New ways to sanitize masks from MIT!

The Corona virus/Covid -19 can be eliminated or rendered (dead) with your oven set to warm/200 degrees F. for 30 minutes.  Pre-heat the oven to 200 degrees F.  place the masks on a tray for 30 minutes and all virus particles on the mask are now inert/dead!  This great news for people that have a limited number of masks on hand.  Your masks can now be effective protection and reused a few times as long as the basic structure of the mask stays in good shape.  If a mask gets very dirty or the fabric starts to break down after use, toss the used mask in the trash.

Your mask should not catch on fire in a warm oven as it takes over 450 degrees of heat to get paper to burn.  I would use an oven safe pan like a pie pan to hold your masks and not place the mask directly on your oven grates/racks.  Using a gas/propane oven to sanitize masks might be an issue as gas ovens use an open flame but I think you should be okay as long as you pre-heat the oven and place the masks in an oven safe pan far from the gas flame.  Even a toaster oven on the WARM setting should work if the oven can maintain at least 170 degrees F. for 30 minutes.

There is some research that suggests 60 minutes under UV light might neutralize the virus. It is early days for this research and I can’t confirm that UV light kills the virus off of surfaces like a N95 mask.  I’m very excited to see a way to re-use masks and that a normal oven can neutralize any viruses on a mask.  I have a few masks on hand and knowing I can reuse my masks safely means I can give the neighbors a mask or two to help keep them safe and limit the spread of the Wu-Flu if they did not get masks a couple of months ago.

Most people will keep touching their face. I’ve probably reduced touching my nose, mouth and around my eyes about 25-50% less than I did in February and I still touch my face a lot!  ( I bet your nose itches now) LOL!   I don’t worry about my face touches at home as I am making my home a “Safe Zone”.  I spritz the mail box with a bleach solution, wash down the door handles and light switches with a anti viral/anti-bacterial cleaner. I need to add gloves to my shopping gear to minimize the potential of bringing the virus home. Because many people cough sneeze in stores and don’t wear a mask!  I have bought some plastic coated reusable bags that are easy to sanitize with a little Lysol/bleach spray.  I have only one person I interact with closely, that person uses a mask in public, and does not have a “cold/Flu/Allergies” so I’m not going doing a “Total Lock down” at this time.

What I’m doing my shopping to stop the spread of the virus. I don’t drive with a mask on as my vehicle is a bit of a safe zone because it is not used more than 1-2 times a week at most for shopping.

1.  I clean my glasses before driving and before I go into the store I use hand sanitizer then put on my mask.
2. After leaving the store I use hand sanitizer before I remove my mask and glasses and the wash my glasses.  I don’t know why but my nose seems to get all leaky after wearing the mask so I use a tissue to wipe my nose and hand sanitize again.
3. It basically the same steps for every store I go to when shopping.
4. When I get home I put away groceries, the mask gets sanitized, the grocery bags get a sanitizing spray and the glasses get a wash.  This is probably a weak point as I should spray everything with sanitizer before it comes in the house.

I don’t think you have to go all OCD cleaning everything all the time. A few spritzes with bleach, using a good anti-bacterial/anti-viral cleaner 2-3 times a week in your home cleaning, washing hands a few more times per day should be adequate for making the home a virus free safe space.  Getting out in the yard and doing some work growing garden is good and talking over a fence to a neighbor is a good thing!  I never cared for the High people density life-style of people that live in Urban areas.  I’m not sure how those people will cope with a Stay at home Orders that last over two weeks.

 

 

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Canyon county Idaho has a “community spread” case of the Wu-Flu

We have had a few deaths here in Idaho and the rate of infection is growing fast from 3 cases to over 100 cases in less than a couple of weeks.  I am very glad I have started wearing my masks during shopping trips last week. You can’t outrun this virus you have to take steps to limit your exposure as much as you can by staying home, wearing a mask, using hand sanitizer and keeping extra social distance when you have to go out among the public.  Now I wear glasses and they provide some protection for my eyes, but if you go out add sun glasses, goggles of some sort to protect your eyes from any coughs and sneezing people in the public.

