As many of you, I am sure, have noticed…a good part of my postings aren’t so much about what I’m doing as much as they are about what Im seeing. Couple reasons for that…first of all, I’m fine. I’ve got food, fuel, supplies, etc. So do you. So there’s no need for the back-patting festival of constant posts saying “People were on line for [item] but I had plenty…”.
What I do wind up posting about is the details about how this is all unfolding and what the takeaway from it is. What worked, what didnt, why didnt it work, why did it, what should I have done, what shouldnt I have done, and so forth. In short, we’re in the middle of a global experiment in disaster management, what can we observe and learn from it? Disaster planning rarely gets a global-level real world event to examine, dissect and learn from. Katrina was the benchmark for hurricane preparedness modeling, Kung Flu is going to be the benchmark for how pandemic planning is to be planned. In reality, there’ll be a lot of ‘white papers’, death by PowerPoint, committee’s and hearings, and then very little will actually be accomplished. Bureaucratic inertia. But on an individual level, guys like you and me should be taking notes like crazy. You could probably get a lot of info just from this exercise:
Ask yourself what concerned you most during the crisis. Then ask what would have made you not concerned (or less concerned). Then, for next time, go do/get whatever that thing was that you think would have made you less concerned. Example:
What concerned you? I was worried we wouldn’t have money coming in to pay the bills.
What would had made you less concerned? Having money in the bank.
So for next time: have a large emergency fund saved up
What concerned you? The grocery stores would be devoid of food
What would had made you less concerned? Having a full pantry and freezer
So for next time: build a stockpile of stored food
What concerned you? I’d die because I’m already in poor health
What would had made you less concerned? Having taken better care of myself
So for next time: start what you can to get back into shape and being healthy
You get the idea, I’m sure.
Notably, it’s interesting to see what people rushed out and bought and in what order. According to virtually every source, toilet paper and rice/pasta were the first things erased from the supermarket shelves. It was only after a week or two, presumably when people had time to think, that they started figuring out what else they might want to stock up on.
Those things that the knee-jerk panic buyers bought? Those are things you should plan on becoming virtually instantly unobtainable. Keep plenty of those. As things progressed and people had more time to think, other stuff started disappearing. Noticing what went fast in those early days is a good indication of what you should already have had on hand.
Really forward thinkers got things done that otherwise are now rescheduled. Dental cleanings, vehicle maintenance, in-person banking (loans, mortgages), etc. That was pretty smart and something that didn’t occur to me until later.
Lotsa lessons to be learned in this crisis, guys. Just gotta keep your eyes and brain open to learning them. Maybe the next pandemic won’t be for another hundred years like the last one, but we just don’t know. In the meantime, we’re getting first-hand real-world examples of how people will respond. Take it all in and use that information to your advantage.
Well said, and I’ve been doing exactly that. My timing has been great at some things, lousy at others.
For instance, a few weeks ago, I was going through my medical stuff and couldn’t find a thermometer anywhere. I simply didn’t have one. Kinda felt like an idiot.
So I went out and bought 2.
Daily drives through town to see what looks normal, out of place, oddities.
Strange, the one local chain car rental place normally has 4 maybe 6 cars in their lot. From 10 passenger vans, to econo rice burners.
Must have been around 20 in their lot yesterday.
Junk food deliveries thru uber, door dash, etc are off the charts. (The type of food and who it delivers too are pretty gross).
I saw a real world response from people yesterday at the grocery store where an 18 flat of eggs has risen to $5.18 ea. A large box of 98 was $32.89! Glad I made sureI several flats on hand and plenty of powdered.
The EBT crowd, ever, resourceful in gaming the system, compensated for the store’s 1 pack of meat (each type pork, beef, chicken, etc) limit by bringing every member of their family along with a train of shopping carts to get around the limit. Then paying for it all with one card, one at a time, while a line builds behind them.
