Share Your Current Situation

Maybe sharing our situations might help some ?
I need to.......

I am lucky because I still have a job - and I'm not sick
.
I'm missing out on early Spring and I have to change this !
( with the necessary precautions )
.
Covid 19 has changed our ( my ) world.
I am currently not working but thank god ! ....I am being paid.
I feel so bad for everyone that has lost their jobs or is sick.
.
My last day of work was.....?.....I'm not even sure ?....March 16 th ?
It seems so long ago....... I'm only guessing ?
And I have actually lost track of what day it was , due to " Social Distancing "
and it's isolating effects........one day melted into another at one point.
My job keeps moving back our " Return Date ".....as is the case everywhere.
And now, my job has said " around Easter for a return ".
IMHO......May 1st.....isn't even gonna happen !.......nope !
Anyway -
.
Yesterday,
I finally grabbed my wife and son - we did a Family Walk.
Early Spring bloomed and I was missing it.
The walk made me realize it.
.
Day Temps have been 50's - low 60's for the most part.
But there are blooms and the grass is about to grow.
None of which I have paid ANY attention to THUS FAR.
I need to change this !
.
Without Baseball ( to watch ) and Golf ( to play ) = I am truly lost.
I told my 8 year old this morning -
" Daddy, has watched baseball every Spring for the last 59 yrs and now
there is none, for the first time. "
My mind can't separate Baseball + Spring ?
I'm having trouble with it and I have to change that !
I don't realize I am missing early Spring cos Baseball hasn't started.
.
I chip golf balls ( weather permitting ) across the street in the school's huge open field.
And that has been the extent of my exercise..........not good and not normal for me.
Yup.....my stomach is growing !
My job is physical and ( normally ) I'd be starting to shed my Winter Lbs in Spring.
I'm dormant and gaining weight, instead.
.
My wife is still working " The Front Lines " at the hospital with "pre-mee" babies.
The Hospital tests EVERYONE entering for a temperature
( We have discussed she will eventually test positive )
She comes home - throws her commuting clothes in a separate wash -
then sleeps downstairs on the couch for some separation.
We " home school " our son - and I care for him on days she works.
We are lucky I am home to care for him.
We want to keep her parent's isolated and not involved with childcare.
It has worked out and we know we are lucky !
My wife + I shop for her parents and leave supplies at their door.
.
I washed and waxed my car yesterday -
It felt good to be outside and not needed around the house, for 90 mins.
I'll be mowing the In Laws lawn this year - along w my own.
My back yard deck needs staining, again.
Some chores to get me outdoors !......and moving will help !
.
But no Baseball ( to watch ) and no Golf ( for exercise ).
I can't let COV-19 steal Spring from me !
However, I know I am lucky.
.

 

Nothing drastic has changed for me, so in the big picture of life, I'm pretty lucky.

I'm still retired, and still have plenty to keep me busy. I traveled for a living, so I don't really miss that, too much. I guess the biggest void in my life is not being able to get together with friends for BBQ, burgers, and happy hour. Other than that, I'm good.

 

Probably exposed to Covid Monday when I had to go to prompt care for a nagging boil. Woman ahead of me in the triage tent was very sick- terrible cough- she was denied entry and sent around back to the Covid tent.

I kept my distance and was wearing a Moldex 2300 mask that I use for woodworking. It happens to be N95 certified, although I didn't buy them for that. I have been using them for years because they fit so well.

Boil responding to treatment, MRSA test negative, no symptoms so far, think I might be in the clear but taking no chances. In this context, not a lot else matters.

We had a really nice thing happen the other day. Mag and I were ambushed on our walk by several neighbors who sang "Happy Birthday" to her, all from a safe distance. You can buy a nice house if you have the cash, but you can't buy great neighbors.

 

Was laid off 3/23 as I'm a gaming machine tech here in MT. Doing the unemployment thing. Will go back to work when the shutdown ends. My wife is still working, she works for a major US bank. Real bummer is we had plans to be in Hawaii on Sunday. Good thing is we're not sick.

