what are you doing while under lockdown?

[eDJ_]

Trying to use the time wisely.  Always looking for things that need service or repairs (ultimately everything I own will work properly),  things to add to my bucket list for the house & grounds, and lastly working on recipes which will make good foods that are nutritious and cooking in my WOK.  

I'm finding a little can go a long ways in the WOK.  Cook once eat twice or three times.  Often, I find things in the grocery stores, which are often nearly bare around here, that others are not grabbing up as they don't know how to cook or eat it. Thus, with a little beef or pork I can stretch a few  supplies into a week's worth of nutritious eating without much effort. 
I have about 8 trays of ice cubes in the freezer as I'm making iced tea for a beverage where everyone else at the stores are fighting over 12 packs of soft drinks.

When standing in the check out lines I hear people remarking about how in the past money was their problem at the store but now it is the scant supply of everything.   I find it an interesting challenge now, when at the store, to notice what people don't commonly buy and then to buy it and bring it home and cook something different that is still tasty.  Usually these things that don't move by their best sold by dates go to the food banks.  

But the Asian foods have become a bounty for me.

 

[maki2]

Just doing some butyl rubber "rope" caulking. Last fall we put a new frame under my 1971 vintage fiberglass trailer. The new frame was made beautifully straight and level but of course the bottom of the fiberglass shell was no longer flat and level (if it ever was). The shell is firmly bolted to the trailer and any gaps where bolts went through were shimmed for good support.

As I don't want water from wet roads splashing up and sitting on top of the framing members I am putting the rope caulking all along the edge of the new frame being sure to push it in firmly into any gaps. The butyl rubber caulking is great stuff, very sticky and it resist the oils from the road as well as remaining flexible. Silicone would not keep its grip or do nearly as good of a job. This is a life time material, the outside surface of the butyl rubber caulk does eventually firm up and it won't stay sticky or attract more dirt but the interior will remain soft and keep its grip. Plus I can always touch it up later if something did happen to create a void. I can use a bent O ring pick to pull it out to replace a section with very little effort needed.

I got a good sized section done today before I ran out of material. That meant a trip to the hardware store where of course I used gloves and a face mask as well as sanitizing spray on the boxes of products when I got home. I might be crazy enough at 70 to be crawling around on the ground under a trailer putting in caulk but I am not so crazy that I am going to ignore the health protocols in Seattle in a neighborhood that has had more than a few cases of Covid 19 in it. I also timed it to shortly before closing at 5:45 when most people are getting ready to eat dinner. I know better than to go to the hardware store on a warm. sunny weekend, way too many people will be in there.

 

[crofter]

Reading, watched some youtube vids today, connected with some ppl. 

Also watching the cactus bloom. It is getting pretty flashy and we are getting the cactus paparazzi out front. Lucky for them so far none have brushed up on it - quite lethal with the puffy looking spines. -crofter

 

[MotorVation]

I picked up my Rx at Wally World in Kingman. That particular store has a pharmacy drive thru. Didn't get out of the van till I got back to camp. Yes, I did wipe the bag down with alcohol before I put it in the van. I won't have to open it for a few days so I haven't.

 An x friend of mine didn't think he was going to catch the virus and die, but none the less, he did and he did.

Not exactly a trip to Hawaii but it beat sitting here through a cloudy, chilly day. Sunny and 65f tomorrow. Yay!

 

[Qxxx]

I picked up my Rx at Wally World in Kingman. That particular store has a pharmacy drive thru. Didn't get out of the van till I got back to camp. Yes, I did wipe the bag down with alcohol before I put it in the van. I won't have to open it for a few days so I haven't.

Good for you, MV. I wish I were still in AZ living in my van, but I got home exactly 1 month ago, right when the SHTF, and have been in self-isolation since. And just in time for days of rain and snow. [font=Tahoma, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif]If I were still in the desert I could at least walk[/font][font=Tahoma, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif] every day or so. AZ is still very low on cases, if you're away from the cities.[/font]

The past 2 days I ordered home deliveries from Walmart and Smith's (to be delivered next week), and will certainly wipe everything down before using. You have the right idea.

