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So the other day my oldest daughter stopped in and dropped of a pile of beef jerky, making cracks about my old age and COVID-19 survival. Then today my oldest son dropped of several packages of beef sticks and said he didn't want me to starve to death when FEMA starts handing out vegan meals and Ensure shakes. Apparently I have raised my kids to believe in both KETO and sarcasm. 😋

beefsticks.jpg
 
Put on my N95 and gloves and braved the Sams Club. Not terribly busy, but lots of empty shelves and limits. Took forever to pick up the prepaid ordered 4 cans of Folgers. It would of been easier just to buy some. There were limits on everything. The baking aisle was bare. Not even yeast or cocoa powder, but we have plenty. Got in ones (the limit): 1 gallon milk, a twelve pack of Kleenex (hoorah!), one pkg of steaks (hoorah!), a big box of napkins, a 4 pk of butter, whip cream, cottage cheese. Bought lots of fresh fruit and veggies. No limits. Out of all baking stuff, tp, most of the frozen stuff including veg. Found a pkg of lunchmeat and sliced swiss. They had plenty of bread. Also bought a big chocolate cake and a tub of ice-cream for dessert. No chicken in the store, but we don't need any. They had a limit on meat...you could buy one pkg of beef, one chicken, and one pork. I wouldn't bother ordering anything for in store pickup again. Was not worth the hassle.
 
phideaux said:
If anybody has tried the Walmart , order, and pickup,
How has it worked for ya.
I might try that.

I'm about 15 miles from a smaller WM.

May grab some produce and fruits.

Jim
Click to expand...

The wife has been using the Walmart and Krogers callin and pick up. So far it works pretty well. The one thing I don't like about it, if you specify a particular something (bread by brand for example) if they are out, walmart isn't substituing, or at least didn't for her on the last order. The other thing, I like to pick out my meat and produce. Otherwise it works well. To stay out of the stores and away from people I would highly recommend it.
 
Sentry18 said:
So the other day my oldest daughter stopped in and dropped of a pile of beef jerky, making cracks about my old age and COVID-19 survival. Then today my oldest son dropped of several packages of beef sticks and said he didn't want me to starve to death when FEMA starts handing out vegan meals and Ensure shakes. Apparently I have raised my kids to believe in both KETO and sarcasm. 😋

View attachment 37846
Click to expand...

I just picked up a bunch of those last week. Good stuff.
Just worked from here today. Had a video conference with the boss and other supervisors this afternoon. Sounds like we are just waiting on DOE to give the word to go to a higher level of shut down, essintials only. Lots of rain overnight, got water standing in a few spots. The ground is so saturated the water is just running off if it can, or takes 2-3 days to soak in other wise.
 
phideaux said:
If anybody has tried the Walmart , order, and pickup,
How has it worked for ya.
I might try that.

I'm about 15 miles from a smaller WM.

May grab some produce and fruits.

Jim
Click to expand...
I've done it a few times. Order stuff online & pay with card. They tell you when it's ready & you go pick it up. The stuff I ordered was "ship to store" and not in stock though so I had to wait for it arrive, get the e-mail notification, and go in and stand at the pick up desk & wait for the clerk to finish helping another customer. Then she had to go in the back (leaving the desk empty) to look for my box. I haven't tried the thing where they pack stuff in the store and bring it to the front (I'm assuming that's how it works) at Walmart. I've done it at Lowes before when I didn't feel like wandering all over the store to find stuff because nothing is where it's supposed to be. The website lists aisles that don't even exist anymore since they haven't updated the info.

Peanut said:
The electricity is off today. It went off at 5:05am. I know because I'd just turned on the light and started down the hall to the bathroom... I was still able to find the door frame... with my half the toes on my right foot! :mad::mad::mad:

I hate when that happens! Seems to always happens when I'm half asleep... Talk about a wake up call!

I got up at nine... the power was still off and it had finally started to rain. I rolled the generator out on the porch and fired it up! I got the sump pump plugged in and running.

