The Work, Travel and Everyday Life Newsletter
from Randy Lewis
COVID-19. How are you handling things?
Greetings! I wasn’t sure what to expect when I asked folks to share their past two months of quarantine experiences. Responses poured in from all over the world! In some ways, it seems as if everyone’s activities fell into a “range” but still with some different ways of doing things.
Most of you are still sheltering in place so I hope you have the time to read what was shared. We’ve got a lot of good people in this group and I thank them for passing along their experiences.
I’m thinking about asking the question “If your area opened up everything 100% but there was no vaccine what would you do?” Being thinking about how you might answer that question. You may just have to do that in real life.
All the best and stay safe. You made it this far! Randy
ARIZONA
Hi Randy. Here is our story.
My last work day was March 7th. Sand Outlaw Series in Glamis. I run it for Greg Biffle. Jolene is working in office Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, and from home Wednesday, Friday. We do not get take out much. Jolene orders groceries on line, and they bring them out to car. When we need little things, I go to the grocery store and go in. Other than that, I have only been to the Post office, Home Depot and bank drive thru. I do wear a mask when I go inside a place. I do not wear gloves. I do not wipe down packages. We do wash our hands a lot.
I am missing making money, that’s for sure. Havent made a dime since March 7th. Jolene is 90% commission, and car sales are down 75%. Luckily, we have a good reserve. (although I really hate having to dip into it). I am getting a lot of projects done. This pandemic has shown me that I am way to busy when things are normal. In this 2 1/2 months, I have completed my 64 Fairlane, that I am now trying to sell. I have finished a Side Hack BMX Bike that I was building for the hell of it. I have gone thru roughly 25 Containers full of racing collectibles and separated the ones I want to keep and the ones I want to sell. (if you hear of a good trade show I could sell at, let me know. Mostly Die cast, but lots of other things). We went thru entire house room by room, and just had a garage sale this past Saturday.
I have also learned that I need to diversify in business. Everything I do is racing related. I work for USAC. I own a sprint car series. I promote Wild West Shootout. I promote The Nationals. I partner and sell One way Driver radios with Rugged Radios. All racing. This past summer Jolene and I looked at buying a Horse Boarding Business. Would you believe the other day, I am listening to Dave Ramsey. Topic was Recession and Pandemic proof businesses. He actually mentioned Horse Boarding. lol. He said its because rich people that own horses, still have money. Poor people that own horses will give up there own house before they give up anything for their animals.
When this Pandemic started, we owned 4 houses. As of Wednesday, we will be down to 2. Yes, even in this time, houses are still selling. I do not want to be in the Real Estate business any more. We need to sell one more.
We are close to going back to racing in AZ, but no clue in CA.
I think that is about it.
TEXAS
Hi Randy,
We’re staying at home and sheltering in place. Today we are going to make a day visit to a state park, the first time we’ve taken a day trip. State parks here are not open yet for overnight camping, but when they do permit that, we’ll probably pick up the Airstream from storage and stay a few days in a state park.
I exercise every day. I either ride my bike for about an hour, or I walk for about 45 minutes. I prefer to ride my bike when the weather is conducive, because I have a bum knee that often hurts when I walk. I do not wear a mask when I ride or walk, although I see some people that do.
We pick up food from restaurants two or three times a week. We have not eaten in a restaurant, although that’s available here now on a limited basis.
We have not seen our children or grandchildren in person, but we see our grandkids just about every day via Google Duo or Facetime, and we see our children about once per week via Zoom when we do a family game night. The online game we play most often is Drawly.
Alma typically cleans our home every two weeks, but we didn’t have her do so for a while, but like you, we continued to pay her. Her first visit in a while was two weeks ago, and she will be here again today.
About once or twice a week I go to the grocery store. I go at about 7am, and the store is almost empty; typically there are more workers there than shoppers at that hour. I wear a mask in the store. The only time I’ve worn a mask is inside a building other than home; so the grocery store, the post office, and the hardware store.
