The Times Are A Changing Friday

[Colliemom]

Good Morning everyone. Still dark out there, this early a.m. had rain during the night, but moved on.

What a difference 4 days makes. We went from no Virus to 12 cases, all downstate, A State of emergency declared, as Judy has said, colleges are now holding online classes only, I some them have extended spring break. All high school basketball tournament games have been canceled, as well as a zillion other events and activities and the Governor just now, ordered all schools closed for three weeks. Feel sorry for the sports teams as they spent all season pouring their hearts and souls into hoping thry might be one of the lucky ones to win a State Championship, only to see their dream taken away. I specially the Seniors who will never play high school again. And our church’s high school drama club, has been preparing and practicing for a play called “Clue”, a three nighter with the third night a dinner theatre, only to be able to do a one nighter last night, before a limited audience and the other two wiped out. There’s a zillion events and other things being cancelled too. Guess you can color St. Paddy’s day blue, this year. Course hospital and nursing home restrictions, Commission on aging services being curtailed in some areas.

I stopped at Walmart and Meijer yesterday to pick up a few things and you think we were in for a blizzard. Despite all the recommendation from the CDC and others about being prepared, people either weren’t listening, waiting till last minute or figuring it was all just hullabaloo and now they were looking for TP, paper towels, Kleenex etc., only to find no TP and dwindling supplies of paper towels and Kleenex. Also we’re stocking up on soups and packaged meals for the cupboards. People were on Cell phones all over. I just picked up what I wanted and left

Wow Barbie, that’s a lot of water. But you like Lake living anyway Fortunately you don’t have to worry like your neighbors do, about getting water in your house. I’m sure those going down the roads aren’t trying to make a wake. Probably didn’t even think of it as it is so uncommon. Sorry to hear you sold your trailer, but can certainly understand. Maybe you should buy a kayak Hope Ann gets back overvthe border without any issues. I’m sure there are other snowbirds heading for home early too.

Had another chiropractor appt. yesterday, needEd a pubic bone adjustment on my right side, so now being careful not to move in the wrong direction. Go back on Monday.

So that’s the latest from northern Michigan. Stay safe out there everyone. Guess we can keep each other informed on our various state situations and whatever else we want, since other things aren’t gonna be happening. The forum will be our entertainment.

[BarbaraRose]

Good morning Sue,

I actually do have a kayak!! I was offering it for rent for anyone who needed to get around the park yesterday! The road I live on crosses a large wash just a couple blocks away. It washed out last year during the Valentines Day storm a year ago and was just finally repaired a few months ago. The wash filled up yesterday and came over the road again and closed it yesterday. Hoping no damage to it this time. I go that way to work. The detour takes me another 5 minutes on an already long commute.

Just laying here waiting for my golf cart repair guy to show up. Cart still won't take a charge so hopefully he can finally figure out why. I have spent a lot of money on it already and still isn't working.

We are now required at work to wash our hands between each customer and use hand sanitizers on our stations and chairs each time. Not sure where we will get the sanitizers since they are sold out everywhere. I do have my hand sanitizer at my station. Will find out what's going on when I go in later today.

The sun is out this morning. Most of the water should have run off or soaked in by now around here. The maintenance crew was really busy yesterday trying to get drains cleared and get the water moving off the roads, etc. They actually run the sprinklers on the golf courses here during rain storms to pull water out of the drainage areas (like my back yard) and ponds (it is recycled) to make room for more water flowing in.

Have a good day!

[JudyJB]

Barbie, they could save on hand sanitizer by using a bleach and water, plus a little dish soap, mixture on the chairs!! It is a waste to use hand stuff on that and the bleach would do a better job.

I am off to pick up a rental car for a week and heading out to pick up a few things at the store. Got almost everything, so this is just normal shopping. Have a plastic bag full of chlorox wipes to sanitize whatever car I get. Got four huge containers of Chlorox wipes I bought a month ago!

Getting caught up on getting my class ready for Spring and for another person to use my online master, but still have normal work to do before the end of the semester. One of my fellow teachers who had been planning to teach in a classroom is now thinking of some hiking trips she can make within driving distance!

[BarbaraRose]

I can't be around bleach unless it is very diluted, so we stay away from that at work (and ammonia, Pinesol, etc). I get a bad reaction to the fumes. I am sure they will figure out something. We use Barbicide to clean our untensils so we can use that since it doesn't bother me too much.

