Corona Virus Now Spreading

[KittyFriday]

We’ve gone remote as well and aren’t approving new research for the time being. In an awesome effort, my university has said they will still pay student employees for their regular hours even though no one can come in. My professor also emailed me and told me that if I needed to step away from our online course to handle research stuff for my job I could, which is really nice of her.

I am a little frustrated with one of my friends though, her boyfriend is a dentist and their practice just sent all hygienists and office workers home with two weeks may; her boyfriend and other practice owners will take a small cut in pay to help finance this. She is pissed saying that it is incredibly unfair they have to take this hit. I mean, her boyfriend makes over 100k anyway and these poor other people are essentially out of a job because of this, but sure, poor people who make hundreds of thousands but still have jobs and high salaries.

Another friend works as a swim coach and coffee shop manager in Mitchell,SD. If they close she’s just out of a paycheck.

 

[susanm9006]

I just got back from a quick trip to the grocery store, and we wandered the aisles to see what odd (to us) products were gone from the shelves. Not a bag of flour to be seen anywhere. Flour? Really? Plenty of sugar, though. Most sliced sandwich bread was gone, but the “specialty” bread shelves near the bakery section were full. No TP but some paper towels and plenty of napkins. Odd holes among the soups. No smaller sizes of vegetable oil. There were more people than usual for a Monday afternoon, but it wasn’t crowded. But most people were leaving with full carts.

I think buying a bunch of flour is sort of dumb. I mean you could make cookies with it but otherwise making even a single loaf bread just takes a whole lot of flour and I just can’t see most people doing that.

 

[mrsgreenjeens]

I have not yet started asking low-risk people if they could pick her carrier, with her inside of it, up off of my front porch, santize to their own satisfaction, and return said carrier to my front porch, knock, and walk away. This is an embarassing thing to ask and most of you have already done so.

You should NOT feel embarrassed to ask for help this way. If could be a matter of life and death. Today I was sitting in a doctor's office waiting for my husband to finish up and someone came into the waiting room where I was. I had purposely taken a seat the furthest away in a corner and they come towards me to sit down. I asked them to sit in the furthest seat away from me because I am high risk. They did it and kind of groaned about it, but I didn't care. Then we struck up a conversation (across the room) and she did say she totally understood. So please do ask for help in this matter. Ask another cat lover and I'm sure they will help out.

 

[lavishsqualor]

I can’t believe how many people actually opted to pay dozens for packs of TP rather than simply purchasing a single electric bidet for $25-30 instead. Again, it’s not a hurricane, a bidet is a pretty apt solution here and you don’t have to use it forever if you don’t want to. But having one would certainly assuage concerns over TP shortage.

This is probably W A A A A Y Y Y too much information but the best decision I ever made was to put a bidet in when we remodeled our bathrooms. Seriously, the Europeans have got this aspect of hygiene down.

I'm tellin' you, once you go bidet you'll never go back.

 

[Willow's Mom]

I think buying a bunch of flour is sort of dumb. I mean you could make cookies with it but otherwise making even a single loaf bread just takes a whole lot of flour and I just can’t see most people doing that.

Thank you so much for pointing that out, Susan. It takes over six cups of flour to bake two loaves of bread. I live alone and I still always bake two at a time and put one in the freezer. I thought about getting some flour on Friday when I was at the Winco's picking up oranges and cat food, but I decided not to because I had half of a five lb sack left, most people like white flour so I didn't think the only kind of flour I can use to make the only kind of bread I can eat (because white flour has no nutritional value, tastes yucky, and makes my poo poos hurt; yea, I know I'm going to be every bit as glad to find some stale white flour left over from some now-thirtysomething's kindergarten art project next crisis as I was to find my hidden wealth of Toilet Paper) was anything anyone else would want to stock up on, so please don't hoard flour.

Also, you can't make bread if you don't have yeast, sugar, and some sort of leavening (butter, oil, bacon grease, etc.), a fair amount of time, and a good sense of humour because it isn't going to come out perfectly the first couple-dozen odd times you make it. Cookies, pancakes, and muffins are seriously a better idea if you don't have any bread and you've never baked your own before.

Susan, we had talked about this briefly on another thread, but I thought it might be appropriate to mention here that I duck duck went "FSF Windows7" and you can too. The signatures have already been delivered, but Mr. Gates might feel differently today about letting us have the code for the software than he did during the actual campaign, especially if some of his loyal customers told him a few of their favourite features of Windows 7.

The last thing in the world I want to do here is tech shame anyone. The supply chain is broken and we all have to live with choices that we already made.

