Lucky Robin's Personal Finance Blog

I guess that is a good thing, though, because it means the soil is healthy and alive and full of red wigglers. But I could do without the image on my eyelids. That always happens when I see a lot of something for a long period of time. I worked in the garden today for 5 hours, 4 with DS and 2 with DH.

We got the bean "field" and the corn "field" weeded today. There is still a bit on the edges that needs to be dug out tomorrow, but that will be probably another 30 minutes of work. We lost the sunlight, though, so couldn't finish tonight. We also got the bean supports taken down. We should be able to Rototill tomorrow, weather permitting.

I'd like to do the potato "field" tomorrow. None of them are really fields, more like patches, I just refer to them that way. We only live on just under 1/2 an acre, so they couldn't really be fields. I'd also like to transplant some raspberries from a place where they are taking over to a place I'd rather they be at. They are thornless raspberries and they are not a deep rooted plant, so it should be relatively easy to move them.

We saw a lot of squirrels and rabbits, today. The mama squirrel kept trying to get our attention by waving her tail at us and taking off, trying to get us to follow her. She doesn't like us so near the place she has her nest. Well, I don't like where she has her nest, so we are even. Squirrels are why we cover our raised beds, and rabbits are one of the reason why we have tall raised beds, although it is mostly for my knees.

The rabbit didn't really care. It got as close as 4 feet at one point and we were talking to it. There is a family of cottontails that lives under our rabbit shed. Every year they have a couple of litters. Most don't make it due to cats and hawks and owls, but there is always a pair there the next year. Don't know if it is the same pair or their offspring.

I am very worn out, but I really want to get this done so everything can be planted and mulched and we can get on with the business of growing. I am going to purchase some silage tarping in the fall to cover the bare ground so we don't have to deal with weeds like this again in the spring. It is pretty heavy duty and can be used for several years.

I am thinking of growing my potatoes in straw this year. It would make harvest a lot easier. We'll see.

$7806.29 Balance Forward
+___1.88 Interest Added
--------------
$7808.17 New Balance

The tabs money was money saved from a previous paycheck, not really out of this paycheck, but I will track it with it, since it was paid today. Otherwise paycheck spending was $3,144.64.

Nothing to the EF this payday, but next I should be able to throw $1000 into it. May is a 3 paycheck month. I have to decide if any extra money will go to the EF or to the loan. So far DH's job is secure and looks secure for the foreseeable future, but with the world the way it is is anything really secure? I want that loan paid off so bad, we are so close, but at the same time I know we should still be careful.

The urge to not have to hear snide comments from my mother about how we owe her money (even though we pay consistently, and extra when we can) is very strong. Even though we've paid $108,000 off, that last $2000 still gives her leverage to be a donkey hat. I don't know why my mother has to have turned so mean in her old age. She hasn't always had a spiteful streak. I hate the start of dementia for what it has done to her. If I could go back in time I would have stayed on the hospital payment plan despite the interest rate instead of letting her help us, just so she couldn't use it as something to hold over us.

$318.47 Tithe
_500.00 Utilities
_400.00 Grocery Envelope
__75.00 Household Envelope
_115.17 Internet
__36.00 Garbage
_100.00 Car Insurance Fund
_100.00 Gas Money Envelope
_100.00 Adults Spending Money
_120.00 Kids Allowances
1000.00 Monster Mom Loan Payment
__85.55 License Tab Renewal Truck
-----------
3230.21 Total Money Out

$3000.00 Balance Forward
-1000.00 Payment Made
----------
$2000.00 New Balance

Today I worked on turning the compost. I got the second bin turned into the third bin all the way down to the level that all that was left was composted soil. It is rich, black, and full of worms. Such beautiful homemade dirt. Yes, things like this make me so happy. I am a garden geek, what can I say?

Tomorrow I will work on filling our large containers with some compost at the twelve inch from the top mark and then putting more compost about 4 inches from the top. That gives seeds and starts a good starting place, but also gives them a boost when the roots get a foot down.

After all that soil gets moved out then I will turn bin one over into bin two, then we will replace the outer wall of bin one with a bigger pallet. The one we have on it is too small for the amount of animal bedding that goes into it. When that is replaced then bin three will be turned back over into bin one. Lots of work ahead of us, but I only do that when it is raining, because it is under the shelter of trees, so I can still work outside without getting wet.

I might also weed tomorrow as it is supposed to rain until 1:30, but then be clear and nice. The soil will be lose from the rain and more likely to give up the weeds. Then Friday is supposed to be clear all day. We need to get as much weeding done as possible before the weekend as it is supposed to rain Saturday through Monday. I don't mind working in a light rain, but the guys are whiners. I guess it is from growing up working in the berry fields in the summers, rain or shine. As long as I have a rain coat and a hat to protect my glasses from rain drops, and it isn't cold, I am fine working in the rain.

My kids are driving me crazy today. I've avoided my mother for my own mental health. I hate caffeine withdrawal. And I might be rapid cycling. I hope not. That usually happens before mania. I have been level for such a long time, 3 years I think, but I feel like I am on the doorstep of mania. I guess I'll get a lot done if I go over the edge. And I might even finish my book. But I won't sleep and that is always the hardest part of a manic episode for me.

One thing I am really lamenting is that I didn't go to the library on the last day before it was closed. I have run out of library books to read and you can't read Kindle in the bathtub. Well, you can, but I'd rather not risk it. Chris pulled out the few books he has in the house and one of them both interested me and had large enough print for me to read. I think a trip to storage is in order for the weekend. There are plenty of books there that I would be happy to reread and some I have never read. I'm sure some of it even has a large enough font for my poor eyes.

Yesterday I got the weed pile and the rose trimmings moved into the bed of the pickup truck. It's a full sized bed and the amount of weeds I put in it are slightly rounded above the top of the bed, except for the garbage can full of rose trimmings and the giant kale plant that was pulled out. Those are slightly higher. We will cover with a tarp and tie it down before taking it to the green part of the dump. It is their composting portion of the dump for all yard waste. It costs $6 a load to dump, which is a lot cheaper than the cheapest dump load which is a base $12 plus weight.

It was a lot of work and what I did was load the wheelbarrow, empty it, then sit down for five minutes. This is what I do to get over my stamina issues since the illness in February. It takes longer, but I got it done in two hours. I've got two mini brush piles I need to move this afternoon and then the load is ready to go for tomorrow.

The plan for today is to figure out where I am going to put the containers for the tomatoes and zucchini and then fill them up and hopefully to get the parsnips planted. I also want to transplant some of my big herbs into large containers and then find some small ones for the smaller herbs. We've got totes and garbage cans and buckets, so everything will have a home, I just have to get it all gathered up and figure it out. I think the giant rosemary plant will have to go up in the front yard. It is about two and a half feet tall and I am not sure it's roots will fit in a container other than a garbage can and those are reserved for the tomato plants.

I can't believe it is almost May. There is still so much to do and I am pretty much the only one working on the garden right now. Mom is driving me crazy right now. She seems like she is doing everything she can to slow down getting the attic finished for my nephews arrival. Last night, for instance, around 7 p.m. the guys were ready to vacuum the floor. But she didn't want them to vacuum the floor. She wanted to do it herself and refused to let them. But she didn't want to do it then, she wanted to do it in the morning.

