Good morning

[crofter]

This site has drip irrigation?  Whoda thunk it?

Haha It's more of a local thing. I'm parked in a driveway at an RV resort. After July or so nobody wants to be standing outside doing the watering, so the drip drip will be piped in locally. I have not heard of any success with virtual drip irrigation -yet.  -crofter

 

[Qxxx]

Watch out for rattlesnakes, crofter, they will be coming out of hibernation. About 4 weeks ago I already heard from 2 different people that a woman camping by the river in Ehrenberg was bitten and hospitalized. Tens of thousands of dollars in medical expenses.

 

[maki2]

there is lots of virtual drip..drip.. drip...drivel going on everywhere with the stay-at-home order. A whole lot of slobbery virtual kissing and hugging too and it seems to be highly contagious.

 

[crofter]

Too funny.  

 

[Cammalu]

We are back in Kentucky after a two week drive from Quartzsite. Lots of chores are waiting and the friends in the pond met John as soon as he went back there.

 

[maki2]

Watch out for rattlesnakes, crofter, they will be coming out of hibernation. About 4 weeks ago I already heard from 2 different people that a woman camping by the river in Ehrenberg was bitten and hospitalized. Tens of thousands of dollars in medical expenses.

In snake country it is leather boot season as soon as the temperature rises enough for them to come out of hibernation. Sandals and cloth sneakers are not appropriate foot wear for the wild.

 

[maki2]

Empty streets in the normally very busy retail area of my Seattle neighborhood. Last week there were plenty of take-out places open but yesterday at midnight all non essential businesses had to close which meant no employees in the local area around to buy food from the take-out places so most of those are also now shut.

I am doing Stay-At-Home for non essentials but had to take things I sell online to the post office for shipping. So while out I did stop in at a small local grocery store. But I checked the parking lot to make sure it was not going to be overcrowded. Turns out that between 3:00 and 5:00 in the afternoon is now the best time to go shopping. People often put their kids down as well as themselves for a 3:00 pm nap and at 5:00 they are busy making dinner. But the mornings are super busy at the stores including the senior citizen hour. You just have to figure out how people are most likely to act and fortunately it is pretty easy to figure out because they are creatures of habit dating all the way back to their childhoods. Early birds get the worm but run out of energy around 3:00 and take a siesta, especially when working from home. Businesses that run 9 to 5 also typically do a 2:30 or 3:00 pm coffee break. Happy dreams little habitual creatures

The post office was also empty, not one single person in line, just the one person who works at the counter all masked and gloved up. With retail business stores closed it was a ghost town in there. I did not need stamps, just dropping my package into the slot so that it gets registered as being shipped for tracking the same day the order came in. I want good reviews for prompt shipping, helps keep my 5* rating going.

 

[maki2]

the 7 day forecast is a 4 letter word....RAIN

Well that will surely slow down the people who want to ignore the instructions for Stay-at-Home.
No where to go, nothing to do...for them.

As for me I have plenty to do and no kids around to drive me up the walls.
Now If only I felt like doing more of the things I want to get done then I would be rolling in 4 leaf clovers..

 

[travelaround]

Love the rainy days . . .
Love the rainy days . . .
Someone has to do it . . .
Trees are getting watered . . .

I live in a forest now so all those trees - I know they burn slower if they're watered well during the winter months, so rain is welcome. Very welcome.

I have some trees on the property I bought. I haven't counted how many, but maybe today I should. I need to go to the post office to see if my medications came in.

 

[maki2]

Uh OH terrible crisis, I ran out of black pepper
The products I ordered from Amazon to make our own sanitizing wipes and hand sanitizer solution have arrived at our private mailbox service. Of course we are not the only people who go there. The place is swamped with packages and the employees are struggling with logging them all in.

The thieves who grab packages off of porches would be in heaven with the increased volume of deliveries except that now many people are at home to take them inside as soon as they arrive.

The new map of covid 19 statistics that shows the data for each zip code showed that as of the 25th March there were 107 confirmed cases for my zip and the 2 adjacent ones where I live and do my local essential shopping. Of course confirmed cases only shows the people who got tested and they only got tested because they had symptoms. So the actual count of infections will be much higher than 107 and increasing everyday as everyone goes out for those "essential" errands. People in the grocery stores are not all practicing social distancing.

 

[maki2]

Uh OH terrible crisis, I ran out of black pepper
The products I ordered from Amazon to make our own sanitizing wipes and hand sanitizer solution have arrived at our private mailbox service. Of course we are not the only people who go there. The place is swamped with packages and the employees are struggling with logging them all in.

The thieves who grab packages off of porches would be in heaven with the increased volume of deliveries except that now many people are at home to take them inside as soon as they arrive.

The new map of covid 19 statistics that shows the data for each zip code showed that as of the 25th March there were 107 confirmed cases for my zip and the 2 adjacent ones where I live and do my local essential shopping. These are very small by geographic area zip codes compared to the size of many Zip areas. People from other Zips do come to the same stores I use. Of course confirmed cases only shows the people who got tested and they only got tested because they had symptoms. So the actual count of infections will be much higher than 107 and increasing everyday as everyone goes out for those "essential" errands. People in the grocery stores are not all practicing social distancing.

