Random 5 for March 15 – The Ides, pond, weird, still weird, housebound

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My de-icer with a few of the fish swarming. Sometimes it’s all orange with fish!

The Ides of March – Today is that day. Beware Julius Caesar! I feel the terror. Times be weird. Note to self: Check under togas for daggers. #dontgoout! #toopeopley

Spring came early – I still have my winter de-icer in the pond. It heats just a small area so the pond doesn’t freeze over and the gases can exchange. Keeps my fish alive. It’s a warm spot. The fish are out of their sluggish hibernation and hanging around this “spa spot.” So cute. The daffodils are also blooming. It’s all early but I’m not complaining! Something good has to offset the crazy. #pondlifeisgood

Odd things I saw – (I should make this a weekly thing because…well…people be weird and right now they are weirder than ever. I’ll try not to judge but no promises.) I was in Starbucks this week getting my fix to stave off the weirdness. My phone had died so I had to stand in line like the peasants. *bangs head on table* There were only two customers in front of me. One was a couple in their 20s. They both had on oddly fashioned face masks and winter knit gloves. They had difficulty ordering through the mask so it took forever. I wondered what the gloves were about. Knit has no barrier. Latex would have been much safer. The masks had side gaps so how effective is that? Why would anyone dress like that (at this point there are no cases in our area)? Perhaps they have an autoimmune disorder or live with an elderly grandparent. In that case why not use the drive-through. The clincher came when despite all their precautions, they used dirty money to pay. (All money is dirty! Have you ever seen people lick their fingers when they count it?) Inserting a chip card in a machine requires no touching. #whathappenedtocommonsense?

So I thought that was odd – Early this morning I went to the grocery store to pick up a couple of items. It was mobbed at 7 a.m. Many items were sold out. In the checkout I was behind an older man with knit gloves. What’s with the knit gloves? Am I missing something? He was very pleasant and insisted that I go ahead of him although he only had one more item than me. Maybe he thought I was “germy.”  Whatev! #worksforme #iusehandsanitizer

Housebound – Our governor has closed schools for at least two weeks. He also asked that unnecessary public places close or restrict their hours. He is even closing the state owned liquor stores! Yikes! As I listen to people, I’m not sure they understand the concept of social distancing. Some are using this “vacation” as a time to “do stuff.” People can’t stand to stay home. Are they not comfortable with themselves? Or are they neurotic “doers.” When I get cabin fever, I walk. It’s not very social but I just love my own company. Never had an argument although the discussions get lively! #myownbestfriend #catsmakemoresense

So how was your week?

95 thoughts on “Random 5 for March 15 – The Ides, pond, weird, still weird, housebound”

  1. The daffodils are making me happy, too, Kate. A symbol of hope. Re: money, some places in our city are refusing to take cash. I am with you on #myownbestfriend. Lots around here ‘people be weird’. I heard how a lady in our Costco began non stop screaming, lost it. I plan to err on sanity, at least for now.

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  3. Hang in there, Kate. All signs are that more restrictions will be coming. Over here, we are now pretty sure this hunkering at home is going to last a lot longer than originally proposed. We’ll see if the US starts following the examples of other countries and end up in full lockdown. For your sake, I hope Starbucks will be able to keep serving coffee for the duration.

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    • The governor has closed all non-essential businesses including gyms, malls, entertainment places and restaurants (except for curbside takeout). Starbucks is take out only or drive-through. No tables or chairs (or milk or sugar unless you ask). It’s for the next 2 weeks, then we’ll see where we are. I’m wondering if the homicide rate will go up.

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  4. ooooo I like your writing!
    I came over because I left a comment on Da Phenny’s blog after yours. What a rabbit hole the internet is! So where are you that they shut down completely? We are in Colorado now and gathering places are shut down but luckily we are still allowed walks with the dog so far. DH must go to work and grocery. Gloves… they probably feel something is better than nothing and the virus can’t be seen. I prefer that type to the idiots around me that say it’s all a hoax, continue to travel, and endanger the rest of us. LeeAnna at not afraid of color
    btw, my blog is about living the artistic life, so one day a week is for fiction, one for painting, one for sewing art, and on Thurs we write random things we liked that week.