Then I had to chase cows... here we go again! My grt nephew needs to fix the darn fences! His cows have been out more times in the last 2 years than in the last 20 years dad and I ran the operation. FIX the Fences! AM I NOT SPEAKING ENGLISH! I think he's convinced that if it can't be done sitting on a side by side or a tractor it's not farming! Someone else is in charge of all the left over work. :mad:
Click to expand...
I hate when the power goes off when you need the lights. Mine used to go out constantly but they started trimming the trees and doing better maintenance. Hunting has declined a bit so we don't have hunters shooting the powerlines down as often anymore.
That reminds me that I need to fix my fence and my gate. I tried fixing the fence before but didn't have the right materials and my horse busted through it again. I never bothered to go out and work on it again and I really need to. I also need to fix the front gate & several smaller gates so they stay closed. My cows get out in the woods. I remember working on building fences with my Dad and it wasn't too bad in spring-- but in summer it sucked bc of the heat and mosquitoes.

Today is the 11th anniversary of my father's death. Been thinking about him a lot & feeling sad. I've had upper respiratory crud the past several days & feel like hell. I'm mostly just exhausted. No fever or anything, but feeling run down. Being upset about my dad & the allergies (it's allergy season) have caused mucus build-up. I noticed an odd taste in the back of my tongue when coughing stuff up-- it has a hint of the taste of grass (when I got grass in my mouth as a kid).

Argued with my mother about going to the store-- she wanted me to go today to get her RXs and then tomorrow to get my RX. I told her it can wait so I only make 1 trip. She's not out of her meds & it can wait a day, but she was all mad about it until my brother told her there have been 2 confirmed cases of Covid-19 in town. It's now gone up to 4. Two of the cases were inmates from the federal prison who were taken to the local hospital. I pity anyone in nursing homes or who have family in nursing homes bc they are toast now. This hospital does not have good cleaning practices & staff don't cover their mouths/noses when they sneeze & don't think they need to clean stuff off after sneezing. The death rate for people afflicted with Covid-19 in Louisiana is pretty high. Louisiana ranks pretty low for medical care & already had highest infant mortality rates and top 5 maternal mortality rates. The healthcare here is garbage. To make matters worse there are a LOT of people who still think the whole Covid-19 thing is a hoax. Mom has now conceded that it's ok for me to wait until my RX is ready tomorrow. But man, I feel like garbage and I hope it's just a cold or allergies.
 
A quiet day here... almost, had the generator running on the porch for 5hrs. My mom needed a few things at WM as did I. I had two prescriptions to pick up for me, forgot about them until I got back home. No worries, called the doc 10 days early and asked for 60 day prescriptions instead of 30day, so I have a week+ left in the bottles here.

CFS has been kicking my behind the last couple of days. I did way to much last week and still haven't recovered. I've had to go back and edit my posts since Saturday over and over again, my dyslexia is showing. I only have a slight case but when I'm overly tired I don't notice words out of place when I type. It's a shame there isn't a spell check for dyslexia.

The WM in town is closing 4 hours early for the foreseeable future, at 8pm. They also locked the doors to the public restrooms at the back of the store leaving the ones by the main door open.

I wanted some ground chuck but none was to be found there. I got it at the little supermarket, they had plenty.

The price of cattle keeps dropping but the price of ground chuck went up 87 cents a pound in 8 days! :waiting: Someone is making money and it isn't farmers.

I'm failing miserably at the staying at home thing... but it's not like I have a job that layed me off... This is spring... a 6 month growing season hangs in the balance... Veggies to eat all summer have to be planted now... Along with medicines... Things have to be purchased to make this happen... and you have to fly by the seat of your pants... The weather dictates when something HAS to be planted, not whim.
 
Sentry18 said:
So the other day my oldest daughter stopped in and dropped of a pile of beef jerky, making cracks about my old age and COVID-19 survival.
Click to expand...

Translation: I love you!

Mine middle one does this the most, she for sure picked up on my sarcastic sense of humor.
 
zannej said:
I don't have any face masks that would work to catch my mucus if it sprays when I cough, so I'm seriously considering wearing the halloween panther head mask I got on clearance for $4.99 to the store tomorrow.
What do you think. Yay or Nay?
View attachment 37887
Click to expand...

Yea.
 