I need a haircut, but I’m holding out for safety reasons. Salons and barber shops are now open here on a limited basis.
Take care, and be safe.
OHIO
We stay at home most of the time. Once a week we take a road trip out in the country to make us feel less cooped up and to see how the world is. Last week we stopped to take pictures of very long lines (they were 6 feet apart) waiting to get into open stores like Joan Fabrics. They laughed at me for taking the picture and I smiled back telling them it was a piece of history I just had to capture. I guess they were going to make their own masks from materials bought.
I also make a trip to my mothers across town once a week to bring her groceries and tend to things around her house. Kill some moles and carpenter bees. Fix a drain, turn on outside faucets, change furnace filter, etc.
We do not go into stores because I see my mother once or twice a week. It is also unnecessary. Everything we need is either delivered to the house or picked up at the store through curbside non-contact delivery to the car. e-Commerce is a great thing (98% of the time). We use a disinfecting station and gloves on all items from the grocery before bringing into the house. We let mail/packages sit for a day or two before opening. We keep mask and gloves in both cars but have not had to wear them.
Have those IR sensing Purell and Provon dispensers in many rooms so we wash hands a lot. We touch our face as we always have.
I go outside to work in the yard without a mask but I don’t walk up to anyone.
In place of birthday parties we gather in a bunch of cars and leave in one line to drive by the homes of those celebrating their birthday. They stand in the yard waiting for us. We wave, throw kisses, pop the hatch so they can grab their card and gift, and then come home. Today the line included two police cars with lights on and one Fire Engine. However, the Fire Engine hit it’s siren and pulled out of line to deal with a real call. Maybe next time I can ride along and pop up to blast them with one of those pump up water guns. Maintaining out sanity (or in-sanity) has not been hard. We both keep up with indoor hobbies.
QUEENSLAND, AUSTRALIA
Hi Randy,
As you would know, the numbers of coronavirus sufferers in Australia is seemingly under control. With that in mind, the Federal Government in conjunction with the Chief Medical Officer have now come up with a broad three-stage plan for the lifting of restrictions in a gradual manner. The States and Territories have licence to instigate these and fine-tune them a little with regards their needs, and the first period came into play last Saturday, May 16 (co-incidentally my 71st birthday).
I have attached the Queensland Government (my State) version, showing the planned changes and dates relating to them.
Up until now, we could not really do much, except stay home. Each household was allowed one visitor, but the catch was that you could only visit with an express purpose in mind (eg, visiting sick or elderly relative) and of course the 1.5 metres distancing has and will be in vogue while all this is going on. Funerals could only be attended by 10 persons and weddings by 5 (i.e. the bride, groom, celebrant, and two witnesses). At first, the only shops you could go to were for essential items, such as food, but not clothing, hair care and the like. Travel between States was severely restricted and in some cases banned. Workers living in one State and working in another had to get special dispensation.
All pubs, clubs, restaurants, etc were closed except for take-aways. No sit-down meals were allowed. Gyms could not open and the list goes on. All amateur and professional sport ceased. By the way, a lot of the clubs, pubs, etc are not bothering to open up until Stage 3, as they say that it would cost more than they would get in return even with the slight lift in restrictions.
Rather than me go over the changes as from last Saturday, the attached PDF will give you a fair guide as to what my State Government is allowing (or not). Most States and Territories are following pretty closely to the National guidelines, only altering things like starting dates and lengths of stages and the like.
For myself, I really haven’t been inconvenienced much, except in the early stages when some food and essential items were hard to obtain due to the panic buying. I do miss my bowls and my scheduled announcing of two rounds of the Australian Jetsprint Championships in northern New South Wales is not happening with the indefinite postponement (and more likely cancellation) of the meetings. I was able to go and visit my nieces yesterday with the travel allowance now in place.
Than is about it, Randy. I hope this helps.
TEXAS
Randy. Sue and I have been hanging out at the ranch since we got back from our trip to Tahiti in late January. We go to town about once a week to get the mail and pick up groceries.