If she had done it last night, they could have been mostly finished. It wasn't because it was late and she was tired. She stays up to 11 p.m. most nights, and she spent the entire day watching TV and not doing any work, same as the day before. We're not the one letting my nephew move in after all, yet they are the ones doing all the work to get the room cleaned out and ready and she keeps doing things like this to throw spanners into the works.

Meanwhile, I don't get the help I need in the garden because she insists on them working on the attic and complains if they go out to help me that they aren't working on the attic. This is just one example of the petty, stupid stuff she pulls. I will be so glad when we can afford to move out of here.

Another thing she did is back in February she insisted that the dishes need to be done on the longest cycle, which takes about 3 hours and uses 4 times as much water, because we were sick. But the quick wash gets everything clean and only takes an hour and uses far less water. She thinks the three hours sanitizes everything better. I think that's BS, especially coming from someone who does not wash her hands with soap after touching raw meat, just water. DS follows behind her cleans every surface she touches in the kitchen.

Now she's complaining that the water bill was $40 higher this month, but insists that the rise is do to my son taking long showers (he isn't and they aren't any longer than they've been) and not the fact that the dishwasher is using more water. That is the only thing that changed. Also, we pay all the utilities, so I don't know why she is whining about the water bill anyway.

I put a stop to this dishwasher thing, since my son or husband are usually the ones starting the dishwasher and told them to just do it on the short wash and ignore her. I am also keeping an eye on my son's shower times and making him get out after twenty minutes, at the latest 30 minutes if he's been working hard and using the shower to soak his sore muscles. The rest of us keep our showers pretty short, like 10 minutes or 15 if I am doing a double wash and condition of my long hair, and if my muscles hurt I will just take a bath. It really is just the dishwasher.

And she is just one of those people who isn't happy unless she is complaining about something. It gets worse than older she gets. I try to have compassion, but some days it is really hard. I stay nice and I stay polite and she apologizes often for being so bad, but I'd rather she just stop doing these thing than keep apologizing for it. It would be easier on all of us.

And then as we start watering the garden it will see a rise there, so hopefully I can keep it down with the dishwasher enough that it will still make a difference. We are still getting quite a bit of heavy rain so we may not have to water too much. I'd like to hook up rain barrels to the drainpipes again and use that water in the garden, but I'm not sure if I can find used ones and new ones are expensive.

Oh, I sold a rabbit buck on the weekend. Zane has gone to a new home to be a stud for some folks getting back into meat rabbits. Cyrus went a couple weeks ago. That leaves me with four rabbits, one breeding pair that are both broken blacks, a retired red doe who is more of a pet now, and another buck that is a broken red.

I may sell the breeding pair, and may just keep the broken red as a companion for the retired doe. Vincent is my favorite buck, he is super friendly, and while he and Ruby can't be in the same cage because she still might get pregnant even though she is old, they can be right next to each other. Well, with two inches between cages to prevent any accidents.

I don't know, though. It might be worthwhile to hang on to the breeding pair in case we can't get meat. I don't really want to do that again, but there may not be a choice. We have enough cages left to have three grow out cages, so it is doable. But I think I'd rather get meat chicks if we are going to go the route of raising meat animals again.

It is always easier to get chicken feed than rabbit feed as the stores keep it in stock consistently. And Cornish cross only take 8 weeks to grow out whereas kits take 12 to 14 to get them to a large enough dress out size that 1 animal feeds us 1 meal. And on the practical side is much harder to kill a cute rabbit than an oblivious chicken, even if it is easier to dress out a rabbit.

Mom has been making noises about having laying hens again, too, but she can't take care of them so it would fall on us. I don't want to get up that early in the morning or always have to be around at sundown to put them in, so I don't think that will happen. I can handle it for 8 weeks for meat birds, but not full time and not in the cold season. And hens are noisy. They cackle when they lay eggs and sometimes when they don't. You can hear them from a couple houses away. I don't want people knowing we have them if things get rough out there.

Chicks aren't too loud once they are old enough to go outside and these would all be boys who don't start to crow until they are much older than they'd be butchered at. I just don't know if I want that responsibility, though. The garden can be done at any time of day, weather permitting. Chickens have a time table. Rabbits always have food and water before them so don't require a specific time to check their feeders and waters only need to be filled once during a 24 hour time period. And they are quiet.

We'll see. I am hoping it doesn't get as bad as all that but with another meat plant closing, it could get bad fast. I think this is the eighth one.

I have done so much work in the garden the past three days I am practically falling down exhausted at bed time. But I've got my peas, carrots, and radishes planted, a lot of weeding done, and tackled the overgrown climbing rose bushes today. That was a major chore and I got my fair share of thorns poked into me, but it looks so much better and the blooms this year should be outstanding. That took me three hours to do.

Tomorrow I want to work on the potato planting area and get the big weeds out. The soil is pretty loose there, but there are some things that will require digging out with a shovel, like Russian thistles and pernicious creeping buttercup. But then I can easily shake all the soil back out so we can keep that. I think I can get that done in an hour or two, even though it is a big area. It's just not horrifically overgrown like some areas.

The pesky squirrel and her babies are still under the turkey coop roof so that is still on hold to be torn down. I just want them to move out already. That coop in on prime ground.

After the potato area is done I want to start loading the truck with the weeds and branches and rose clippings so they are out of the way and off the ground where I need to pull yet more weeds. I'll probably be wiped out by then but if I can I'd like to start work on the corn and beans area. We are reversing them this year from last year so we aren't planting them in the same place. Then next year we can rotate them with the new potato bed, too. I will be glad when the guys are done with the attic so I can get help in the garden again. Nephew moves in on the first.

Of course all that is contingent on it not raining. If it is raining I will be canning beef chuck roast instead from the $3.49/lb sale.

Also mid-day tomorrow I have to take DD to the rheumatologist. I am really wishing DD had gone with a telemedicine appointment, but she had the option of going in. I don't know if they will let me go in with her, but the rate at which she's been having panic attacks means it would be a bad idea for her to go alone.

I am going to try to kick my real sugar Pepsi habit again. In February I started drinking it after a couple years of not and it is making me feel cruddy, after the initial lift from the sugar and caffeine. But I got addicted, so it is pretty hard to quit. I know I will feel a lot better if I do, though.

Okay, off to bed with me now.

My Google/AdSense payment was deposited into my account yesterday. I wasn't actually expecting one until next month, but I must have done better on YouTube during March than I thought I had. I know my two virals were getting hit a lot because there were tons of new comments. Wasn't expecting such old videos to get so much interest. They are the ones on making homemade sausage seasoning and making and canning homemade mustard. I have a very small channel, but I still manage to make about $500 a year with it and that's with putting very little effort into it.

$7806.29 Balance Forward
+_123.92 Deposit Added
------------
$7930.21 New Balance

$2069.79 to go to hit my next mini-goal.

I'm pretty wiped out today from working in the garden yesterday, but I am still hoping to get at least an hour in later today when the sun moves behind a tree. Yesterday I got the rest of the dirt out of the one long raised bed and then got the rotten wood all torn down. Then I started working on weeding the next bed. I got one 8 foot by 3 foot section finished and then about 2 more feet by 2 feet additional done.

I moved 2 wheelbarrow loads of soil as well. Today DS will help with moving soil while I continue to weed. He puts the dirt into the wheelbarrow and then I help him unload it. That is easier for me to do since the wheelbarrow is at a good height for me and the soil is all loose at that point. At least we will do that if I can get my body moving. Some days are much harder than others. It might not get done until tomorrow. I have to pace myself within my body's limitations.