Did the 6am walmart senior shopping. No problems and it ran smooth as silk. 90% headed straight to the toilet paper aisle. Even had a line to get to it lol

I got everything I needed except sliced cheese. Oh well

We just had our delivery of stone here this morning. 14 tons. What we don't use for the greenhouse floor we'll spread in the driveway ( which needs some more) so it won't be going to waste thats for certain.

Will help hubby outside here directly.
Nothing on tv today so I'll listen to music today.
Read some

Theres construction going on at multiple places somewhere near us. We can hear the different heavy equipment and nail guns and hammering,etc.
 
Wife and I are doing ok.

Was able to get outside in the yard, and garage most of yesterday, with no rain and temps in the 60s.

Today is day 13 of self isolation. Raining again today. 80s coming on Thursday, so I'll practice my fishing skills.

Wife is thinking about going to DG to grab a few items , 7-8 am is senior only time.

We have frozen milk, she's craving bananas, we could use some cereal.
We have oats,rice,

If she wears a mask and gloves...ya think I should let her do it?

I'm against it.

@hiwall , not to fan the flames...but I think your on track...this is the tip of the iceberg.

Not lettuce ...

Jim
 
This past weekend we went to visit my folks. They are in the danger group being over 70. The main reason for visiting was to give them a box of N95 masks we had left over from the Ebola scare years back and make sure they had what they needed food wise. My dad and I went out twice during the weekend (he refused to let me go alone and didn't want my sickly mom to go out at all). Gloves and masks were worn. We made sure to get shelf stable foods and health aids. I found some bleach tablets at the Walmart and got the last 2 bottles for my folks. I also got them whatever I could from the Costco. Since they live in a more densely populated area than us their stores were being restocked faster and I took advantage and got a few things we haven't seen in over a week. Eggs were not to be seen but next time we visit I'll get a few dozen from the local egg farm before I leave town to take to them. I also made sure that I brought them a bag of dog food since they are out of stock but we are not.

While hanging out at their house I used the time to shop online for things no one has- peanut butter and jams! I ended up ordering 7 jars of peanut butter and 9 jars of jam from various shops online for delivery. Most have arrived so far. If produce wasn't so hard to get here and it was warm enough for the garden I'd be making my own jam. The girls are going through a jar of peanut butter and a jar of jelly a week right now. They think that is the only food worth eating. Bread is also scarce at the stores and flour can't be found either. I have some old flour in the freezer and one newer bag of flour that I plan the make bread with once the oat bread in the freezer is gone. I only have a small amount of yeast and there is no way I am paying $100 for 32oz of yeast right now!

Aside from the Covid-19 bs outside it is life as usual for us. Roo is still going to school because we homeschool. I don't want her falling behind but it looks like the public schools here is California are closing for the rest of the year. So now we have entire community of kids behind almost half a year in their education. I wonder how the government is going to deal with that!? They can't skip them ahead without setting them up to fail the following year in school. What about the seniors that were to graduate and start college in the fall?!
 
Went for my walk this morning and saw the hardware store getting a plant delivery. Walked home for money and then walked back and picked up 4-6 packs of sweet potato starts. Stopped and got a few more seeds-squash and bok choy. Came home and shot eBay photos for the drafts I wrote yesterday, started laundry (only one load left to do today) and transferred my overnight rise dough to the pan for it's last rise--then will bake it. Took a shower and now messing around for a bit. We will see what the day brings!
 
Since I am not working now, I made myself a schedule to help me be more productive. It has helped already. I have tweaked it already and think I will need to again as I go through it.

Cleaning and decluttering time: I am going through my pantry, reorganizing, making sure all dates are labeled with a Sharpie so that I can see it more easily. Then arranging like things by dates, those that will have the soonest use best by dates on top and in front. Soup dated 2011 in the trash! It got lost elsewhere for a while. I will not finish this today. Gardening, sewing, genealogy writing and genealogy scrapbooks have a time slot as well.

I should have had this done already, but too much time away from home keeps my schedule in flux.
 
