The “Water Cooler” is a feature on Claycord.com where we ask you a question or provide a topic, and you talk about it.
The “Water Cooler” will be up Monday-Friday at noon.
Today’s question:
QUESTION: How are you doing with the shelter-at-home order? Is it hard for you to stay home? What are the biggest challenges you’re facing? How are your kids doing with all of this? (remember, we’ll all in this together).
Talk about it.
Not at all hard to stay home, have months worth of food and supplies.
Challenges, not that many. Waiting on warmer weather to transplant more vegetables. If you are planning a garden plant extra for neighbors.
Daughter staying away, as is Grandson and Great Grandson. Grandma has her crafts projects at her end of the house I’ve got my end, greenhouse and garden.
I miss going to the hardware store. I usually go once a week for one project or the other. We have neighbors that do shopping for us but I wouldn’t ask anyone to go to the hardware store when they offer to pick up things when they grocery shop.
My daily routine hasn’t really changed that much. Get up, go to the office, go home, eat, watch tv, go to sleep. Not too much of a problem there.
Weekends are tougher because I don’t go to Home Depot, Costco, etc. “just because”. Now everything must be planned or delayed. That creates fairly boring weekends.
The biggest challenge has been attempting to play peace maker between my wife and two teenage daughters. On line school sucks, so I hear all about that. My wife is stuck at home, so I get to hear all about that. Tempers are much shorter and snarky things get tossed around and then nobody is communicating with anyone else because “She’s is picking fights”. And I’m reluctantly stuck in the middle of three pissed off women.
But at least we still have our health!
God Bless everyone! Stay safe and stay sane.
And your trolling shows how you were raised, anon. I’m sure your parents are proud.
The troll is strong in you it is!
I watched the Tiger King and have been laughing for days. It has kept a lot of conversations going. If you haven’t seen it yet you definitely should !!!
I have watched a few episodes and have decided that anyone who raises big cats has S*** for brains. I can’t imagine why more have not been killed and eaten. Those cats are huge. The Tiger King himself is a piece of work for sure. Not sure if he is guilty or not.
You are so right Gladys… it is like that bad car wreck you just can’t stop looking at… HILLARIOUS!!!!!!!
Not much of a change more me either because I have worked at home for years. Main change is not being able to run out to get and thing or two I’ve run out of mainly because the store may have run out. I go for a walk in the neighborhood and people are fine sometimes joking about “6 feet” and laughing as they are about 20 feet off to the side. But it had better start warming up as I don’t see people putting up with this much longer.
So far I have no problem with it. Just a few scheduling tweeks is all. Beautiful Spring conditions outside, I can be here to see all the flowering things blooming, hear the birds singing, and the bees humming, I’ve got that to enjoy and appreciate and it’s not hot as bloody hell. I so often have to go away and miss this wonderful window of time. It could get old a little quicker if (or when) that happened. Since we’re dependant on a paycheck that’s suddenly stopped I’ll probably feel a little less carefree in a few more weeks. 😉 It’s still gotta be preferable to being sick and unsavable, since I’m probably considered an old person😦 and I broke a rib yesterday, I’d probably be one of the unlucky ones not worth saving in a ventilator shortage, so I’m good!!. .
Hoping you heal quickly, Silva! Did you climb up too high when you were pole dancing??? 🥴🙄🥴
Breaking a rib is painful. Only did it once and I had to sleep in a recliner chair for over a month. Don’t think a broken rib will keep you off a ventilator but coughing will not be cool. So keep separated.
Yikes Silva…but you never did answer Antler’s question. 🤔
Oh Silva! Darn!
Hope you heal soon and even if it hurts a bit,…some deep breaths to keep your lungs strong
Silva, hope ya feel better soon. Look up
using an elastic bandage wrap to limit
movement and pain. Like they say about
broken ribs- It only hurts when ya breathe.
(You can laugh in the future, not now).
Or like my wise old uncle use to say back
on the farm- “I bet that feels better when
it stops hurtin’!”
Ouch!
I’ll dedicate my next concert to you in hopes for a speedy recovery.
Silva, don’t wrap your chest with anything. Better, get an actual doctor or nurse’s home treatment instructions. Hope your okay. 🤕
Sorry to hear that Silva. That happened to my mother when I was about 13-14 years old. She slipped on grease in the kitchen. It was in the winter in Denmark, most didn’t have a car, so doctors made house calls, she had to wait for him for a few hours and was in a lot of pain, walked up and down the floor
You sound very casual about it, did you get some pain killers? Be careful and I hope you get well soon. When these things happened we realize the most important thing we have is our health.