News from the CDC!  Us serfs should wear mask to limit the spread of the Corona virus!  A bandana and sunglasses will give you some protection if an infected person coughs or sneezes at you and your coughs and sneeze particles will be limited by wearing a mask. People catch the Corona virus can be exposing people for days and not know they are because they don’t feel sick, don’t have a fever, cough or even the sniffles.  If you have Spring allergies, you can also have the Corona virus and spread it even if you don’t feel sick.  Wear some sort of mask and eye protection not only to protect yourself but to protect people in your community!   Perhaps Idaho is different but I did not have people stare or mock me for wearing a mask.  In fact a couple of cashiers thanked me for wearing a mask on my last shopping trip.

My skin was destroyed by all the extra hand washing I was doing the last 6 weeks. Cracked, drying or scaly skin is not good in Pandemic situation so I stopped washing my hands a 20 times a day, used less liquid soap per washing and added a skin cream/lotion to my hands and arms.  Good news!  It only took a couple of days for my skin to recover from drying out and getting scaly.  If you are staying home and you are keeping the house clean, you probably don’t need to go all OCD about hand washing.  Wash your hands before prepping food, eating food and after you use the bathroom should be enough to be clean/safe and your skin won’t get dry and cracked.

Every day, average people must do what they can to stop the spread of the virus. Stay home/self quarantine if you can, especially if you are in a high risk group.  If you have to go shopping wear a mask and some sort of eye protection and have a list of the items you need so you can limit your exposure.  Spray down your door knobs, mail box and clean your house so it is a safe place/sanctuary for you not to worry about the virus.  If you have not done it before set up an online bill pay for utilities, internet and other monthly payments.  I don’t like auto pays because what I need each month can change, but I think online bill pay and banking can be great for convenience and keeping people safe.

Internet and cell phone service may get a little glitchy as many people are working from home, home schooling and bingeing on Netflix and playing games.  Give the companies a little bit of time (2-4 weeks) to rework the data and voice traffic demands.  This virus is not going away in a couple of weeks.  Life will change in the USA and the economy will tank as Corana virus is a flock of black swans hitting the world economy.   Start thinking about how you will live in this new economy.  Sending your children off to child day care or a school will bring this virus into your home.  Schools are human petri-dishes of infections.  Spring break is now Summer break but kids can be asymptomatic carriers of this flu that might kill grandma/pa.  Start thinking about what you will do stop the spread, not only through April but into September.

I could be wrong and the Wu-Flu disappears in July and never comes back. How many family members, neighbors are you willing to risk because you did not like wearing a mask, goggles, or look like a goof? Masks are uncomfortable, I don’t want to wear safety goggles.  I’ll look silly to other people.  Those sentiments are correct and you will probably get infected and infect others close to you and in your neighborhood.

If I am wrong about wearing masks and goggles I may look a bit silly.  If I’m correct that wearing masks and goggles stop the spread of this virus in the USA. Everyone is a hero that masks up and shows the world how to stop this pandemic!  If you are out in the public wear a mask to protect yourself and protect others because you don’t know if you are an asymptomatic carrier or if other people are an asymptomatic carriers.

3 M masks are more corfortable

I bought up a box of 3M N95 masks during the Ebola crisis of 2014.  I put them in my  Ebola box along with a few Tyvek suits, googles and other health care preps to treat an ill person with little hospital/medical support.  These are preps that don’t spoil and are good for treating anyone at home for illness with out a lot of medical support.

Now around the middle of Jan. this little Corona virus starts spreading so I add a a couple more bottles of hand sanitizer, fabric safe/multi- surface spray sanitizer along with a couple of bottles of concentrated Anti-viral/bacterial cleaners. Home Depot had a box of N95 masks so I added that box just in case this WU-Flu got nasty.

Welp! I have been staying home for most of March and this Cov-19 flu is getting nasty.  Idaho governor issued a shelter in place order and close business except for essentials like food and drug stores etc.  I needed a few products like some yard bug killer and Mom had a small computer issue, so I did a little shopping with the Home depot mask today.

It was a little annoying at first because my glasses kept fogging up.  After adjustments I got the basic setup working okay but I felt my protective measures should work better as I don’t want to adjust my mask and glasses much after putting them on for shopping.

I dug out the 3 M mask and it has a better fit for me and a softer interior fabric compared to the more rigid HDX brand N 95 mask.  The 3M mask seemed to be better at dissipating the moisture from breathing compared to the HDX mask traps the moisture and you having to take off the mask so you do not feel you are breathing sauna levels of humidity.  It was a cool Spring day around 40-50 degrees F, for my shopping trip.  I’m not saying the HDX mask is bad just describing my experience using that brand of mask.

