The nursing home where Mom now resides is not allowing visitors due to a confirmed case of Covid. That condition went into effect Thursday and will hold for 10-to-14 days provided no new cases are found.
On Saturday Southern Belle, my oldest daughter, informed Mrs ERJ that she had a case of the sniffles and suddenly lost her sense of smell. A few hours later her husband also lost his sense of taste and smell.
Kubota just got sent home from work. They require a negative Covid test before he can return to work. Kubota lives paycheck-to-paycheck and the loss of a single day's pay bites deeply. Losing a week while waiting for the test results will bite far worse.
As an aside, I was in a big-box store and was floored by the cost of new electrical wiring.
On the plus side
Mrs ERJ still seems to be fond of me.
Belladonna is chugging through her program. She will be unhappy if Kubota tests positive because that will get her tossed or into remote learning mode.
The weather is clement
We have food in the pantry and enough standing forage for sixteen weeks of feeding the calves. Sprite, my neighbor has even more forage. I am going to see how few weeks of the winter I need to feed hay.
Pumpkins and squash are about as ripe as they are going to get.
Potatoes are patiently waiting in the ground, waiting to be dug.
We have a decent crop of tree fruit and a bumper crop of black walnuts.
I have 75 peach pits and 105 plum pits to plant this spring. One thing you can say about planting fruit trees is that it gives you something to look forward to.
All of our vehicles are working.
The exercise is working. I feel stronger and more agile.
For the first time in my life I have TWO reloading setups, side-by-side. One is dedicated to long-gun cartridges and the other to smaller cartridges.
It's going to get worse but it sounds like you are going to do OK. As for electrical parts I went to three stores here last week looking for some and the price wasn't up ...they didn't have any. And one told me they were told next year at the soonest. It looks like if you don't have what you are going to need you might not ever get it. ---ken
ReplyDeleteAs to electrical wiring...sounds like in some parts of the country you are lucky if you can find what you need. MY Brother-in-law and his sons are electricians . They do homes to schools-hospitals. They spend almost as much time trying to source what they need as they do installing it . Luckily B-I-L has about 40 years experience and knows where to look and who to ask. He mentioned someone just starting out would find it all but impossible to even get a job done. It has been that way for at least 9 months now. As to rising prices I bet you know that the price of Lumber has more than doubled. I just dont get it. Unlike Microchips trees are NOT made in China and I doubt all electrical equipment is either ( maybe I am wrong about the electrical).
ReplyDeleteAround here, electrical is widely available but prices are up substantially, 12 gauge Romex is $160, up from $70 2 years ago but down from $250 a few months ago.
DeleteActually, you'd be surprised how much of our lumber comes from China or elsewhere overseas and processed in China. The problems with overseas shipping have snarled up that too, plus mill staffing trouble in the Northwest and Biden's shutting down new timbering on federal lands.
8' 2-by-4s are down to about $3.
DeleteAround here the price of timber hasn't gone up. But by the time they cut it, haul it, mill it into boards and truck it to the lumber yards that is where the added cost of each step has kicked in. My neighbor hauls logs from the woods to the mill and his truck engine crapped and it cost him $49,000.00 and a three week wait to get a new one put in.
DeleteDon't test, don't ask, don't tell.
ReplyDeleteIs the COVID test results required to be doctor administrated or would a store bought test kit result do the trick ? I know that Wal-Greens sells COVID quick test kits for +/- $28 (BinaxNOW ?).
ReplyDeleteCould the employer be convinced to split the cost of the kit with Kubota to determine his status ? It isn't Kubota's fault a coworker came down with it - why should Kubota pay for the employer's test result ?
https://www.michigan.gov/documents/coronavirus/BinaxNOW_FAQ_706167_7.pdf
ReplyDeleteThat link might help K find a rapid test in Michigan. Waiting a week for results is crazy.
Concur a week is ridiculous. Same day is available in most places. And the home tests give results in 15 minutes and a confirming email.
ReplyDeleteLast time I had one it took 2-1/2 days for a result at the government run center. I would think you could go private and get it faster.
ReplyDelete"We have a decent crop of tree fruit and a bumper crop of black walnuts."
ReplyDeleteGlad somebody does. This is the second year in a row that my black walnut trees produced almost nothing. Late freezes both years. Lucky for the squirrels that I feed them and the birds. Fattest squirrels in the neighborhood.