If I don't do it today, I am going to sit down and make myself do a one hour writing sprint. I just need to get over the hump on something and then I can move along on the book again. I tell myself I have to be a productive human being for at least one hour a day, so I don't fall into a slump of just watching YouTube or Netflix all day, every day. That is not good for the mental health.

I sat down and have made up two budgets. One I am calling an emergency budget and one I am calling an extreme no income budget. The emergency budget is for if DH has to go down to 32 hours a week again. The extreme budget is for if he gets laid off. It was looking like we were going to weather this okay, but what with the oil companies getting slammed this week, I don't know. He works as a lead engineer for a construction company that does work for refineries. So this could trickle down to hurt his company.

Anyway, I figured out that with an extreme budget we can get by on $1683.18 a month excluding medical. That's cutting out everything that isn't a bill and cutting the grocery budget in half. Without an income there is no tithe, either, which also cuts things down a fair amount. If DH gets laid off they will continue to pay their portion of medical for two months. I am not sure how much our portion is, but I think it is around $450 a month, so I would have to add that in. After that it would be the full amount for the COBRA. DH would qualify for unemployment so that would basically go to pay medical and if anything was left, to the Emergency Fund, for future months.

With what is in the EF now, that will last four and a half months. We will be harvesting from the garden by then, too. Of course we are going to continue to add as much to the EF as we can between now and any possible future layoff. I feel better having some kind of a plan in place. It is scary to think about, but it is scarier not to think about it at this point. Better to know what we might be getting into.

I hate living with uncertainty. I always have. I just pray his job continues, even if it is at reduced hours. The medical insurance is the big thing. It is what absolutely leveled us last time. When you have people on life-saving drugs, it is sometimes the only thing.

The garden is starting to really come along with the clean up and getting dirt moved. I am ready to plant one bed now and have transplanted the strawberries. There is a lot of work ahead, but I am determined to have a big garden this year. With the food supply chain being disrupted, I want to have as stable a source of fresh vegetables and fruits as possible.

I have my first garden video up of for this season if anyone wants to see it. It's only six or seven minutes long. It has a new intro, new music, and a new outro. I'd be curious what you think of those things in particular. I always go with a country theme for my garden videos.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XN7WPp7-iyw

I will be planting snow peas this afternoon and possibly carrots, radishes, and parsnips, too. Carrots and parsnips are something that can be canned, so I'd like to do at least 2 plantings of those, one after the other. They are 60 day crops and do well in both cool and warm weather so I should be able to take a crop into the fall/winter season, since you can overwinter both in the ground, too and go out and pull as you need them.

I planted my Aerogarden 2 weeks ago with lettuce and it is doing amazing. It grew much faster than ever before. I guess it knows we need it to. Or maybe it just likes the environment of the closet where the temperature is always stable.

So anyway, we should have edible lettuce in four weeks and if I plant the radishes today, about the same on that. Can't wait to start eating homegrown salads again.

$285.22 Tithe
_400.00 Grocery Envelope
__75.00 Household Envelope
_600.00 Autopays
__66.55 DH Life Insurance
__60.46 Me Life Insurance
1000.00 Emergency Fund
__50.00 Car Maintenance Fund
_100.00 Computer Fund
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2637.23 Total Money Out

While I am still putting money into the Car Maintenance Fund and the Computer Fund those will be available to be raided for additional Emergency Fund dollars if it comes down to that. I have no intention of buying a new laptop unless this thing gives up the ghost, but I would like to continue saving with it in mind and of course all bets are off if this lock down gets worse and it affects DH's job more than the cut hours. Looks like that was only for one week at this point and that was on today's paycheck. But it is possible that could happen again down the road.

$6806.29 Balance Forward
+1000.00 Emergency Fund
-----------
$7806.29 New Balance

This is the money that would have gone to an extra loan payment on the Monster Mom Loan (the loan is a monster, not my mother!). So that gets it to the $7500 mini-goal. Next mini-goal is $10K. I have $2193.71 left to go to hit that goal.

I moved our stimulus payment to the Emergency Fund and also one of the accounts finally posted interest so I am adding that as well.

$4405.64 Balance Forward
+2400.65 Amount Added
---------------
$6806.29 New Balance

I am now over the one month of income mark in the EF by $257.05. To reach my mid-term goal of two month's income, I need to save an additional $6292.19. My short term goal is $7500 and I have to save $693.71 to reach that. The next short term goal will be $10K.

Of course, those are all goals, which we can only maintain if DH continues to work. So far he seems pretty safe, but that doesn't mean it will remain so. We are saving as much as we can starting with Friday's paycheck. If DH ends up getting furloughed at some point his employer will continue to pay their portion of medical for two months. But he is pretty vital to keep the company going, so as long as the company doesn't fail I think we will be okay. It really depends on how long this quarantine business lasts.

DH only had to work one week at 32 hours. They are allowing 40 hours this week. So this paycheck will have the hit on it, but that is okay. I've planned for that loss of income.

Today was the first day I've been outside since April 3rd. I didn't even realize it has been that long since I only sat down to figure it out. It was too cold to work on the garden this week and I am still weak, even this many weeks after "recovering" from the flu or Covid or whatever it was I had back in early February. The more I read, the more I honestly think it was Covid.

Anyway, DH and I went to the grocery store. It was nice to get out and do a little walking around. We wore masks and gloves. There are a lot more people wearing gloves now and way more people wearing masks. There were people without masks, but now they look like the weirdos, not us. While everyone was keeping their distance, I noticed how much bigger a distance it was from the unmasked. It was nice to have a conversation with someone not in my family even if it was minimal with the checker.

They had toilet paper and bleach (the real kind, not the splashless), so I bought one 9 pack of Angel Soft, 1 of those little square boxes of Puffs tissue, and 2 bottles of bleach. Now I can get some serious cleaning done. It's been weeks since I was able to find real bleach and while vinegar does a decent job, I feel better using bleach.

We stocked up on fresh produce, a big ham that we will cut into thirds (two for the freezer) and then slice up for sandwiches, and bread products. I also got a couple fill in ingredients for some recipes that will help with using up some things in the fridge.

I think we should be able to stay away from the store for another 2 weeks now.

I know I already posted today, but I am having thoughts. They keep making a big deal about people not being able to make rent next month. And what I am wondering is if there is going to be any kind of financial changes in people's lives on the other side of this. There are so many people who have been irresponsible with money for their entire lives. They have lived with debt because there was always money coming in to pay it and now they are experiencing what life is like without that.

Do you think this will change spending habits when jobs and incomes come back? Do you think people will fight to get out of debt and save up enough money in an emergency fund to get through a couple months if something like this happens again? Or do you think they will put their heads back in the sand and go back to how life was before. How many people will learn from this and will it alter the financial rules of society away from being credit based?

I read an article today or yesterday about some small grocers and restaurants that are still open for take out going cash only because their margins are so thin now they can't afford to pay the credit card fees. I wonder if that will ripple out to larger stores and restaurants or if they will continue to be able to handle it. Or if they will pass it on to the consumer?

I don't know, money is so dirty and changes so many hands, and may or may not carry the virus, so maybe we'll see an end to cash and only have debit and credit cards in the future. I guess it could go either way. But if they do eliminate money they should eliminate all debit card fees. Not that society ever does what it should do.

