petitefrancaise

I was thinking of you Retzie today and sent you so many good vibes!
I think Retzie is right in that our lives to date has somewhat prepared us for the isolation/distancing now so necessary. My son is still in Amsterdam and will remain there until things get back to normal - his choice and since he's technically an adult ( but always my little boy) I am doing all that I can to respect his decision. However......... today I was doing my usual search for flights in case he decides to come back to us and realised that the cities he would need to go to for connections are now very dangerous indeed. JFK/Newark/London.... no thanks to sharing a plane with people from those cities.
Retzie stay safe my dear.
Apparently, tomorrow we will be "shelter in place". In preparation the major Texas grocery store has put limits on the number of items we can buy for quite a lot of things.
I leave you with this - which made me laugh today.

scrubbedexpat091

We can go down the stairs but the only way back up is elevator.

People have finally stopped trying to cram in though so that is plus and waiting for an empty one and not getting in if someone is already in it, so that is at least something. We did take a walk last night, man without their being a lot of people out and about, the addicts who beg for money are getting more aggressive. Guess with so few people out they are having a hard time getting much money these days.

retzie

Thanks, PF! I've been pretty locked down for a while and seem to have entered my "long haul flight" Zen space, so I would say things are going fine so far. The explosion of cases in NYC is a sobering thought, but I'm trying to see it as good sign that we have the tests. I mean, all those people were infected before, but didn't know it -- a much scarier proposition!!

I have a friend who is on sabbatical in Berlin and was contemplating rushing back home (to Ohio). He was met with howls of "you're safer there!!!" and decided to stay. I can certainly understand the impulse to get your son back, but wouldn't want to argue the case for US over NL. At the very least, putting some distance between him and the lunatic politicized coverage can't be a bad thing...

Lion in Winter

Healthy here too, but OH is high risk. I am lucky that I can do my job from home and we've all been sent home to work anyway but at least I don't have to worry about job loss. Due to OH having to be very careful, we are pretty shut in. I go out once or twice a week max to get groceries and that's it. So there's work, tv, and lots of video conversations with my son in the UK who was supposed to be here for his spring break but his flight out was cancelled and it wasn't at all clear when/if he would be able to return, either. His uni has gone totally online for the rest of year. My sole form of exercise is now my rowing machine, so my workouts have gone from 30 minutes to 50-60 and building. I'll be giving Steve Redgrave a run for his money in a few weeks at this rate

zzrmark

Florida, home of Floridaman, what do you think?
Restaurants, bars etc shut, everything else full steam ahead regardless of what the guv'nor, 45, etc, espouse.
Kinda, as in when I'm not working I'm at home, just like any other day.
Hell no, what and lose money?
Visitors? Wassat then?
Yarp, but then we've always preferred to be out in our local state park, which we often have to ourselves, rather than down the mall with all the lemmings.


Mmmm, free food, I'd best remind the galley slave that there's some in the freezer. My fave meat, nom nom.

robin1234

Here’s a deer on our deck in New York, last September. We assume this one had been hand-reared somewhere, it wanted to be our dog. Waited for us at the door, followed us on walks, butted us if it didn’t get attention.

Lion in Winter

At a guess it also wanted to eat those things you have growing in pots.

Pulaski

My wife loves hostas (aka "elephant's ears"), unfortunately, so do the deer, so all the ones she planted around the house and the septic pump, have been mostly grazed back to nothing.

Like Ddsrph, we get a lot in our back yard, up to a dozen at a time, though more commonly 3-8. We haven't set up a feeding station, salt lick, and water trough, at least not yet, but it's something I'd like to do.

Over the past year or so, neighbors have reported seeing wild turkey's in their yard but we haven't seen any in our yard yet. They are a lot rarer than deer, and more protected from hunting. I have seen them in harvested corn and wheat fields in the area for several years, so I know there are some in the area. .... Also coyotes.

robin1234

Yeah, it’ll be turkey season in New York soon; maybe already is, because they have a “youth season” before the main season if memory serves. Whether hunting will be affected one way or the other by the current crisis, I don’t know.

TexanScot

Pretty much completely isolated.

I routinely worked from home before the crisis, so most of my social interaction came from going out for lunch, grocery shopping and of course meeting up with friends in the evening or at the weekend.

My girlfriend lives about 20 miles away, and it's not clear how often we'll be able to see each other - if at all - if there are further restrictions on travel introduced; she's already basically the only person I've seen face to face for weeks.

Work is still carrying on as normal, so I know I'm in a far better position than some people during the crisis.

SpoogleDrummer

I'm not as isolated as I'd like. My wife has been moaning at me for days to not go to work so yesterday I told my staff to work from home for a bit, now we've got tornado warnings and the wife's family have all come around to use our storm shelter If anyone is getting the lurgy it will be them.

joto

Be careful that the family haven't brought the lurgy with them.

PeterFrank

I live in a quiet suburb of metro Detroit, Michigan.

Governor locked most things down a week ago and now nearly everything is shut after a shelter in place order. On the whole she has done a good job. Michigan in the top 6 for cases though.

i work from home and my girlfriend now does after the shelter in place order. The isolation is something I am used to so it's not a big deal. Only exposure is gas stations and supermarkets. We leave the post for a couple of days before opening as with deliveries. We are treating shopping like a military operation.

We are fine unless food dries up or my girlfriend has to go back into work again.Having a large house helps. I used to live in 600sq ft apartment in Brooklyn and can only imagine the hell that would be like now. Sympathy goes out to everyone in urban areas.

Walking really helps us as does our dog. I need 3 good walks a day to cope.

I don't think the country is geared up for this and no national coordination is lunacy. Would prefer to be in the UK in all honesty while this unfolds.

SpoogleDrummer

Thankfully the worst of the weather was to the south of us so we didn't have to use the shelter and looking at the weather forecast it should be clear for the next week at least so I should be worry free until my next grocery outing.

Hiro11

We've been on lockdown here in IL for over a week. I have barely left my house in that time. I haven't driven in nine days. I run or cycle in the morning. I walk the dog after I log off. Groceries have all been delivered and I take them off of my porch. That's the sum total of my time outside of the house.

I am enormously lucky. We are all healthy. My extended family is all healthy. With the exception of one relative, none of us are high risk. My home is comfortable, spacious and fun of diversions. I have a home gym to work out frustrations. I have subscriptions to every streaming service available. I have become an expert chef and bartender in my time at home. I make elaborate pre-prohibition and Tiki cocktails nightly for me and my wife. I don't have to eat crap at the office any more. I have all the fresh produce I want and two chest freezers stocked with all of my favorites. Every restaurant is delivering, something I've taken advantage of frequently. I've frankly never eaten so well. We have 96 rolls of TP is storage. I have been wearing sweatpants this entire time. I can be 100% effective in my work from home. I have savings. My wife is currently not working but is being paid fully for the time being. My extended family is similarly comfortable. I am well aware of how lucky I have been so far and I am well aware of how many people are truly suffering.

Still, I have had anxiety chest pain since this started. I worry about the disease. I worry about my family and my childrens' mental health. Compounding matters, through my work I also have daily exposure to what is actually happening to people's financial lives. We are working feverishly to help our customers beat back the enormous economic fire that's raging. We are still at the beginning of this outbreak and already millions of people can't pay their bills. Millions more are going to be absolutely destitute in a matter of weeks. Americans don't save anything. If you stop working at millions of jobs here, you stop getting paid. I honestly believe we are weeks away from riots here.

Sorry, I'm not in a cheerful mood tonight. Best to all of you.