 

[travelaround]

Our local market just put out an announcement that they will shop for people 65+ ... just go there and give any employee a list and they will do the shopping and bring the bags to your car. I'm in! Of course, my daughter works there 2 days a week and she had already promised to do that for me. All good.

Our county still has only three positive tests... 65 tests came back negative. We are 70 miles from the main group of communities in the county so I hope those patients are "out there" and not "in here" - they won't tell us the exact location of the three patients with positive tests. In any case, I feel pretty safe right now.

In fact, I'm so laid back about it I ordered new beds for the two cats that I inherited when I bought this place - they are outdoor cats that have lived on the property for about eight years. Their bedding is so dusty, dirty and messy looking, I'm hesitant to put things in my washing machine! I replaced the box on the back porch and they are shunning the new box. A neighbor cat is now using it. They will hate it when I take the mess off my front porch, but they are getting new beds. They will just have to adjust.

 

[maki2]

Put some clean rags into the old beds and let them sleep on them before you get rid of the bed. Then transfer those rags into the new bed. That way their scent will be in the new bed and they won't shun it. It is all about smell, they need their scent in their safe place so that they trust it. It is easy to make that happen. My kitties loved new beds but they were not as spooky as wild cats need to be to survive. A feral cat is acting at a much different level.

 

[travelaround]

Good morning. End of the month, start of a new endeavor. I bought seeds for my cottage garden front yard. I want to see flowers when I look out the living room windows. I need to figure out where I'll get stepping stones to walk through it. Thinking of some natural source, not far away, since this river valley has about 20 billion stones of various types. First things first, though. The rain needs to end.

 

[maki2]

Yesterday was some wild weather, hard rain, lots of hail and wind as well as being chilly. I decided that I was going out in it for the sake of shipping on the same day an order came in from my Etsy store.

Today was better only partly cloudy. I went to the Post Office to drop my package in the outside the office slot for the noon pickup at that box. Drove by to see how crowded our local Danish bakery was. No one there except employees so I dropped in and purchased day old bread and pastries including a half dozen cinnamon rolls for my workshop mate as it is his favorite breakfast food. He will warm them up in the microwave which makes them taste like they were just baked. The rest of the bread and treats went into the freezer. Even though it is a low risk trip that does not mean zero risk. Not hoarding either, I have never seen so much day old baked goods in there in the 16 years I have been going to that bakery. But week before last you could not even get one loaf of fresh bread after the first hour in the morning because people were in panic mode; the bakery was packed with people ignoring the social distancing order as well a crowding in line outside the bakery. But now the citizens have calmed down and gotten past the high anxiety of food shortages.

On the way home I stopped for a few minutes at the park on the high bluff above the Seattle beach I am located at. I wanted to sit inside the car with the warm sun on it while having a miles long view of the water and clouds. That body of water is Puget Sound, the land in the distance is the Kitsap Peninsula. Not unusual for me to park my car and sit in it to see a water view on any sunny day during the cooler months of the year.  I was not the only person parked there while staying in their car, it is a popular neighborhood view point so I did not linger and hog that parking space for too long. I took the time to snap a photo out the window.

 

[maki2]

My workshop mate just came in with today's mail from our mailbox service. He put the letters and catalog in the microwave and zapped them for 10 seconds or so. That works

Of course he washed his hands after handling the mail. He is 77, has no plans to retire from his self employed business as a product designer. Fortunately he still has customers with projects in progress as the work he does comes prior to products getting sold.

 

[jacqueg]

On the way home I stopped for a few minutes at the park on the high bluff above the Seattle beach I am located at. I wanted to sit inside the car with the warm sun on it while having a miles long view of the water and clouds. That body of water is Puget Sound, the land in the distance is the Kitsap Peninsula. Not unusual for me to park my car and sit in it to see a water view on any sunny day during the cooler months of the year.  I was not the only person parked there while staying in their car, it is a popular neighborhood view point so I did not linger and hog that parking space for too long. I took the time to snap a photo out the window.

Dang, now you've done it, I am officially homesick!

 

[maki2]

Dang, now you've done it, I am officially homesick!

Come on out to NW Covidville festival 2020. One more victim health statistic won't matter all that much but you have to bring your own self isolation unit.

​

 

[maki2]

My camping hatchet..axe has been delivered.  This little camper's axe is the gift I wanted for my upcoming 70th birthday. I chose an Estwing "Campers Axe" as they are good quality, made in the USA and not super expensive. It has a hook on it for stake pulling and a flat end for hammering in stakes and comes with a nice sheath. Double duty in a just the right sized tool for my needs. My workshop mate was quite impressed with the design features of it; he is very picky when it comes to things such the design of an axe. Such as the smoothly transitioned to a thickened end that can be used to hit a splitting wedge. It is hefty enough to do real work, it is not a super light for backpacking axe. But it is suitable for a woman or man to use, not too heavy, not too light, and not too big. A "last a lifetime" and longer tool. I have always liked getting tools for my birthday, forget the flowers, candy and jewelry, give me something really useful

 

[bullfrog]

Nice, I have a rock hammer made by them that over many years is much shorter that when new and the handle has never worn out but I would recommend a good set of gloves to go with it.