Cowgirl

Ran to CVS early, to pick up a back-ordered prescription that came in. They have hand sanitizer out for use, along with signs about social distancing. 

Came home and started up a turkey vegetable stew in the slow cooker. It should be healthy and tasty, and we’ll be eating it all week, every other day. I love having leftover turkey in the freezer - so many ways to use it.

Doing a bit of cleaning today also. Trying to get caught back up.  

DH is napping so I am trying to be quiet at the moment — Catching up on the news online and very glad to be home safe. 

Here’s the disinfectant solution recommended by the CDC, for killing the virus on a non-porous surface.

Use unexpired household bleach.

“The CDC’s recipe calls for diluting 5 tablespoons (or ⅓ cup) of bleach per gallon of water, or 4 teaspoons of bleach per quart of water.”

Soap and water is best, with thorough washing. But hand sanitizers are good when soap and water aren’t available. I have a stash, but if you don’t, or run out, here is a recipe for hand sanitizer:

The Nebraska Medical Center – famous for its biocontainment unit and treatment of Ebola patients – offers this recipe:

What you’ll need:

• 2/3 cup 91% isopropyl alcohol (rubbing alcohol)
• 1/3 cup aloe vera gel
• Mixing bowl
• Spoon or something for whisking
• Small container, such as a 3 oz. travel bottle
• Optional: essential oil to give your hand sanitizer a fragrance

Mix it up with a whisk and put it in a small portable container for those times and places that soap and water aren’t available.

Thanks, Mt_Rider. Our office does some essential functions for local government. But the truly essential functions, TRULY (not those deemed essential by a self-aggrandizing boss) could be performed in about 30 minutes per day by one employee. There is zero reason to have the entire staff come in all day every day. Sadly, any way I crunch the numbers, I cannot see a way to retire just now. I will just have to take my vitamins, wash my hands, practice social distancing, and pray ... a lot.

17 hours ago, Ambergris said:

DS1 and I may go out once more early in the morning.  We may not.  I have not felt well in more than a week, and I have permission to try again to work around the problems that keep me from telecommuting.  It's time.

Hope you are feeling better Ambergris, and that you got the telecommuting issues sorted out. 💜

Have had encouraging talks with eldest son and youngest daughter. Both have been in prep mode for awhile and sound like they are at least moderately prepped for this pandemic. Eldest daughter is a long-time prepper, so I think they are well-situated to ride this out (as long as she can get her insulin).

Worried about other son. But he can always come stay with us if needed (absent travel bans). Sending prayers his way and to all who are struggling during this crisis.

Meanwhile, friends who run a little restaurant locally have shifted to carry-out and delivery due to a ban on dine-in services. They seem to be doing ok-ish when we chatted. People still want to eat, so they have made a business pivot and are quite busy.

My workplace FINALLY decided to go into emergency mode today, to cut risks to staff and public. I am feeling relief as the precautions sound in line with CDC guidelines, and give us a better chance of surviving this pandemic. I am at high risk due to age and asthma, so I was extremely unhappy with their previous "What-me-worry?" attitude (I wanted to go yell at the top boss "this is NOT a political hoax, you danged idiot!!! This is REAL!!" but have refrained as I need the salary). I had been openly Googling COVID-19 workers compensation and workplace liability, hoping to trigger some panic at the top levels, however -- with them it is always about $$. Possibly that helped.  

There are no CONFIRMED cases in our county, but then there are no test kits either. Someone in another department at work has been out sick, with pneumonia. We don't know if it is COVID-19. I wonder how accurate a count we get from the "confirmed" case numbers. I bet the actual case numbers are considerably higher.

There’s a department heads meeting this morning where I work. Maybe, possibly, they will actually decide to do more than put a sign on the front door advising people not to enter if ... with a huge list of reasons not to enter (and many who enter are functionally illiterate and would not comprehend any of it anyway).

Someone in another department has been out sick. He probably won’t be tested as there aren’t enough test kits. 

OMG, I did not realize that they closed the White House office on pandemics. That sure hurt our national readiness. That was started back with the Ebola epidemic. https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/nsc-pandemic-office-trump-closed/2020/03/13/a70de09c-6491-11ea-acca-80c22bbee96f_story.html

I am SOOO glad we re-stocked fish and bird meds last fall. Sounds like the business ran out and removed the item to avoid issues with too many hits on their site.
 

I worry about our eldest daughter - type 1 diabetic. She has “good” insurance, but as we’ve learned recently, that doesn’t mean a lot. 