I keep reading about people going out and partying or insisting they are going to hold Easter services and people letting their kids run all over their neighborhoods with all the other kids and I wonder, in my more cynical of moments, if we will have enough people left to run the world after all the dumb ones die off.

I wonder if the big cities will see a mass exodus as people continue to work from home? They have been the most dangerous place to be during this outbreak. I wonder how many people will plow up their lawns and plant a garden for the first time this year? I wonder how many will stick to it if things appear to be getting better?

It's strange to not be having cars going by on our street all the time. It is a secondary route to the hospital and also is the only outlet street for the elementary school so it could be pretty busy at certain hours and now it is just dead all the time. It's been nice, since a lot of those drivers would blare their music. I can't remember that last time I've heard the bass so pumped up it was loud enough to hear in the house. That part has been a happy change.

The other thing is the medivac helicopter has not been buzzing the house lately. I guess there are far less traumas because people aren't driving and getting into accidents. Or the hospital is too full. We have 222 cases in my county and have had 12 deaths.

They were going up the street yesterday and today replacing gas lines because there were several leaks. They had to take out the long flowerbed that runs along the driveway because the line is under it. We've been wanting to take that out for a while and now we don't have to. We are going to plant it in grass. We can't plant a crop there in case they have to dig it up again.

Okay, guess my second brain dump of the day is over.

DH was just told that they will only be working 32 hours a week for the next two weeks. Its because they are waiting on another section of the project to be finished before they can proceed forward with theirs. They also have decided to stop matching in the 401K, but hope to be able to catch that up at the end of the year if things are better. The 32 hours will not affect qualifications for medical benefits.

I did an emergency budget template up, but don't have the exact numbers. DH will run them for me tonight after he is done with work and I can tweak it, but I think we can manage it. I will stop contributions to the Clothing Fund, the Christmas/Gift Fund, the Laptop Fund, and the Car Maintenance Fund. We will cut out the allowances for the kids and the spending money for us. I think that will do it, but if necessary we can cut out the grocery budget for that two week period entirely. We have enough food although we'll be relying strictly on canned fruit and frozen or canned veggies during that time period.

It will break down at least to having a paycheck with 40 hours for the first week and 32 hours for the second and then for the second paycheck 32 hours for the first week and 40 hours for the second. Which is better than two weeks at 32 on a paycheck.

That is assuming things go back up again like they say they will, but I am prepared to stay at 32 and will keep that belt tight.

School has been closed until September. They are graduating the seniors who were doing well enough to pass when the schools closed down and those that weren't will have to repeat. They are housing the homeless people in the high school right now. Apparently they are not behaving well. They are smoking in the gym and have smuggled in drugs and alcohol. I have a feeling the school may be destroyed due to this.

They say it is because they can't have homeless people on the streets right now. I think their hearts are in the right place, but their heads are up their butts. Because when they are outside they are automatically social distancing, but when they are all housed together in one big area they no longer are and they have already been caught sharing needles. I think we will see an outbreak from gathering them up like this.

I am all for helping the homeless. We donate our tithe money (10% of our income) to the Mission, which is a Christian homeless shelter since we don't go to a physical church. But I question whether or not this is going to actually to help them at all. Housing them in a hotel where the had individual rooms would have been far better. The hotels are empty. But the city didn't want to have to pay for that. I have a feeling they will be paying in other ways for a long time to come.

I was thinking about making a $100 donation to the food bank until I heard about DH's hours being cut. Maybe after things go back to 40 hours a week.

I've been getting so bored with my food. It's mostly because I don't feel like putting the effort in. We've been eating a rotation of about 4 different meals and I really need to snap out of this and get some variety back into our diets. I have the food, just not the usual inventiveness or energy to look through all my recipes. I'm wondering if this is just a sort of quarantine depression? I mean it's not full blown, but it is slightly worse than seasonal. I usually delight in cooking.

But maybe it is also that I am so tired of the limitations on my daughter's food. I don't want to be making two different meals so I've kind of been avoiding that type of food that she can't or won't eat. Tonight for dinner we had pancakes and ham, but her pancakes had to be gluten free, so while it wasn't making two different meals, we did have to make the gluten free ones first so we could use the griddle without a wash in between.

I think I will just have to buck up and do it or make her a bunch of freezer meals and us some of the foods she can't eat, like fajitas and tacos and jerk chicken.

I really shouldn't be complaining right now because we have food and we have an income and it's not like in the old days when women had to cook 3 meals a day. I do have some help from my son and sometimes my husband and I only need to make dinner, not lunches or breakfasts. I miss takeout and I miss the store's deli department more than I should. We are all losing weight though without those things.

DS had a telemedicine appointment today about a new medication. I sat in on it with him at his request. It was so nice to see a new face! He is the doctor for the whole family and he asked after all of our health at the end of the appointment and whether we were taking our vitamins A, C, D, and E, which we are. He also asked me about how often I was using the nebulizer even though it wasn't my appointment.

Tomorrow I am going to try to get out in the garden, weather permitting. I haven't been outside since Thursday and that is probably contributing to my closed in feelings.

I am debating on whether or not to cancel our rescheduled vacation that is mid-May. We are trying to cancel our gym membership, but their voicemail is full and so far no response to email. They charged us for April even though they won't be open at all during April. I know it is an autopay, but they should have stopped those when they know darn well they won't be open the whole month. We are not on a contract. I might end up disputing it if we can't get through to them.

$4000.00 Balance Forward
-1000.00 Payment Made
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$3000.00 New Balance

This will be all we will be paying on the loan this month. No extra even though DH is still working. We will be saving the extra we would have paid in two weeks to go into the EF. Even if life goes back to normal in May, we could be shut down again in October. The extra will be a cushion. Either way, as long as DH is working, this debt will be paid off by the end of June since May is a 3 paycheck month. It would have been paid off in May otherwise, but that's only the difference of a couple of months.

$4405.64 Balance Forward
+___2.32 Interest Added
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$4407.96 New Balance

I cracked my daughter up today when I started singing "This is the dawning of the age of Apocalypse." I've been listening to so many parody songs about Corona virus that I am quite surprised no one has done this one.

Yesterday I sold that rabbit in the grocery store parking lot and then we went in and did a shop. I was able to find chicken so I bought 8 family size packages, 4 of legs and 4 of wings, about 3 pounds per package (bone in). We eat chicken twice a week usually so I was very happy to have that. There were no thighs though, which is my favorite, but I guess you take what you can get these days. And we found elbow macaroni, both regular and gluten free. I took 4 of the regular and one gluten free. There were about 15 boxes of regular and 2 of gluten free, but lots of spaghetti, egg noodles, and a dozen boxes of penné. I haven't been able to find any macaroni in weeks, so that made me happy, too.

I was thrilled to find a tomato sauce that was not Hunts. I've never been able to stand Hunts tomato sauce or ketchup. It's so sweet and cloying. This was the store brand but the organic version. They had 8 cans and I took them all. We use 2 cans in our macaroni so that is four meals worth. They did not have non-organic sauce that was not Hunts. They also did not have tomato paste except the most expensive kind that comes in the tubes. But I have paste. There were several cans of diced tomatoes. Nowhere near full, but way more than sauce. I still have tomatoes I canned last summer, so we don't need them. They did have several types of ketchup, too. We got 3 bottles of our preferred brand which is enough to get through the month. DH and DS use a lot of ketchup, but they may need to start cutting back.