If Mr. Gates feels the same way I do, he might also consider hiring his own developers to continue writing software patches for you if he knows how strongly you feel about his product. I don't believe he is actively developing Windows 10 at the present time, however, so you would have to contact him and Melinda through the charitable organization they are focusing on now. It was all over the news a crisis or two ago.

If anybody wants *nix advice or is afraid their smartphone is broken and doesn't have any other devices that can run anything faster than Windows XP, feel free to shoot me a PM.

And if anybody else can write me a new kernel and teach me how to not have to use GUI any more, I wish I could give you a double roll of Angel Soft too, just for being awesome.

 

[terestrife]

I think buying a bunch of flour is sort of dumb. I mean you could make cookies with it but otherwise making even a single loaf bread just takes a whole lot of flour and I just can’t see most people doing that.

You can make pancakes with a few ingredients including flour and survive off pancakes. Lolol

Personally I didn't buy any. But I tried to think about what I would do with flour.

 

[susanm9006]

W Willow's Mom and @terestrife,I have Bisquick which doesn’t require much for biscuits or pancakes and a five pack of Rhodes frozen bread dough. I am not a huge bread eater but both seemed good to have on hand.

 

[Jcatbird]

Everyone should have stocked up by now but today I was reminded that there are still very remote places in our world. An elderly friend came by. He does not have TV, internet or even radio. He just found out about the virus because someone traveled to the area to spread the news. He was distraught. He is trying to help others in that area to get ready. Most are elderly and live below the poverty level. My heart went out to them all. I will be contributing supplies to the cause, including pet food. I hope no one hesitates to ask for help. This is a time for us all to support each other as best we can. We are entering kitten season too. I was struck by concern for shelters. I’m going to try and find some extra supplies for the nearest shelter if possible.
I’m glad that I was informed of those who need help. It’s a time for giving wherever possible. Sending out our best vibes to all here.

 

[Willow's Mom]

lavishsqualor Family cloth and/or a simple cup of warm water for us po' fo'kes are the same way.



You should write the next PSA because my communication skills suck, just not as bad as the entire concept of (product I can no longer even type, much less name, without bursting into uncontrollable giggles).

mrsgreenjeens You're right. Does anyone here who is low-risk live or work in the Humboldt Nation?

Jcatbird Mercy Maud, I didn't realize that it was kitten season already. I deliberately got Willow at the very tail end of it or she would have wound up in the shredder instead of on TCS. My boyfie is 73 and lives in his van, so "distraught" works even though it actually feels more surreal than anything.

I've been beating myself up for donating the kibble I was hoarding for PG&E PSPSes to the Spay and Neuter Clinic and the No Kill Shelter literally less than a week before 3/13 but you just made me feel like Mother Theresa under the new circumstances.

I'd email you the last roll of the first half of my stash of Angel Soft Double Rolls just for being so awesome if I could.

 

[denice]

Now I am seeing ads on TV for the Hasbro board games as well as Jinga and Twister. I guess they think people will get a serious case of cabin fever staying at home so there will be a resurgence of board games.

 

[catapault]

There are about 19 cups of flour in a 5 pound bag of bread flour. I make one loaf of bread with 3 cups of bread flour (higher in gluten than all purpose flour) 1 5/8 cup water, 1 teaspoon salt, and 1/4 teaspoon instant yeast. Let me know if you want the details. Or look on-line for no knead bread. Be warned - what's wrong with it is you will eat too much.

Or you can bake quick breads that are leavened with something other than yeast - Irish soda bread, for example.

Other options to make with flour - the aforementioned pancakes, muffins, dumplings or spatzle, drop biscuits to go in a stew or on top of a pot pie, pizza. Noodles - yes a pasta machine is a big help but if you have a rolling pin, you ae good to go.

 

[Willow's Mom]

Now I am seeing ads on TV for the Hasbro board games as well as Jinga and Twister. I guess they think people will get a serious case of cabin fever staying at home so there will be a resurgence of board games.

Wouldn't that be fantastic if they were right? I bet there is a 13 year old boy somewhere on this planet who wishes he hadn't rolled his eyes, said what he did to his gramma, and tossed his Twister in the trash last Christmas.

The bigger kids can play Twister with their iPads over Skype and FaceTime. I'd buy stock in Hasbro if I had six shares of stock in the company that makes my TP instead of six rolls of it. /dork

 

[maggiedemi]

I have a bidet so don't really need TP, but I never have gotten into using a rag to dry instead.