Ha! Ow. Antler, for shame making me lol!!😂
Well now we know for sure Silva can’t fly, and all those Ballet lessons my poor mom paid for were for naught. I was on the kitchen sink counter hanging window blinds, I probably should’ve taken my socks off, and I really don’t remember exactly what happened but I think I was moving along gracefully when one foot got caught in the other pants leg and before I could even get out a one syllable bad word it was way too late for a save. I fell, or kind of flew forward off while turning in the air like a high diver, then my ribcage slammed into the edge of another counter and I bounced off into my ladder where I rebounded and my cheekbone caught that same counter as I slid down to the floor. As I straightened out and lay in intense pain I had to get the ladder off of me. There was a decent amount of velocity, it was spectacular. Then I had to have a fight with my husband to keep him from calling 911 because there’s no way I’m getting near a medical facility right now. I called the doc this morning and he just said if nothing was sticking out to just stay as still as possible, they aren’t wrapping chests anymore, and there’s nothing to be done. And Roz, he did say that it’s going to hurt but I have to take deep breaths now and then. The pain keeps making that happen by itself. So that’s what I’m doing, trying not to move. it really doesn’t hurt much unless I move. Or breath, or push anything whatsoever out, etc. I’m trying my best not to make a whole lot of gawdawful noises, it’s freaking out the cats. Yep. All it takes one wrong move. Thank you for your concern, my good friends.
Silva,
Just saw this – sorry to read of your calamity. A broken rib will wake you up at nights and catch you when you’re least expecting it, but it’ll eventually go away.
Hang in there.
You’re wise to stay away from the hospital. I knew someone who sat in the Emergency Room for hours, waiting to be treated for a leg injury, and came out with whooping cough.
Antler, what a question – you bad person, you!
@Silva
I cracked some ribs during my Army days by crashing a 5 ton truck. I also had my ear half-torn off. They sewed my ear back together but couldn’t do anything for my ribs. You’d think a torn ear would hurt more than cracked ribs, but NOOOOOO!
About the only thing that you can do is take some Tylenol and try not to move. It hurts to breath, really hurts to cough, REALLY hurts to sit up, and OH MY GOD I”M GOING TO SNEEZE!!! (That’s the worst). I was in big pain for about a week, and hurt/ached for about a month. I could still feel a stitch in my side while doing sit-ups for around 6 months.
Take it easy and rest.
Silva
My husband broke a rib not long ago. Doc told him NOT to wrap anything around your ribs because it can give you a GREATER chance of getting pneumonia. Your lungs need to fully expand (or as much as possible) to keep the air moving. Doc also told him to grab a pillow and hold it tightly to his chest if he needed to cough. Hubby said that was a game-changer for him! Hoping you feel better soon!
Thanks folks! Oooeee!! It does hurt. I think the intensity can sometimes be similar to labor pains. I can barely wait for that to diminish. I’m going to have to try the pillow tip! I’m so blessed not to have sneezed yet (sharply rapping on wood!) I’ve never had to depend on my husband this much before, not in almost 33 years. I’m so grateful to have him right now, as there isn’t at all much I can do. It’s very quickly making up for a lot of irritation and grief.😊
This is a particularly bad time to need any kind of medical care. I’m sorry this happened to you. Take care, and we’ll say a prayer for you.
I’m going alright, miss the gym and trying to do my job and then teach our kids the lessons has been challenging. I really miss restaurants right about now, making and cleaning up after 3 meals a day gets a little repetitive. On the plus side, I’m getting some great sleep and quality time with my kids, and am getting better at running!
Silva that sounds pretty bad, can you take ibuprofen or Tylenol, don’t know if it would help. I’m not very good at tolerating pain, fortunately I’m pretty healthy. However, at times I carry to many beaded dresses at Macy’s and hurt my back. Ibuprofen does not always help. I had something stronger left over from my dental surgery, that worked better.
On a another note, I think most of us could slow down and have some time to reflect. I love American’s and their energy and how they are always ready to do something. One the other hand, it is nice to have time to reflect on your life and things. Just running around for the sake of running around is not very satisfying. My German girl friend, always says when she has been back in Germany, in Europe they know how to live, they sit around in cafes, enjoy a little wine with dinner. She is typical German work hard and play hard. Contrary to many Americans idea of European’s they do work hard, but they get more vacation (often part of the vacation is spend doing things around the house). Anyway it sounds like most that write here is making good use of this down time. As long as the bills get paid and we stay healthy we will be all right.