There is only one grocery store in Junction (population). I call the manager with my grocery list and he gets a shopping cart and gets our stuff and boxes it up. He calls me when it’s ready and we go to town and he brings it out and puts it my truck. I give him my credit card. He rings it up and brings it out to me and we’re good to go. No service charge!! They are super nice folks at the store anf I plan to do something nice for them. Haven’t decided what it is yet.
We do wear face masks in town. About a third of folks who are out are wearing them.
We have no “known” cases of COVID in the county to date.
Several times a week we invite neighbors over for happy hour at my pergola. Everyone brings their own drinks and we sit around for about an hour at least 6 feet apart and visit like folks did in the led days.
I have so many projects at the ranch that we’re never going to be bored. So life is pretty normal out on the South Llano River. Life is definitely good!
ILLINOIS
Hi Randy, Bob and I got to Walmart and Hy-Vee wearing masks and gloves. We go to fast food restaurants probably four times a week. I usually come home and put the food in our dishes. Sometimes we eat in our car also for a outing. I have a cleaning girl that comes every two weeks but we leave the house for that time period. We also go to Lowe’s and Menards. We had a plumber put in three new faucets wearing masks and gloves. We have a bug guy every other month that comes in with a mask and gloves. In Illinois we have had over 4000 people who have died. The end of May our state will go into level three which I hope means haircuts, nail and pedicures. I will probably wear a mask for a long time. I was in the hospital twice in March and the second time I was tested for the virus. It was negative. People are really pushing our governor to lift the ban on sheltering at home. They just don’t get how serious this is. Just my opinion. I really enjoy reading your blogs.
SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA
Hi Randy
Glad all is well with you and Carol. We do need to get together when things get back to normal. OK…so here is what we have been doing.
Our two Grandchildren age 1 and 3 have been staying with us for the last 8 weeks.
Michael and Amy have been working and drop the kids off at 8am and pick them up at 6pm. We have really enjoyed their company but they do wear us out.
We really have not done much else. Vicki goes to Costco for food once a week. I take the kids to the beach at Pendelton and that is about it. We would love to see you guys soon. Take care.
KENTUCKY
Randy: Very similar to you except we wear mask in buildings we visit – doctors, Kroger, Costco, Walgreens, cable company – & have seen our kid & his kids 3X. Also have had 2 friends over 2X. Don’t get outside food as much, maybe 2X/wk. Don’t wear mask when we visit cemeteries.
OHIO
Randy,
My wife and I live with my daughter. We follow many of the same practices that you and Carol do. For me, two things have changed – daily walks with my wife and family movie nights.
Since retiring from P&G a few years ago, we would periodically walk, but during covid 19, it’s become one of those can’t miss things. We both seem to really look forward to these and have had greater, deeper conversations during our walks. We also have been doing more “family movie nights” with our daughter Angela. She is 21, lives with us, and LOVES family movie night. (I think what she REALLY loves is the carry out food/dessert that always comes along as part of each movie night :-).
UNITED KINGDOM
Hi Randy,
As promised 😏, here in the UK most of us been advised to stay home only going out for essential journeys ie food or medical and to keep 2 metres apart when you are out.
All restaurants, takeaway shops, pubs were closed immediately along with any sporting arenas 😞 including gyms saunas . All supermarkets introduced social distancing measures allowing only a certain number of shoppers in stores at any one time ,think Costco, all fruit and veg single items are wrapped cashiers had plexiglass installed between them and customers and when baskets and trolleys were returned a member of staff disinfected the handles.
A lot of people were working from home via phone and video calling those that were furloughed are being paid via the government 80% of their normal wages up to £2500 per month.
