Random 3 for January 2, 2022 – Macho, fires, supply chain

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Just a short one today! Hope you all had a good holiday weekend.

Masking up again – Our area has a high vaccination rate but our cases are increasing. People seem to be taking this round seriously (which floored me). More people are wearing masks than I’ve seen in a long time. I’m used to seeing them at the regular stores and grocery stores but I had to make a trip to a big box hardware store. That’s the home of “the macho.” “Them there folk” don’t need anything to survive but their bare hands and camo (perhaps some weapons would be helpful). Dang, 90% had masks on. Is humanity changing? Could this be a reboot? A recalibration? I doubt it. People be weird. They will go back to killing their neighbor because he took their parking space. You can tell by reading history.

House fires – There was a tragic house fire locally killing over half of a young family. News reports say the smoke detectors weren’t working and it was a fast moving fire caused by a Christmas tree. I make no judgement. I’ve had those doggone things go off at 3 a.m. (that’s the only time they go off) without a fire and there was no way to turn them off. A piercing wail can drive you do to things like rip them out and toss on the lawn (a friend told me that). My heart goes out to the family and I wish alarm makers would spruce up their products so they were easier, working when needed without 3 a.m. malfunctions. That would encourage everyone to use them all the time.

Speaking of weird – On-line retailer Chewy delivers my cat supplies. I have them on auto so once a month they deliver boxes I can barely lift with food, treats and litter. I try to keep what I need on hand. I’ve been trying to cut back on the container size for the dry food. I underestimated and this week we ran out. I have four sets of eyes to face if that happens. Well not really four sets as Gracie and Morgan together make a set of eyes but you know what I mean. I made a stop at the grocery store. Yikes! I was able to pick up their dry food but the wet food shelves were empty with a sign. The sign talked about supply chain issues. ‘Splain that to my cats. Chewy had already shipped my January supply or I would have added a cushion. Now I’m worried. No cat food is worse than no toilet paper. Interesting note — prior to 2020 the phrase “supply chain” was not a common word for the average person.

So how was your week?

62 thoughts on “Random 3 for January 2, 2022 – Macho, fires, supply chain”

  1. Boy, I know what you mean about the smoke alarms! We had one really high up on the ceiling that went off every other minute. We finally took it down as we have them all over the house within easy (stand on a chair, not a ladder) reach. I still feel a little weird about it, but our electrician advised us we are still well within code, so fair enough. Masks come and go here too. Some weeks we go in the grocery store and there are none to be seen, other places everyone has one.

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  4. We just had a tragic house fire this afternoon in Detroit and it seems to me that there is one nearly every day and often lives are lost but here more like faulty space heaters. We have had a lot of wrong-way drivers and this is not after 2:00 p.m. when the bars close and people are driving drunk. We had one this afternoon and ALWAYS the driver who drives the wrong way lives … in this case, it was a head-on crash, a couple was killed on impact and a child in the backseat left in critical condition. Itwas a sad news afternoon for sure. We had a shortage of tinned cat food here in Michigan back in early Fall and I kept hearing it on the news that it was because the manufacturers weren’t making as many cans, so to substitute for similar moist products in pouches – I guess the news people assume that cats will like any brand? I smiled at your “four pair of eyes” (but maybe with an asterisk).

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    • We get the occasional faulty space heater but that’s rare and usually in center city rentals. Most are either electrical or kitchen. Cats are a little nervous. Chewy delivery due today or tomorrow. Cats are sitting in windows watching!

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      • Well they are scoping out the UPS guy. There was a fun video a while back of a UPS driver who made friends with all the dogs on his route and he’d honk the horn and the homeowner would open the door and let the dog run to the truck. It was a small town as I recall.

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  5. You’re so right that up until this year most of us never thought in terms of interrupted supply chains, and we presumed we’d never deal with the kind of shortages we are all experiencing. Fortunately, Chewy delivers quickly. Otherwise, you could have a true problem on your hands. 🙂

    Tragic story about the fire! It makes me sad and almost sick to think about it. I see Nancy’s comment about Colorado and your family’s proximity to that disaster, and I’m thankful they’re safe and what a kindness they’re giving to a family who has lost it all. Sometimes the word “tragic” is just inadequate. 😦

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    • The family was one of their friends. They started checking on all their friends who lived in the Boulder area. This family had to evacuate. I haven’t heard if they lost their house. It was so fast moving but then again you know a lot about fires.

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  6. The Chewy boxes are always so heavy. I have to open them outside and bring things inside one by one. It’s especially annoying when they drop it right in the sun in August when it’s 115 degrees out :/.
    Are people wearing cloth masks or real masks? Somebody told me that they think cloth masks don’t work at all for omicron.

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  7. Smoke alarms. Always at night or when least expected. We try to keep our in good order, but still worry if leaving the house and what if one goes off when we aren’t here. Molly must have had prior experience with them in her earlier homes – total panic – runs to back door frantically trying to get out – and would probably go through glass if not intercepted.
    Right now we have 2 bags of Molly food in the extra room. There are shortages. Chewy’s built a warehouse somewhere near or a state nearby and so far shipments are coming. Fingers crossed.
    It is odd – we have a similar lifestyle rarely going out around big crowds/stores. No longer are we the only ones wearing mask – but still many aren’t. Also fingers crossed this mild variant is a sign the whole pandemic is on the downside. Fingers crossed!!!