The weirdest stuff is being bought out – salad dressing, cane syrup, hot sauce, fish fry… The meat and veg aisles are well stocked but the beef is getting very expensive. A half gallon of milk is $2.99. I was joking with a friend who’s the assistant manager about the advantage of being a contrarian since everything I needed was in stock since I actually COOK.
Stereotypically, the fried chicken at the deli counter was experiencing a run of epic proportions. They couldn’t fry it fast enough. There must have been 15 people in line (they DO make a mean fried bird). I guess in my town Barnyard Pimp is the ultimate emergency food 😀
Regards
Eggs haven’t gone up here yet but potatoes have doubled in price locally.
Surprisingly, potatoes have stayed the same in price despite a run on them – $1.19 pd for large Russet bakers, .88 c for smaller bagged ones. Bagged yellow onions are $1.50 for a 3 pound mesh. Tomatoes have skyrocketed to $3.48 pd for slicers and $1.98 pd for Romas.
Regards
My wife noticed the same thing – food that actually requires you to cook it is still available.
Does that also apply to reloading components?
Went looking at reloading components yesterday Primers were available but not in quantity. Most powders were available as well with maybe 10-15% out of stock. What I normally use was available but as i did not need any i did not get any.
I expected all the disinfectants to disappear, lysol, bleach, hand sanitizer and all that. For a pandemic i did not expect rubbing alcohol, hydrogen peroxide and aloe vera to disappear as well but i guess to the homemade hand sanitizer recipe that went viral. Thermometers have also disappeared off the local shelfs in recent times. Of course ammo mostly disappeared even as there are plenty of guns available. Many of the traditional hunting calibers are still available as well as the more uncommon pistol ammo’s (an excuse to get that Lever gun and revolver .44mag combo i wanted for years).What did surprise me is there is no rush on .22lr ammo like during the Obama years.
I agree on the 22LR….except, always one, right? I have that one pistol that only functions on 22LR CCI at 1640 fps. I have pretty much used all brands available to me, but that one type is the only one that functions flawlessly in my pistol. Yes, I do have a small collection of them, but would like to get some more. Still strange.
sounds like you need to get rid of that pistol and get a Ruger Mark II.
Jimbo
I sold my Ruger MK2 because it was very fussy as to .22 ammo type. Constant FTE unless I used CCI Mini mags. Cleaning it thouroghly did not help. Finally lost patience with it, good bye. I guess yours does not. Looking at a Ruger SR 4.5 inch or Browning Buckmark right now.
Oh, Zero.
There you go again, talking plain old utilitarian common sense and best use of time, when all anyone wants to do who isn’t/wasn’t prepared is throw gasoline on their apocalyptic fetish bonfires, and dance around them on crack cocaine and methamphetamine-fuelled frenzies.
Boring old thinking and analysis, followed by making the most of the time available and ordinary brain power, costing zero dollars?
Where’s the fun in that??
well played.
Even his compliments feel like snark!
Watching people try to do in 15 minutes what some of us have been doing for 15 years and far more, is a snark-inducing moment.
It’s akin to watching someone who thinks they could perform at Carnegie Hall tomorrow, if only they had a grand piano and a tux. Yes, that’s it, clearly the only thing you lack is the tux and the instrument, then everything will be fine.
For that level of facepalm, the best therapy involves bushel baskets of rotten fruit, to take to the concert.
Perpetual blog Q.: “Hi, I’m totally clueless, but I’m in a bind, because reality. How do I suddenly become a doctor/HAM radio extra-class operator/farmer/nurse/civil engineer/Tier I JSOC ninja gunslinger/Karate black belt/master mechanic/home contractor/nuclear physicist/electrical engineer? And by somewhere between noon and 3PM today, EST? Any help would be appreciated.”
My stock A.: Have you got a hat? One that lights up and says “Lion tamer”?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LqQlCOmXuHM
After that, you hold their hand, and walk them back to the small end, and suggest actually learning something from the beginning.