Don't know what's up with Strawberry.
But these ungodly bathroom breaks are about to end.
This morning it was 0345 hours.
Then she wandered around and cried for a hour later.
Finally got up sat in recliner, let her sleep between my legs, so she would stop crying.
Then we slept in till 0700 hours.
Then she got testy when I needed a bathroom break at 0700 hours.
Sipping coffee, thinking about lunch.
Still raining here.
The natives are getting restless again. Oh boy!
Oldest son will be bringing part of the grand daughter's things to my house.
He's going to ask my dad if he can store some things in the basement.
He will be getting his own place in the future minus the girlfriend and her bratty kids.
Guess he will be staying with me while he saves some money to get his own place.
Better get something out for supper if I want to eat tonight.
Need to make some bread or tortilla's up for sandwiches.
Working on cross stitch quilt top.
Nothing else going on.
I'm still cold, iron count dropped a bit.
Guess it's back to spinach,liver,chicken livers,raisins for awhile again.
If anybody has any recipes for those combination, I would be interested.
 
phideaux said:
Wife and I are doing ok.

Was able to get outside in the yard, and garage most of yesterday, with no rain and temps in the 60s.

Today is day 13 of self isolation. Raining again today. 80s coming on Thursday, so I'll practice my fishing skills.

Wife is thinking about going to DG to grab a few items , 7-8 am is senior only time.

We have frozen milk, she's craving bananas, we could use some cereal.
We have oats,rice,

If she wears a mask and gloves...ya think I should let her do it?

I'm against it.

@hiwall , not to fan the flames...but I think your on track...this is the tip of the iceberg.

Not lettuce ...

Jim
Click to expand...
If she goes to the store, she should wear more than a mask and gloves - even a simple dress or overcoat might do 😂

@Grimm Good to 'see' you! Your girls will be ahead of the game with no break in their education.

@MoBookworm1957 Strawberry doesn't have a bladder infection does she? Or how old is she? Sometimes as they age, they become less continent.

@WVDragonlady That's a lot of rock!!!

@Peanut I know what CRS is but don't know what CFS is. Try to get some rest.

Found out today, we are considered an "essential" business so still working - thankfully. One of our employees decided to stay home and wait it out. We already told them yesterday if they felt they needed to, they still had a job to come back to. Many essential businesses are curbside assistance only meaning you can call something in and they fill the order so to speak and bring it out to you. Will see what happens tomorrow when the shutdown goes into effect.
 
Recon report of today's afternoon trip to the city.

State Governor and County Officials have "ordered" everyone to stay home except for "essential" services.

Major local manufacturer of luxury items announced that they are closing all factories for two weeks.

City has a population of 33,000. I came in from the north on the major road. Traffic was notable lighter than normal.

I ordered lunch from the Diary Queen drive up. Six cars in front of me and five cars behind me when I got my order. I parked in the DQ parking lot to eat.

I drove south though the city on the same major road. Further south I drove the heavier the traffic until it became normal.

Stopped at Menard's (big box lumber yard). Parking lot was full as was the store. I made the comment to a clerk that the place sure was busy! She said a lot more then what they were told to expect. There were 6 or 7 palm sanders on display, 4 of which were in stock. Plus they are having a 11% off rebate on all purchases. I bought a palm sander I've had my eye on.

Walmart. This is the same Walmart I reported on last week. Numerous employees restocking shelves. Some toilet papers of several brands on shelves. Huge pallets of TP on the end of the aisle. Bottle water, plenty and of different sizes. Can goods, a lot of empty spaces on shelves, like like they limit what they put on shelves to prevent hoarding. Plenty of milk but there were a few bare shelves in the cooler. Plenty of everything, just not as large of selection (instead of 12 types of raisin brand cereal they was four types). They were almost out of eggs. I did buy two cans of Spam for stock.

Gasoline is $1.69. Unfortunately I had filled up two weeks ago when gas was $1.99.

I saw one person with a face mask. None of the clerks wore gloves. None of the stores had sanitary wipes available to the customers to wipe down the baskets/carts.
 
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hiwall said:
Was up early and stupidly have been doing a lot of reading online.
Now I feel like this - View attachment 37905
I don't see any way that America comes out of this without being in the "Greatest Depression". I sure hope I'm wrong.
Click to expand...