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    • Chew due today or tomorrow. I have enough wet food for another two weeks but after that who knows that the cats would do. Perhaps eat something they don’t normally? No, no…cats are too stubborn for that. Only a feral will eat anything. Not the pampered darlings living in my house. I can relate to Molly. I want to run through glass. I wish we could adjust the sound. It’s a few feet from the bed. I don’t need a siren heard in the next state.

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  10. So sad about that family. I’m with you on the fire alarms. It’s one of my worst nightmare for one of those to go off and I can’t figure out how to stop it. YES! Why can’t they make something that works for us?

    Unfortunately, our holiday plans fell through. My daughter on the other coast decided not to come because my grandson had a serious sprained ankle and had to be fitted with a boot and crutches and then on Christmas we had seriously cold weather and lots of snow which made us snowbound for more than a week since the usually moderate NW has hills everywhere and few snowplows. It’s a good thing my daughter and her family didn’t come with all the flights that were cancelled.

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  11. What sad news about the house fire. I agree with you about those darn alarms… always at 3 am. I was surprised to see so many people walking along the bay this morning with masks on. I always wear mine inside but have gotten out of the habit outside, especially when I’m exercising. But, it’s good to see people taking this seriously.

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  12. How sad about the fire. I had to stop buying the big container of Temptations from Chewy because it always came crushed. They would refund it, but it seemed like a waste of time and effort. When my hubby isn’t home, I have had to open the box outside and bring it inside in 2 trips. I hope you, your hubby and kitties all have a happy and healthy new year!

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  13. The masks are back here, too. Nothing different for me, I still had a mask on whenever I shopped or went someplace public. A friend and I auto-ship from Chewy’s. In the last shipment, they were out of the litter pads my friend uses. She had to wait 3 weeks. Fortunately, she always has more than she needs, just in case something like supply chain shortages happen.

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  14. I’m wondering if enough of the idiots have had sick family members now (or caught COVID themselves) that they’ve finally realised Fox is full of sh*t. I see Ms Taylor Green was banned from Twitter today – at last.

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    • We don’t go out a lot. Just the necessities like groceries and with a new house, the big box house stores but not often. We did one concert during the summer inside. Everyone had to show proof of vaccination and wear a mask. On top of that we and our two friends were the only ones in the row. No one near us. Fortunately we are retired so we don’t need to go to work. I’d like it to peak and get it over with soon too! Sigh!

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  18. As long as there’s dog food in the house, I’m (as well as the dogs) are happy. When levels get low or heaven forbid…out, life becomes untenable. With the panDAMNic and lack of mask wearing I’d rather set my hair on fire than buy food in a store. Chewy deliveries make life so much easier by leaving it on the porch. Schlepping a 60 lb. box inside is always entertaining for passersby but at least it’s easier than trying to haul any voluminous bag into and out of the back of the car and then trying drag it into the house. Oye my aching back!

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  19. Sad news about the family Kate. We have two smoke alarms here and now two carbon monoxide alarms since getting a gas hob. All of them are tested every couple of months, especially as we only have the one door here so getting out of the house in the middle of the night could prove ‘interesting’. At least all windows open the full 90 degrees and we live in a bungalow.
    The week was good……… puppy fixes (but no new pup for us yet), and weight loss for me. Yay!!
    Hope there is no crisis for the cats with the supply chain.

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  20. Horrible about those 🔥 fires. I can’t imagine!

    Numbers are going back up some for us too but still barely anyone wears masks. The store employees do but customers wearing them is a minority.

    Oh dear, hope the cats don’t hurry and fill your position. Hopefully you can find some cat food, and yes, supply chain shortage is a new term that I hope goes away!

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  21. Chewy is often out of Ted’s wet food so I don’t do the auto ship thing – HOWEVER, I can get his food at PETCO and they deliver quickly like Chewy and have auto-ship too…..At least I have a “backup” when Chewy is out. “Supply Chain” – indeed it’s the new and appropriate excuse for not having a lot of the stuff we usually see in the stores. Masks – we’re back to wearing them just about everywhere around here too for the same reason – cases up. Sigh.

    Hugs, Pam

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    • Oh no! Does Teddy get something special? We have been lucky so far. Only once we had a slight delay but it was a few days and didn’t impact anything. We’re wearing masks too. Don’t want to get sick even if it’s not a full flown version.

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    • I may do a mid-month order or an extra case or two just to be safe. I didn’t even check if Chewy was out of anything but I didn’t get an email saying they were. The local store had nothing made by Friskies, Fancy Feast, Purina wet.

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  23. Spouse removed smoke alarm from the kitchen because he set it off so many times. Yesterday he set off the one in our bedroom when he flambeed (e.g. burned) the apples for crepes. It only beeped three quick times, like it was saying, “I don’t think this is a real fire, but heads up, maybe?”

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