“Q.: How do I get rich?”
A.: Pay attention in school twenty years ago, and start working towards your goal consistently and relentlessly.
“Q.: But that’s no help…I need the money nooooooow!”
A.: Yeah. Sux to be you, huh?
Sigh. Shakes head. Goes back to stacking cans and sandbags, and cleaning weapons.
Easily the most insightful blog in addition to Woodpile and Survival Blog. Please keep up the great work CZ.
The thing that got my family was the cancelling of all elective surgeries. My wife and I are both nurses, and now job hunting because of it. We both lost our jobs on the same day. Neither of us particularly want to get back into hospital nursing’ Because of age and other factors we fall into a higher risk group for infections, and for obvious reasons that would really suck right now. But there may have no choice.
Physical preps are in good to very good shape, but lack of a paycheck will have us putting our house up for sale in about 3 months if things continue. I guess is to say that if there is one thing we’ll try to do a bit differently is try to have better financial reserves.
I don’t know what to think about all this, living in hurricane alley we stay pretty prepared most always, in what’s open vs what’s not. Our plans has been somewhat planned around me being healthy and leading from the front, unfortunately my health took a turn recently and a series of tests are in the works. The damnest thing is here essential means I can go to the box stores to buy say nails or floor tile but I can’t get to an ENT for the vertigo or get pulmonary tests for the shortness of breath that has set itself in my body. Maybe one day it’ll make sense but right now not so much.
Good luck with your job situation.
Observations I made yesterday at the local Sam’s Club while doing my “early bird” shopping trip:
1) Arrived at 0615 for a 0700 open time and was 6th in line. Those who arrived at 0645 were 300-400 yards back!
2) While I was in line, I used the Sam’s app to check inventory on certain items like paper products. App said no TP or paper towels in stock in this club…when I went in, I went to the meat section first as that was getting picked over fast by the first group of people let in the store that I was with (they let in about 30 people initially, then only as folks came out did more go in.) On my way to the frozen section, I just noticed a corner of a pallet on the back wall with TP! Seems like everyone else was right behind me as a full on feeding frenzy ensued. I got my 32 pack of Charmin and then noticed a pallet of Brawny paper towels…made a beeline to that and by the time I got there (a mere 30-40 feet) there was one pack left that I managed to snag. Moral of the story is don’t believe the online stocking system as they probably have given up hope of even keeping it updated for even an hour.
3) Last item on my list was yeast for making bread and I figured they would have plenty…empty shelf! (I do have enough on hand for a couple of months) Yeast was NOT on my radar of highly sought after items…lesson learned!
Enjoy your insights!
Lots of articles online right now about creating a sourdough starter from scratch as well as articles about how bread was made before yest was available commercially.
We’re giving the sourdough a try in the name of a science experiment with the kids.
I’m keeping a diary of what is going on in my world. I am keeping a spreadsheet of things that came out of storage and why. I am keeping another spreadsheet of things I should have added to storage/equipment when we go to get stocked back up (and a “right before things get bad” list – short shelf life stuff).
We planned pretty well. Only thing that caught us up was Spring planting stuff, fortunately it’s not a problem getting that now for later.
Haircuts. Since salons are closed, if my neighbor hadn’t given me an electric trim, I’d be pretty shaggy by now.
A minor thing as things go, but if you work in LE, it’s a bit important. And yes, I have trimmers of my own, and have tried self cutting before. The less said about that, the better.
BT,DT, got the hat.
Like what you did with that… the reference to hat (from another post). How you look better in a hat, or something. Like how I over-explained that?
I have switched to my summer haircut a bit early – the crew cut. I did it myself and it looks just like I went to the barber. No hat required.
I cut my own hair for several years until I found my gf.
The main trick that helped me was to use a hand mirror to see the back of my head.
You stand in the bathroom with your back to the mirror on the wall. The you hold the hand mirror in your hand to see the wall mirror which is showing you the back of your own head.