Sadly most of the people that live on Pine Street don’t seem to know what social distancing is seeing as how they keep having parties and cookouts all huddled up like idiots
Is Pine Street in Martinez. I lived there many years ago. I wish the social distancing was enforced. It is bad when they do not follow the 6 foot law. Sick of the dummies.
My biggest challenge is staying out of the fridge!!
Well, the biggest challenge is not being able to go to the gym and getting more exercise. Luckily there is a park close by so I can go there and some intermittent walks in while doing my best to avoid other people.
But that is where the challenge lies…dealing with people not knowing basic social distancing etiquette and walking right in the middle of trails, or people with dogs who think it is ok for their animals to go off leash.
Plenty of violators out there not engaging in social distancing. Teenagers seem to think it is already summer break.
Nothing has been taken away from me except all the endless shopping I used to do. Crazy. I do miss walking at the Lafayette Reservoir. I live in Rossmoor and the coolest thing is we can walk all we want on the golf courses as long as we practice the 6 feet apart law. It was just beautiful.
I have been cooking more than I used to because I do not go to restaurants. Also a lot of organizing at home. I need to do digital photos and regular photograph organizing. I my goal is to organize inside my condo and my storage unit. I also need to update my birthday calendar for relatives. I have many friends I have reconnected with too and relatives. So life for me has been improved. That is ironic and weird when I think of it. I am not lonely at all. I live alone and love it and always have loved being solo. If you need to be with people you can and when you don’t want to you can do that too. I wish maybe I had a pet. I have been thinking of adopting a pet. Now would be a bad time if you had to see a vet or shop for the pet it would be difficult. I love my life so far so good.
Stay healthy, stay safe and continue to lift each other up. We’re all in this together.
Good advice, keep reminding me. 😉
Physically it’s trying to eat healthy is more of a challenge than I thought. No gym sucks but I can do stuff at home. I’m working part time at office and home. I figure I’m at about 80% production wise. Design engineering is a lonely gig in the best of times so that’s no change. Miss being around people at work though.
But there’s no end to the weed pulling so I got that going for me. Sticking to my German studies but with no one to talk it with it gets stale quick. I heard about that Tiger guy on Netflix but other people’s dysfunction isn’t really entertaining so I’ll skip that unless I get really desperate. No baseball might be the worst part. All in all trying to not feel guilty this isn’t impacting me more. Portfolio is getting hammered. I can’t even look anymore. Not like there’s a safe place to move money to in the current financial climate anyway. For now, the dude abides. 😎
I just don’t want it to be July……and we’re still be told; “two more weeks”.
Not much has changed for us. The world is crazy and scary, but I am enjoying being at home so much. Waiting to get the garden going!
You would think, since my Hubby was laid-off, that would be the biggest challenge,…it was getting medical coverage, not old enough for Medicare yet. But we are good to go now on medical . Have planned for laid-offs for years, since he is a piping designer, auto-cad, (contractor), working at Oil Refineries,…so we can cover our bills. We try only going out twice a week for needed items at a few stores, but still out of certain food items. We have a third of an acre, and one third of it is garden for food. No, have not planted the whole plot, and some plants are coming up and more seeds to plant this week. Plenty to keep us busy at home.
As far as kid,…our Daughter & Son-in-Law are due to come back to the lower 48’s from Alaska in June,…retiring from the Coast Guards. Issue is the Canadian Boarder is closed to drive back in their Jeep with their dog. Plan B ~ Fly dog to another C/G family in California,…Them & Jeep on Ferry, from Alaska to Washington,…9 days!! Plus their house is in Maryland,….Geez!! They’re not too worried since they know we’ll be there for them if they need help,… 🙂
What an adventure!
Bio Rad in Hercules is hiring temp and non temp for a guy with hands on skills. Check out the website.
@ Barbie Girl ~
Thanks for the info,….Hubby checked it and there were no jobs in his category. Hopefully he will be back to work in 4 – 6 months if the oil companies in the USA make a come back.
I’m able to follow the guidelines and remain almost fully productive work-wise. My leisure time has consisted of fishing and golf for years now. Fishing is easy to do within the guidelines, golf not so much. I miss baseball and sports in general, but the biggest void is missing my sons play their sports. Yard work and small projects are getting done, but not very energetically.
