March 20, 2020
Dear Everyone:
Day Four of The Lockdown. Of
course, that’s not what they’re calling it.
“Shelter in Place” is the Politically Correct Term.
Around here, Shelter in Place usually means there’s a fire at the
nearby refinery, or there’s an “Active Shooter Incident” going on, or a
wildfire is a little too close for comfort, with accompanying smoke that
will make it hard to breathe.
In other parts of the country, it could mean “Look out!
There’s a hurricane/cyclone/other large storm system coming!”
Any way you word it, Shelter in Place is not something you want to hear.
In Contra Costa County, among others in the Bay Area, it came down at
midnight last Tuesday. Stay
at home, unless you have an “essential” excuse for going out.
If you do go out, stay at least six feet away from everyone else.
Staying at home means eating all your meals at home.
Not everyone is up for that.
Some people grew up with the idea that you should always have a
well-stocked cupboard and freezer.
But when was the last time you checked the dates on some of those
items?
Last week, “Jeannie” was looking for something to eat and found that the
potato chips and crackers were “stale”.
“Of course they are,” I replied.
“I bought them for Christmas.”
Nevertheless, a few days later, I did an inventory of shelved items.
I found a can of cooking spray that only expired four years ago.
Obviously, I haven’t been doing that much baking in a while.
Lots of tuna fish. Too bad
it should have been consumed in 2018.
So I threw some things away and put replacements on the shopping list.
Fortunately, I did that shopping before The Lockdown began.
I had already stocked up on life-sustaining Diet Coke and some
other soft drinks. I knew
that they would be in short supply as soon as the sugar free substitutes
ran out at the bottling plants.
And I was very glad that I laid in a three-week supply of toilet paper.
Why is toilet paper disappearing before it even reaches the store’s
shelves? That’s easy.
Do you work in an office, or other place away from home all day?
Are your kids in school all day?
If so, you and they are not using the toilet paper at home, are
they? Now, suddenly,
everyone is home and using the supplies on hand.
Supplies that may be rapidly running out, if they haven’t
already.
When I was thrown into retirement, I realized that I would be using more
toilet paper than in the past and purchased accordingly.
Most people don’t have that “advantage”.
The Emergency Supply experts have lots of advice.
Keep enough food and water in place for each individual for up to
three days. That’s because,
in the “typical” emergency, you can expect to be on your own for the
first 72 hours. What they
don’t tell you is how much toilet paper you’re likely to need.
However, not all is gloom and doom.
No one is dropping bombs on our collective heads.
The water level is not rising above our lower lip just yet.
Trees aren’t smashing through the house.
We still have electricity, a roof over our heads, plenty of safe
drinking water, not that people aren’t scarfing up bottled water at a
frantic pace, for no good reason.
The key thing to do right now is to relax.
While this is certainly a National Emergency, it will pass soon
enough. In the meantime,
remember: Don’t sweat the
petty stuff.
And don’t pet the sweaty stuff.
Love, as always,
Pete
| Previous | Next |