Yes, it can take some practice but it does get easier. The first few times it took me over 40 minutes. After a couple years, 10-15 minutes, no sweat.
Steelheart
Oh, and infrared meat thermometers are great for no touch fever checks on your household.
You may find an IR thermometer at Horror Fright Tools, and auto parts stores. $25-35, approx. Mine gets used mostly for food that got nuked, so I don’t get burned. Check it against your regular thermometer to see if it agrees. If checking your mouth, don’t breathe while doing so.
If you check your extremities, you may be surprised how much difference there may be to your torso. If an arm or leg is consistently colder than the other one, that may indicate some level of damage from prior injuries, or a possible circulation issue. Hey, you wanted something to take your mind off the WuFlu, right?
Albertsons was out of yeast and flour also. WTH. Is everyone staying home and baking now? No thermometers either.
Since the bad Cheeto man in charge is pimping the anti-malarial drug (he owns stock) as a possible cure for Covid-19, I’m being proactive by drinking tonic water, since quinine is anti-malaria maybe it will work!
Be aware of the tonic waters…
Most have high fructose corn syrup.
“Q” tonic doesn’t…a little pricey, but
it far above the others.
Pretty sure you’d have to drink 4-5 liters a day to equal 1 – 500mg. tablet.
Mix with gin, silly.
“Ah, we’ve a man’s work ahead of us today.” – Sgt. Quincannon, Fort Apache
Trump’s family trusts own about$15,000 of an international mutual fund that owns some shares in a maker of hydroxychloroquine. It is an incredibly INefficient way to be corrupt.
https://www.vox.com/2020/4/7/21211872/trump-coronavirus-hydroxychloroquine-covid19-drugs-sanofi-owns
Bottom line: if you don’t like Trump, that’s your choice, but don’t accuse him of being corrupt on the hydroxychloroquine issue, because that isn’t why he’s touting this drug.
yes thermometers, flu meds that are okay for high bp. we had hand sanitizer by the gallon but it got old and we donated it last fall, lol… we had n95’s galore until a furniture making spree used them like candy. still have a dozen or so but…..chickens! been meaning to for years. locally sold out, mail order backorders into the summer, no coop built yet either. that’s my biggest failure this time. that and not getting the raised bed garden going. sustainability I guess you could call it- failed. I was shocked at the run on guns and ammo this time. I was set on those, but it took me by surprise….hair clippers! I just tossed a set to goodwill last winter, over the wife’s objections. fail. new set ordered. along with two pair of my favorite boots. without them I will be practically lame. we have to switch out our stocks of canned butter and cheese, they are a little long in the tooth at this point. it’ll probably take prep supply stores a while to catch up orders and restock after this is over. prices will never get as low as they were either.
A man with toilet paper has many problems. A man with no toilet paper only has one problem.
I guess the biggest thing I’ve wondered about (and still do) is when do you stop going? (esp in a pandemic). You’ve got fresh for a week (or so) frozen for a few weeks after that and then dry/deep larger. so, things are getting bad, but you want to stay topped up because hey fresh is better than dry. But at what point is the decision made to stop going?
It’s funny that both a Costco and Walmart were wiped out of prepared food, but the vegetables and meats were still in stock. Then a week later all the meats were gone, but veggies still in stock. Now things are back in stock but selling out regularly.
The big thing I’m noticing is that physical preps are easy. I’ve got what I need and while some things might run low or out I have plenty of other things to fill in the gaps, I’m not going to go unfed, unwashed or have any sort of hardship on that front.
But, without a set schedule for much of the week my tendency towards procrastination does seem to take over. You’d think that with all this extra time on my hands I’d get a ton of stuff done and for the first two weeks I did, but this week that all fell apart. I’m going to have write up a task list and a daily schedule or I might not be getting out of bed much.