We are doing OK, with no medical problems. My commute has gotten much shorter since I’m teaching my classes online now and only have to walk to my office in the house. I never thought I’d be able to teach in sweats and bare feet. I miss the interaction with my students though. We’ve been able to get almost everything we need delivered so far. A downside is the travel restrictions, as we’re supposed to be relaxing in Europe right now. Our European cruise in June has been cancelled as well. We miss our children and grandchildren a lot. It’s strange living 10 minutes away and not getting together with them. We are hoping everyone realizes how serious this is and does everything they can to stop the spread.
Things are fine. The key for me is to get up at the same time each day as if I were going to a real job. Then I review my important and imperative lists (which apply to household things and my hobbies). From there it’s make each day the best it can be. This is a great time to leverage your time!
I’m doing fine. This is the longest I have been off from Macy’s since I started there 10 years ago. So far I’m catching up in organizing, emails and reading. Next will be phone calls, and as you probably all can tell, spending a lot of time on Claycord. Also spending time on Utube watching cute animal videos.
Might go for a drive to nowhere tomorrow or Friday if the weather is still nice, just to observe some different scenery. Fortunately, I’m pretty good at being alone, I was an only child of older quiet parents, grew up in the country, and winters when it snowed was hard to get anywhere. Have lived alone since my daughter left for college in 1998. Another week or so I will miss getting together with girl friends for lunch, but I will survive.
I get to work full time (as does my husband) AND we get to try and home school our two elementary school children. So, we get to use up all of our leave time, our kids get to be stressed and constantly play catch up (we actually do the work with little time to do it) AND they cannot do much int he way of activities to get their energy out. All of this to save a few people with underlying health conditions. Is taking the economy and ruining kids’ education worth a few people who would die soon anyways? This is utter madness.
Oh wait, I got it… APRIL FOOLS!
I was gonna say something about your thoughtless comment when I realized you must be incredibly stressed out considering the conditions you described. It’s okay, we’ll get past this. You’ll get passed this. 👊
I am sorry you think the precautions are not needed just to protect the vulnerable folks. First of all, that is not true. All of us are having to stay away from each other to keep from dying or to get really sick! Good thing you are not in charge. Yipes. This is extremely serious and we must all follow the rules to stay safe. I suggest you educate yourself with the scientific facts about the Coronavirus. Your attitude could get you in big trouble. I am very attentive about the six feet boundaries plus I wash my hands all the time. I am going to begin ordering my food from Safeway and have the groceries delivered. Please be safe.
Consider yourselves lucky you both still have jobs. Consider yourselves fortunate that you can homeschool your healthy elementary age children. Consider yourselves blessed that you are not one of those disposable people with multiple comorbidities, who will be dead soon anyway. Your lack of compassion and self-pitying attitude is ghastly. I hope you don’t have any old sickly people in your lives, as they’d likely be wishing they were already gone.
“All of us are having to stay away from each other to keep from dying or to get really sick!”
Stop it. That is melodramatic and simply not true. We won’t know the extent until there is an antibody test, but there are many who are infected and have mild symptoms or are completely asymptomatic. These cases may even be the vast majority. You write “I suggest you educate yourself with the scientific facts about the Coronavirus” – I suggest you do the same. Only when an antibody test becomes generally available will we know (better) how many have been infected, as well as the mortality rate. This information will still be limited, as there will be no way to mandate that everyone be tested for antibodies.
Wow, what a selfish statement to make….your little precious ones being “burdened” with home schooling is more important than saving the lives of many? Be thankful that you both have your cushy little jobs with your extra leave time that you can actually use. Many people are facing the harsh realities of unemployment not knowing when or if they find work soon. That is real stress and madness. Not you having and hubby having to WFH for a couple of more weeks while home schooling your precious little ones.
You are pretty nonchalant about other people dying. What exactly do you mean “who is going to die anyway” you do realize that includes you as well.
I guess you have not been reading the news, but there were several stories on Yahoo about younger people dying, a country musician at 61, today someone also known to some died at 52. Not everyone dying have underlying health issues. I do resent you casual attitude about people dying. How old are you? Do you have parents? How old are they? Are you okay with them dying if it could have been prevented?
Consider that he or she uses the term “anyways”. There is your sign.