What I saw out shopping in SW Idaho after a 2 weeks staying at home. I saw  some people wearing the small lightweight masks like those given out at health clinics.  What is great is all of the mask wearers had the mask covering both the mouth and nose.  I wish I had seen more people wearing masks but that was encouraging to me that some people get that wearing mask properly is a good thing.  The local Albertsons’s has installed small plexiglass barriers at the checkout stands to help protect the cashiers. I’m seeing a lot more markers on the floors of stores for social distancing and people seem to follow it at least at the cash registers.  My local True value hardware store was doing  good keeping cashier and customer apart by asking the customer to put cash on the counter then step back before the cashier took the money.  Same action for returning change/receipt.  It’s a little slower but if it keeps people a little safer and stops the FLU of all sorts I think it is a good thing!

What I’m doing for shopping trips.

• Find the most comfortable mask to wear properly and putting up with some mild discomfort as price to shop/be around other people for myself safe and make others safer.
• My vehicle is a safe space.  I treat my hands to hand sanitizer before putting on and taking off my mask/ glasses/goggles.
• Using easy to sanitize plastic coated reusable shopping bags rather than cloth reusable  shopping bags.
• Putting masks under under a UV light after getting home.  I don’t know if this is effective to kill the Virus but most germs and viruses don’t like Sunlight or UV lights. While I stocked on masks I don’t have an unlimited supply. I will decontaminate my used mask as best I can with what is known about the virus.  I have read that freezing temps “might” kill the virus.  Putting your used mask in a Ziplock bag and tossing it in the freezer might help extend the masks usefulness.
• At best a N95 mask is effective for about 8 total hours of use.  A P100 mask with filters has about 120 hours of effective use.  That is not bad if you only use the mask when shopping, or around people that don’t understand social distancing.
• You might be stared at for wearing a mask.  My impression that people feel bad or ambivalent that they don’t have a mask at least while shopping and some feel embarrassed.

One thing that has struck me as significant.  I think it was Hong Kong stopped this year’s bad Flu season 4-6 weeks early  by going very pro-active stopping the WU-Flu. The 2019 Flu season was bad and the death count was higher than average.  Why aren’t we wearing masks in the West to stop the spread of the yearly flu?  I had no idea that Flu season could rack up a large body count.

I know people die every year from al sorts of things. It bothers me that the normal flu death body count is considered normal.  The Flu deaths are higher than Gun deaths or automobile deaths.  Dead is dead but how you got there is relevant if it preventable.

I got my ramen noodles!

This is a big deal because I got the “rain check” for a case lot sale and this small country grocery store got hammered by people coming from the “big city” to grab/buy everything  for the Wu-flu virus.  Small stores/small towns don’t have the basic infrastructure to deal with a lot of people descending on them via this flu.

Folks in the cities, you are not going to escape this virus as it is every where.  You could be bringing that virus with you because it has a several days of being infectious though you feel fine.  Please stay at home as big cities have larger hospitals to deal with this infection.  Most small towns have a health clinic or very small hospital at best.  Most small towns depend on big city hospitals for trauma/emergency rooms or ICU beds.

I understand the feelings of fear and uncertainty with this virus.  It is a bit of the “fight or flight” syndrome that us human have and it’s tough to stay home and do almost nothing for days or  a couple of weeks. Staying home, social distancing and going out to stores only when you need something is exactly the best thing you can be doing.  How many hospitals have ICU beds/ ventilators do you think are in Idaho or in any other flyover states?

The Midwest grows food and drills for oil.  I’ll agree shipping all manufacturing of critical goods Overseas was a bad choice but the USA makes food, paper products, lumber and has oil along with a lot of basic machinery for mining, timber and other materials to make potential products once factories get up and running in about 3-18 months depending on how much retro-fitting or building factories from the ground up is required.

Despite what the “Elites” believe you can not conjure food nor factories with a “Thanos” snap   If we could start up factories yesterday. It will take at least 3-6 months for those factories to produce a large enough amount of products to be put on store shelves.  That is a very optimistic forecast  in the USA Factories.

Many stores like Dollar tree/Family dollar are hiring.  Or other companies that are considered essential TODAY!  You probably won’t replace all of your income but if you can pay utilities and have food in the house that is a start.  You can work on the bigger bills like, credit cards, rent and mortgages later in 30 days or in May.  Mortgage companies and banks are facing huge margin calls, so foreclosure notices should be slow for home owners and landlords.  Courts are shutting down and that should limit evictions for 30-90 days.