The other thing I’m sucking at is contact with the outside world. I’m not much of a phone person, but I’m going to start calling 2 people a day just to say hi and check in. Some solitude and seclusion is normal for me but, like the procrastination, this is getting out of hand and probably not healthily.
I hear ya about not being a phone person. I friggen hate talking on the phone and since retiring, have stopped carrying a cell phone. After the initial adjustment, I found it very liberating not being at everyone’s constant beck and call. I’ve heard it said that most men need a “mission” or a reason to get out of bed every day……you’ve just get to find your mission. Luck to ya
Good advice. I’ve found since retiring from the PD I’m much less productive than I should be. I do PI work but when it’s slow-which is often-i don’t get nearly as much done when it’s busy. Weird.
Good questions as usual per the Commander. What worries me the most? The economy, as a health care provider, I see a lot of sick people every day. But I don’t live or work in NYC. We don’t have a crisis with the kung-fu flu, we have a problem with people not working. When this happened, my wife and I sat down and had a talk; what are we missing, what do we need more of that we have not prepped enough for: the answer? Alcohol, so off to the liquor store we went. Food, we’re good, ammo & guns= good, medical supplies= good, garden= good, we live on a farm=good, we live far away from people= good. But, I did not plan on my work needing my PPE and supplies, so definitely will need to up the stock at work and at home, as we are donating to work, what we have at home, and that has to end. This ‘just in time’ delivery system needs to end, businesses need to be paid a decent profit for their work, so they can increase their inventory and medication needs to be made in the USA! We need to get people working in areas that have little or no infection. I also wonder how many of us have already been exposed and are immune to covid-19, especially those of us who see sick people every day.
Social Scientists will be studying this event for generations I am sure.
I think I’ve been most surprised that gardening and canning supplies and home poultry supplies sold out and are nearly unobtainable. I thought it might be because I’m in the suburbs so the general inventory of that stuff is relatively low, but stuff is hard to get online as well.
I’d normally have started a bunch of veggie seeds outdoors by now but seeds were gone from the local Home Depot. Burpee and a couple other big seed companies were sold out of a lot of stuff online as well.
Canning supplies are gone from the shelves at Ace Hardware here.
Does everyone think they’re going to all of suddenly be backyard farmers and gardeners? LOL
Gotta get started sometime, and they’re home, with time on their hands….
Or maybe they think they’ll still be holed up in September, and would like some fresh produce to go with the SPAM.
I’ve started potato towers, which I’ve wanted to try but didn’t have time to mess with. Then I saw a vid showing how to do it in a plastic bag. No work at all on the tower part. I’ve got three with shoots coming up. I don’t know what this fall is going to look like, but I know I won’t have potatoes from the garden if I don’t start them now. Same with the other seeds.
What is more disturbing than people thinking that this might be a good time to get a garden in, is the pictures online of stores refusing to sell the seeds as “non-essential items.”
Canning supplies? Hurricane season will be starting before you know it. Freezers full of food don’t last long with no power. I know a bunch of folks whose plan is to can that stuff if they lose power for any length of time. Or maybe they plan to can the produce they bought on their “last run” thru the stores.
In general, I see a lot of online scoffing at people buying a bunch of stuff. ‘Cuz the stores are open, and will remain open… But anyone taking the isolation seriously DOESN’T WANT TO GO TO THE STORE. The last thing I want to do in two weeks, when it’s even MORE likely to be out in my community, is go to the store again. I don’t even want the MAIL to come into the house without sitting in the sun and getting a shot of lysol. All the online stories of people spitting on food? Touching all the things? No thanks.
Stay home means STAY HOME. It doesn’t mean stay home until the weekend then go to Costco again….
nick
If some of the thinkers I’m reading are correct, people buying up food, gardening supplies and canning goods are going to look like geniuses this winter.
I wish I had somewhere to garden. Been working toward that for some time, but it takes a long time to clear an acre by hand. I’m looking for a small tractor to help. Mrs. Freeholder is about to sprain any eyeball at that one.