As from today certain restictions were lifted ie you can now meet one other person that doesn’t live with you keeping to social distancing of course, you can now also leave your property to do unlimited exercise walking, cycling etc
OHIO
Randy, we too have been somewhat hunkered down since mid-March but we manage. We are on a 3/4 mi. private drive; with 18 homes from 1 1/2 – 5 acre lot sizes. It is quite rolling terrain so to do it twice (3 mi.) is a pretty good workout. No masks but when we pass a neighbor and stop to chat we are each on opposite sides of the 22′ right of way. Claire and I do wear masks whenever we venture to the grocery, drug store, bakery, big box store, etc. and try to get out as quickly as we can. About 3 weeks ago we did an 820 mi. round trip to the I24 Welcome Center in South Carolina to pick up a battery powered walking golf cart which I picked up on eBay. By using accumulated gas discounts from Kroger our fuel bill was less than $10 but it was a long day (about 14 hrs.). It was an unbelievable trip going down I75 3 lanes wide thru KY and TN with the cruise set to 80 and rarely see a car in sight in very few trucks! Last evening we did our family’s ZOOM get-together for almost 2 hrs. which we are doing every Sunday nite. Last nite we had 15 people on. Our niece has a business which pays for unlimited people and time on ZOOM. I have taken up the carpet in our great room which we were going to replace, and screwed down the subfloor to eliminate some squeaks which developed over the years. Worked fine but took me the better part of 2 days bending over with the screw gun. Now we have been waiting over a month to get the carpet people out here to lay the new carpet; they just recently got the OK from the governor to go back to work. Today shortly I will go down to our golf club to check on the 10 Eastern Bluebird nesting boxes I have scattered on the property. Last week I had one box where a brood had just flew, 2 others sitting on eggs, and 2 others building a nest. It’s been a hobby for over 10 years and is really fun to watch the beautiful little friendly birds of the Thrush family (same as Robin). I have also regraded and put down 8 yds. of sod in the back yard and have almost that much to do yet. I am reclaiming some areas which we have kept in mulch and consequently have expanded too much over the past 18+ years here. We walk 18 holes of golf at our club at least 2 days/wk. Golf play is somewhat different now; no ball washers, no water on the course, no rakes in the bunkers, no removing the flag stick, take-out only at the restaurant (you phone and they leave on a table outside to pickup). We do take-out from fast food, chains, or mom and pop places several times/wk. but Claire also has found some wonderful gourmet recipes on line. So we are trying to comply with all the recommendations during this time as at age 82 I dread the thought of COVID19 as the survival rate for my age group is not very good! …… now, these are some things we have missed in this short time: A trip to Vietnam,Cambodia,Thailand, and Laos cancelled; the annual invitation from my son-in-law to the black tie stag for the Friendly Sons of St. Patrick on March 17 cancelled; Opening day for our beloved Cincinnati Reds cancelled; Derby day party; grand-daughter’s graduation from Ohio State virtual; grand-son’s graduation from Notre Dame virtual; grand-son’s high school graduation cancelled, grand-son’s 8th grade graduation cancelled. Sunday Mass at our church cancelled. Also my 1/wk volunteer work driving the parking lot shuttle cancelled. But life goes on and we do the best we can under the circumstances………stay safe, Chic
We also faithfully watch JEOPORDY if we are in the house. And although we are not big TV fans we occasionally find a good “oldie” on TCM, Turner Classic Movies……..Chic
COLORADO
Our precautions have evolved: For the first several weeks we limited our grocery visits to once/week and pretty much stayed home except for our exercise walks several times/week. We had some N 95 masks so been wearing them plus the cloth types that are more fashionable. We continue to wear them in public areas and sanitize our hands as soon as we get into the car. We did not nor do not clean any packages.
We recently began to have some good friends over to our front porch area for an outdoor wine tasting. I started golf two weeks ago.
We just had a family gathering on our deck to celebrate two grandkids college graduation. We are shopping now almost on a regular basis. We do take out dinner once/week to help our locals. We will not visit a bar/restaurant for inside dining for some time yet.
We are still planning an October New England/Canada cruise and a family trip in July to Steamboat Springs.