My great uncle served in WWI. He died of influenza during the 1918 pandemic. He was taken to the hospital, but it was full. The overflow patients were outside in the cold. That’s where he died.

I have been thinking about that quite a bit lately as I watch the news about CORVID-19.

Thanks for posting this. I was a bit surprised to see the store shelves stripped bare of chemical hand sanitizer wipes, but the section with hand soaps was full. I don’t think people are aware of how good soap really is.

Wash your hands, folks. Often and thoroughly, especially when you have been out in public.

Been busy working and caretaking, mostly. Struggling to get DH in to see another surgeon who might be able to help  - that’s been a frustrating battle, and we have “good” insurance. More and more I am getting to see first hand how terrible our system truly is. He has been sick for 7 months with zero relief. I am determined to fight for him, but it shouldn’t be like this.
 

Meanwhile, due to COVID-19 my workplace has modified some procedures since it is a public place. So far they aren’t closing. We see a lot of poor and under-insured or un-insured people coming through there, and I wouldn’t be surprised if it hits us there. If my employer shuts down, I have some savings to tide us over for awhile. Money preps are important too.

Nephew’s school shut down and went to on-line classes. Glad of that as too many young people in close contact is a recipe for rapid spread.

Went shopping yesterday and am thankful for a stuffed freezer and closets of supplies. Shelves were bare of toilet paper and paper towels, bread, bottled water and meat. There was plenty of fresh produce, which was the reason for my trip. Those who aren’t prepared are panic buying. I hope this wakes people up a bit about preparedness, and also about our rather broken healthcare system.

I shudder to think of how bad this pandemic could get if it hits in a poor and under-insured community. Go Fund Me can’t handle that level of need.

So, we came home last night to no water. Called a plumber. Turns out the well pipe went bad. So they were here and then left for town to get supplies. Ugh.But hopefully the repairs can be done today.

i had to dip into our water preps and disinfection wipes. Glad to have them.

With DH’s knee, although he has a history of gout, it may be a bone infection and not gout, which is why it has not responded to gout treatment. We are now in the process of being referred to yet another specialist in a big city. Yikes. I am afraid how much this will cost, as I think it is “out of network.” I freaking HATE our crappy for-profit insurance system!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Popping in to say “hi.”

DH has been extremely sick with gout (probably gout, but they are STILL trying to figure out what the root of the problem is for sure) since September. He can barely use a walker. I have gotten a ramp for the house and we just got a wheelchair.

He doesn’t drink at all. He hasn’t eaten any red meat since September. Now they are talking knee replacement, but first they have to rule out a bone infection.

Lots of vegetarian meals these days. But he’ll be an invalid until they can safely replace the knee. That cannot be done until they are certain there is no infection though.

Anyway, my life has been focused on caregiving and working.

Thanks, WE2! 

On 3/7/2019 at 9:31 PM, The WE2's said:

 

Seems this thread's been vacant for awhile...but I vacuum seal my pasta's in mason jars.  I have some (and we're using) some that I put up over 3 years ago.

I have been wanting to get a vacuum sealer for mason jars. Which one do you use? 

We are supposed to have normal temps in the 40’s. 😻

So, it is above zero. That’s the good news. But snow in the forecast. More snow??? NO!!! 

I am so, so, so ready for spring.

-3. Ugh.

Woke up this morning expecting snow. Nothing. I was thinking maybe it missed us. Nope. It just arrived a little later than expected. It’s been pretty light so far — not even 2 inches. Next, it is predicted that we’ll dip down near zero (F). I am really ready for spring. My bulbs are bravely poking leaf tops out of their mulch. They already looked a bit frost bitten. I hope this little bit of snow cover will help protect them from the coming deep freeze. I was looking at the calendar. 17 days. The equinox can’t get here soon enough! 😸

Of course last year we got some nasty frigid cold in April, so the weather could still be nasty even past the equinox. But boy oh boy I want that LIGHT!!! 

Long day today. And a migraine. We had leftovers for dinner. 

Then I decided to make carob brownies. I cannot eat chocolate, so I use carob instead. We had brownies and milk for dessert. And I feel better.

Glad you’re OK, Mt_Rider. Too many people refuse to slow down in icy conditions. 🤬

Snow, rain, thunderstorms (did not used to be the norm in February here), more snow, rain, ice, melting, rain, frigid, ice. 

The weather is ..... 

confused.

Stay warm. Stay dry. Stay safe. 

I had pretty bad nausea when I was pregnant too. My mom suggested I nibble on graham crackers, as that had helped her make it through pregnancy nausea. The graham crackers helped me too.