How are you dealing with life now with the Covid-19 virus situation?

[Tony Bensley]

In part due to changing circumstances regarding our son's job status, and in part due my fear of taking the bus in the middle of a pandemic, I have backed out of volunteering at Banting House (Which is now finally set to reopen this Saturday, just in time for the 100th Anniversary of Banting's idea, that eventually led to the discovery of Insulin!), for the time being.

On the other hand, I have managed to get some blood work done, and am now in the process of getting my long term Toenail fungus issue dealt with, so there is that!

CHEERS!

 

[Malcolm R]

I keep my mask in my car in the passenger seat. I also have a spare tucked into the center console in case I manage to forget the mask (brought it inside and forgot about it).

I have some spares around the house, so if I go walking to a store instead of driving, I can grab one of those. Six months in, wearing a mask daily to and from work, weekly shopping, it's habit and unusual to forget my mask.

I have them stashed everywhere. I have a small box of disposables in my car in case I walk out of the house without one; I also have a small box in my office desk drawer in case I forget one when I enter the building. I also usually leave a couple reusables in the car.

I've seen a few people that hang them from their rear view mirror so they're in plain sight and hard to miss.

 

[TJPC]

I always find Winter a complete pain in the posterior anyway. Now add masks, and re-usable bags to coat, scarf, hat, gloves and boots.

 

[Clinton McClure]

Yeah, I suppose if I'm using a cart. That's what happens at Costco. I usually just push the whole cart out and bag/box things in the car.

Sometimes I just use a hand basket, but I guess I could just carry that out as well and leave it with the carts. Not sure if they want people carrying hand baskets outside. That's a lot easier to "forget" and just load into your car, unlike a full size shopping cart.

Free hand basket

 

[Clinton McClure]

My wife made us cloth masks, and I keep mine hanging with my hat on a hook on the door to the garage. When I put on my jacket or hoodie and hat, I hang the mask around my neck. The only thing left to remember is to actually put the mask up over my nose and mouth before I enter the store.

I usually have multiple masks with me. I keep a single-use (but not really since I don’t work in a hospital) procedural mask on my gear shifter to wear into stores and into and out of work every day. I keep an N-95 mask in my backpack that I wear for 8+ hours everyday at work. I also have several cloth masks in my backpack but rarely use them because I hate the way they fit. My problem is that I put the procedural mask on my gear shifter when I get in the car then have to get on a conference call while I’m driving (because no one can work just 8 hours a day anymore) or my wife calls me in the car and I have a long conversation then completely forget to grab my mask when getting out of the car.

 

[Malcolm R]

Free hand basket

Well, the world's already going to hell. Might as well get the hand basket for free.

 

[Clinton McClure]

Well, the world's already going to hell. Might as well get the hand basket for free.

That made me laugh out loud. Thank you for that.

 

[Mark Booth]

One of the best ways to cope with stress is through humor. With that in mind, I created this:

Mark

 

[jayembee]

Today was the first time in quite a while that my wife and I felt like we were accomplishing something significant beyond the ins and outs of daily life. We went downtown to volunteer to help prepare mail-in ballots for counting. Not tabulating them -- the ballots remained sealed in their security envelopes -- but ensuring that they had all the proper signatures and such so that they could be counted on Tuesday. And that the voter rolls used on Tuesday were marked appropriately to indicate those who'd already voted by mail.

While it was a bit antsy being in relatively close (and in some cases, not so relatively) quarters with others, everyone was masked, there was plenty of hand sanitizer to be used, and everyone felt the civic engagement was worth it.

On Monday afternoon, we will be going to the local school that is the polling place for our Ward to help with set-up for Tuesday, and then again at 7:00 pm Tuesday when polls close, to do what is needed to get everything wrapped up.

I'm torn about whether to post this. I don't want to run afoul of the mods since this might be viewed as running up against the line of what is OK to talk about. THIS IS NOT MEANT TO START ANY POLITICAL DISCUSSION, SO PLEASE DON'T DO SO. If any of the mods think I've crossed the line with this, and feel the need to delete this, I understand. And apologize. I only meant to post about something I feel positive about in an otherwise sucky year.

 

[The Obsolete Man]

Speaking of early ballots in a totally non-political way, I have to go out and pick up 2021's dog licenses on Monday, so I'll be dropping my ballot off then.

I've had it for a while, but feel better about dropping it off in person. And everything's right there with the county bureaucracy, so one trip for all. And it wasn't exactly procrastination leading me to wait until November, they didn't allow 2021's licenses to be sold until November 1.

As far as positive things... well, I finally hit a Kinkos to get a couple pages printed out to insert so I could go ahead and get a book bound. Again, it had been waiting for a while but I finally got around to doing it.

 

[Clinton McClure]

Speaking of early ballots in a totally non-political way, I have to go out and pick up 2021's dog licenses on Monday, so I'll be dropping my ballot off then.

I've had it for a while, but feel better about dropping it off in person. And everything's right there with the county bureaucracy, so one trip for all. And it wasn't exactly procrastination leading me to wait until November, they didn't allow 2021's licenses to be sold until November 1.

As far as positive things... well, I finally hit a Kinkos to get a couple pages printed out to insert so I could go ahead and get a book bound. Again, it had been waiting for a while but I finally got around to doing it.

We both voted absentee this year because of COVID. Did everything through the mail with no issues.