Too many people are now beginning to think this thing is over.
I increased my equity position by 10% over the last three months.
BOLIVIA
Hi Randy, thank you. Of course, I tell you that in Bolivia the epidemic increases in infected people every day, especially in Santa Cruz and Beni, which are departments located in the Bolivian East, where temperatures range between 30 and 35 degrees ventilated. Very hot, the infected in Santa Cruz 2,763 infected and 87 deceased and in Beni 551 infected and 40 deceased. In La Paz the epidemic also has several infected, most of them in the city of El Alto, a total of 335 infected and 19 deceased. For my part, I stay at home and go out with my son, only to provide ourselves with the necessary food for the week, since by order of the government we can go out once a week from Monday to Friday and according to the last number of the identity card In my case it is Friday and my son ‘s is Thursday. My wife and daughter are in Stockholm Sweden because my little daughter works at the Bolivian embassy and my granddaughter was just born and for that reason my wife traveled 8 months ago. Adi we are passing it, the activities, all are suspended just like in most of the world. I attach a map of the situation of the coronavirus in Bolivia, any questions I am attentive. A hug Randy and stay home BLESSINGS TO THE FAMILY. To be honest. Raúl.
NORTHERN INDIANA
We are using our home to shelter in place and thank goodness we have a lower level family room/office area that I can go in order to completely social distance myself from the other occupant of this house. But for the governmental mandates, I’m sure I would comply a bit differently to the COVED-19 issue than my spouse. I would certainly go more places and visit more people, but I’d make sure to “social distance” and not use any of their facilities nor them, mine. I have no problem staying my distance from people and things but I certainly want and need interaction with more than my spouse, the TV and and social media.
I have worn a mask just once to go to the doctor, which was a requirement.. I have decided to not go to any commercial entity that requires wearing a mask, and I sure don’t wear it when I’m driving, like I see other ‘people’ do. My wife has not gone inside any store to shop at all, not even for groceries, which for her is absolutely amazing. She orders groceries, picks them up, puts them in the back of the pick up truck and brings them home, then begins the multiple hour task of wiping down and washing every last thing.
We have only taken carry out from a restaurant once for a dinner, but I have gone through a drive through multiple times for fast food breakfast or lunch; no mask or gloves and I have used both cash and credit, depending on the place. Otherwise, all meals have been at home and leftovers get real old.
Being retired, the lock down has not affected us financially at all, but rather we have not spent as much money as usual.
I have begun to question every thing about every thing. But, I also pretty much did that before too.
SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA
Followed the rules for six weeks. Did the food drive thru on occasion. Costco & Ralph’s weekly.
More time to care for Melanie. One hour walk- 5:00-6:00 am to minimize human life form contact. Lots of reading- Michael Connelly- Bosch & Dean Koontz- Jane Hawk series! Some TV.
After 6 weeks of slowing the spread have played golf 4 times & have hugged the CA grandchildren on three occasions. Will be 5 times golf & 4 CA grandchildren hugs by Wednesday @ 10:30 am.
Looking forward, NC trip 6/11-14 to see the grandchildren there.
Furloughed until 7/6 earliest.
Hopefully going on one of those 5 mile hikes with a good friend who lives modesty in San Clemente on a fixed income!
SOUTH KOREA
Hi Randy. Thanks. I was actually watching CNN regarding the correlation between increased mobility and Covid cases when I received your message. CNN credited the fact that new cases in the US didn’t surge despite increased mobility to people wearing masks. I think masks, vigorous testing and communication were major saviours for South Korea. We never had aggressive lockdowns like in many other countries such as the US, SA etc. With the last cluster cases in Itaewon, the government also quicly realised that people visiting clubs etc are more reluctant to share their personal info. The government quickly announced that people should only send their phone numbers to be tested. The virus had a big impact on us financially because we are in the teaching and travel industries. Both these industries have been hit hard. We are however very thankful for how the government dealt with the pandemic and how we had the freedom to still be out on the beach, go places etc. I would recommend wearing masks when in close proximity to others, testing testing, wiping surfaces and cleaning hands constantly. I would say people don’t have to be inside all the time as long as they follow the rules above, use common sense and keep social distancing. Keep safe. Hope to see you again soon.