I’m not saying you should not pay your debts/bills.  This is an Emergency and food, fuel and utilities for your family comes first then rent, credit card bills, and the mortgage payment can be put off for a month or two.

Being fearful, scared or feeling a little bit panic is not only normal. It is a rational response as long as you don’t “Freeze” or get overwhelmed and do nothing.  Stop your panic, know what you have, know what you need and slowly get those things you need to live.  It might be cash to pay your bills. Heck I’ve prepping for almost a decade and while I feel confident in my preps, I feel a bit worn out with the washing my hands, getting the garden ready as quickly as possible rather than enjoying my time in my yard puttering around I’m focused at growing as much food as possible as quickly as possible.

Those tomatoes aren’t going to grow any faster because I’m in a PANIC!  This virus panic will take some time to show how bad it will be in the next few weeks.  Plan for the worst, hope for the best.  Get plenty of sleep, take your vitamins, putter around your garden, even if it a few pots of herbs on your balcony or in a window.  Clean your house and make it your sanctuary/safe space. This situation is going  to suck!  This situation will also pass. Humanity won’t die, the earth will be fine and with a little luck all people will realize Globalism sucks!

Dry skin from hand washing and cleaning up garden beds for planting.

I’m not all that invested on having skin soft to touch and usually my skin does not dry out or get scaly /cracked.  With all this additional hand washing the skin on my arms is starting to get very dry.  I’m not one to use lotions on my skin, but dry and cracking skin is a possible entry point for a virus.

I used my aunt’s home made lotion and it worked pretty good but it washed off every time I washed my hands.  I’m trying out my skin cream made with essential oils, rice bran oil and beeswax.  The beeswax in the skin cream is holding up against a few hand washings.  I think I’m seeing some healing/less cracking of the skin using this cream.  It is only the first day so I’ll need a couple of more days to see how effective this cream is for drying skin.  Mom really likes a Suave lotion hand cream with aloe to keep her skin from drying out and cracking.

I think that unprocessed real beeswax has some of the anti-viral, anti- bacterial properties of honey. That might be the difference between my aunt’s lotion and my skin salve/cream.  This is my opinion and what seems to work for me and is not backed up by any medical studies.

I had a good day cleaning up my  large raised garden beds.  One bed laid fallow last summer so I cleaned up a few weeds and that will be the bed for tomato and pepper starts. I cleaned another bed and that will be for root crops. Parsnips, carrots, radishes, turnips and some beets.  This bed has a frame work for Frost cloth to be added to the bed but the weather looks good for planting root/cole crops.

I have a bed that has reseeded onions.  I cleaned around the onions and want to add greens/lettuce via seeds and see how that works out. I have not started many plants from seed in my garden beds so it is a bit new to me and may fail.  I have plant starts as a backup but this gardening thing seems new to me though I have had a garden for over 10 years.   I can’t speak for others, but I still think of myself as a newbie growing a garden.

I cleaned up another section of grape vines/canes.  Grape vines need air to reach the ground but the grow in such a mess of attaching vines to everything.  Cut any grape vines back to the original plant. This is task is much easier in Spring when you don’t have to fight new vines or the leaves that make cleaning up the old canes difficult.

Sometimes less is more as new growth makes up for cleaning out old growth that does not produce.  I have a small city lot and I use raised beds to grow a garden.  I also started out growing plants in pots, buckets and kiddie pools.  If you have yard grow some food!  If you have a balcony grow a tomato or pepper plant in a bucket.  Grow some herbs in a small pot in your kitchen window.  Or any window that gets some sun!  Heck buy a LED plant light and start growing plants in your home.

Don’t let yourself not try something because you don’t know enough or you don’t have a perfect set up.   You will never have a perfect set up for any task.  This how you learn how to do things!  You will fail at stuff, that is how you learn.  Seek out others that have failed and then succeeded.  Fail early and fail often is a good thing because you learn fast!

It is very scary to think your garden is all the fresh veggies your family might have on hand.  That is not reality as the USA is a Food making powerhouse.  There will be food in stores given a few days to restock.  This is your chance to learn growing and preserving food for your future.   You will probably screw up, I know I did with my first garden.  My problem last year is I had more produce that I knew how to preserve.   Not a bad problem to have as you can give excess produce to your neighbors.