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    • We are in Pennsylvania. As of midnight non-essential businesses were to close (gyms, bars, eat-in places, salons, entertainment places, etc.). Restaurants only have take-out. My step-daughters are in Denver and they told us things were closed there too. I’m still walking although not at the mall. Picked up a Starbucks this morning (take-out only) so I’ve tried to keep some semblance of a routine although everything else is out. Fortunately we did our grocery shopping last week so we are good. Washing your hands or using sanitizer in a pinch is better than knit gloves. Then again, we do what makes us feel safe. Stay safe.

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  5. The knit gloves…come on now. Think about it. People are getting stranger by the day. The restrictions and closings are n the early stages. People don’t have the temperment to maintain this for a couple of months.

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  7. I’ll admit to being just a little entertained watching the neurotic busy-ness junkies forced to not be busy. I’m comfortable by myself and as such this isn’t changing my lifestyle much, but those people who are always on the go are finally getting a glimpse into a mellower way of life. I don’t think they like it. 😏

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    • So true. It’s harder for the extroverts. Except for the grocery shopping with all those germy people (even if I go at 7 a.m.) little has changed. I’m still walking (just walking, no touchy) at the mall but I can go outside especially if we have a good week weather-wise. I don’t have any large group plans for the next several weeks which I would cancel anyway.

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  8. The truth is my life has changed very little. A few events I had planned to attend have been cancelled, but I’ve happily avoided all the crazy shopping madness.

    Right now my biggest concern are 2 friends who are still out of the country. One is currently stranded in Spain and trying to get out. The other is even more alarming. She went ‘radio-silent’ about 5 days ago after arriving in Fiji. I am very worried about her. It is not like her to not respond to messages. I keep my fingers crossed that all in well 😦

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    • I don’t know if hibernate is the right word as it’s not a sleep. They get sluggish and their metabolism slows so they don’t need much food. They hang at the bottom of the pond until the water warms up a little. I have underwater plants. Usually during the winter they eat it all but this winter they did not. Lots of greens under there. There are very active now during the day.

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  10. My week has been good, thanks. Louis Catorze is getting better, which is excellent news. He is still driving us mad with his naughtiness, though, which is rather less good.

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  11. Lots of things are shut down here too! And you are right that people aren’t really using their common sense to decide what to panic about. Your fish are so cheerful and bright – thanks for sharing your pic of them in their spa!

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  12. I can’t get over that your daffodils are already blooming. My crocus’ and tulips are sprouting out of the dirt, but not grown yet. It’s been warm here, too, but Saturday we got a dusting of snow, which melted right away.

    Everything is closing here, too. Our governor is forcing independently owned restaurants to close as well, including chains. I thought of you when they said Starbucks will be closed. Good news is, all drive through windows will be open. Can’t imagine how long those lines will be. I don’t know what the difference is. People will still be handling their food and the dirty money you mentioned. 🤷‍♀️ You’re right, times be weird.

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    • My Starbucks converted to a grab and go. You can pre-order and pick up. You can also order inside. No tables or chairs to linger. Making it drive-through only would make me rethink it as the lines would get long although there wasn’t much traffic out. The daffodils are tete-a-tete. They are miniatures that bloom earlier than the standard daffs.

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  13. I like my own company too and since I work from home and have no family, I only have to “de-germ” myself if I go out. Going on a few errands tomorrow and will hunker here to myself and not mix and mingle, but still walk. Italy said no walking/running or playing in parks – well the whole country is on lockdown for goodness sake. I am stocked up as I buy pantry and paper products for all Winter in October, but because they’ll run out, I was going to go tomorrow … figured a weekday would be good. My friend sent me pictures of the store shelves (we go to the same grocery store – Meijer) and said they were out of everything. Just unreal what is going on right now … I don’t get that people cannot self-entertain and must go out anyway. You know some people will know they are contagious and just like going out with a humdinger of a cold because “I got it and feel miserable – so do I care how the rest of the world is – make them miserable too.”