You know, so much of what we do is done because we try and apply logic to what future conditions might present. The problem is – logic, the general public, and crisis (real or imaginary) simply do not go go together!
As much as I like having guns and ammunition for the next two generations – a lot of it is simply leave of mind. The ability to NOT PANIC. Food supply? I don’t have five years worth of food for a family of six. An honest six months if we ration, maybe a little more. Not a LOT, but enough to avoid the panic gripping the rest of society.
Certainty, we are learning as we go. Luckily with several women in the house we’ve always been stocked up on TP!
The one thing that I’ve always needed to do
was “lighting”…
Yes, I do have a generator. But fooling with that is a
monumental task that happens on day three of an outage.
What I’m referring to is lights to see by, especially at night.
Typically we use oil lamps and hurricane lamps.
But they make me very nervous with risk of fire.
Been meaning to obtain a solar panel to power several deep
cell batteries. Which in turn would power several strands of
clear Christmas lights. These would have maximum out put
and minimal draw. At the same time provide adequate light
to at least move around by.
Something I keep in stock are good quality solar yard lights. They cost ~ $4.50 ea and put out a surprising amount of light. 2 or 3 will light a room quite well. Set em out during the day and put the stems in a vase to hold it when inside.
Regards
Small strands of USB LED lights and USB battery packs. Get a Harbor Freight 100 watt solar kit to keep them charged. Call it $300 depending on how many batteries/strings of lights you need.
Got a Roccbox pizza oven a while back (paid $700 now $500 lol but glad I got it) takes a bit of a learning curve, but I can now make a pizza that is better than any I’ve ever had (and I’m a big pizza fan.) They have a lot of videos online for making different things besides pizza. If you have some time on your hands, might want to give it a try.
oh yeah i wanted to mention…..sunday afternoon and into the evening it sounded like the siege of Sarajevo in the hills around here. full auto from different directions, suppressed rifle from another. numerous regular shots. one big boy about every twenty minutes to the east. even heavier fire than the day before hunting season. i never doubted my fire superiority til now. not a warm n fuzzy.
Friend, this sounds like a very interesting tale. Could you share more details?
We’ve been talking about what we need to do better in the future as well.
We’re Sam’s Club Plus members due to the volume of stuff we get (the money back at the end of the year has paid for the renewal plus a bit more, worth it!). As things were getting going, us having early access to the store was definitely an asset.
Once stores began limiting hours and the amount of people in the store at a time this didn’t matter.
I had a stash of N95 masks still from SARS (I think) but I hadn’t tried them to see if they will fog my glasses. My gf tried one last weekend (2 auto-immune diseases) and couldn’t see shortly after going into the first store.
Respirators are on our future list along with lots of filters after testing for comfort and fogging issues.
Goggles are a related item as well.
We were behind the curve on yeast. Plus when we did see some we didn’t go long.
We didn’t have much ahead for dog or cat food. We do have a storage plan in place and we’re continuing to work on this. Don’t forget treats for the animals too.
The run on guns and ammo surprised us. Especially all the new gun owners. It’ll be interesting in the future how many NIB used guns are available a few months after this is all done.
Another interesting topic will be how gun control goes in the future.
The last thing I’ll add is that having a few weeks to a couple months of supplies shouldn’t let you become complacent. It gives you a buffer for acquiring additional supplies prior to running out. I heard of too many people who were out of TP (for example). Knowing that you have a buffer, of whatever time period, gives you comfort to help you avoid panic buying.
Steelheart
Something else we thought of, pet meds. We picked up flea & tick stuff from the vet today for the dogs. The expiration date for Nexgard is a bit over 2 years out according to the box.
Also, are there any home security upgrades that you’ve been putting off? It doesn’t need to be anything expensive. Upgrade motion lights, ability to lock gates (even if you don’t actually lock them yet) or just putting a more efficient light bulb in an outside light to leave on overnight, every night.