OHIO
Hi Randy,
We are doing even less than you and Carol. We go out only to the grocery store and maybe once or twice a week for take-out food. We only see our daughter and granddaughter about once a week. We think our other children and grandchildren have too much exposure to other people, so we haven’t seen them for quite a while.
I am doing a few maintenance or repair projects around the house, and some yard work. We also are doing our own cleaning. We haven’t allowed our housekeeper to come back as yet.
Soon we are going to have to decide about dentist and doctor appointments, and hair salons are now opening, so I guess we’ll do that – carefully.
I am doing some editing of my novel manuscript, while waiting for my editor to get to me soon.
That’s about it.
WASHINGTON
Randy:
Barb and I are doing well during the Stay at Home quarantine. As you’ve seen on Facebook, our routine begins with a 5 mile walk in the morning six days a week. It is the best part of our day and about the only thing that is normal from before the restrictions.
We’ve been cooking more at home and experimenting with new recipes with Barb baking more than usual. She also has been making face masks and donating to local retirement homes and independent living facilities. She also continues to knit. We both have been doing Spring chores inside and outside the home with trying to keep the yard and garden looking good.
We do wear masks when in public and are more careful now with our local county still with quite a few cases and deaths from the virus.
We miss the travel and fishing but are adjusting to the “new normal”. Be safe and well.
ALGERIA #1
Hi Randy, how are you doing, for my part I was not really in total containment because of the work which consists in the disinfection of companies against the Coronavirus in addition to the pest control, otherwise the rest of the time I spend it at home with my small family until ” again, because we are still far from getting rid of this virus, we still have not resumed mechanical sport I hope you are doing well too and that you are not too bored, take care of yourself, see you soon
ALGERIA #2
Hi Randy, hope you’re doing well. The situation quite good. Not alarming, but we’re still have to be very careful. For my part it’s been more than 2 months now since I’m in quarantine. (Since March 15). I do some work from home. Otherwise trying to do some interesting things, just to be sure to spend this time the right way. Like taking some online courses, reading books. And watching movies in the night. for the races, I don’t know when we’ll be able to race again, but will keep you posted. Hope just to go through this situation and be back to normal life. Be safe
OHIO
Randy:
First, looking forward to your future missives.
Regarding Corcvd-19. We live in Madeira, a suburb of Cincinnati. We have mostly been staying at home, although I will go out to a grocery store or Home Depot most days. Our Church live streams services on Sunday and there are “coffee hour” groups of random participants after the service. A good way to stay connected and meet new folks.
Our kids come to visit us occasionally. We sit out on our large 30’x30′ deck are talk and have some liquid beverages. They sit 10′ away from us and wear masks. I think that may be overkill, but they insist in consideration of their “elderly” parents
We also volunteer at a food pantry 2x a week. There we wear masks and gloves. The only contact is with a small group of other regular volunteers. Hope is all of us volunteers are taking the recommended precautions and stay well as we are all retirees. We have no contact with clients. They drive up, open their trunks and get back into their cars. A food package of staples, vegetables and meats is placed in their truck and they drive off.
We are passionate in our efforts to keep the place open. If a single volunteer gets corvid-19 we feel we will have to close for 2 weeks. We now help about 500 household or more the two days a week we are open, even in the face of ~$15,000 annual deficits. The 2x increase in clients is likely from unemployed folks who have never had to go to a food pantry before.
Regarding masks, we wear them in consideration of others. I don’t think it is sufficiently well communicated that wearing a mask isn’t for the wearer’s protection but for others (including you and your wife). The mask prevents viruses from my breathing, coughs and sneezes from getting into the air and infecting others if I am an asymptomatic carrier. Net I find all those folks who don’t wear masks when in stores etc. are either ignorant of a mask’s purpose or just plain rude. I hope I gave you a reason to get a mask and wear it when in stores etc. The reason I mention this is to give you new information, not to embarrass you.