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    • Since I’m retired, my conditions are a lot like yours. I don’t have to go to work and can postpone or avoid most other things. We’ve picked up what we need and I had already stocked paper products. Someone told me that cat food is selling out. I just got a delivery last week so I’m good for a month. I’m trying not to react because that would make me a hoarder too. Don’t know how I’d explain to the cats that their favorite food is gone.

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      • I ran a couple of errands this morning before our crisis spins out of control anymore. I need to go to get allergy shots once/month, and went early and got gasoline, but my friend Ann Marie went to the grocery store four times over the weekend to find bare shelves – a patient at the doctor’s office said she was at Meijer, and all they had was bread that was being delivered. Amazing. I am set for at least a month as I buy pantry products in the Fall as I don’t like going out in the ice and snow. When I had my canaries, I always had enough food and treats for them to get through the Winter and into Spring. And there was favorite canary food and treats too and Petco never kept more than three or four bags at a time. Our PetSmart was always out of canary food and Chewy was not around yet.

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  17. Two people I know, both who should know better have me shaking my head – one, a retired church minister insisted of taking his spring trip to Spain and is planning to break curfew – he figures he’s well within his rights to hunt for minerals, so help him God!

    Another, a college prof, was out shopping yesterday when I ran into him – I haven’t seen him for about a year, so we stopped to gab. Of course, the conversation turned to CV – he was “self-isolating” he said. He was at the *same conference in Toronto where a known case had contaminated a man – a man who lives not far from us.* The prof obviously has a curious understanding of the words “self-isolating.” So help me God!

    Take care, Kate.

    And watch out for shortages of pet food. People are hoarding/reselling it here in Ontario.

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  19. I like your fish hanging around the “spa spot.” And yes, I will look for daggers under togas.

    I also had a good week. I’m just fine with staying at home. I also like my own company. This week (because I’ve had a fever for 10 days) I tried out the order groceries at home and pickup from my neighborhood QFC. I just parked and called, and someone came out and put my groceries in my trunk. Only complaint: Either they couldn’t find my favorite creamer, nutpods, or it was out of stock. Oh, well. I’ll have to improvise.

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  20. Its interesting to witness what comes up for us and with others. Its definitely a time of mixed emotion and lots of fear. We humans don’t do well when we don’t feel in control and there’s a big scary monster at our door.
    We are catching up with housed things and will start on the garden next week, weather permitting! I’m also posting yoga classes on line as studios and gyms are closed.
    Take good care Kate 💕

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  21. I am so happy that I LOVE to walk, especially outdoors, with a dash of music or a good podcast. It can do a mind and body good to escape the madness, if only for a brief time. I’m just trying to take it all one day at a time. It’s all so unnerving. Yesterday we were told that we will not be allowed to visit my mother until 3/31. Although she is 93, she is in an independent living facility. My mind knows it’s for her safety, my heart is another story.

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    • My brother-in-law is in a care facility with dementia. No visitors. His family is worried that there will be some decline and setbacks without the stimulation they provide. The staff will be too overwhelmed. My sis-in-law has crept through the bushes to communicate with him through his window. He probably doesn’t understand what’s happening but he smiles at her.

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  22. The world has gone more than slightly mad, an unintended consequence of our fear-centric based society. In the hard to believe category, there are reports here now that some people have begun to enter auxiliary entrances of hospitals with larceny in their hearts (our hospital has closed all exits except the main entrance) because they are stealing toilet paper from restrooms and removing bags of hand sanitizer from outside patient rooms. 🤬

    Glad your fishies are enjoying spa days as spring moves closer to reality. Bulbs are blooming here, we’ve had days of upper 60’s though I expect there will a spring snow storm arriving any day now just to keep things interesting. Maybe it will help keep the overly self-entitled knuckle-dragging cretins inside and not wrecking havoc on resources stretched beyond capacity when it comes to regular sick people beyond the corona-virus casualties. Hope springs eternal.

