Great thread.
I'll add a couple more items to the great lists already suggested:
Boxed wine (as opposed to bottles). It can keep for up to a month once it's opened, which is great if you just want a glass or two a day.
Also, Marie Kondo's book The Life Changing Magic of Tidying Up. Because if you're quarantined and haven't KonMari'd your house yet that seems like a great time to do it!
Also, maybe some sidewalk chalk. If you can go outside then kids can draw hopscotch on the sidewalk for something to do.
Extra power cords for devices. That way there's enough for everyone if you're all home together.
You had me at boxed wine LOL. I prefer vodka and tequila, which keep forever. ?
Kon-Mari-ing or spring cleaning is a great idea. I will caution everyone though, that since I Kon-Mari'd my house last year, it's happened about 3 times that I went to find something (clothing or object), couldn't find it and then remembered... DOH!
Gardening is also a good idea if you're into that sort of thing. Sunshine and fresh air are always a good idea, and certainly you can wave and talk to neighbors at a short distance without fear of infection. Cabin fever is real. I have a big yard but hate gardening, so I'll just loll outside if we have to quarantine.
Try stocking up with a teenager in the house. Woodchippers consume half as much in twice the time.
I was at the airport today and 2 ladies who had just met were chatting about how each of their Costco's had run out of water and toilet paper.
That was an odd conversation but my whole experience at the airport was odd. Nobody was there. No lines to check my bag, I walked up to the security check point and nobody was in front of me. Not a soul. I even apologized to the TSA agent because I didn't have my ID ready because I am used to getting it out while waiting in line and there was no line. Nobody in line to get food either. Few people in the restroom and so much space without people.
It was really quiet too. It reminded me of a library except for the announcements. Most of the announcements were for people who were missing from planes too. Multiple people did not get on their flights I assume because they kept calling their names warning multiple people their planes were done boarding and they were missing.
Now that I think about it, nobody was announcing standbys.
OMG! No Standby announcements!?! How is that even possible? There are ALWAYS standbys for some flights!
My plane was only half full and when I landed at LAX, it was also quiet there.
Eerie.
If this is the new normal for the foreseeable future, the travel industry is in deep trouble.
Very interesting. I just traveled cross country and back too, and this past weekend airports were as jam packed as usual, including on Monday. I've completed my shopping (basically as if I was getting ready for a blizzard), and I understand the TP thing - you want enough in the house in case, but I still don't get the water thing. As far as I know, COVID can't cause interruptions in water supply or power outages (some still have pump wells, so it would make sense if a storm really was coming).
Living at the very edge of the Cascadia Sub-induction Earthquake/Tsunami Zone, I have kept survival supplies ot foods, water, paper and cleaning supplies on shelves in the garage right by the car for at least three years.
My husband and son/s-in-law hunt/hike/camp so we store their "Camp Cuisine" as well. That includes freeze dried food/home dried fruits etc.in another area with camping and hiking stuff.
We also have big bags of dried beans and rice plus canned tuna, chicken, soups, and lots and lots of pasta to make meals. Camp cuisine is a big deal for them even the freeze dried meals end up added to and make larger healthier meals.
We have a large garden in the summer, our own various apple.peach and plum trees, grapes and blueberry, raspberry, marionberry (an Oregon specialty berry)and logan berry vines . But of course that's late Spring and Summer into Fall crops.
So shelf goods for a month or three and fruit and berries and garden crops for a year if we have electricity for freezers or canning.
As long as we don't get a major illness or the earthquake arrives in half an hour, or a community spread epidemic lasts for a very long time,we are almost always stocked up. We have a woodstove and cut lots of firewood for heat, a well and generator for big natural causes/climate change type emergency. However a big one would turn all of this upside down and backwards to get to!