We got enough milk for the month. I was able to get organic non-fat but DH had to go standard for his 2%. Their use by dates are May 5th. They did have the bottled milk, but they aren't accepting bottle returns until the Apocalypse is over.

They had the Laredo Stagg chili. We got all 11 cans. There was a ton of chili in the other flavors and brands. They must have just gotten a shipment in because chili has been one of the foods that have been consistently low last month, it was one of the first things to go after toilet paper, tissues, rice, and beans. DS eats a can for lunch each day when we can find it. He doesn't like any other kind of chili but homemade which I make when we can't find the can.

There is still no toilet paper, but we don't need it. I was just checking for others. I did manage to find a small box of Puffs. They had about 20 but with a limit of one or I would have gotten 2. 2 small boxes equals one big one. Still, with my skin as sensitive as it is during allergy season, I was happy to even find one. We still have 3 boxes at home, but with 3 of us with severe allergies we go through it fast and who knows when I will see it again.

I got 3 cans of chicken and stars. They had 2 flats, but I am the only one who eats it and only when I have a queasy stomach, so just wanted a couple on hand. They didn't have chicken noodle, cream of mushroom, and cream of celery, but did have one flat of tomato soup. Didn't get any of that though as I have tomato soup that I canned last summer. Just heat up and add milk. And we still have cream of mushroom for DH.

I did get some fresh fruit. I got strawberries that were in plastic containers, grapes that were pre-bagged, and some green bananas. They did have yellow ones but we still had 4 ripe ones from the last time I bought green bananas. I also got a lettuce for week one and then a cabbage for week 2 for greens and some bagged celery and bagged green onions. Normally I hate buying so much plastic, but it is a little safer now than open bins of fruit. I am using gloves, but still.

DH will likely have to go back after 2 weeks for fresh fruit and greens, but that's a quick in and out. We have enough other foods for the rest of the month, like potatoes, carrots, parsnips, and radishes, which last a long time. I am really hoping to stay out of the store myself until May. I am so incredibly grateful for that sale on sirloin steaks and chuck roasts in early February right before I got sick. I stocked up big time at $3.49/lb for the steaks and $3.99/lb for the roasts and we didn't eat any of it, because I was too sick to cook in February and early March and we kept getting takeout. Ah, takeout, remember that? Seems like a hundred years ago.

We have some pork, bacon, sausage, a little lamb, 2 20 pound turkeys (one is for Easter) and a 14 pound ham. I will cook that ham eventually then bag it up into portions to use in pinto bean soup. There are also two salmon that DH caught last year. So other than chicken we just didn't need to buy meat. I am a bulk buyer by nature, as I buy a lot at really good sales and then we eat off that for three months or so. I obviously can't do that now, there are limits and rightfully so, but I am so grateful I could do it then.

I have this habit of bulk purchasing because my father went on strike twice when I was a kid and because my mother had done this, we had food while my dad couldn't work at the mill. He took a job at a gas station, but that was an enormous pay cut. I have always remembered this and it came in very handy to have this habit when we lived in the mountains and going to a store was a one hour expedition just to get there. Then when DH lost his job a couple years back and couldn't find a new one for 10 months, we had plenty of food to get through it. And now this disease comes. If we go into a full lockdown until the end of April we are good. Right now we can still go to the store and the doctor and the pharmacy, but that may change if things get worse. I hope they don't, but practically, I think they will.

The garden is coming along slowly but surely. Of course we can't plant yet, but when we can I want it to be ready to go, go, go. Hopefully we can get some work done on it this weekend.

Tomorrow is payday. We still have a payday. DH still has a job. I feel so awful for those who don't, but so much gratitude that DH does. And it looks like DH is going to be getting that promotion. They have started having him sit in (on the phone) on the meetings so he can be up to speed when the other guy retires. We had thought that was going to fall through and go to someone else, but apparently that was never the case. The old guy who has the job now will be retiring in a few months and is more or less just working a little and taking his sick leave and then vacation days after that while the virus is so bad so DH is already taking over some of that work, too.

I hope all is well with everyone out there in SA land. I know not everyone is in a good situation. I wish all of you were close enough to help if it gets bad enough. All I can do is pray for you and pray for the rest of the world. Except for Adam Schiff. He can f right off.

I came down with a head cold for a few days, but fortunately it was short and did not have the same symptoms as Covid19, so I wasn't spending the whole time freaked out. I had a very wet cough, though, that precipitated a couple asthma attacks. I used my nebulizer twice to open up my lungs. But I actually feel a lot more human than I have in months.

I've got a couple ladies who want to buy rabbits off me. I think the plan will be to meet in the feed store parking lot and have the rabbit in a box, place it down on the ground and back away. She can place the money in the back of the van and then pick up the rabbit. I will wear gloves and a face mask. I have a mask from the summers where the smoke from the wildfires was overwhelming us. It is washable and I have several filters for it. I will put the money in an envelope and then remove my gloves. I will leave the money in the envelope for a couple days.

If I manage to sell the three rabbits Cyrus, Zara, and Zane that will just leave me with three left, Ruby, Vincent, and Zander. We may also sell Zander. Ruby will never be for sale and Vincent is to keep her company. He's the sweetest male. We aren't breeding anymore at all. Ruby is old and a pet and Vincent is young, but also more of a pet than a working rabbit. We really are just done with the whole farm thing at this point except for the garden, though the rabbits contribute their manure. But it will cut the rabbit chores in half, so that will be wonderful.

Not too much going on here. DH continues to work from home. We are slowly working on the garden. I've started watching The Last Ship on Hulu. It is about a virus that wipes out 80% of humanity and the Navy Ship that holds the only possibility for a cure. It's got five seasons so I should be good with that for awhile. I do like movies and shows like this, although it might be hitting a little close to home at the moment. The virus on the show also started in China, but it has a 100% mortality rate if you get infected. Thank goodness Covid19 isn't as bad as that.

We are still doing fine on food for now and toilet paper. DH found a store brand 4 pk, limit of 1, and the rolls are so tiny in comparison to the big ones in the Charmin case from Costco. DH has not seen any nice brand of toilet paper or tissues for sale in two weeks, just store brands and rarely those. We picked this one up for his mom, but won't take it out until she needs it. We are fine still on what we picked up right before this started.

It's a little weird right now not knowing what is going to happen to the world, but I feel an almost eerie sense of peace. So long as things stay calm around me and no one gets sick in this house, I'll probably continue to feel this way. We planned and prepared and now we just have to sit it out.

There are now 64 cases of Covid19 in my county and 2 deaths. There are 2469 cases statewide and 123 deaths. 1277 of those cases are in King County (the county with Seattle in it) and 94 of those deaths belong to them. It is the most populous county in the state.

We found flour and bleach yesterday and those were the last holes in my pantry/cleaning cupboard so we are good for a 14 day stay at home order now. It was official at midnight. We have enough for a month without having to shop at all and it may come to that.

It is sunny today so we will be able to work on the garden. I am going to try to stay away from the news today unless DH tells me something big happens. It is making me angry.

I've started watching Legacies on Netflix. It is a spin off from The Originals, which was a spin off from The Vampire Diaries. It's a little more hokey, but I am liking it so far. I am trying to get into Parks and Recreation, but I really don't like the lead actress and my opinion of her hasn't changed with this. I also don't like the documentary format. Does that continue for the whole series, does anyone know? I like the rest of the cast. It's definitely not a show I will be able to binge watch unless it gets a whole lot better. Everyone says it is supposed to be so good, but it might turn out like Seinfeld and I just hate it.