 

[maki2]

Working this evening running my vinyl cutter making kits for a little cardstock Castle I designed. I have an order to fill and also want to build up some extra inventory as they were out of stock. My own design, I do all the work myself except of course for the assembly. Well I do have to assemble the prototypes when working out the designs of the buildings. This one took a number of prototypes as they are so many intersecting parts to it. Plus I had never tried designing a castle before. It is not a scale model of any particular castle. The other side of this castle is even more intricate with some turrets on that side.

I am keeping a few people besides myself busy with hobby activities during this stay-at-home spring and that helps me keep some extra funds coming in.

 

[outermostsoul]

The ugly blue carpet is out of my Airstream finally!!!!!!  My newest neighbor and friend was just hired at the local grocery.  I am trading babysitting her precious two year old for the hard grunt labor I can't do.  I bought this trailer in 2006 and I have had 3 former son in laws who told me they would remodel it.  All those boys are long gone, when you need something done ...find a single mom. Pictures soon when we get the laminate floor down.

 

[maki2]

Made myself a strawberry sundae using fresh spring strawberries. So yummy.

Of course also good with yogurt instead of ice cream if you don't have a freezer but do have an ice chest or refrigerator.

 

[tx2sturgis]

Watching it snow....

 

[crofter]

Two guys in Southern AZ talking:
Q: Have you heard if the snow has stopped yet in northern Michigan?
A: Who cares? I'm never leaving Arizona.

Some think we live in a bubble down here. We do. 
-crofter

 

[Bigbear67]

Making a start on the list of jobs I've been putting off for ever!?
Built a large woodwork bench,
Stripped a pile of pallets into boards ready to repurpose, then made a few bits for my bus (spice rack,knife rack, more storage solutions)
Finally made a start tidying my yard up ,& my partner has started growing her own vegetables so I have been making wooden boxes to plant things in.

 

[travelaround]

I've been breaking up cat fights.

 

[maki2]

I went to Walmart and swept 10 bags of milk and dark chocolate eggs for a buck each. I'm set for the rest of the CoViD lockdown.
Then I found these peppers at the grocery store, that are yellow with red stripes - very pretty- and got me one and planted the seeds. I made ice cream. I made beef+mushroom soup. I baked bread.

The seed you planted will produce yellow only peppers. It is a patented variety that came from a mutated plant. They can be grown from the cuttings of the parent which will produce that coloration but it won't happen from the seeds of the pepper you purchased.

 

[badmotorscooter]

Gotta love GMO!

 

[tx2sturgis]

I said I was watching it snow here....and really I was...it snowed here in Texas:

 

[ByeBye]

Snow, yikes.

 

[nature lover]

tx2sturgis - Snow in Texas - call Al Gore - must be global warming -

 

[maki2]

Gotta love GMO!

Just "freaks" of nature. But in this case it does not "breed" true. Meaning it can't be reproduced from its own seed. Here is an article about that particular yellow and red pepper variety from a biologist.
http://the-biologist-is-in.blogspot.com/2017/02/biology-of-enjoya-pepper.html

 

[maki2]

Gotta love GMO!

"freaks" of nature Pepper plant variety.   Here is an article about that particular yellow and red pepper variety from a biologist.
http://the-biologist-is-in.blogspot.com/2017/02/biology-of-enjoya-pepper.html

Sometimes plants will get a virus that can cause certain mutations of coloring. You can read an article about that in the .pdf document.
https://apsjournals.apsnet.org/doi/pdf/10.1094/PDIS-11-11-0928-FE

I have always enjoyed the subject of biology as well as horticulture and gardening. I was taking a college level biology class in my senior year of high school.

One of the gardens I created at a home my ex and I bought as a very small, plain white, 2 bedroom, 1930s house that for years was used as a bare bones rental property. The only landscaping in the front was grass right up to the retaining wall and against the house a single shrub. There was one apple tree in the side yard.  I enjoy designing and redesigning buildings, doing the physical renovationg, making birdhouses as well as creating gardens and figuring out what plants I wanted to put into them. My back can't hold up to the that kind of physical work now but I still have an interest in such things.

 

[SLB_SA]

what are you doing while under lockdown?
I started listening to John Prine songs - amazing. Then I listened to songs written by Steve Goodman including the versions of "The City of New Orleans" by Goodman, Arlo Guthrie and Willie Nelson. Now I am listening to Arlo Guthrie songs.