 

Stable, as long as receivables continue to flow, at least, working from home. Some of my projects are on hold but others are accelerated, taking advantage of the unexpected slow business time, and others are just plain chaotic, not knowing when things will improve. I've been doing some of my own number crunching to attempt to get a handle on the "when" of things. Much of my work has to do with timelines, and in many cases, things like milestones and checkpoints are totally up in the air!

 

Be well, bard!!!

As I've said on a few other threads, no changes for me from a work-location perspective in nearly two decades; now work itself will prove to be another matter for some time but that market was contracting before this shit hit -- kinda glad I'm almost 60 and started down this path while it was still viable as I doubt anyone is doing it now. No effect on me but support your local newspaper and independent bookseller as you do your restaurants and other merchants. It's not the time of year when I have a lot of work travel though we've lost a few fun/family weekend things; well worth the tradeoff not going.

My wife continues at city hall and instituted locked doors and an appointment-required, truly essential-needs-only policy a few weeks ago. Also testing temps of everyone -- including council, first responders -- who does enter and having them swab down their hands. So far, so good. Emergency enactments from on high might get some employees taking the added leave allowance and going home. Some citizens still don't get it. The city isn't citing people but non-shuttered businesses that cannot be open are getting a visit from code. They're trying to avoid totally closing the parks but, again, some people just don't get it. One classification of employees is proving by far the most obstinate and self-demanding, and it's the one that usually is that way. They're working through it.

Far less congregating in the 'hood, with the big change being the knots of kids mostly breaking down into sibling groups. Maybe their parents figured out you can't have the school playground on home-stay.

I made one run earlier this week to the post office sending docs to our CPA. Spacing stripes are on the ground and the service windows are mostly covered with clear plastic. One idiot's kid sneezed on the transaction terminal and the putative adult didn't even blink. Thank you postal workers, grocers, the many farmers and the workers documented or not (and unprotected) keeping all of us fed, delivery people, and all the others who never get the kudos we so freely -- and properly -- bestow on public safety and the military. As one who just out of habit typically shopped daily I'm getting good with projecting and planning and haven't been out since Friday. I'll probably do a broad sweep tomorrow -- egg ranch, farmstand, grocer, bakery, brewery -- it's cool, you order online, pay in advance or via Venmo when you get there, pull up in the alley, text, and they bring it out -- and I'm debating whether I'll pick up my new bike. I've asked them to set it up off my current specs so no close-proximity fitting at this time. The state/feds reversed course and like gun shops, bike shops have been declared essential, and though the shop has a strict distancing/cleansing protocol, you still gotta take some pause and consider.

We aren't sick. We're not on a ventilator dying alone in a hospital bed. We have health coverage. We will always have a roof over our head. We're not rich but we planned fairly well so can ride out a very long storm. We are still making money. We have zero grounds for complaints.

I'm not religious but blessings of a humanitarian nature to all. Wash your hands. Stand apart. Listen to what the experts are telling you and when this passes we can get back to our paranoid and partisan ways.

 

My wife (whose picture is in the COVID-19 manual in the chapter "Underlying Conditions") had her bicep tendon repaired on March 11 and has had very little contact with the outside world since then. However, she is still fully employed and working from home. There is, like, a 13% chance we each were grazed by the virus in late-February, as she went to the ER with difficulty breathing and a fever, but they sent her home a few hours later without testing because she had no contact with anyone known with COVID-19. I then got what she got a couple of days later (but whatever bug we had, she had it worse than me).

Or, we each got something else and we're still both completely vulnerable to the virus.

I still worked at the office until last Friday (March 27) as I buy janitorial and sanitation supplies for a wholesaler. There are only 9 employees that work in our location, and I have an office on the second floor and there is only one other person with an office up there. Social distancing wasn't a problem and we all agreed to not enter anyone else's offices or workspace. Our company was really cool to us, as they let us buy cases of toilet paper at cost. I still have 2-1/2 cases.

Unfortunately, I was furloughed on Friday because we are in a Catch-22... most of our customers are closed until the isolation breaks, and the remaining customers have mostly hand sanitizer, anti-microbial soaps and various disinfectants on order and I can't get any delivered so we have nothing to ship. I was told that it would be 2-4 weeks, and I kept all of my personal stuff in my office.