I might bake bread today. I haven't decided if I want to do that or make pizza dough. It will be my first time making gluten free pizza dough. I hope it goes well.

My husband's cousin has a confirmed case of Covid19. She is a receptionist at a doctor's office. She's in her late 50's. She has two daughters and 3 grandchildren.

We are under a stay at home order here in Washington. We can go to the doctor, the pharmacy, and the grocery store, but that is all. We have enough food in to not have to go to the grocery store for two months if it comes down to that.

They are going to close down the airports and ground flights.

So far DH's job is secure since he can work from home and his work's clients are continuing with everything.

Pelosi is evil. That is all.

The last couple of days have been really crazy, but we are as prepared as we can be to a hunker down in place order, which could come down at any moment. Inslee seems a little hesitant to shoot that arrow, but I wouldn't be surprised if it doesn't happen by the end of the weekend.

The banks are closed now except for drive-thru. Toilet paper is selling for $1 a roll. I am glad we got it before this mess started. I usually stock up quite a bit every couple of months or so, as I hate going to Costco. We also have our emergency squeeze water bottles and 48 brown wash cloths, with 2 buckets with lids to fall back on if what we have is not enough. And enough laundry soap to handle doing a load of those daily.

We have locked up all our outbuildings. One of them has a big chest freezer full of food and we decided not to leave that unlocked anymore. People on our neighborhood forum are already trying to suss out who has food and toilet paper. Yeah, it might be all innocent, but it might not be, either. There's a lot of "I'll come to your house if I run out," going around that forum for the people that do say something. That's not the sort of information you give out unless you are completely anonymous and there is no way to track you. Not in a situation like this where you might be targeted for what you have. They are also asking about whether or not people are armed, so it is not just me being paranoid.

I was able to get an at home nebulizer and medicine for it for my asthma and I did my first treatment and man, it feels great to take full breaths again. My bronchials haven't been like this in months. I was even able to go outside and do a little work in the garden with my son. I mostly supervised and kept him company, but I did shovel some compost for about 20 minutes. It was light-weight stuff. I saved the heavy stuff for DS. We didn't get it done, because the timer went off for dinner to come out of the oven, but we will work some more on it tomorrow.

As for the raised beds we got one of them weeded and we will weed the long bed tomorrow and maybe get some of the soil transferred to the one we did today and then transplant all of the strawberries into it and repeat with the other green bed. It has sunk so much over the winter, it really needs to be filled up. And since we are taking out the other beds the soil has to be moved.

I was not going to do a big garden this year, but as I look at what is going around in the world with this virus, I have changed my mind. There may be shortages. DS promises he will help with the upkeep. I went through all of my seeds to see what I have and there is plenty there so I don't have to order any seeds.

We can start planting parsnips, carrots, and radishes as soon as we get the beds ready and I can start cabbage, kohlrabi, and broccoli in the house under the grow light. We need to order seed potatoes and I need to get some bunching onions started as well. We do need to build some kind of thing to keep the deer out. I don't want them eating any of our food this year. I think I want individual cages on each garden bed. I also worry about keeping out people if things get really bad, but what are you going to do? It's all in the back yard, it's not really easy to see from the road, especially with all the cars in the driveway.

My order of seed pods for my Aerogarden finally processed today, so hopefully that means they will actually be shipped soon. The have completely sold out of the farm units. I wish I'd jumped the gun on that like I wanted to, but I still have the Bounty and will grow my lettuce there to save bed space. It takes 9 seed pots, so we shouldn't have to buy greens at all during the late spring and summer once it gets going. I bought a total of 27 pods so I can keep it going, into the fall and winter as well.

In more personal news with my eldest sister, it turns out that while the mass was benign, the uterus itself had stage 3 cancer. Makes me really glad I had a complete hysterectomy when I was 33. So now she has to deal with going down and getting further tests to make sure it hasn't spread anywhere else in her body. I thought this was all over with and she was free and clear, but she is not. She has moved in with us for the duration. It's a full house, but it is nice to have someone else around to keep Mom distracted. She behaves herself better when my sister is here, although that may change with it becoming more permanent. Pray for my sister if you would.

Well, DH and I made it to 25 years of marriage. You know all those couples that people say it will never last about? That was never us. We were the couple people said were going to make it and I am happy that we have proved them all right. We were a good match from day one. We are best friends and the loves of each others lives. We may not be able to control what the world is currently throwing at us, but we will get through it together like we always do everything.

I still wish we hadn't had to cancel our vacation, though. Still, it wasn't worth the risk.

I called the doctor today to see about getting a home nebulizer for my asthma. I had a really bad attack the other day after walking into the grocery store and getting hit by the fumes of a leaf blower. It felt like my lungs got burned. I had to use a ton of my inhalers. And it's not like I can just go to the hospital and get one, not with the risks involved. I don't know if I will have to go the the doctor or if they will just call it in, since they really don't want people coming in unless they absolutely have to. I am waiting to hear back from them. I also called about getting new c-pap supplies.

I am glad they are finally closing the Canadian border. It should have been done 5 or 6 day ago, really. I haven't heard yet whether or not they have closed the Mexican one, but I think that they should if they haven't. No one should be coming into or out of this country right now other then truckers.

I read that they are sending out Navy hospital ships. Trump invoked a war time power of being able to tell businesses what to manufacture so hopefully we can get these medical things sorted. I always felt it was a horrible idea to manufacture most of our drugs in China. Or to make most of our medical supplies there. And now with them talking about they can just shut it down to us whenever they want to it is more evident than ever how rotten an idea it is.

I still think China is lying about how bad it is in China. And I'm pretty ticked off that China is spreading propaganda that we actually developed this virus and released it in China. No, if we had developed it, we'd have a vaccine in waiting for our own people and to come to the rescue of the rest of the world. Plus we don't do that sort of thing. Considering how many viruses come out of China over and over again, they have a lot of gall trying to blame it on us.

I don't think it is ever a good idea to rely on other countries for basic needs. The U.S. has done it for too long and know we are paying for it.

I think I will be holding on to the extra cash for now that was going to go to extra debt payment. Hopefully I won't need it for anything, but considering the crisis, I'd rather have it in the emergency fund since it is pretty low. If this passes in the next couple of weeks then it will go to debt. I will still make at least $1000 a month payment, though.

I mean, it seems like DH will just be able to work from home and we won't have any income disruption, but I just want to have that little extra bit of security right now. I'd like to keep our little section of this world from burning down around us as long as possible. We don't have to worry about it for now, though as he is on vacation pay this week even though we cancelled our trip.

Welp, it isn't just WA state military and their families, it is all military and their families who have been advised not to travel anywhere for 60 days. It's coming. I don't want to be an alarmist, but I would highly recommend if you don't have enough food in your house for 60 days, you better get on it. IT is past time. From what I have seen, the Asian markets still have lots of food because people are treating them like they are the cause of the virus. Also, I'd look at any other specialty markets like Mexican and Russian or food co-ops (the hippy dippy granola places you might not shop normally, but I do) if you can't find items in mainstream stores.