Not sure that we will change our routine soon even though Ohio is opening up. We’re going to wait for a couple of months’ additional data and a possible treatment. Like you, we’re not youngsters any more.
PENNSYLVANIA
Hi Randy
We are sheltering in place. I maintain my exercise routine using the homemade gym in the basement Monday’s, Wednesday’s and Friday’s. I walk an additional three miles most days. I walk around our neighborhood which is fairly hilly and I get good aerobic exercise in addition to the treadmill. I carry a mask when I walk and have it at the ready if I see someone approaching and if I cannot safely cross the street. Most days I might encounter three or four people on my walk. I don’t go to public parks because it’s much harder to maintain social distancing. We take rides and carry a couple of Hospital urinals to avoid public restrooms. Other than that we only go to the supermarket and Costco. There I wear a mask, hat and gloves. I pay using Applepay. I also give everyone a wide berth. After loading my car I use hand sanitizer. I put the food away and then wash my hands. Usually on paper and cardboard the virus dies after about 48 hours.
We’ve asked our cleaning person not to come but continue to pay her to keep her, her family and us safe. We’ve ordered from restaurants, paid by credit card and did curb side pickup.
We handle mail with gloves and wash our hands after opening the mail and discarding the junk. We leave packages in the vestibule for 48 hours before opening them.
We stay in touch with our neighbors by having conversations across our yards. Since we all live close to each other but not so close as to pose any risk. We Zoom or FaceTime others.
I’m still attending Spanish class on line.
No concerts, plays, musicals, museums, baseball, or movies until there is a vaccine.
Don’t hesitate to ask if I’ve left anything out.
Best regards,
NORTHEAST FLORIDA
Hi Randy,
This is probably way too much information so feel free to edit down.
Those are good questions. As you compile replies, you should note me as living in Northeast Florida (St. Johns County) because that area has a very low incidence of CV compared to Miami-Dade-Broward counties in southeast Florida. My activities and precautionary measures would be extremely different if I lived in SE FL.
When I first heard of the CV hitting NYC, like plenty of other people, I went to the supermarket and literally bought hundreds of dollars of food, paper products, cleaning supplies etc. Glad I did because I still have plenty of whatever I need right here in the house. None of this will go to waste because I would stockpile at some point prior to hurricane season anyway.
I go to the supermarket wearing a face mask but only need to buy fresh fruit, veggies, milk and eggs. Otherwise, I don’t need to spend any time shopping. I keep a running shopping list so I don’t forget anything. I probably shop every two weeks. I have not done take-out or drive-throughs at any restaurants but I do see long lines of cars so that’s good.
I’ve only had to buy gas once and I wore plastic gloves at the pump but no mask because no one was on the other side of the pump.
I walk three days a week with two different groups of friends. We don’t wear masks when walking but keep at least 6 feet apart. We walk mainly for socialization. My brother, sisters and I have a family GoToMeeting video conference every Saturday morning. Jim’s son, Jay and his band, have a Zoom driveway concert almost every Saturday night. It’s really good to “see” people even if not in person. My family reunion is cancelled as to meeting in person but will probably be held on Zoom.
I’m a knitter and have plenty of yarn on hand so it’s been a good time for that hobby. I’ve made several baby blankets for the new babies in my extended family so that’s fun and productive. I wear a mask at the Post Office when I ship things out but I use the self service machine to avoid unnecessary contact with people. I shop online for clothes and shoes a lot more than I used to and I’ve only bought books on my kindle since the CV started. Otherwise, I would have bought physical books and donated them to the used book store inside my local library after I’m done reading them.