I need to get my extension ladder out to tweak the sensitivity for the motion light I replaced recently. The light looks to be on the majority of the time. It’s not a big deal as they’re dedicated LED lights which use minimal power.
Steelheart
good reminders, thanks. need to upgrade/repair a number of security lights etc. and another surprise was the pet food run. we have a couple of special needs pets and I had just days before stocked a reserve of food for them, but when I looked back, it wasn’t available anywhere for weeks. will be upping the stock level on that.
Between late January and the start of March, installed gutters and rainwater collection, motion-sensor activated floodlights, video camera perimeter surveillance, replaced the back door, beefed up the hardware on the hinges, locks, and door jambs, and contracted installation of hurricane shutters (several of which will remain closed for the remainder of this). The bug is for real – but if you wear masks, wash hands, limit unnecessary contact, take your zinc, should be good. Civil unrest from great depression 2.0 looks scarier to me.
Have been pinching pennies as hard as they can be pinched, working as much as I can since 2015. Without the fiscal discipline, everything above would never have happened. If you are planning on doing anything, there are arguments for doing it now while we (the country) still have inventory.
Some of the prior replies about grocery prices and availability of food items, coupled with news stories about shuttered farmers markets, farmers dumping milk and crops left to rot in fields hint to me of a potential food shortage. If agriculture workers can’t get in the fields to harvest (not just here but where we import from) then scarcity and inflation will be seen. Grow it, freeze it and can it….if you can.
So much of these supply shortages, other than PPE stuff, is regional. Here in SE WI ( Milwaukee and suburbs ) the only items in short supply at this point is TP and hand sanitizer. All of the food stores I have been at have ample food and adult beverages. Prices are stable. I was in Las Vegas visiting family 2nd week of March for 7 days and there were food store lines, sometimes, and more acute food items out ( no ground beef, ham, canned soups and mixes, of course TP ) so that was very different than the Midwest where I live. Of course I had all the essentials well stockpiled ( now my family and friends no longer thought I was a kooky doomsday prepper anymore ! ) and shared some with my daughters and a few friends.
I would say I didn’t have enough thermometers ( only one which my medical professional daughter asked to use ) and now have ordered more. I have plenty of guns and ammo, of course not as many as the Commander but thinking over 45 rifles/pistols and shotguns should be enough for awhile.
This whole thing has pushed me to make a “Frequency of Use” list. Exactly how long will that 30 pack of TP that I opened at the start of this last? Looks like about 30 weeks actually based on my last month of keeping track. I’m doing that for all of my consumables (razors, tissues, etc.) with an eye to having a year supply of it stocked up in the future. TP has been very sparse, a single roll here or there. We ordered some from Amazon but I’ll be shocked if it shows up. Eggs seem to come and go here, prices are crazy high now too: a 36 pack that is normally 4.72 is 7.99 now! Luckily we have plenty at the moment (mmmm….pickled beets & eggs!). Gardening doesn’t seem to work for me for some reason, I’ve never had much luck so I’m loathe to waste time on it now.
Hmmm, I think the one thing that really surprised me is the social isolation. Good on supplies (though it’s too cold yet to plant). I’m not normally a gregarious person, but do enjoy an occasional visit with friends over a beer or two, or a casual conversation at the post office. Like Michael, I hate talking over the phone, but it’s come to that. Also, like him, I’ve found that procrastination is too easy. Found that out after retiring, so I went back to work. Taking care of the software is as important as the hardware. Just adjusting to the new normal, I guess.
You are correct about the medical appointments – missed that option. Interestingly, the corporate purchasing at Staples shows they are constrained on all the chlorine wipes and hand sanitizer – what they have is listed as “for First Responders/Medical only.” Perhaps reasonably so…but it points out that even if the market rebounds it might not be available to you for some time…
Upgrade the HVAC system with UV lamp and a better filter system.