Is there one that would dry my butt off for me, with hot air like a blow dryer?

 

[Jcatbird]

lavishsqualor Family cloth and/or a simple cup of warm water for us po' fo'kes are the same way.



You should write the next PSA because my communication skills suck, just not as bad as the entire concept of (product I can no longer even type, much less name, without bursting into uncontrollable giggles).

mrsgreenjeens You're right. Does anyone here who is low-risk live or work in the Humboldt Nation?

Jcatbird Mercy Maud, I didn't realize that it was kitten season already. I deliberately got Willow at the very tail end of it or she would have wound up in the shredder instead of on TCS. My boyfie is 73 and lives in his van, so "distraught" works even though it actually feels more surreal than anything.

I've been beating myself up for donating the kibble I was hoarding for PG&E PSPSes to the Spay and Neuter Clinic and the No Kill Shelter literally less than a week before 3/13 but you just made me feel like Mother Theresa under the new circumstances.

I'd email you the last roll of the first half of my stash of Angel Soft Double Rolls just for being so awesome if I could.

I know those at the places you donated to see you as a “Mother Theresa”! I donate to the local shelter anonymously but somehow they got tipped off. There was a note on their website saying,” We got a donation without any identifying note attached. So ... Jcatbird ( they used my real name!) if it was you, thank you! Next time I have to be a little sneakier. I never did admit it. It’s nice to know it helped though. They had a litter that needed soft food and by coincidence I had found a good sale on a decent food. Kind of neat how things work out sometimes. Your donation went in at a crucial time. Thank you for donating to them! I have TP right now but a handkerchief for happy tears?

 

[Willow's Mom]

Is there one that would dry my butt off for me, with hot air like a blow dryer?

I don't know, but what is wrong with drying your butt with a blow dryer? Serious question, not a joke at your expoense.

I wish I'd thought to pick up a blow dryer for after Willow's baths, because she doesn't shake herself like dogs do and there might be a blow dryer shortage next November when it starts getting cold again.

 

[doomsdave]

My cat loving roommate and I went on a post apocalypse shopping spree at some Chinese and Indian groceries and they had plenty of food that had been bought out at home. Garlic onion potatoes!

No toilet paper!

Our local markets looked like a consortium of buzzards and locusts had picked them clean.

 

[susanm9006]

Is there one that would dry my butt off for me, with hot air like a blow dryer?

Actually some of the Smart toilet seats do both wash you off and blow air to dry you. Plus have a heated seat.

 

[Willowy]

Oh she beat me to it. Yep, the newer models do have air! But the one I have doesn't have a strong enough air flow so it takes forever. I'm sure they'll improve on that in the future.

Homestly, I've realized most older board games are terrible. I'm not sure modern kids would put up with such nonsense even if they were dying of boredom. Jenga and Twister have the benefit of being physical so they might do better.

Ticket to Ride is very fun, though, if you want a newer board game.

 

[Willow's Mom]

tp is something I and many heavy internet users or world travellers would think of as being more American than Apple Pie, but don't you let anybody make you feel bad about that!

Of course you might have to and find out that you prefer to "just do what everybody else does", but Toilet Paper, as in what went viral that wasn't a literal novel coronavirus, suprisingly originated in Australia. A lot of memes mislabel photographs of Australian big box stores as having been taken at US big box stores during a completely different epoch of the post-3/13 era.

doomsdave , there isn't a Chinatown in my neck of the redwood forest, but that was a brilliant idea on your part and well worth sharing. A lot of the Chinese-American people who live in these areas have Mom & Pop stores, just like we do here, but they already took a hit from the racism that preceeded 3/13. They must really appreciate your business right now, but no, they would not be hoarding hidden secret stashes of tp because most people just aren't that into such a rather uniquely local product.

Most United States citizens cannot imagine life without it. That doesn't automatically mean that they are stupid or unimaginative. I can't imagine life without Cytopoint or life without Laurel either,and furthermore, I don't want to.

 

[DreamerRose]

Homestly, I've realized most older board games are terrible. I'm not sure modern kids would put up with such nonsense even if they were dying of boredom. Jenga and Twister have the benefit of being physical so they might do better.

Ticket to Ride is very fun, though, if you want a newer board game.

I'll tell you one that fun for the kids and the grownups - it's the Harry Potter version of Clue. I gave one to my grandson, and I played with him and his parents last time I was there, and it was a lot of fun. It's been changed enough that it's not the same ol' tired and true Clue, and it's got some new twists and turns. Any kid who's a Potter fan will love it.