My Workbench

Wednesday, March 18, 2020

Pandemic Diary

Another blogger started a "Pandemic Log" that I've been commenting on. I wrote a couple of lengthy comments over the last couple of days and became concerned I might be hijacking his blog so I am starting my own.

March 16: We live here in eastern Washington State and were no part of the idiot hoarding crowd.


But now, when we are out of a few things, all the market shelves are bare. I went out today and came back bare handed. Can't even go out to eat because the Governor has closed all of the restaurants, bars, pubs and taverns in the state!

March 17: We live rural 24 miles from Spokane and usually only need to go to town around 3 times a month for supplies. I am 68 and find plenty to do around our place to keep busy. Plus there's my hobby and I've had to be pretty much a solo gamer anyway so this isolation doesn't hurt much there. But it is time for our regular supply run now so we are getting a bit concerned there are so many empty shelves.

March 18: I went to town again yesterday for a haircut. My barber's shop had a big CLOSED INDEFINITELY sign in the window. So I decided to check more stores for supplies we need. I went to 5 grocery stores, one chain pharmacy, and an Ace Hardware store that normally carries cleaning supplies and paper products. No paper products at all anywhere!! No sanitizers or wipes, not even baby wipes! Most of the grocers were out of fresh meats??? Immunity boosters like Zycam and homeopathics like Echanasia & Vitamin C all gone! But surprizingly there was plenty of cough and cold remedies: Mucinex, Robitussin, Nyquil & Dayquil, cough suppressants, losenges and fever medicines like Acetaminophen, Ibuprofen, Naproxen, etc. Makes no sense to me!
My wife is in town today searching different stores. We are out of several things I couldn't find, not just TP Haha! 🤣😢😭


Whew,  glad I'm not August! 🤓

March 20:

March 23: Th Governor issued a Stay at Home Order today and ordered all non-essential businesses to close within 48 hours.
We made a last shopping trip today to try and find the stuff we are out of. I scored a six roll pack of TP! Jubilation! But my wife told me not to get too excited because we were giving it to her 90 year old dad and his wife since they were out of TP as well. O hope all of those TP hoarding bastards rot in diarrhea hell! Sorry, but how many other 80 to 90 year olds are out there making do with whatever they can while asshole hoarders are sitting with their garages full of TP bundles?

March 25: Today is the day all but essential businesses must be closed. Awoke to snow on the ground and it was still snowing this morning. It all melted away by the afternoon. Or youngest daughter is in nursing school and now only has on line lectures to attend and on line tests. I could use this isolation time to work on some projects my wife would like to have outside, but now I can't get the lumber to build them. Guess I'll just have to build more ships! 

March 31: Oh joy! I just discovered Ziggy's, Home Depot and Lowe's are open for business! Now I can get what I need for our outdoor projects!

April 3: Even though the number of confirmed cases is rising here in the Spokane area, it would appear the supply issues are easing a bit. We went into town on a supply run yesterday and found the store shelves well stocked. We even found TP, and no crowd fighting to grab it all up! We met our daughter to hand over two home made washable masks to her, since the hospital has relented and announced the nurses and NACs can wear them now.
I was even able to get a truck load of lumber for some Honey-Do projects around the ranch!

The trip was interesting. We were careful to maintain the 6 foot distance from everyone, although this wasn't as easy as it would seem. There are still people out there apparently oblivious. Twice I had the same woman with an infant in her cart pull right up next to me from behind. Other folks would just head towards you, forcing you to side step into an isle just to keep from getting brushed. Not fun! Some stores like Lowe's privided sanitary wipes when you walk in. We grabbed a couple and used them to wipe down the cart handle and everything we put in the cart. Other stores like Home Depot had nothing, so we took our chances, avoided touching our faces, and used hand sanitizer when we got back to the truck. After the that store, I carried the hand sanitizer in my pocket. Some people had masks on but not that many. Every store we went into had erected plexi-glass shielding to protect the cashiers from the customers.

All in all a good day.......as long as we didn't bring anything else home with us!

14 comments:

Jonathan Freitag said...