 

[Mark Booth]

One of our nieces and her family are self-isolating due to possible exposure to COVID. Their 2-year-old son's daycare provider tested positive after caring for our great nephew for a few days while she was probably infected. Plus, our niece and her husband had direct contact with this person (dropping off and picking up their son). I am uncertain on how careful they've all been with masks, this is in Nebraska where, generally, I don't think mask use is as stringent. However, our niece is in the medical field so, more than likely, she was wearing a mask. The scary part is our niece is expecting her second child. There was news just a few days ago that pregnancy seems to increase the likelihood for more severe complications. So, we are hundreds of miles away sweating bullets with our fingers crossed that neither our great nephew nor mom & dad brought it home.

More bad news, my friend (who I mentioned about 10 days ago) lost his mother to COVID.

The virus continues to get closer and closer to us.

Mark

 

[Mark Booth]

It's a little too soon to know for sure, but it appears our niece and great nephew did not get infected by their daycare person.

Here in San Diego County we learned today that we've reached the lowest (worst) level on the state's COVID scale and, effective Saturday, churches, restaurants and numerous other businesses will no longer be allowed to have any indoor operations (other than take-out). This won't affect Cathy and me to any significant degree. Despite the fact that restaurants been open (with limited indoor seating), we haven't eaten inside a restaurant since late February. The one impact it might have is if a favorite restaurant goes out of business.

But I don't think that's a huge risk for most restaurants. At least, not around here. I picked up Italian from a favorite Italian restaurant tonight and, when I asked the owner how they were doing (after I stood in line behind 4 other people to pick up my food), she said their sales are actually UP compared to pre-COVID. She said they struggled in the March - June time frame but now they are going gangbusters. They never reopened the sit-down area of their restaurant and stuck with take-out only, even after the county said they could have limited seating.

Cathy and I have developed a routine that we are, frankly, getting completely used to. The feeling of being "trapped" at home is completely gone. I've gotten WAY more accomplished around the house than I probably would have otherwise and our home and yard are a more inviting place to spend time than before.

Our goal is to stay the course, avoiding public gatherings of any kind, until we are well past the risk of infection.

Mark

 

[Malcolm R]

One local supermarket that brought in a bunch of toilet paper from Mexico is getting desperate to get rid of it, as it seems no one is buying it at regular price. A 4-pack was priced at $3.99, but they've put it on special for 99 cents. Not really sure what the issue is. The packaging is in Spanish, but it's made by Kimberly-Clark which is a well-known American paper company (which also makes U.S. brands Cottonelle and Scott). I guess people are just buying the familiar brands, given the option.

I bought one pack as emergency stock (at 99 cents for 4 rolls, it's a steal), but have been able to buy my regular Charmin pretty reliably.

 

[jayembee]

The wife and I use Cottonelle wet-wipes as well as regular TP. Unfortunately, Cottonelle has recalled wet-wipes made within a range of dates, which corresponds to the box that was next to be opened. We had to buy some Sam's Club store-brand wipes as backup, which we don't like as much, but it is what it is. We're not sure what we'll be able to get over the course of the next few months, as Feeding Frenzy 2.0 is going on at the moment. The "paper products" shelves at our local Sam's and Wally have been wiped out.

Over the last couple of months, I've been able to find some canisters of Lysol disinfecting wipes occasionally at Wally. The other week, our local supermarket had a couple of shelves of a brand of similar wipes, and over a few days, I snagged about four of them. Unfortunately, they aren't nearly as good, or as easy to separate, but as emergency backup supplies, I suppose they'll do.

 

[Malcolm R]

Yes, things seem to come in and out of stock at different times, at different stores, even within the same chain. I went to a larger chain supermarket on Tuesday and they were largely out of all the major brands of paper products (still had product, but it was all "off" brand). Then I went to a smaller store in the same chain on Wednesday, and they were pretty well stocked on everything the big store was out of.

I have seen Lysol wipes pretty regularly at Walmart. I've even seen some trial sizes of Purell hand sanitizer there recently. That's the first time I've seen any Purell at regular retail for months (EDIT: Also saw 8 oz pumps of Purell near the checkouts).

 

[Josh Steinberg]

I saw rubbing alcohol in stores this week for the first time since February. Hooray.

 

[Adam Lenhardt]

I'm in the middle of buying property, and it's not easy when all of the offices you need to talk to as issues arise are closed to the public.

 

[Mark Booth]

I've been able to get the 5-pack of Lysol disinfectant wipes at Costco during senior hour (9-10am M-F). From the end of September until just last week, Costco was always stocked on toilet paper and paper towel when I shopped during that senior hour. But last week they were out of both and this week I was able to get PT but not TP. We were getting low on TP so I picked up a package at Target.

That's what I get for not hoarding. I waited until we were down to just a couple rolls of PT and one 6-pack of TP before trying to buy more.

Mark

 

[The Obsolete Man]

I've been able to get the 5-pack of Lysol disinfectant wipes at Costco during senior hour (9-10am M-F). From the end of September until just last week, Costco was always stocked on toilet paper and paper towel when I shopped during that senior hour. But last week they were out of both and this week I was able to get PT but not TP. We were getting low on TP so I picked up a package at Target.

That's what I get for not hoarding. I waited until we were down to just a couple rolls of PT and one 6-pack of TP before trying to buy more.

Mark

I restocked on toilet paper a couple months back when Amazon had cases of it back in stock. And by case, it's 3 normal-sized packs in the original box, not, like, 144 rolls or anything.

Then I bought another pack when COVID case numbers started rising again, because better safe than sorry.

So, not exactly hoarding, but futureproofing.