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  23. Same here in Toronto, the grocery stores are crazy. I thought I’d get there early Friday to do my shopping, but it seemed that a hundred people or more had the same idea. I stood in line for an hour waiting to pay. It’s strange this weekend. I look out the window and I don’t see any neighbors. Schools are closed for three weeks and the same for major attractions. I keep turning on the news to see what else will be closing.

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  25. Our store was out of frozen veg this morning. They had lots of chocolates, beer and ice cream left. Are people getting their priorities right? Rumours here are that the over seventies will be told to self isolate for four months. I am worried. I am not sure I can go that long without killing my husband. I would miss my morning walks.

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  26. So funny about the Starbucks couple — the cash they used cracked me up. I actually haven’t seen anyone wearing a mask, yet anyway. We went to the grocery store very early this morning; while it wasn’t crowded yet, we were blown away at how empty the produce and meat/poultry offerings were. It’s more than just toilet paper and sanitizer now, I guess. My wife got the last whole chicken. To think we’re only at the beginning of this madness. – Marty

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  27. I had an email from one store, can’t remember which, saying they would no longer be accepting cash….but I wonder…those machines are okay if the tap works which it sometimes doesn’t, but you still have to enter your number and then you’re touching something everyone else has touched, gloves or not? Has anyone else thought about this? Maybe we should just all get free goods for the duration! Shelves were bare here even in my small town when I went for my weekly grocery run yesterday – no TP, potatoes, dishwasher soap and I may be forced to drink orange juice WITH pulp – oh the horror of it all…

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    • Where I shop, with a chip card, you don’t touch anything. There isn’t any signing either. It’s only the debit cards that require a pin. I haven’t had any issues with the tap unless I didn’t insert properly. I’d love to have oj with the pulp. The beloved husband likes it pulp-less so I’m stuck with that.

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  29. It seems our grocery stores like Publix and Harris Teeter don’t have the panic shoppers like Walmart and Costco has. Tomorrow, I’ll go to work as normal. I do expect to see a spike in domestic relation cases from all of the togetherness. And with the kids being out of school for the next two weeks, no doubt juvenile crimes, which are already high in our area, will spike as well. Fun times.

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  30. Ours is unfortunately not an economy/ culture that is built around “staying home.” Much like Italy, we’re going to wind up with swamped Emergency Rooms and not enough ventilators within the next two weeks, as we tear out our hair and moan with regret, “Why were we so selfish? Why didn’t we stay home?” There are far too many people still in bars and restaurants in NYC.

    The math doesn’t lie, and the math is very, very bad.

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  31. Supplies are stripped here, but I found it amusing that this included ice cream. The freezers were completely empty of it. We’re doing OK, or were, until last night when we had little choice and no restocking going on. Hopefully we will be able to restock some things tomorrow evening. We are already social distancing ourselves. I’m not happy about it, but being a holiday resort, you never know who has mixed with whom and where. Keep safe.

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  32. My grocery store was unusually busy very early on Friday morning as well. And I was surprised to see empty shelves and coolers where the store is usually so well stocked. Even bananas. You can’t stockpile bananas, people! I got my perishables (sans bananas) and left.

    Deb

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    • The produce this morning was full. Even the bananas were fully stocked which wasn’t the case during the week. You can’t stockpile bananas. I used the store sanitizer when I left. Yikes! I’m use non-scented stuff. This was really stinky perfumy sanitizer.

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  33. I thought we were in my little town “immune” to the grocery store madness but in spite of being there at my usual Sunday shopping time of 6AM the place was furiously being restocked. People actually running around stocking shelves – my “regular” checker said it was a mad house yesterday. They have TWO deliveries now until further notice of restocking items. WOW. Well, I did get everything I usually get on Sunday for the week but one thing and I KNEW THIS WOULD HAPPEN. They hadn’t restocked the TP aisle yet! Oh well……I’ll try again tomorrow. “Life as we know it” is no longer life as we know it……it’s even hit small town America (me).

    Heavy sigh……………Pam

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  34. I am figuring that this is a good time to rack up some steps on the Fitbit. We don’t have any pet sitting, so our own dogs will just have to walk some extra. And I’m really glad to have two foster kittens…hours of entertainment!

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