People who are super stocking up right now may be used to frequent power outages with wells with electric pumps for drinking, cooking, or flushing toilets or they recognize they are more traffic accidents on freeways and highways under stress or panic. If we don't have electricity because power poles or boxes or knocked down then we have even bigger area issues. So staying home, calm, and carrying on are even more crucial especially if we are sick.
But right now for others in Salem, most of our stores have major shortages of disinfecting products or latex gloves. And even though Oregon has 3 potential cases not desths or 9 COVID-19 actual deaths like Washington state with up to 100 possibilities some say based on statistics, people are in a bit of a panic right now as far as grabbing and hoarding more than they personally need.
Many of our grocery and big box stores like Costco were practically desperation ransacked over the weekend according to local bloggers. I'd call it Prepared Panic Prevention at this point but it is still a real thing going on right now.
For me personally, always being prepared for any emergency allows me the peace of mind to spend my days doing things that are more important for my mind/body/ spirit and in being there for my children and grandchildren when they need my time, energy, and strength to help them.
And that includes tonight's meditation on Zoom with @Jeanne-mayell Mind/body/spirit care and rejuvenation!
Finding Humor in our new normal with Covid-19.
My friend in Az went to Costco this morning . They were out of toilet paper, paper towels, rice, beans, water bottles and hand sanitizer. As she was walking out of the store, she noticed 2 individuals. One had a cart full of isopropyl alcohol and the other a cart full of Vodka. This article which ran yesterday from USA Today and The Arizona Republic ( our local paper) would explain why.
It is titled:
Can't find Purell or other hand sanitizers? Here's how to make it at home with vodka or rubbing alcohol
Oh my goodness! :D
https://www.facebook.com/search/top/?q=cat%20hicks&epa=SEARCH_BOX
You still can't make this stuff up.
Piggybacking on what I posted above, comes this from Tito's Vodka.
Austin-based Tito’s Vodka appears to have spent the last 24 hours notifying a number of fans on Twitter that its spirits don’t contain high enough concentrations of alcohol to properly fend off germs.
“As soon as we saw the incorrect articles and social posts, we wanted to set the record straight,” a spokesperson for Tito’s said in a statement provided to The Dallas Morning News. “While it would be good for business for our fans to use massive quantities of Tito’s for hand sanitizer, it would be a shame to waste the good stuff, especially if it doesn’t sanitize (which it doesn’t, per the CDC).”
The company’s social media team, commendably, has identified tweets suggesting the use of Tito’s in homemade hand sanitizer recipes and replied with recommendations Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
“Per the CDC, hand sanitizer needs to contain at least 60% alcohol. Tito’s Handmade Vodka is 40% alcohol, and therefore does not meet the current recommendation of the CDC,” Tito’s Vodka tweeted.
To add to the Covid-19 humor: When I was searching online for 91% isopropyl alcohol, I saw the following Q/A posted on a particular site:
Q: How many are calories are in it?
A: You know that stuff can make your internal organs bleed from the inside, right? It's not the type of alcohol you drink. Doing so could have dire consequences.
Q: Is 91% strong enough to clean a bong?
(No answer for that one!)
Also refilled as many human and pet meds as I could.
Some of it is in the house and some of it is in our storage shed, not to be touched til we need it. I plan to grocery shop as usual unless and until we can't. I didn't bother with water, we're in a big city and water supply shouldn't be affected. Keep in mind that in a pinch, Amazon will probably be able to continue delivering dry goods, certainly things you don't find in the store you can order now.
To echo @laura-f, I'm really not worried about the water supply right now. It hasn't been turned off in Wuhan, so I think it's fairly unlikely to be turned off in most places.
However, the global supply chain is HEAVILY dependent on China for prescription medications. If you or someone you love depends on prescription meds, please consider getting an extra refill right now. It may all be fine, but if shipments are delayed for a while, this is likely to be one of the biggest issues. (This was actually one of the biggest issues on the table with the "hard Brexit" since the UK imports most of its prescription meds from Europe).
I'm not terribly worried about most emergency supply issues, but that one could be big.