This is actually not horrible, as now there is less chance for me to bring the bug home to my wife, and (frankly) state unemployment with the Federal unemployment booster that was just made law means that I will be making almost the same amount on unemployment than I would if I were working.

The worst part of all of this is that I am baking and cooking all of the time. It runs completely counter to my significant weight loss, but it is keeping me sane. I understand that weight will go back on, and I've made my wife promise me that I will be taking the weight off as soon as the hospital resumes the program and the gyms open. Right now I've got a flank steak marinating for dinner tonight, and I just finished up a batch of apple crumble for desert (substituting apple butter, because my wife bought the world's largest jar of it for a recipe in which she needed about 1/4 cup and I was tired of moving that jar around the refrigerator constantly).

I also have lots of time to write rambling posts on VMB. I was thinking of recreating more old trip reports, but my 2009 TR that I posted last week went over with a thud, so I might spend that time baking. I know we have some unsweetened chocolate and also some cocoa powder in the pantry....

 

My best bud and his family were to be in Maui now. Seeing the writing on the wall a bit back they thought they'd go skiing ...

Good luck to you up there in Big Sky Country.

 

I had already put in my three weeks notice when this all went down so I pretty much was abe to leave about a week and a half early.

I had no plans of getting a job for a few months so pretty much the only thing that this has done is put a dent into my plans of playing around with reselling some stuff.

Was going to start hitting the gym too so that is out. Outside of that, the biggest change has been learning how to wipe with my hand seeing as I ran out of tp day one and have not had any since. Of course, had to cancel my spring holiday, was planning on Laughlin but we know thats out.

Busted out the old depression era recipes and have been eating that pretty much. I like t beat the system by doing that. Saves a lot of money and aggravation as well.

 

I really, really miss the NHL. The Flyers were playing so good. I think they could have had a deep run into the Playoffs. They have all of the right ingredients. I think they could have been this year's Blues.

It's warm enough now to start doing the outside work and get the garden ready. The Amish have the best plants for sale so I have to go and see what they have. I'm only doing peppers this year, Bell, Jalapeno, and Poblano.

I'm staying in touch with my lunch and fishing buddy. I guess fishing should be okay.

Call a friend or a relative just to say hi. It will make you both feel good and is an easy to check on people like me who are going through this on our own.

I'm thinking about starting the hallmark of being old, jigsaw Puzzles.

I have to start conserving my stash. I'm not sure when or if I can resupply. You lucky S.O.B.'s who live in legal states!

Watching movies and streaming teevee.

Good luck everybody. We are living thro

 

Still working. I am a superintendent for a large medical construction company. A month ago we had about 30 projects going in the N.Y., NJ and PA area. Now we only have 8 left running and I am running two of them in South Jersey.

Not exactly a great time to be working in hospitals but some of the hospitals are pushing to get current projects completed.

Currently myself and all family members are healthy. Things are expected to get much worse in the next 2-3 weeks in South Jersey where most of the family lives so keeping my fingers crossed.

Pretty much taking it one day at a time like everyone else.

 

We are Ok. The Tuesday before this all broke I got the taxes done and accepted by the govt, went to the book store and found a stack of books I wanted to read, got a pile of groceries and we ate out at one of our favorite restaurant. That pretty much was it for normalcy.

Since then, we have been able to get groceries and drug store items, but have stayed home otherwise. We have money, a roof over our heads, food and each other. We are in our 70s but have enjoyed good health.....so the fates have been good to us. We laugh that with all the money we are saving from staying home we will have a major bust out trip to LV....not that we don't usually have that type of trip....but it is good to think about the good things in our future.

Be well friends

 

Right now I have some kind of stomach flu and am visiting the bathroom quite often. Due to people hoarding TP out of fear and selfishness, I will run out of TP soon. Thank you, fellow humans.

Every day I feel for those who lost their jobs and are staying at home with their families worrying about when this will all end. I am in the same boat but I retired last year so I don't have to worry where the next paycheck will come from. I fill my time here on VMB, I clean the yard, do some simple exercises, cook dinner every day, and try to keep up with the news of the virus and decipher what is fact and what is just pure BS or hype.

My wife is still working. She works in the office of a medium sized Electrical Contractor. I worry like hell for her and constantly remind her to stay safe and sanitized as she does her work. I silently pray for her safety and the safety of my children and grandchildren.