There is never a downside to a problem without a fix.  The USA can bring all medical manufacturing back to the USA.   All those USA companies want a bail out but don’t have factories in the USA need to bring back those factories the the USA.  US companies that use Foreign countries to Flag their ships.  Do any Cruise ships register/flag their ship as USA?  Nope the Cruise ship are flagged/based in Panama or other countries other than the USA.  But they want the USA to make good their losses.

We are starting to see the companies that have been “swimming nekid” using the USA when convenient for them.  But not paying taxes for that protection.  F* the Diamond Princess whining about the US government not helping them.  What Country did you register your boat.  Was it the USA?  Nope, go figure out yourself and whine to the country that registered your boat.

We can longer afford ships that use  other countries registration of convenience.  Not pay out as we have a bottomless money pit for people that can afford cruises.  Oh you were an idiot and put your cruise on your credit card or took out a vacation loan.  I’m not feeling you were cheated, nor much sympathy for your situation.  Oh I don’t  feel anger at you alone.  I also hate the idiots that buy ocean front property and expect the government to pay off when you get slammed by a storm or Hurricane.  This is a disaster but it is also a disaster made worse because of greed and Bail out US Federal economics.

 

Emotional reaction to “It’s Happening”

Logically I have been prepping.  I was hit with an Auto-immune disease and could not work or have much of an income for six months before SSDI kicked in.  I know what it is like to work  to get a low wage and live on tips for the basics.  I was an enlisted soldier back in the 1980’s 90’s and make $900.00-1200 per month and not have family to take care of each month.

While I hate it, I think the 2 checks of $1000.00 in April and May given to taxpayers making under $100,000 or $50,000 per year is a good idea and much better than bailing out major big corporations.  Corporations have played silly games of using low interest rates to by back stock to boost the share price.  Make those corporations sell that stock to fund the corporations.  That was what offering stock used to be for public companies to expand.  I know many peoples 401ks will take a hit. Many Stock holders will take a loss but the companies have stock to sell. Most lower end workers have nothing to sell and are living pay check to pay check.

I have always thought stock buy backs with cheap debt were a shady way for CEO’s and companies to boost their share price/ balance sheets.  Let all the corporations sell Stocks and make up the low price in volume. There are a lot of people that want to buy stocks, get quarterly dividends, get into real estate but the cost is too damn high for them on a budget of bartender.

Gold/Money runs uphill!  Most people that get that $1000.00 check will spend it right away paying a bill, get food, fuel, pay off a credit card or some other debt.  At the very worst they will save the money in a bank or “buy the dip” in the stock market.  I think it is idiotic the USA government encouraged a debt based consumer economy.  Here we are and the best way to get consumers spending is to give them money to spend!

Stop hospitals from using the certificate of need and open up clinics to serve their communities.  Heck Veterinarians can offer MRIs 30 minute digital X-rays for our pets.  We should at least do the same for humans in the USA

Let doctors make house calls and work via teleconference.  Why can’t we do this?  Because the Federal government and the AMA prohibits it.  Why don’t we have more hospitals with MRIs, CAT scans, X ray machines or extra beds.  Because the USA government prohibits adding Doctor or Charity hospitals because supposedly the hospitals/clinics you have now are adequate via Federal standards.   Wait time at the doctors clinic is baked in via the federal and state governments protecting hospital’s price cartel on health care.

Veterinarian’s  animal clinics can have MRI’s, pharmacies that sell drugs, surgeries for a dog or cat that cost a fraction of the cost for a human in a hospital and it is idiotic.  Humans might be a bit larger but most of us don’t lick stitches or need a cone around our neck to stop us from scratching at surgery staples. Why does a CAT scan or MRI for a pet cost about $500.00-$1000.00 at a vet hospital and over $5000.00 to $10000.00 for a human at a hospital?  Most humans don’t have to be sedated for a scan so the only difference is Hospitals get away with charging more money hiding the cost via insurance and the US Federal government lets the hospitals get away with it.

USA hospital charge hundreds of dollars for patient to get a couple of aspirin or Tylenol for pain relief.  Yet hospitals don’t have a basic mask protection or PPE for their Doctors or Nurses?  If I was a doctor or a nurse I’d go for a health care model that makes house calls and stop working for hospitals.  I don’t know if that is a workable model with licensing or government regulations.  But I think US Hospitals will become death traps and you as health care professional would probably do more and be safer for your selves treating patients and educating people in home rather than working in a Hospital.  I don’t think treating health care worker as expendable for profit is a good answer.  Nor do I think a Nurse or Doctor demanding adequate PPE from a hospital or clinic as extreme.

