How are you dealing with life now with the Covid-19 virus situation? (7 Viewers)

[dana martin]

My “make enough of each food to last more than a single serving” plan is starting to pay off. My wife and I had a busier day than usual (!) having some phone calls to make and appointments to schedule during the day in between watching the kids so I didn’t get a real meal prep time period. And then I opened up the fridge and realized that we had four different already prepared meals to choose from. We can eat a good meal that’s not the same thing we had yesterday and that doesn’t require any effort. That feels like a big win.

i have to ask, are you good on formula for the boys, along with everything else, diapers and wipes, i hope that you have some relief in that issue. and if push comes to shove, a always great back-up for a quick dinner is breakfast of your choice, i can crank out SoS and scrambled eggs in about 10-15 minuets.

 

[Josh Steinberg]

i have to ask, are you good on formula for the boys, along with everything else, diapers and wipes, i hope that you have some relief in that issue. and if push comes to shove, a always great back-up for a quick dinner is breakfast of your choice, i can crank out SoS and scrambled eggs in about 10-15 minuets.

So far we’re good with formula. We’re on subscription delivery and we have no indication that they’re shutting it down. I do have a couple extra cans in case the next refill gets delayed, and the local supermarket has consistently had it in stock and is enforcing purchase limits to make sure it stays that way. So fingers crossed on that one, but I’m hoping we’ll be okay. And since the baby wipes we use aren’t the heavy duty chemical ones, so far we haven’t seen shortages of them. It’s definitely always on my mind because I can personally eat something I don’t care for to get by but the babies can’t do the same.

We’ve done breakfast for dinner twice so far - French toast both times (who knows when we’ll see a loaf of challah bread again?), once with sausage, the other time with bacon. We’ve got a waffle maker her somewhere and we have the boxed mix so that’s definitely happening at some point as well.

 

[usrunnr]

We walk our dogs 1 mile in the morning, 1 mile in the evening. Sometimes we walk extra miles during the day in our community. However we are staying home. We shop only as necessary. We stay 6 feet apart from other people. We have cancelled all trips. We have plenty of food, and the tap water is fine. How long that will last we do not know. But we are seeing friendly people in the neighborhood, who always ask how we are, if we need anything, what they can do. We do the same for everyone we meet. Even our mail carrier left us a care note and offer to help. We rescued a stray dog yesterday (we do this regularly) and found its owner. We had a sincerely wonderful day. We are grateful for everything and everyone. We know how lucky we are. We have nothing to complain about and much to be grateful for.

 

[dana martin]

We walk our dogs 1 mile in the morning, 1 mile in the evening. Sometimes we walk extra miles during the day in our community. However we are staying home. We shop only as necessary. We stay 6 feet apart from other people. We have cancelled all trips. We have plenty of food, and the tap water is fine. How long that will last we do not know. But we are seeing friendly people in the neighborhood, who always ask how we are, if we need anything, what they can do. We do the same for everyone we meet. Even our mail carrier left us a care note and offer to help. We rescued a stray dog yesterday (we do this regularly) and found its owner. We had a sincerely wonderful day. We are grateful for everything and everyone. We know how lucky we are. We have nothing to complain about and much to be grateful for.

thank heavens someone else, is OK with tap water, brita filter if needed, but i mean it what you are washing every part of your body and brushing your teeth with, yet everyone runs for bottled water, i have a couple of cases in case of emergencies, But with my coffee intake that would be gone way to quick, need to get out the jar and make some sun tea this week.

Thank you for the rescue, have to ask, what kind of breed, and was it an older dog or puppy that had lost it way?

 

[jcroy]

I've been filling up the brita pitchers several times every day for almost 25 years.

 

[usrunnr]

thank heavens someone else, is OK with tap water, brita filter if needed, but i mean it what you are washing every part of your body and brushing your teeth with, yet everyone runs for bottled water, i have a couple of cases in case of emergencies, But with my coffee intake that would be gone way to quick, need to get out the jar and make some sun tea this week.

Thank you for the rescue, have to ask, what kind of breed, and was it an older dog or puppy that had lost it way?

