– in which Dorn covers old ground.
t’s funny how things have progressed for me and these Cower in Place blog posts. At first I was just stuck at home with more time on my hands to think of things to write about. Then as the pandemic situation got more dire, it was hard to feel anything was important enough to write about except if it related to the coronavirus.
Now the virus and our response, especially the physical distancing and the stay at home order, are ordinary enough that days can go by with no new shock on the news (the news is still awful all over the world, it’s just not as shocking any more), or new experience to internalize. In just a couple of weeks, where we are now has begun to feel normal.
Before I do anything else, let me say a big THANK YOU to those of you who have settled into a different new normal. People like my niece Ysa in the medical profession (as well as your relative working there, and you, maybe), whose old jobs never stopped when a new, exhausting and dangerous job was added on top. And people like my grandson Chris (and maybe yours) in technical professions, who are still out making sure equipment works, air conditioners are still functional, especially in hospitals and places where failures could be deadly, even though the job puts them at risk every day. And those who are helping just by staying at home, even at great cost to their own livelihood. You’re all heroes to me.
* * *
As part of the new normal, I took another trip to the store to pick up online-ordered groceries curbside (first trip here). This second curbside pickup felt to me like, well, like just a trip to the grocery store. The weirdness of packing gloves, masks sanitizers for a trip out, and the decontamination protocol upon returning, had already worn off.
This second time, Safeway had gotten much more efficient at the the whole online ordering thing. I got an email notifying me that my order was ready for pickup, and this time it included an inventory of everything I ordered, what they provided, what substitutions they had made, and what items were not available at all.
The parking at the store lot was light again, but not strikingly so. As I sat in the truck waiting for the guy to come out with the bags, I noticed that now about 1/4 of the people there were wearing face coverings of some kind. So that’s progress.
Almost all of the mask-wearers were older people. I don’t think this means that people were only wearing masks to protect themselves. I think older people, being more at risk, are simply more attuned to the epidemic, and more aware of the latest expert guidance coming out about how useful masks are. I fully expect younger or more oblivious shoppers to catch on to the mask fashion trend by the next time I go—peer pressure is a powerful thing!
We stay at home pretty much all the time except for a couple of exercise walks in the neighborhood, with Archie. We picked our walk times to minimize the chance of contact. This neighborhood is usually pretty quiet except on sunny summer days, and even with schools and many businesses being closed, there were still times when no one is about. On our walks lately, we cross paths with about one person per walk on average, and that person is always walking a dog of his or her own.
* * *
I don’t know how many people actually read my posts, but clearly Big Brother Zuckerberg and his robot army are reading it. Loyal readers (if any) will recall that I recently wrote (here) about the sub-genre of Norwegian pig jokes (I believe the etymological term for it is “Norcine”). I got an email yesterday from Pinterest, suggesting that if I logged in, I would find all kinds of Norwegian jokes there. I confess I did bite at the click-bait, and sure enough there were a bunch of items there that I will stipulate that someone considered to be Norwegian humor. I didn’t see any actual Norwegian pig jokes, but I did see a Norwegian physical distancing joke of sorts:
* * *
HOARD-O-METER:
Frozen green beans
Milk
Velveeta
Toilet paper
Coffee
Broccoli
Twizzlers
Green peppers
Well, that’s it! Let’s see if next time, the pandemic is such old news that it doesn’t even make it into the post.
Thanks,
Dorn
4/4/2020