Garden seeds started in the Jiffy box

I bought a couple of the larger Jiffy  (72 cell) starter box for seeds starts last summer. I’m using some older seeds but hoping for a 50% germination rate on the box I finished the seed starts today.  This box has a lot of tomatoes and hot and sweet peppers along with a few melons.  For the the next 2 weeks I’ll keep the box in the dark, warm and the soil damp but not soaked.  I have some smaller 3-4 inch pots to transfer the starts into gardening soil if I get good growth from the seed starts.  I have a LED full spectrum light set up for my indoor growing area by a window that gets good sunlight.  I’m going do a lot more starts of herbs in smaller pots.  Usually I start off with herbs from the farm store and they tend to die from neglect, getting root bound in pots.  This year the herbs are getting their own raised garden bed.

It’s a little to early to plant seeds in beds, as the average last frost date in my area is around May 10th and the irrigation water usually starts about the 15th of April.  This year I have PVC frames and I can use either heavy duty clear plastic or frost cloth to protect the plants in the raised beds.  While we had a long winter it has not been very cold and plants are growing like crazy.  My onions have reseeded and I have a reseeded small lettuce plant that is growing though it got a little frost nipped.  While I’d recommend you get some frost cloth or build a little mini-green house for your garden beds. just starting the seeds indoors will let you get a jump on the growing season.  Anything you can grow at home be it containers of herbs, a few tomato and pepper plants or other crops in raised beds or a larger garden space will help cut down on your food costs and you will eat food you know that you have grown yourself.  While I will bitch and moan about big Agriculture in the USA I have to say they can grow a lot of food.  Idaho for example grows many plants besides potatoes. Grapes, orchards full of cherries, pears, apples, peaches and apricots. Fields of wheat, corn, oats and yes, rice.  Beef, pork, chickens and daily farms with milk, butter, eggs and cheese.

The USA can grow food! While the oil/energy companies are getting hammered on price for oil and natural gas the product is still in the ground.  We can dig coal to keep the energy flowing for electricity.  The west uses dams to make a lot of Hydro/water powered electricity. Yes the USA screwed the pooch out sourcing manufacturing.  The USA still can make food, dig for oil, minerals, harvest our forests, grow cotton for clothing if it becomes cost effective for those industries to start working again.  Other countries say they will not share medical items, PPE and even drugs/pharmaceuticals.  I can understand why they would want those items for their citizens.  The USA could save all the food and energy they produce for it’s own citizens.

I’m very sorry China you are suffering from a plague of locusts? Fire storms ravaging some of your provinces?  How is the production of chickens and pork going as your country is ravaged by pork and avian flu destroying your pork herds and your poultry farms.  My old phone, PC and LED TV will last a few years.  China what food will your people have to eat this year?

People are getting tense, stressed and frustrated around here (SW Idaho)

I admit that I’m one of those people getting frustrated because I’m not seeing much in the way of social distancing. I stopped at the Family Dollar because Mom wanted a comforter she saw on Friday.  The parking lot wasn’t full and the amount of people in the store did not seem excessive when I got in the check out line.  Things changed quickly and the checkout line started stacking up behind me and no one was keeping any real “social” distance.  Many people were in and out of the store searching for toilet paper, wipes or other items that had sold out and leaving empty handed.  Some of the shelves were empty but there were plenty of OTC meds, cleaning supplies heck even some milk, beer and wine on the shelves.

It was like people had tunnel vision to get one or two items. If that item wasn’t available they were off to another store.  This is why I think you need to make a list of all the items you want to buy/have at home.  Every time you go shopping you are taking a risk. I think it is better to try and get as many items on your list at any one store, rather than focus on getting one or two items but going into many different stores.  I was committed to the check out line but while I was at the store I picked up some red pepper flake, a 15 pack of beer along with Mom’s bedspread set. I wanted the red pepper flake and the beer was just a spur of the moment purchase that might become important if I have to keep dealing with idiots.

I have been tempted to carry a small spray bottle of water to spray people who don’t understand the concept of social distance in lines or other gathering spots.  A bit like spritzing your cat or dog when the pet goes where they should not!  I wonder if people would learn that the spray bottle of water droplet is sort of like if someone is coughing or sneezing on them and their grocery items?  The only reasons I am holding back is either I’d get arrested or sued.  So if you are out shopping, assume someone has a spray bottle of water or germs and keep your distance of 6 feet/2 yards or 2 meters.