Also, realize that regular stores are changing their hours to shut down and clean and fully restock what they can and some are closing down in some places period. Stores that are changing their hours that I know of are Safeway, Fred Meyer, Kroeger, Trader Joe's, and Walmart. There are more, those are the ones I remember off the top of my head. I forgot to save the link or I'd put it here.

Deaths are at 42 in Washington state and cases are at 772. 3 of the cases are in my county. No deaths so far in my county. I really hope the mockers and the scoffers start taking this more seriously. It's going to get so much worse before it gets better.

Elective surgeries are being cancelled in Seattle area hospitals, including early stage cancer surgeries. How is that elective? Anyway, they are also saying that if you have a doctor's appointment you can only bring in one person to help you if you are weak or disabled, that if you are at the hospital you can have no visitors, unless you are a child and then one parent can stay.

I am not sure when it will hit us, but my sister has surgery scheduled to have a mass removed and a hysterectomy on the 17th, so I guess we'll see. I hope she can have it done because she has been in a lot of pain. Then again, I don't want her to catch anything there. She is eleven years older than me and is considered higher risk since she is above 60. Otherwise she has been in good health, though. Of the three of us girls she was always the healthiest. If we go into quarantine here, she's moving in.

People need to stop saying this is just another version of the flu. It bloody well isn't. People need to wake up or they are going to starve to death when this hits quarantine if the supply line shuts down. And if you think it can't, there is a city in New Jersey that has been quarantined. Others have invoked curfews. Bars are being shut down until this is over in one state. It is happening.

I wish the news media would just shut up with all their posturing, though. I am so sick unto death of them making this political. A virus is not political. The media is almost a worse plague upon us with their partisan behavior. It is not helpful, particularly now, to try to spread propaganda and fear. Stop trying to score points. They need to report the facts and keep their opinions, which generally have no basis in fact, in the toilet where they belong. On both sides. Same with the politicians who are trying to jockey for position and benefit from a crisis. Just put your heads down and do the work that the American people voted you in for. Stop trying to score points. It is loathsome. /Rant

It's getting crazy out there. Stay safe, my SA brothers and sisters. And prepare if you have not. If it all comes to nothing you won't have to shop for a long time and if it doesn't, you won't have to worry about not having food.

Edited to add: Governor Inslee is signing an executive order to close down all bars and restaurants and to limit any gatherings to 50 people or less. Frankly, they need to stop all gatherings. And close the Canadian border now. They've called out the National Guard. I saw trucks that I thought might be army earlier today. We are ready to bunker down.

We rescheduled our vacation for mid-May with the idea that it might have to be moved again, but hopefully not. DH is still taking the week off, though. We decided not to go to the library. We can still check out digital books while it is shut down. And I do have a few unread free books on my Kindle app as well as a couple books I have not read yet.

My MIL gave her granddaughter half her toilet paper, not realizing she would not be able to get more and so she was left with only 6 rolls. DH kept an eye out as he was doing several small errands today. Most places were empty, but Walgreens had 12 9 packs of Charmin, so he picked up 2 for his mother. There was a limit of 4.

While I have two and a half cases of TP for 4 people (Mom has her own), I went ahead and ordered 48 brown wash cloths and 4 squeeze bottles for my family. While I hope it doesn't come to it, we can fill the squeeze bottles with warm water and use that to wash off and the wash cloths to dry off with. We also have a case of paper towels and a couple boxes of baby wipes. We'll see how things progress. I also have two buckets with lids, one for each bathroom, that used washcloths can be stored in until we have enough to wash or run out. If it doesn't come down to that we'll have lots of brown wash cloths we can use for something else, like garage rags or if never used at all, kitchen use.

There are murmurings that we may not be allowed to travel domestically in Washington state. I saw one source saying that the DoD has started recommending no domestic travel for the military and their families here. I think civilians will be next. I have not found a second source to confirm it, though. I don't know if travel restrictions will mean staying in your house or just not leaving your city. I'm looking to see if I can find more out on it, but there might not be until tomorrow.

Last night I thawed out two packages of beef soup bones and made bone broth in the Instant Pot and today I am making a beef soup with the meat that fell off the bones, 4 stalks of celery, 1 yellow onion, 1 head of minced garlic, 4 red potatoes and 3 Russet potatoes that were starting to sprout a bit and needed using up. I dug out the sprouts and they were perfectly edible.

I seasoned it with ginger (for the health benefits), onion powder, garlic powder, salt, and pepper and threw a couple sprigs of thyme on top (also for the health benefits) that I fished out before serving. The flavor was fantastic. Best beef soup I've ever made. I would have used carrots, but my daughter doesn't like them cooked. I am freezing the extra, which was 3 quarts of soup, in some old soup takeout containers from the Polynesian restaurant.

Tomorrow I will make turkey soup, but will start the broth off tonight like I did with the beef. It will be the same but with a couple of white carrots, which tend to be the least sweet, and I'll add some poultry seasoning and sage (for the health benefits and the flavor), too, but leave out the ginger. DD doesn't always get her way about the carrots, because the rest of us like them. Turkey isn't as sweet as beef though and can use it.

We have a lot more beef soup bones and some lamb soup bones in the freezer in the garage. I think we will likely be on a soup kick for a while. Just because it is the most soothing food when you don't feel well and it seems to open up the sinuses to hover over a bowl of steaming brothy goodness.

Soup will definitely make the food we have stretch as it is quite filling and a big pot feeds us one night and the rest goes into the freezer to feed us for two more meals. Although DH will supplement with more protein. The rest of us don't tend to need to. We had leftover pot roast so that worked out.

I have gotten a request for ham and pinto bean soup which I have never made before, I really don't like beans, but both kids like it as their grandmother used to make it before she went off pork. I'll have to ask her if she does anything special. DD hasn't eaten beans in a couple of years and decided she wanted to test them again. They bothered her badly after her gall bladder came out. I'm not sure if there are any dry beans left in the stores, though, and maybe not even any canned, so it may be a moot point until after all this is over.

Not really much else going on. Just standing at the edge and waiting to see who falls off.

The governor finally decided to close all of the schools in Washington state. I don't think our district would have if it hadn't been taken out of their hands. I am glad it was done. If states who didn't even have any deaths were closing them, why my state, with the highest death toll in the country, took so long is beyond me.

We now have 2 cases in my county and 568 cases in the state. There have been 37 deaths. There has been a homeless man who left quarantine before he got his test results, robbed a store, and got on a bus. Apparently the security guard couldn't stop him. There was only one. Not enough resources were given to that quarantine site.

The library closes on Monday until the end of April, so DH is going to try to get over there tomorrow, turn in the books that we are done with, and check out some more. I'll give him a list of the author's I am interested in. I think they closed the library because they figured that was where parents would dump their kids all day if the schools were closed, which is not okay in regular circumstances, but especially now.

The YMCA is closing down its care program for a month. So far our gym hasn't closed, but they are wiping down machines every hour with bleach as well as shower handles, faucet handles, locker handles, and blow dryers. They have also quit selling snacks and water bottles out of their little fridge because they can't stop people from touching more than they are buying.

We are going to postpone our vacation until September. I am worried about if we go into quarantine and we are away from home and they introduce check points and won't let us travel back and we'd have no place to stay and not a lot of extra money to pay for a hotel. That is kind of the paranoid part of my brain, but guess, what? The paranoid part of my brain has been right so far on everything, so it isn't helping very much to try to call it out.