My Mother-in-law lives alone in a gated retirement community only a few minutes from where I live. My wife visits with her daily after work before coming home. Yesterday my wife found out that a neighbor that lives across my MIL's apartment has to go into quarantine because her caregiver tested positive. The maintenance crew of that retirement community were busy scrubbing down the community laundromat and common areas.

So close to home.

My youngest daughter still lives at home with us and she is a teacher. She conducts classes and reaches out to other teachers via internet like everyone else. She tells me when to be quiet so she can do her conference calls and whatnot. Listening to her conduct her business on-line makes me so proud of her.

Yesterday I watched "The Seven Samurai". It was 3 hours long. Good. Hope they put on other good movies that are long to pass the time.

 

The one health-care project I'm involved with is on indefinite hold, as they wish to steer all resources toward the immediate issue, as in providing relief beds and staff as needed.

 

Still working, I'm a drywall contractor here in the Sunshine State, SAH order from the Governor came yesterday and goes into full effect tonight at midnight, but our industry is considered essential.

Also shutting down construction in Florida would be apocalyptic economically speaking. Don't think Florida would survive a tourist AND building shutdown

Wife works for a bodybuilding supplement company that has had a significant decrease in sales as every gym on the planet is closed. So her hours have been slashed to nothing, but she is still thankfully working.

Bought a cornhole set and have been playing that on the tennis courts and walking the neighborhood a lot.

This shit has gotten people outside and moving again, that's for sure.

Everyday down here now looks like a Saturday with joggers, bikers, walkers, skate boarders, even rollerbladers all over the place all day long.

What a time to be alive!

 

As is said in the other thread, I am still going to the office a couple hours a day to take care of things,but mostly working from the man cave. I have not let a single person into the office in over two weeks. I have a drop box for documents,etc.

On the other hand my wife is also working the front lines at the local Walmart Pharmacy and has requested a 3 week furlough as they are not providing safe distance spacing and plexi-glass shields like most other stores that are still open.
She has asthma and is of risk. I told her to tell them if HR doesn't act soon, to take their job and shove it.

She keeps busy cleaning the house to the last square inch, but she is not allowed to mess with the cave and not allowed to even go in my shop, lest she tries to organize it. I wouldn't know where to find things as I need them.

I keep busy doing my intarsia, have two big orders to fill and also fiddling with making a few of these squirrel picnic tables.


Just used the picture as a guide. I have lots of scrap wood I can use up.

 

My husband has been retired for the past ten plus years. I have a very part time job (12 hours per week) that I have kept due to I love the social interaction of my two coworkers that I have worked with for 30 years. Our office is considered “essential” and my coworkers have been able to work from home. I have reduced my hours in the office to about eight hours a week to check the mail, messages, etc. I am comfortable going in our building as it is now locked to the public with no one in sight.

As far as our social life, sad but it hasn’t changed that much. My husband has dementia so we really didn’t socialize. The saddest change for us is my MIL is in an assisted living facility. My husband and I used to visit her nightly to help ease her loneliness. Last week was her 95th birthday so fortunately we were able to arrange with staff to FaceTime her.

We have great neighbors so during the day lots of chats across driveways. Each morning we set a task of cleaning out a closet, drawer, etc. The doodle is happy as she and I are getting mega walks in.

My daughter is a respiratory therapist at our local hospital. So far she hasn’t had any contact with the virus. She is a single parent of a nine year old that very possibly could end up staying with me and hubby for a bit.

All in all, we are managing. However, my heart just breaks for our small businesses that are struggling, the self employed folks that are no longer working and barely making it from paycheck to paycheck, etc.

This virus is just unsettling with changes in our life occurring daily and not knowing how this will change our world long term.