[Redetotry]

Good morning Sue,
We are now required at work to wash our hands between each customer and use hand sanitizers on our stations and chairs each time. Not sure where we will get the sanitizers since they are sold out everywhere. I do have my hand sanitizer at my station. Will find out what's going on when I go in later today.
Have a good day!

Can't they use peroxide in place of bleach? I too am allergic to bleach! Also what about 80-100 proof vodka? You could sip and scrub!

[Bethers]

We switched long ago from bleach mixtures for sanitizing in food service. Unless super careful to keep it diluted enough, it's not a good idea any more. But could be used in a pinch. Peroxide is a better choice.

Well, New Mexico state parks are choosing to camping effective today into at least the first week of April. That's where I was planning to be that entire time . So ... Jello ...lol . I'll go ahead with my couple days with Ginger starting today (if I get myself in gear!) then I'll probably head back to my casita and IF going to SD is still in the plans, will just do a fast drive from here.

Off to walk Ty and get myself out of here.

[SoCalGalcas]

San Diego is shutting down. My Symphony included . Schools will all be closed Monday. This virus is airborne and will last in the air for several minutes if someone sneezes near you. Some have recommended Vit D3 and elderberry concentrates as helpful in preventing a more serious case. Also, continual sipping of warm water. Virus gets into the throat, then washing it down into the stomach where stomach acid kills it.
We have more showers today, some real train! Lyn

[MandysMom]

Northern California also is having many shut downs of events and schools. I have all I need for at least two weeks without going to a store. . I pretty much always keep It that way.
I did a little searching on topic of sanitizing. Vodka is a big NO- big companies like Smirnoff have come out with statements that because 80 proof means 40% alcohol, and it takes a minimum 60% alcohol to kill Covid19, Vodka isn't effective. Peroxide 3% is effective, but only if sprayed on and left to air dry at least several minutes. There are long lists of approved products if you google what kills corona virus. Bleach should be diluted to a very specific ratio to work. A tip I saw yesterday, if you can't find hand soap, buy any shower soap and use for Handwashing , because its warm water, soap and friction plus at least 2 minutes that gets hands clean of virus. Be sure, if washing frequently that you use hand lotion to prevent drying as dry, chapped hands are more vulnerable to infections of other types.
We are in for a bumpy ride for possibly several more months. Hope all of us stay safe and relax a bit because this too shall pass.
Our weather is part sun at moment, but rain predicted over next few days. Unfortunately not near the amount of rain you got, Barbie! But our Sierras are predicted to get feet of snow, a very good thing, since it's what in summer fills our reservoirs!
I slept poorly last night, for whatever reason, but am up and will get ready for Curves soon. Rest of weekend will be spent here at home doing the usual. The van tail light that replacement arrived broken earlier in week, has been replaced by Amazon, so I'll tackle that install soon. It's easy except the upholstered panels snapped over inside where access screws are. I'm leery of accidentally breaking the snap fasteners due to their age and each is a covered button and would be hard to match the vinyl on replacement. So my handyman is bringing his set of tools made for panels and we will cautiously lift them. Then if it looks like camping is a go, I'll take NightOwl to Mercedes for an annual oil change as they recommended a year ago. I just am not making any plans until the world settles back down and I get my vision issues addressed plus my visit to spine Dr in May.
Have a good day all.
Velda

[BarbaraRose]

Can't they use peroxide in place of bleach? I too am allergic to bleach! Also what about 80-100 proof vodka? You could sip and scrub!

The vodka could make things interesting for sure! Peroxide is a really good idea but I wonder if you can get that anywhere now either. Will see what my manager comes up with. We got a text yesterday from Corporate stating what we are expected to do now at the shop. We do a lot of cleaning and disinfecting anyways because of the state laws with regards to salons, equipment, etc. so we just have to do a few more things than normal and be very vigilant about it. We are also allowed to turn away anyone who seems sick (ie, sneezing, coughing, etc). There is one restaurant out here who is taking everyone's temperature and not letting anyone in who has a fever or anyone refusing to do that. They say 99% of people are complying without complaint.

I just found out that my neighbor, an elderly lady, is moving out and going to live with her daughter in LA, due to health issues. She is the one who had the ambulance come several times last summer. I will miss her. My friend, Candy is getting her park model ready to sell and moving back to Oregon because she got heat stroke last year and can't deal with the summer heat again here. Our summer dinner get-togethers probably won't happen at least for awhile with the virus situation. Hopefully, I can stay busy working between my shop and the new one opening up in Walmart.

Turns out my cart is taking a charge but the charge light wasn't working right. So I am good to go! Too bad the golf cart parade and poker run has been cancelled. Will try to return the decorations I bought last week.