The dog, we found out, had been lost for 3 days. It was a 12 year old chihuahua. Needed medication. Had no teeth. Very frightened. Nearly blind and nearly deaf. We followed it for a couple of hours, unable to approach (it was scared to death and not friendly), but trying to keep it out of harms way. Another neighbor found the missing notice on Facebook and left a message for the owner. Upon owner's arrival we took her to where the dog was. It was an emotional reunion for all of us. Five neighbors participated. The dog, in three days, had traveled about 2 miles away from its own neighborhood. We think it's a miracle it survived. It does not usually end like this. We are grateful to everyone in the neighborhood who helped us spot and keep the dog in sight while we located the owner. It was unfortunate that the dog had no collar or license. I hope in the future the owner acquires both.

 

[dana martin]

a simple tag with their name and a phone number, work with a rescue and the are all the ones that will never be adopted out, my old guy is full of life, deaf as a post and has a little dementia because of the lack of hearing , so yes i understand the confusion, all Chihuahua's are a little unfriendly till they are over-friendly, big dog syndrome for a carpetshark, i am glad she is well and back home, she might be someone's world, and vice versa.

 

[Josh Steinberg]

One of the doctors appointments we had for the twins which we had no safe way of getting to but still necessary just got switched to a webcam visit - for what it’s for, that should be fine because it’s about looking at something and not about giving shots or the like. I’m relieved.

 

[dana martin]

well babies check? oh remember those days, a long, long time ago; the last time was like 29-30 years ago , one phrase that i always thought funny, neck supple till i found out it was about lymph nodes and mobility, then it clicked

 

[DaveF]

I was off last Wed through Sat. Was a pretty relaxing and enjoyable, albeit unplanned, staycation.

Now I'm working 12 hr days. Hooray I can work. But trying to get 80 hrs in 7 days Sunday to Saturday.

Assuming work doesn't shut down sooner, I'll be off again for seven days starting Sunday. And I'll have to catch up on this thread to figure out how to cope.

 

[Robert Crawford]

 

[The Obsolete Man]

Yeah, Dominos is pimping that hard, too, not that I blame them. Something like 50% off if you order and use contactless delivery this week.


I'm waiting for the first parody of it where someone loads a clay pigeon thrower with a pizza and fires it at someone.

 

[Radioman970]

an employee here is leaving. A very nice lady who works up front is making a meal herself for everyone as a going away meal. I don't want to be rude but... well, you know... a little concerned. what would you do? lol I'll most likely eat a little of eat non-meat item, I'm a veggie person.

 

[Tino]

an employee here is leaving. A very nice lady who works up front is making a meal herself for everyone as a going away meal. I don't want to be rude but... well, you know... a little concerned. what would you do? lol I'll most likely eat a little of eat non-meat item, I'm a veggie person.

I wouldn’t eat a thing.

 

[John Dirk]

No leftovers for me because now that I'm home all the time, the only thing I do is eat. I already exercise every morning but it needs to warm up a little more so I can get back to running in addition to what I already do.

Yep. Finding myself snacking more often these days too. I would have expected the basement of the FBI building to have at least a treadmill.

thank heavens someone else, is OK with tap water, brita filter if needed, but i mean it what you are washing every part of your body and brushing your teeth with, yet everyone runs for bottled water...

Couldn't agree more. I wouldn't drink tap water in certain countries but here in the U.S. it's fine. If you're concerned about contaminents, get a Brita filter or the like. I also have bottled water but never consume more than one actual bottle per day. It's mainly for convenience and I just refill it with tap water.

 

[Nelson Au]

From what I’m learning, you cannot get Covid 19 from eating it. The food will go into your digestive tract. The threat of Covid 19 is to the respiratory system by breathing it in. But I totally get the concern of eating something.

I’ve been really anxious of food packages like milk cartons, juice bottles and the plastic bags the bread is contained in that I recently purchased at the store. Hopefully the virus dies off if someone touched those surfaces. I understand the virus can live on plastic for 24 hours or so. Maybe it lives less long on paper. I wash my hands a lot. One option I’ll see if I can do is transfer the contents of food into a clean container.