Speaking of donating, I had been accumulating items to donate from BOGO’s. Plenty of things are buy one, get one free but I wouldn’t really need the second items for several months so I gathered up a few large bags of food and some extra paper products and dropped them off in a drive-by at the local food bank for the beaches. They are really suffering because they are not allowing anyone over 65 years old to volunteer during the CV and that has drastically cut their staff and obviously that greatly diminishes the number of people they can help. Anyway, every little bit helps.
I have only had 2 friends in my house but they live in my neighborhood and live alone. My street had a driveway party with social distancing earlier this month and that worked out really well. Everyone put out food or beverages to share in their driveways and people just walked from driveway to driveway and socialized keeping 6 feet apart. It was a lot of fun!
This week I have plans to go out to lunch at restaurants which have patio seating and where you don’t have to walk inside the restaurant to get to the patio. The outdoor seating area has its own entrance.
I Purell my hands after shopping but before getting into my car, then when I get home, I wash my hands after I put away any groceries or deliveries of clothes, shoes, etc.
That’s pretty much it. Stay safe!!!
NEBRASKA
Hi Randy,
Always enjoy your trackchaser reports and now your emails. Our lockdown experience is similar to yours. I spent a weekend with my daughter in Milwaukee having a blast eating out, brewery tours, a Bucks game and a Marquette game and a week later I told my staff to stay home and work from there. Until this past week I was the only one in the office which was totally fine with me. I bought three cases of institutional toilet paper from one of my clients and we were set.
We only wear masks at the grocery store to avoid the snide looks from the Lucy Lysol types. We do the handwashing and 6 foot thing but I’m rather pragmatic about things and try not to let it rule my life. We have been eating mostly from home but trying to get carry out from local/friends’ restaurants once or twice a week. I think most people I know are in the same boat . Cautiously optimistic that this thing, which has not lived up to many estimates, will run its course and we can resume some form of normal soon. I also don’t dwell on the stream of gloom and doom from the national news.
That’s the view from Omaha – have a great week!
COLORADO
Hi Randy….our story during Stay at Home is very similar. Get out to walk the dog for 45 minutes most every day. Drive thru for coffee, a few dinners each week. Becoming more comfortable with grocery store and other retail store visits. No gloves….only wear a face mask while in retail stores….net….concerned & cautious but only within reason
Of note….our daughter (with husband 3 kids age 11. 11, 13) has become a master of home delivery and curbside pickup….
Stay well
OHIO
Hi Randy
We’ve been sheltering at home in Ohio since mid March. Have not had any restaurant meals at all – we do yougurt/ cereal for breakfast, a quick lunch ( salad or sandwich most days) and then a nice dinner. My wife loves to cook and my 18 year old son has gotten into break making so we have fresh bread all the time.
As for outings, we walk everyday 5-7 miles with no masks – pass perhaps 3 people on that time and we give wide berth. We carry masks to go into grocery stores and post office.
Short of that, we are sitting on the balcony in the apt enjoying the tennis playing ( our balcony overlooks the court) and the sounds of water from the pool ( which we also overlook).
So not very exciting but hoping to get through this healthy and safe.
Best regards,
ILLINOIS
I have literally exercised (jogged or walked) and worked every day since the pandemic started. This has included going to the office, all 12 of my stores, and interacting with hundreds of people over this time. Just recently, we’ve been required to wear masks in our Illinois stores and decided to do the same in our Iowa stores after reopening those dining rooms at 50% capacity earlier today.
I also just booked a trip to Las Vegas for the end of June where we plan on hiking the Narrows at Zion National Park and doing a sunset kayaking trip on the Colorado River just below the Hoover Dam!
MANITOBA, CANADA
Daily notice courtesy of the local paper.
Long weekend, social distancing of 6 feet, no groups larger than 10. Restaurants closing as unable to get deal on rent with no customers. Airport is close to empty and travel out of province is restricted both air and ground.
We have no problems family wise but we must be careful as step-daughter is a front line worker with child care kids separately and in houses.
I will send today’s paper when I find it.
Stay well and stay safe. H.