Need to get ready for work here since I have several stops to make before getting to work.

[JudyJB]

My Ohio son is a sales manager for programmable drives for the major industrial robotics company. He works out of his home office--no going to a real office building, but he travels about 40% of the time. His territory is the entire US, but he has quite a few people working for him, all doing a lot of travel helping to troubleshoot drives they sell to factories. The drives are used for moving things like conveyor belts and cranes and a bunch of things so they are really critical. Anyway, he was out of town last week and rolled over in bed as he woke up. immediately got really dizzy. Had a one-day long sore throat and wondered if he had corona virus. No cough or achyness or fever or any other symptoms, but he is staying away from his kids just in case. I said it sounded exactly like the vertigo I periodically have, but he had never had before. He said he did have sinus pressure and stuffiness, so I think he is fine.

He has cancelled all upcoming travel, but he did tell his employees that they had to keep equipment running, so they may end up driving to emergency situations. On the other hand, no one wants them to come by and make sales or customer satisfaction visits. So they will try to deal only with emergency problems with equipment without flying, but keep factories operating.

The good thing about modern manufacturing is that the workers are not working side by side. The nearest co-workers are likely at least 10-15 feet away--much more spread out than offices, for example. Also, with modern pollution controls and OSHA regulations, most plants use negative air pressure and are constantly filtering air and sending it outdoors, not recirculating it. So, I would think that most factories would be OK, assuming they wiped railings and equipment off periodically and employees did not congregate in groups for breaks and lunch. The problems will be in very small factories that do not use automation or have modern air handling equipment. (I spent a lot of time in factories, good and bad, in the 90s and 00s, believe it or not.)

I stopped at Walmarts and picked up a few things, but mostly my normal shopping. The paper products shelves were empty, but they had plenty of other things, except bags of sugar! Lots of confectioners sugar, just not the regular kind. I did buy one of those bags of individually frozen chicken thighs, so my freezer is now really full. As soon as it cools off, I am going to bake the slab of ribs I bought and then cool them and refrigerate them for a quick meal. Maybe I need to eat some ice cream to make room in the freezer???

[BirdbyBird]

Not recapping the news from here in Ohio because we all have access to the news across here at home and abroad. I am still working though we are now working at every other computer station, for purposed of social distancing. There are no confirmed cases in the building at work but given the population of employees and many falling in the over 60 and many falling into the "immune compromised" category for a variety of health reasons, most of us consider it a matter of when not if someone tests positive. We evaluate tests from many different states and some of the states are beginning to contact the company to ask for deadline extensions in submitting their test results because of schools being shut down. I foresee that this years scoring season may run into the summer months at this rate.

So with great insight I will share the wise words often heard from Soos and BJ in the past....ACK, ACK, ACK.......

[JudyJB]

Can you work from home to do all that grading? Seems logical.

[Acadianmom]

Barbie, your park looks like my yard sometimes with all the rain. It hasn't rained in a few days. I don't know how to act.

I went to one of the local grocery stores today and they were well stocked. My son said one of the Walmarts in Lafayette was pretty bare. Someone told one of my neighbors that they couldn't find meat in Houston. Went to a Walgreens and they had paper products.

They announced today that all schools would be closed for 3 weeks. I think the universities are online but some have ask students to get out of the dorms. I hope that if the campground that we are going to next week decides to close they let us know before I buy groceries for the campout.

Martha

[monik7]

This virus is airborne and will last in the air for several minutes if someone sneezes near you. Lyn

I was just watching a news report about a lab that tested how long this virus remains in the air and on certain surfaces. Here’s what they found:

— up to 3 hours in the air
— up to 24 hours on packages
— up to 3 days on plastic and steel

We really need to make use of sanitizer, because picking up a package of pasta that someone sneezed on in the store a couple hours ago could cause real problems.
Sandi

[snowball]

it's Friday which is games with a lunch had Chicken Veggie chowder today... had to laugh (as it's Kerry's last time with us next Friday for the season) I asked what she would rather have Navajo Taco's or Moroccan chicken.... one of the other's spoke up and said Navajo Taco's I said it's Kerry's choice and Kerry had already indicated the chicken as she asked if we could do the taco's another time turns out Mylinda won't even be there... think at the moment she forgot I guess that now I am going to have time to accomplish some of the stuff I haven't done... like go through my yarn and see what is a give away.. ect
not only has church been cancelled for awhile most activities have as well... so no going to do family research. Really will seem strange not having a lot to occupy time.
take care
sheila