 

[Dennis Nicholls]

Things aren't too bad here. Ada county (pop 400K) lists 21 cases thus far. I don't believe the reports that say warmer weather will defeat the virus. The CDC site shows the lowest rate of infection in the northern rockies right now. And it's late summer in Australia right now.

I'm mostly recovered from two years of medical crisis, including AVR and bypass. Heart surgery was "elective" so no damage from a heart attack. My biggest challenge is now lack of gym access to regain my fitness as it's difficult for me to walk unassisted. My age (67) is an issue but perhaps not that important.

Idaho is about 1/4 Mormon. This helps in two ways. Most Mormons have a year's food supply at home anyway, so they aren't out panic shopping in competition with the rest of us. And houses here are built with two Mormon-inspired architectural features: a walk-in pantry in the kitchen and a dedicated 20A outlet in the garage for a large freezer.

Being single I don't have that extra freezer, but I do use the pantry since I'm cheap. When non-perishable stuff goes on sale I stock up. I buy diced tomatoes and beans by the case. I keep a 25 lb bag of bread flour in a 5 gallon white plastic food bucket (perfect fit). I can probably live off the food already in my house for a month or two.

 

[Radioman970]

I wouldn’t eat a thing.

I'll probably eat. I blame my Brit ancestors for me not want to be bloody rude!

 

[Dave Upton]

We're in the suburbs of Houston, which have seen a pretty large spike in cases recently. I'm lucky to work in IT, and for an employer that supplies building supplies to the multifamily industry (apartment buildings, dorms, etc). We're considered an essential service as we also sell a lot of cleaning supplies, gloves, masks etc. nationwide and are owned by Lowe's so have solid financial backing. It's nice to be in a position where losing my job isn't a major worry, particularly considering I got out of oil & gas in November, just in time to avoid this.

I've been spending 70% of my day on conference calls like usual, so nothing significant has changed there, though I do find it very jarring to see the streets empty when I take my twice daily walks.

From a personal perspective, I'm not overly worried about myself or my wife, but it's still something in the back of my mind. During my annual physical in November, the doctor warned me that I was prediabetic, so I immediately got my act together and altogether have dropped 60lbs since October. Unfortunately, it appears I was just a little too late to stave off the inevitable and was told I'm a Type 2 diabetic just 3 weeks ago. It was incredibly frustrating to hear this after dropping 50lbs in 4 months, so my level of physical activity is a huge component in my sanity. My personal strategy for blood sugar maintenance has been a combination of walking (3-5 miles a day), and going to the gym (3-4X per week), so having our gyms shut down here has been a real blow.

That said, I'm throwing myself into work, hobbies and walking more than before to make up for it. Other than 2 forays to the grocery store where I've picked up some essentials, I've mostly been enjoying time with my wife at the house. Our routine feels relatively unchanged, with perhaps the fact that I'm not commuting being a pleasant way to spend more time together.

I'm extremely blessed to have a wife that I would spend every waking minute with if I could, even now 11 years after getting married we don't get tired of one another, we actually thrive on being together more. I'm going to keep doing what I can to help others from afar, and keep calm, supporting my team of 25 as they work from home. For most of us, life will go on, even if we sometimes worry that it won't.

Just this past Saturday we paid the earnest money for the lot where we will eventually build our forever home, which is a nice milestone amidst the chaos.

 

[Johnny Angell]

My wife and I are retired, so no job issues there. That also means we are relying on our retirement savings, which we both started to do in our 20’s. It’s being managed by professionals but not matter how much they try, this kind of downturn on the market has to hurt.

We get groceries delivered when we can and if not, then we do curbside pickup. I’m not sure if we’ll be able to buy insulin syringes (3 diabetic cats) that way. May have to go in the store. No movies. We had tickets to a play this month, that’s been “postponed.” More tix to see Cats in June, I think. I’m sure that will go by the wayside. The next season was going to include Hamilton.

Think goodness for streaming.

All my life I’ve been advised to invest in the stock market for the long haul. I’m still being advised to do that now. And yes, it would be stupid to sell now. What pisses me off is that I think that most of the selling is being done, not by investors, but speculators who have to have their money now. How about following the advice we’ve taken all our investing lives. It seems middle-class smuchks like us are being asked to do all the heavy lifting, and to be the last ones to get off the Titanic.