I went shopping for some stuff today with a virus possibly everywhere! :)

Just in case...

I have been telling my wife that IF we didn't have to go grocery shopping we'd be fine for around 4 months, there about.
I have 3 vehicles, my truck is full of gas, the other is half full, and I'm using that to get gas today, the 3rd vehicle is a small SUV and it's about half full.
Mentioning to my wife the seriousness of what could happen, I tried to devise plans to get up through it all.

My plan is to fill our bathtubs with water, fill as much containers that I can with water, and using 'stuff' I have around here to gather water, it is Spring-like outside, so gathering rain water may be easy, I don't know.
I'll fill every glass, every jar, my coolers, anything that I can find, that is, when I feel like it's getting 'close' to needing to do something like that.

Also, as I explained it to my wife, just imagine that everything that you touch is covered in S- -T, and you have to use a way to make sure that you are not contaminated, think of it all that way and it should help some.
So thinking along those lines, I imagine beforehand what I might run into when I am out and about.

Now, I am not crazy enough to think that I will be O.K. if they say what they have already said, such as, it takes weeks before anything that was touched is no longer contaminated. Thinking about that, I also looked at how things are shipped by boats and trucks, people that are (possibly) contaminated and that everything that they have touched is also not contaminated. That is almost surreal when you consider it all actually.
So, my mail is possibly contaminated, because the person that delivered it has touched a LOT of stuff in just one day, not counting all of the days. The people at the Post Office are possibly contaminated, the other Post Offices are too, they actually delivered (possible) contaminated mail, and so on and so on, etc.

Everything at out grocery stores could possibly be contaminated because a LOT of people touch a LOT of stuff that stock the shelves, and things like milk cartons, eggs cartons, large things that might be handled by a contaminated person. When the workers at WalMart go to pee, they walk into a room that is probably coated with vaporized pee, when a toilet is flushes it does atomize the toilet water, or so I am told. That would be touched, and it's on the floor, so it is traipsed on all day, then tracked out onto the store's floor, and so on.

EVERYTHING that we all touch could really be contaminated, so I know my wife, she is not one to consider the (possible) dangers out there, so I came up with everything is now coated with S- -T explanation.
Yeah, I do agree, this sounds as crazy as it can be, but, I am not willing to take the chance to risk my family and especially since I am a diabetic, plus I have slightly high-blood pressure, and I am 67 years old.
You do you, I am going to do me...

Today I put part of my plan into testing...

TL;DR
I went to get bird food and gas, then did some washing...


Thinking ahead, as crazy as it may sound, I need to go to Tractor Supply to get bird food.
Bird food is not a necessity, or at least most wouldn't think so, but in trying times, it could save you, as crazy as it may sound.
The bird food is a way to attract squirrels and birds, mainly, White-winged Dove, that can be, and will be, my source of food for my wife and I, plus my 5 dogs. (Now THAT's crazy, having that many dogs!)

I have a BB/pellet rifle and it can kill a human, I think, I know it can be used for hunting, anyway, I've had it for years, but now it 'could' come in handy, should things get really bad.
That's why I went to go get bird seed.
On the Walking Dead they never once mentioned using a BB gun to hunt, quietly, I might add, or, the use of a bicycle... The Walking Dead was crap for prepping, or real life... heheh

Driving up, I get my 'stuff' all ready for me when I come back to my car, I grab a latex glove and stuff it into my RIGHT blue-jean pocket.
Walking back to where the seed is, I place my glove on my RIGHT hand and grab a large bag of yellow dried corn, and a bag of good bird seed, I walk to the register carrying both with my RIGHT hand.
(I am not wearing a mask, for those that wondered)

The lady behind the register is talking to another employee and doesn't notice my black glove on my RIGHT hand, I remove my credit card from the top pocket of my shirt which the card is also inside of the Zip-Loc baggie, I place it into the card reader. When it finishes I remove the card with my RIGHT hand and place it into my baggie where I got it.
That's done, so I walk back to my car and put the seed into my car's trunk, I open my car door with my LEFT hand and get inside, not touching anything inside with my RIGHT hand, I start to car up with my LEFT knuckle finger, (it's a key-less) and I put it into drive using my LEFT hand and drive away.

I need to get gas next, so I do the following...

I exit the car leaving the door open. I have several older WalMart grocery bags, a new Zip-Loc lunch bag, and some latex gloves there in the passenger seat.
I put on my latex glove on my RIGHT hand.
I have my credit card in my top pocket, I reach for it with my LEFT hand, being careful to not contaminate my fingers, I stick it into the card slot of the pump.
Turning around I open my gas cap with my LEFT hand, (no glove is needed) and with my RIGHT hand I grab the pump handle, place it into the gas tank.

Turning around to face the pump, I put in my debit card information, with my RIGHT hand I push the Regular button, I then grab my card with with RIGHT hand, sit in the car, I place the card into the Zip-Loc bag.
The gas tank is now full, I remove the pump handle with my RIGHT hand, I place the gas cap back with my LEFT hand.
I'm done pumping gas...