I had a little tickle in my throat like I might be coming down with a cold on Sunday so my tolerance of idiots was very low. I got my humidifier fired up with a few drops of tea tree oil.  Today I got out and cut some wood for kindling and opened up the doors to get more fresh air moving through the house. The tickle is almost gone. Getting out in the sunshine, opening the house up to fresh air really helped boost my spirits as well as feeling much better physically.  I’m taking a B complex with vitamin C, a mineral compound of calcium, Magnesium and Zinc and I’m adding a some more D3 to that mix.  Be careful with vitamins and minerals as some are fat soluble like D3/calcium that you can overdose on.  B and C vitamins are water soluble so if you take a little to much you can pee away most of the vitamin your body does not use. Do your research because more of a good thing can become toxic in a larger dose.

I have to hit the bank on Tuesday and want to stock up on twenty and fifty dollar bills to have on hand.  I have one case lot sale Rain checks I want to buy.($20.00 cost) With the Stock market going crazy and many people out of work/laid off I think we are heading into economic recession if not something worse for the next few weeks.  I want to have some cash in $10, $20 and $50 dollar bills on hand.  I’m leaving some money in the bank for buying stuff online like e-books or it there are items I want to order online.  I don’t think you should try and screw anyone but there will probably be businesses that will start having sales on goods/services that will need some “cash flow” to keep going during economic hard times.  This can be a WIN/WIN for you and the business.  You get stuff done and the business keeps enough cash flow to pay employees and themselves during this economic hiccup.

Idaho has two case of Wu-Flu and here comes the panic shopping

Mom had her little day surgery Friday and everything is going good on her recovery.  Mom and I did a little shopping at the local Family Dollar for a new summer weight bedspread for Mom and I wanted a paper towel holders for both of my bathrooms. Most of the 2 ply tissue and paper towel shelves empty.  Cleaning supply shelves, detergents of all types were in stock.  Hand sanitizer and those quick wipe cleaning clothes were mostly empty.  There was some whining about lack of toilet paper and the clerks were laughing about some of the crazy buying up of products, but as of Friday evening people were miffed but not in angry/panic mode.

Now that the Government at all levels are shutting down schools, sports events and other things like concerts.  It seems more people are taking this Wu-Flu a lot more seriously and they are angry that the items they want to stock up on, are not on the store shelves.  I feel bad for the people that missed out getting toilet paper and cleaning supplies, but there are still some alternatives you can buy.  Bar soap, sponges, buckets and bottles of detergent/cleaners still seem to be on the store shelves.  Baby bottoms used to be wiped with wash cloths, rinsed out and cloths washed bleach.  The same for cotton fabric diapers held in place by safety pins.  It is more work than having disposable wipes or diapers but using fabric cleaning cloths and diapers are an option if you can’t buy disposable baby wipes/diapers.

I signed for the local neighborhood online thing, and it mostly lost pets, asking people to slow down on this street and sharing who is a good plumber, barber or local handyman.  A few people were asking to buy toilet paper, baby wipes, diapers and that sort of thing.  While I’d love to help people out. I can’t think of a way to help someone in need and not get slammed by other people demanding I share everything I have with them simply because they want it.

I did check on couple across the street that are in their 70’s with a few health problems to see if they needed anything.  Nope, they were stocked up on the basics.  They are born and raised in Idaho so they already got what they needed from the stores.  What seemed to matter most is someone cared enough to knock on the door and see if they needed anything.  The couple said the both grew up having wood heat and they loved the smell of wood smoke coming from my wood stove, though they don’t have wood heat.  I was taken aback a bit as I never thought how that smell of wood fire could make someone feel better emotionally.  I know when I smell good BBQ or a good wood fire I like it.  It’s almost like aromatherapy but rather than trying to fix something, it is an aroma that reminds us of childhood, nostalgia or a simpler way of life.

If you can check on your neighbors that are older/handicapped who might need a few supplies you can give them or can go shopping for them so they are not exposed to the public. I think a Hard plastic bucket full of a few cleaning supplies a roll of paper towels, a couple of rolls of toilet paper and some baby wipes.  I’m making a small bucket of these items.  I’m not trying to save the world. I’m just trying to help out a neighbor.