Glad you are still well! I live in Spokane and while TP and sanitizing products seem long gone, most stores seem well-stocked. I was in Trader Joe's Saturday (MAR 14) early morning and all shelves seemed stocked to the max. Today and the last few days, we have been unable to find eggs, some canned goods, or dry beans but other goods are available.

Hope you find what you need.

A Miniatures Hobby Room said...

Hello Jonathan,
Trader Joe's eh,we haven't tried there. There's one on the north end. I'll tell my wife. We've had no difficulty finding eggs, canned goods or most packaged meats and cheeze. It's the TP, paper towels, sanitizers, wipes, stuff like that. Things you never think of as important until you don't have them. The fresh meats seem to be a hit or miss thing. My wife had no trouble finding a roast, fish and lamb today. There was none in the stores I checked yesterday. Still no TP 😖

Paul Howes said...

I wondered why you deleted your comment on my blog.So now I realise why. That`s Ok.
By the way you and anyone else is free to comment there any time. OK? I hope so. We managed the find our usual order from our Bucher waiting... so meat and eggs were there and our standing order was honored.We could have bought more but left it for someone who perhaps have a greater need than us. Love for our common neighbour`s need applying___ and food support for local Food Banks________ People on so called benefits are starving. May you and your family stay safe and well. Sincerely from 71 years Aged P. BB

A Miniatures Hobby Room said...

Thank you Paul. I was afraid I might be imposing a bit on your hospitality by writing too much on your Pandemic Log. Glad you stopped by here.
After the wife's successful trip yesterday we are in good shape for a week or two......except for the TP 😕

Paul Howes said...

Hi Vol, I`m very glad to visit here, and find you are OK for your present needs. I am a recluse myself and so always work from home due to illness. So I am used to it after 17 years,but many worry about being so confined. I guess it all depends upon ones home circumstances? To be happy in life is a great adventure, but being sad is not so good.

https://youtu.be/umpuKl5XwrI

To raise a smile in others is a good thing I do believe. BB

Stew said...

It’s crazy what’s in stock and what’s not. I managed to get some TP by going to our local supermarket at around 0600 while going to work. I was able to buy 1 pack of 4 rolls. Food and water we got but we’ve had to get different stuff from our usual diet. 😀

A Miniatures Hobby Room said...

Haha, skiing dalek, cute!

A Miniatures Hobby Room said...

That must be what's wrong! I sleep too late! One of the perks of retirement!😴

El Grego said...

Hey Vol - Hang in there. I was able to get to the stores a couple of weeks ago, just before the rush, and got everything I wanted, luckily. I need to venture out again tomorrow... we will see what is going on then!

Greg

A Miniatures Hobby Room said...

Hi Greg,
So where are you located? Is it bad where you are? It isn't as bad here as it is over in Seattle, but as they ramp up the testing there are more positives showing up. But there are a lot more sick folks that haven't been tested. Both of our daughters have now been exposed to ill people. One still lives at home and the other is staying away from us. The Trans Alaska Pipeline company I used to work for has told their out of state employees that are residents of WA, CA, CO, IL & NY to stay home until further notice.

El Grego said...

Vol,

I am in Seattle. All of the stores have reduced their hours, especially Safeway - formerly open 24-hrs, now only 16. Many are being picked clean, Trader Joe's especially. On my trip to the store early (0600) this morning, I saw that my local grocer was completely out of TP, chicken, peanut butter, and acetaminophen/Tylenol. Supplies of coffee, canned goods, and butter were low. And nobody except myself was wearing a mask in the store - got some looks for that lol.

I feel that worse is to come...

A Miniatures Hobby Room said...

Yeah I do too Greg, it will get worse before it gets better. As long as there are insufficient tests administered, shortages of masks, ventilators, wipes and sanitizers, the virus will keep spreading and know one even knows how bad it already is because so few of the sick are being tested.

A Miniatures Hobby Room said...

April third update posted above.

If you are following, please share how things are going in your neck of the woods.

El Grego said...

One of the most noticeable changes here has been the widespread adoption of plexiglass barriers for the cashiers at any sort of store. Even the gas station has them now.