This is how I’ve been living since Obama took off. I’ve gotten used to it. Have plenty to do.
What does Obama have to do with this. Not sure I understand your comment.
Having to cancel dr.’s apmts. every time the stay at home is exteded then that’s another 6weeks to wait. My tv gave up and my son says I shouldn’t go to private party to buy one. Hum… I try and not go to the store. Using back up canned milk. I’m used to bargin hunting for food in the past. Going to like 6 different stores.’ Now maybe once a week I’ll pick up from one store only. No fast food or deliveries of food. Since retiring I’ve had to pinch pennies.
I am struggling with the thought of the 122 employees that I had to lay off today. I can weather the storm, but they aren’t as fortunate. Tough times ahead.
Hoping for the best, but expecting the worse. This is CA.
ooof! That is heartbreaking. Sadly, it’s happening everywhere. Feeling guilty about having to lay off workers is difficult, but it’s not your fault. I’m sorry that it weighs so heavy on you. I bet you’re a great boss and they know it’s not your choice.
Sorry to hear that. You sound like a good employer, worrying about your employees. I was just listening to a Mark Cuban interview on the radio. He sounds very compassionate, and had some good points. Was very realistic and positive at the same time. He was urging employer’s that can afford it to do what they can, for there employee’s, saying it would come back to them, karma. Of course not everyone can afford to pay employee’s all of this downtime, with no money coming in.
@ JRocks ~
WOW!,….that’s sad and sorry you had to do that. It’s tough living in the Bay Area since it cost so much,…but right now, it’s the whole world going through this. Yes, hoping things get better soon so folks can go back to work.
This shall pass so in the meantime, we must be good at following the rules. It is wise to remain positive but also use common sense. I am proud of California. We are all doing our best I think. There are always t
he people who will not abide by the mandates. Hopefully they will see the light and will have a more intelligent view.
Atticus trax, You are being very kind to that person. She might be stressed and I get that, but it does not give her a red light to be so casual about this “shelter in place”. She is also very uninformed, because it is not just people “who are going to die anyway” that dies, except that of course we all die eventually, but that is not what she meant. Also latest projection suggest it is not just a few people.
The Animal Shelter in Martinez has dogs that could use a Foster home. They could help you get out and get fresh air…. I read an article about how patients sick with the 1918 Spanish Flu were treated with fresh air tended to recover at a much higher rate….
I have been self isolating since July. My Mother was diagnosed with lung cancer in July and given 6 months to live. Mom made it 7 months but in that time frame we could not leave her alone. So I have gotten use to staying put. I have been cooking a lot of new dishes. Learned to make Chinese noodles and doing alot of arts and crafts projects.
Good. My daughter loves online schooling. She feels less shy and able to speak up on Zoom. My son does not like it. He’s a hands on kind of guy. Luckily my daughter is a techno whiz and can help him.
Hubby works in biotech they make the machines that test for Coronavirus.
Son works for Ace and is building those plexiglass shields for the clerks.
I have so many projects around here its no big deal. However, having to be cautious at the store when people get into your personal space in really annoying.
(1) Rationing Sucks
(2) Rationing is a lot better than finding only empty shelves
I’m fine with staying home and working on genealogy. When the panic first hit, I was going out every day or two, but now, the stores are better stocked, so I don’t have to go out as often.
Sam’s is now offering concierge shopping for seniors, Tuesday through Thursday from 7-9 am. I showed up today, shopping list in hand, a little after 8. They told me that they had already stopped accepting new orders because it would take several hours to fulfill the orders they already had. So I went inside, picked up my 19 items, paid with my phone, and was home in less than an hour after leaving.
Strongly introverted so this has been a wonderful thing for me. I am working remotely so I still have a sanity saving routine and income.
The uncertainty and change both are stressful, but my main source of anxiety is access food and supplies.
Last time I was at Target people were packed together pushing each other.
Also, the people who are not taking this seriously and still in and out, hanging out with their friends and partying are not cool. I was not at all surprised when the extension notice came out.
Sitting at home being furloughed from work stinks. I don’t like it at all. In the meantime, I’ve done a lot of reloading and other things around the house. Plenty of MREs, respirators, cartridges for the respirators, tyvek and water. Gun mags are loaded, food is stocked, plenty of on-demand TV. I should be okay.
Now I have plenty of time to do all of the things I’d rather be doing anyways, such as; playing drums, working on the classic cars, and long “solo” bike rides, if I didn’t have to work.