I think I've read too many books of apocalyptic fiction. Because my mind jumps to people without a place to go being put into FEMA camps and martial law as a possible future scenario. But New York has called out the National Guard and that is one step below martial law, so maybe it isn't paranoid at all.

It really depends on how fast it goes from social distancing, to soft quarantine, to hard quarantine. Look how fast it went in Italy. Look at what China did. Look at Iran. I am trying really hard to not let my mind run away with me, but you don't see what it is like here. You don't feel the tension.

For instance, yesterday there were only two checkers at the store who were for over 15 items and one lane was studiously being ignored. I looked into the short lane and saw it was the lady who likes to lick her fingers and touch her face while she checks your groceries and also licks her fingers to count out any cash change. And I was like, "Nope."

A manager came out and tried to direct people into her lane and we all were refusing to go, with variations of I'll wait. And there was a lot of tension. He was getting a little frustrated that no one wanted to move and finally someone said, "That woman is constantly licking her fingers and handling the food, the money, her face, her hair, and rubbing her eyes. It's gross and it is dangerous right now." And everyone nodded and agreed.

We were talking in line afterwards but apparently no one has reported this, but we all avoid her because of it. Plus she is really slow to check as well, but it is mostly the grossness. The manager quit bugging us then, but he didn't look happy. He also didn't go and talk to the cashier. Hopefully, he actually does.

If you sneeze or cough in the store everyone gives you worried looks and moves quite a ways away. You hear, "It's just allergies," a lot. People are pulling up their shirts over their faces to cough and sneeze so it doesn't have room to go anywhere. I haven't seen masks yet, but I expect to any day now. I am seeing a lot of people who normally are out and about with their kids not taking them places and the park parking lots are deserted when you drive by them.

People seem to have such a wariness about them, like we are all living just waiting for the hammer to drop. And maybe we are. Every day just brings more and more stress as this thing progresses. There is not a lot of chit chat going on between strangers like there used to be, unless something happens (like that manager trying to get us to go into the licky lady's lane). It's changing. It's not oppressive yet, but it is so far from the same that it is like we moved to a place where people aren't automatically pretty friendly. So far there is no open hostility.

I hope this is over soon. I just want it to be the end of April now and hopefully see the back end of this.

I'm coughing again, started last night. Headache. Chest tightness. And my temperature is starting to go up. Yeah, there's that, too.

My doctor is worried. He says one confirmed case of Covid-19 means 100's of unconfirmed cases and is frustrated by the lack of tests available. They are saying that if you have a cough or respiratory symptoms you need to triage in the parking lot by calling from your phone. They will send a nurse in proper gear out to assess you.

They prefer you go to the after hours clinic if you suspect it, though, so less people will be put at risk. Blood tests are being done with gloves, face masks, and eye protection in their attached lab for non-Covid-19 work ups. Usually it is done with just gloves. 19 people with a high probability of the disease are waiting on test results in my county, but still only 1 confirmed case in my county. 4 more died in King County.

My county is still not closing the schools even though the colleges have shut down to online classes only. They have closed all of the senior centers, though. I really just don't think people understand at the public school level how bad this is likely about to get. They have not taken the time to educate themselves. They always whine think of the children, but right now it is more like think of the inconvenience if everyone loses their babysitters. I mean they are quite literally treating the teachers like that is all they are, babysitters.

We are looking at probably a hard quarantine in some of the counties within a week according to some sources. I am reading a lot of local articles and city, county, and the state website to keep track of everything as well as listening to local radio. TV reporting is full of propaganda and agendas. Flights in and out of Washington and California may be suspended soon.

DH's work is making sure that everyone is set up to work from home, not just the main engineers and designers. They have not gone to that yet, but may have to at any time. And of course if you get sick you need to stay home.

I went to pick up milk, eggs, ice cream, carrots, and green onions today and took a stroll down the paper products aisle. It wasn't as bad as the store I was in last week, but it was pretty bad. Almost all of the name brand stuff was gone and there was a huge dent in the store brand tissues. TP only had about six packages. I then decided to look at everything else.

Eggs and butter were almost gone, except for the organic butter and pasture raised (expensive) eggs, but there was still a bit. Sour cream had a big dent in it. There was milk, but it was about 1/3 what is normally there, and most of that was organic. Still plenty of cheese and yogurt and lots of fruits and vegetables, but the convenience packs (like precut broccoli, snow peas, and cauliflower) were mostly gone. There was a full meat counter and bakery and bread aisle, and most of the frozen stuff was there except there was almost no ice cream. I ended up buying the ingredients to make ice cream instead.

There were no bags of white or brown rice but Minute rice and boxed mixes and bags of lentils were there. There were only 2 bags of mixed beans, no single variety bags of beans, a massive dent in tortillas, but still about half, half the pasta as normal, about half the canned goods as usual with empty spots in the canned beans, canned pasta sauces (though the glass jarred sauces were at about 2/3), and canned tomatoes (except the ones imported from Italy) and corn were either gone or only six or so cans of them on the shelf. There was tomato paste and canned fruit was plentiful. Bottled water was about 1/3 of normal and that was mostly the cheap brands, but it was there. It had limits on how much you could buy, though. The medicines are pretty low but nothing appeared to be out.

I think this is my last visit to a store for about 3 weeks. I got enough milk and eggs to last that and powdered of both if we run out. We are going to hunker down for the most part. DH can work from home if it comes to that.

Nationally, it's in Kansas now. The new James Bond and the live action Mulan movies have postponed their openings. Disneyland and Disney World are being shuttered for 30 days, but will continue to pay their employees. Broadway has been shut down. The NBA is on a 30 day hiatus. Did you read about that stupid basketball player deliberately touching a bunch of microphones and recorders at a press conference because he didn't believe stuff was serious and then touched everyone's lockers and bags in a locker room, coming down with the virus a few days later and infecting one (so far) of his teammates? Idiot. He should be suspended from the league or given a massive fine. He apologized today, but his career is probably in the toilet. Maybe Nike will hire him.

Mountain Rose Herbs sent out an email today. Apparently a lot of people have been ordering extra medicinal herbs. Not only are they being overwhelmed with orders, but their supply chain has been slowed and disrupted so orders will take longer to fill. Glad I got my elderberries weeks ago.

Capitol One sent out an email today urging everyone to use their online and phone options for banking.

People are whining about not allowing flight in and out of the EU, saying it won't help because the disease is already here. Yeah, it's here, but this isn't about keeping it out, it is about slowing it down so it doesn't get worse by spreading it around more and everyone getting sick all at once.

Even Obama is coming out to support the reason why. We need to slow it down enough that it doesn't overtax our medical system to the breaking point like in Italy. Italy is discussing leaving the elderly to die and using their hospital beds for younger people who have more time left to live, because their government healthcare system is overtaxed by the cases they have.

I feel like I am living in the start of a dystopian novel. Well, maybe I'll write one some day and have my feelings recorded here to look back on. It is scary. I am not panicking, but the feeling of unease in my stomach is not going away anymore. It is what it is. All we can do is do our best to protect ourselves and our loves ones, hope for the best, and prepare for the worst. And district ourselves with YouTube and Netflix.

As an aside I have done a book inventory to make sure there is enough reading material in the house (there is) in case we lose the internet. Now I don't think that will happen, but better entertained than bored. We also have quite a few board games and decks of cards, so I think we are good.

Life goes on.