Liberals will start complaining about having to make their own meals. Their representatives will continue to head 180 degrees off course and stall. President Trump will decide the cure is worst then the disease and start the economy booming again.

I am surprised the Dow Jones went below 19,000 o_Oo_Oo_Oo_Oo_Oo_Oo_O. Right now it above 20,000. Go baby go!

My trip into town today, everything looked like it was normal!!!!
 
Haven't been out and about, so don't know if people are staying in after our announcement yesterday or not. Made breakfast, lunch, and prepped some dinner for later. Dishes. Laundry. Homeschooling. Planted more fodder for chickens. Banana muffins with ripe bananas, some for now and some for the freezer. Making ice for husband's ice packs, cappuccinos for after lunch. Peeled a bunch of apples and filled the dehydrator. They were getting soft, and bought fresh ones yesterday. Waiting for a call back from a friend (who is not a prepper, but a NG retired colonel), and seeing how she is holding out with her kids at home, and in general. We had her children, once upon a time, for preschool. Youngest daughter is very upset that commencement is cancelled in May. Over 7 yrs to get her MD. She wanted a party. Little granddaughter's principal is reading a few chapters of a book online for the kids. It was pretty cute. She was at home on the couch with her two daughters listening, too. Grandson got an email from biology teacher saying that he can turn in make up work and up his C. He is working on that this afternoon. He can scan it and send it over.
 
I went to the store for a couple of things since beginning tomorrow non-essential stores will be closed. I got eggs, flour & sugar wiped out. I had to look down the TP isle for hoots and giggles - an empty isle with the exception of paper plates and party supplies. Also got a bag of dog food and cheese. Interesting what folks are buying up.
 
LadyLocust said:
If she goes to the store, she should wear more than a mask and gloves - even a simple dress or overcoat might do 😂

@Grimm Good to 'see' you! Your girls will be ahead of the game with no break in their education.

@MoBookworm1957 Strawberry doesn't have a bladder infection does she? Or how old is she? Sometimes as they age, they become less continent.

@WVDragonlady That's a lot of rock!!!

@Peanut I know what CRS is but don't know what CFS is. Try to get some rest.

Found out today, we are considered an "essential" business so still working - thankfully. One of our employees decided to stay home and wait it out. We already told them yesterday if they felt they needed to, they still had a job to come back to. Many essential businesses are curbside assistance only meaning you can call something in and they fill the order so to speak and bring it out to you. Will see what happens tomorrow when the shutdown goes into effect.
Click to expand...
Strawberry is 5 years.
She turned 5 in December.
No bladder infection that the Vet. can find.
 
I had a quiet day, just rested. Late today I cleaned up the 400 gallon tank I'll use as a home for the baby chicks in a few days. I'll put it on the porch. I have it out in the yard so the rain can finish cleaning it.

I secured all the plants still in pots that are on the porch for bad weather tonight. The weather service just issued a tornado watch from my county. The conditions aren't right for big monster tornadoes but still might spin up a small one or two.

Soooo... I'll be watching tv with one eye on the weather for the next several hours.
 
Wife and I went for a 2-mile walk today. In the afternoon I put more shelves in the storage room for more preps. I got one more shelf to put up tomorrow.
Had a nice surprise late this afternoon when 14 deer came into our east field to feed. We have always had a lot of elk but no deer. I hope these hang around.
 
Sent K to the store tonight. Not for anything urgent. I haven't gotten all of my food orders yet so I wanted a couple bags of chocolate chips to make cookies with the old flour from the back of the freezer. Comfort food for the girls. ;) It is nice knowing there are places I can run off to to get some supplies. K saw water and grabbed the max - one flat. Milk was plentiful but limited to one container. Still no eggs but I'll place an order Friday with the egg farm down the way. He found the chips and got the only 2 bags. No yeast so I may have to start a sourdough starter.

I have most of Roo's 4th grade curriculum for next year. I am excited that I am beating the rush that seems to be happening. Most of the local co-ops are not taking new families for next year (not just because of the social restrictions). I had been hoping I could take the girls to the zoo for a field trip in April but it looks like we are going to have to wait on that. It might be time to breakout the board games soon...
 
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