete coverage). The best time+distance info I found was that 10 seconds six inches from a UVC bulb kills almost all micro-organisms. With the two UVC bulbs, a couple of minutes should suffice to disinfect anything that will fit in the box. The primary purpose is to clean incoming mail and packages so the inside dimensions should be at least 16x16x16, although that may depend on available materials :-( I'll need to check the sizes of some common items, such as a case of 10 reams of paper as that's the largest box that I'm likely to keep.
My wife still comments on the bread I baked last week. I think that caught her at just the right time ;-) One downside of gall bladder surgery is that it restricts you from eating certain foods (no longer any carrots or celery for me) and limits how much of some other foods you can comfortably consume. Sadly, white bread is one of the things that my digestive system limits me on :-( While I would like to sit down with a warm-from-the-oven loaf and some butter and eat until I'm satisfied, I'm limited to one slice at a time with a break of at least a couple hours before the next slice. However, that's better than hurting even after taking Gaviscon and a loaf of bread does last more than two days...
|
|
|
Post by texican on Apr 4, 2020 0:32:54 GMT -6
Good early early morning. Returned from Sherman Texas about 10:34 pm. Emptied important items out of the car and will do the bleach treatment on the rest tomorrow for the DW is not up to it as late as it is. 126 miles from Sams in Sherman to our home in SE Okieland. Glad to be home. Sams gave a complete return credit back to the credit card for the DW's laptop. Shopped at Sams and bought a shopping cart full. No Nabisco crackers, but lots of other types of crackers. No TP, paper towels, hand sanitizer, rice or dried beans. The meat selection was spotty except for the expensive cuts. There were multiple areas where the shelves were empty. Sams was not crowded. Did not hear anyone coughing or sneezing which would have been time to go out the exit. Maybe 40% of the people were wearing gloves and masks. Some only wore gloves. Sherman is in Grayson County which has a reported 12 confirmed infected cases. Went to Tractor Supply which was not crowded, but no shopping carts available. Many were sitting in the store with stuff to be restocked and stocked. There were only three of us with gloves and mask. The store did have hand sanitizer and gloves available which was surprising. Found heavy plastic gloves and XXL leather gloves which went on the dolly cart with two more bags of dog food. Got additional locks for the buildings. None of the shelves were bare and they still had baby chicks, but breeds that I did not know. Went to Auto Zone for air filter for the DW's new van and a maintenance manual and wipers for my van which it needed for the old ones were not doing a good job of wiping the rain off the windshield at highway speeds. The store was not busy and only two of us were wearing gloves and masks. As I was leaving more people were showing up. Went to Kroger's to buy some of their meat specials and other times, but they were out of the spiral cut ham and the pork ribs were never delivered. Did get a ham. The only hamburger meat left was organic at over $5 per pound. Did get two one pound rolls of 90% hamburger which was the limit. Milk was $2.12 per gallon, but only needed 1 gallon. The bread shelves were nearly empty. Glad I bought bread at Sams and Sams bread racks were half empty. There were near empty shelves across the store, but lots of Wolf's Brand Chili, but very little soup. Bought two cans of soup that we eat for that was all that they had and it was on the bottom shelf. Bought black eyed peas and green beans. Bought three 18 egg cartons which was the limit for $1.48 per carton and shredded cheese on sale that will go into the freezer. Kroger's was running a special on fried chicken at $4.99 for 8 pieces and bought five eight pieces. Mother likes and can eat fried chicken and the dogs love the bones. Went to Albertson's and they had chicken and pork on sale which were bought, but no hamburger meat except for the expensive hamburger at nearly $5 per pound. Bought a few extras in vegetables that were on sale. These will be washed tomorrow. Albertson's also had near empty shelves across the store. On the way out of town, filled the van with $1.13 regular at Sams. Lowest price in town and lowest price that I have seen in a long long time. At the hospital on Highway 75 and on the south side of Denison, which is north of Sherman, the parking lot was full and vehicles were backed up on both access roads into the parking lot. Will try to find out what was going on tomorrow. Best guess is CCP Virus testing. Will have to unpack the car tomorrow and bleach all of the packages. Didn't stop at Walmart due to the crowd. Was a good trip, but another 9 hour trip. Texican.... WillC, though I also use 2 potatoes as hashbrowns with 2 over easy eggs on 'm. I also like making that cheap instant gravy, with me adding 2 pounds of Farmer Johns sausages from Dollar Tree on the hashbrownsWillC, you are a man that has great taste. I also like hashbrowns with two soft fried eggs and gravy and sausage. Makes a great meal. If it wasn't 1:30 in the morning, that would make a great snack. Texican.... PP2. If push came to shove, we have plenty of basic, from-scratch, pantry food but not even fresh-baked bread can replace Wheat Thins or Ruffles when you want a crunchy snack ;-)Got have those crackers and Ruffles. Bought 6 boxes of crackers and crunchy Cheetos last night. The dogs like the crunchy Cheetos. We also get the dollar bags of shoe string potatoes from the Dollar Store for soup and snacking. The bags are small so if you eat a whole bag with the dogs it is not so bad for you. Texican.... From: United States Coronavirus (COVID-19) Tracker as of 12:15 am. CONFIRMED CASES - 278,117↑ 13% (+32,481 past 24 hrs) DEATHS - 7,164↑ 18% (+1098 past 24 hrs) RECOVERED - 9,863↑ 7% (+635 past 24 hrs) The counts keep going up. Be careful out there. Texican....
|
|