Some people are just social magnets. They gather people around them like magnets gather iron shavings.  I am not that type of person.  I’m pretty good at getting people organized and jobs done, but I’ve always been a bit of a homebody/hermit by nature.  I have tried to build networks via the family (That blew up!) and neighborhoods working with other people that are good at that sort of thing. The people good at that stuff moved away and here I sit wanting to help and not being good at reaching out to others to build that sort of network.

It’s frustrating in the extreme to want to help people and have to hold back because many people don’t want help.  The ones that do want help are only “gimme dats”  that won’t help themselves, but want free ride because of “my oppression” that oppression happened to your grand parents or your great grand parents not to you.

It is up to you to help stop this virus!

Idaho still does not have a confirmed case of the Corona virus/WuFlu.  With Washington state’s confirmation of the virus in Spokane, the testing happening in the Lewiston (middle section) Idaho and students at BSU (Boise State University) and the Chinese Industrial Park that former Gov. Otter helped get started.  I suspect the WuFlu is already in Idaho.  I think it is best for everyone in the USA to assume that the WuFlu is in every state and be proactive in protecting yourself and your family because the local, State and federal government are in reactive mode trying to:

1. Save the Economy
2. Reduce panic
3. Maintain the Status Quo

The thing we all should be trying to do is STOP THE SPREAD OF THE VIRUS NOW!   We can worry about who to blame later, we need to start limiting social contact as much as possible. The governments won’t do it so it is up to the average people to do it themselves.  Don’t wait for the government to shut down the schools.  Take your kids out of school and get them enrolled in the Khan academy, on-line courses now.  Tell the school system to go to hell if they whine about you pulling your kid out of that germ incubation factory that is the modern education system.

Don’t buy tickets for cheap air plane fares/ vacation trips, cruises, concerts, got to bars, restaurant or sports arenas.  I feel for everyone that has a job at these places/industries, but the only way to stop the spread of this virus is to stop going to places that spread the virus.  Stay at home as much as possible to protect yourself and protect others!

I know many people have jobs that they can’t work from home.  I hope everyone that visits this site has some basic protective gear on hand to wear when they must go out in the public.  If your boss gets nasty about you wearing a mask and goggles ask yourself is this job/paycheck is worth exposing your family to this virus?  That is a choice only you can make, because not paying bills and becoming homeless is a terrible choice to be forced to make.  Sorry to say that many people have to choose having a job to pay the bills is worth the risk of getting the WuFlu.

What I’m continuing to do as a normal American consumer: Until I get the within 100 mile positive test alert:

1. I’m doing my normal shopping, buying up some extra items like wet cat food, kitty litter and a local store has a case lot sale so I’m adding a few cases of ramen noodles and some tomato sauce with Mexican spices.
2. I may have missed out on gasoline’s drop in price but I have a full tank of gas and a couple of 6 gallon gas cans full of real gas.  I think electricity will keep working but there might be a few outages due to lack of lineman to do repairs.
3. Getting the garden bed cleanup started and adding some colorful plants like Primrose or pansies.  Indoor seed starts will begin this weekend because starter plants might not be available to plant in May.

Go ahead, panic now and get over it, about missing the best time to get masks,wipes and other cleaning supplies.  There is a window of time of getting other items to get through this Wuflu.  Go shopping at a pawn shop, second hand stores.  Stores like Family Dollar. Tide detergent is exactly the same as it in the Big Box Store!  It might be a smaller package and not as good of price point as Costco or Wally-World but you can wash your clothes!

Shopping Observations for Wednesday March 11:

Most daytime Wed. shoppers are on SS/retired people and in my area most shopping ads run from WED-TUES of the next week.  I did see a few shopping carts with a couple of large (30 roll) of store brand Toilet paper that was on sale.  I don’t think that was an “hoarding ” purchase.  Probably Grandma/Grandpa grabbing a little extra TP for the kids.

Bottled water, coffee, tea, beer,wine and most shelves were fully stocked.  About the only shelves that were a bit empty were the Organic/ Homeopathic/vitamin shelves.  The colloidal silver, elderberry and some of the other items like essential oil were a bit empty or the price had increased about 10-20%.

No masks and social distance looked about average of around 2-3 feet/ under a meter for you non USA people.  Idaho does have a significant prepper/self reliant community.  So “panic” buying  or not being prepared has a little bit of shame or mockery to that non-prepared person.

I bet I could go into any Big box store in IDAHO, hang around the Aisle for masks or Tyvek suits  and say I got my stuff in 2014 for the Ebola scare and get told I was smart and not paranoid.