 

We live on 10 acres and I mow about 3 here and there. Mostly walkways between the tees and greens are through the trees and rocks so we can get back and forth without a visit from Mr Chigger or his rattle buddy snake. So I golf. One hole is 127 yards but mostly in the 88-95 yd range. I hunt balls which are suspiciously inaccurate in their attempts to escape a good whacking.
The garden is ready; just need some warm weather (say that seldom in Texas). Little house projects await a little motivation but there’s a list.
Being amazon prime (not me) books are available on the kindle (remember those?) so I’ve been reading some interesting things and partial parts of some really awful crap.
Wife ordered 50 lbs of unbromated(?) flour (smallest available size) and cooking is in the future or rather baking. Life has certainly slowed down.
we have two cats that are insiders but do like going out and goof off. Problem is they have no compass skills and get lost unless you supervise. Like raising kids but they do come when called—-unless they’ve snared a garden snake, mouse, rabbit, cricket or butterfly. Grasshopper season opens about mid May so that’ll be fun. Obviously I am further delusional than normal.
Golf course (the real deal) is closed although they may open to members only but we’re all old and itchin’ to get out and the wives aren’t so joyous about it and everyone is aware of that battle’s winner.
So here I sit waiting to go out for a quick nine before the rain.
One valuable lesson learned (or confirmed) is satellite television isn’t worth much with all the cancellations and no sports. But life is worth living so we just sit and breathe. And eat and get fat.
Wife turns sixty in July so she enters the dangerous age with this covid thing. You could perform surgery in our kitchen though with all the disinfectant layered on everything.

Uh oh. I was just informed this would be a good time to get the taxes out of the way. With a 3 month window to make corrections. List just went to page 2.
Be safe and keep your head down. 200,000. Jeeze
Don’t be a statistic!!

 

I was laid off while on vacation. I’m a limo driver in NJ. We service the NYC metro area. My last day of work was March 11th. The previous week was slow, a memo was sent out that hours need to be cut to keep everyone working. The following week was supposed to be in Vegas for March madness, but of course I had to cancel. I decided to just make it a staycation, since I knew I’d get less hours if I actually worked. Well on the 19th got a call from the boss saying I along with 95% of the company is laid off. If the company wasn’t in the middle of being sold, I would probably get my job back when things return to normal, but with a new company my boss has no idea what they will do. The following week the branch office I worked out of was shut down, the boss and his assistant were both laid off too. I was very lucky that NJ seems to be quick with unemployment, as I got my first 2 weeks this past Tuesday. I’m fortunate that with unemployment and my wife has a job that’s considered essential, at least for now, we won’t fall behind on bills. My wife has been working from home, but had to go in today for some things that had to be done in person. 2 people tested positive for Covid19, so after deep cleaning the areas where they worked they are letting people back in, they are giving out masks to everyone, and it’s mandatory to wear it. Other than that and cabin fever we are doing ok. It’s now exciting to go grocery shopping lol. The minute they open Vegas, I’m booking a same or next day flight, having some fun, then serious job hunting. I’m hoping that the new company brings everyone back, it makes sense. Why hire and train new drivers, when they have access to experienced drivers. Time will tell. This is a great topic btw.

 

I took an early retirement at 63 last year, after spending my entire career as a chemist. Although, I'm glad that I'm out of the work force considering what's happening now. I have my condo all to myself during this "stay at home" order that we're all under, since I'm not married and don't have any kids. It's also nice having a private balcony to go out on whenever I want some fresh air, since I can sit out there with my iPad and relax especially when the weather is nice. So far, no one in our condo building is sick, so that's good news. We're in a mid-rise condo building with a few store fronts, so there are 35 units in total.

Chicago also implement a stricter stay at home order, so the police can fine/arrest people who don't comply with distancing and keep gathering in groups. Although, we can still go out to buy essentials and go outside for a walk as long we practice distancing and not gather in groups. I've only been venturing out about once/week or so when I have to replenish my groceries and to drive the car around for awhile to keep the battery charged. Needless to say, it's still difficult finding some essential supplies (disinfectant sprays/wipes, facemasks, Tylenol, etc), since they disappear as soon as they're put on the shelves even when the stores set limits. I still have a decent supply of most items at home, but should they decide to tell everyone to wear a facemask when out in public, I'm completely out of stock at present.

Being more of an introvert, I've always liked my alone time, so I'm probably getting through this stay at home order better than a lot of folks. Anyways, I've been keeping busy watch TV/movies, playing guitar, surfing the internet, playing some computer games, and spending way more time than usual on VMB and other boards.