Removing my glove on my RIGHT hand, I throw it into a garbage can beside the pump.
I now sit in my front seat with my feet still sticking outside of the car and remove each of my flip-flops placing each one into a 'new' WalMart bag, I am now bare-footed.

After all of this, I forgot to do something, can you spot where I screwed up?

When I got back home I drove inside of the gated backyard, I park the car, I now have NO SHOES that are clean I'm thinking, "I screwed up!", and about then my wife came up to me carrying a second set of flip-flops!
I carefully grab the bags with my RIGHT hand and my pistol, phone, with my LEFT hand, and get out of the car, put on my CLEAN flip-flops, and walk into the house.
I make sure that I am NOT touching anything that would contaminate anything, I am trying my best to do this right, just in case that on down the line that comes in handy, which I do believe that it will.

I removed the credit car out of the baggie, I washed it in warm water along with some anti-bacterial soap for well over 2 minutes, plus, I did that twice. I did take care to (hopefully) NOT ruin my card, but if that happens, I tried to do it right, and, my wife has another card, plus I have others. I know I could do it another way, but that is how I handled the card.
I left the card to dry after i wiped it off as dry as possible, then I washed my hands a few times too.

My old flip-flops were washed in the washer with bleach and hot water, in case that my blue jeans are contaminated, they will also be washed. The old plastic WalMart bags were trashed without touching the insides of it.

Just in case that nobody got what I forgot, it was I forgot to remove my shoes when I got into my car at Tractor Supply, I just Cootified my floorboard when I got in.

I am not an arguing type person, I put this in there to hopefully to help someone think about possibilities, hopefully people that read this and want to reply will be nice to each other, there is no reason for being rude and obnoxious because you have another belief on what you would do, etc.

This stuff could get really mentally exhausting if this keeps up, I had to go and get the mail afterwards, I'll just let you figure out what I needed to do to get that. heheh

Thank you!

a reply to: recrisp

The one thing that I have noticed in countries hit hard with the virus is that they have not lost their utilities.
Water and electricity seem to be fine.

Instead of so much tp, think about getting a bidet. They are very cheap and do a good job and you can use a fraction of tp.

a reply to: JAGStorm
I noticed the same.
Day before yesterday I looked at bidets at Amazon, so I think that is a really great way to save paper.

This is exactly why I believe the media is irresponsible in spreading fear over something like this. Thankfully the virus is very mild and not a huge cataclysmic event, but the way people are acting and freaking out over this has the potential to be cataclysmic.

They pushed fear and now half the population is terrified...

Everything you did to avoid contamination is pointless. There's nothing to be afraid of except yourself. The media lied about this, you're not in danger.

I'm stocking up on canned and long life food every day now because if food factories, warehouses and stores close due to quarantine it will be chaos out there, if you run out of TP you could always wash your ass in the shower.

From what I've heard on the news, the virus is potent only for one day....who knows right ?? You're being so overly careful is understandable, since I'm 73 and have some concerns also. I live in the boonies west of Madison WI. 6 miles from any town. Good luck to us all....be smart !

We just ran to the store last night and finished bringing most of our stock up to par, there were some good sales this week.

We just filled some buckets up and got the perk coffee pot filled and changed water in some jugs. Woods in for the woodstove in case we need it.

We got about a foot of heavy wet snow coming today, I took a ride to town, it is slippery slimy stuff and it is only two to three inches deep so far. They have been warning about probable power outages on the news sites, so being prepared is necessary. I hate it when the power goes out when you have a well, as soon as the power goes out, both the wife and I have to poop. You only get one flush on each toilet, and that poop requires a flush.

Viruses are always everywhere, some are harmful to us others are not bad. Some cause cancer and some prevent cancer too.

I have a different plan, find the best looking contaminated woman around and give her big kiss and get it over with. At 62 and in good health my chances of survival are not bad. I may as well get it over with and get back to living. For me survival in quarantine would be worse that exposure. I’m not sure I could take 2 to 6 weeks cooped up at home with my wife and those damn dogs.

originally posted by: Nickn3
I have a different plan, find the best looking contaminated woman around and give her big kiss and get it over with. At 62 and in good health my chances of survival are not bad. I may as well get it over with and get back to living. For me survival in quarantine would be worse that exposure. I’m not sure I could take 2 to 6 weeks cooped up at home with my wife and those damn dogs.

If you have a wife and give another good looking "contaminated" woman a kiss you might die from other "natural" causes.

Were you wearing a mask during all of this? Were the people you were dealing with wearing masks?
What if someone bumps into you and sneezes or coughs all over you at Tractor Supply? do you have a quick decontamination tent handy or a travel sized Lysol in your pocket?
It's good to be prepared for sure.

a reply to: JAGStorm



I think of electricity ,and natural gas as utilities....if electricity goes out all bets are off .

originally posted by: conspiracytheoristIAM




a reply to: JAGStorm



I think of electricity ,and natural gas as utilities....if electricity goes out all bets are off .

So far from what i've seen that hasn't been an issue in countries much less developed than ours.

a reply to: rickymouse


if you have a pressure tank on your well, you should have 40-60 gallons of water til the pressure tank signals the well pump to replenish the supply of water .....at least that 's how my well works.

originally posted by: JAGStorm

originally posted by: Nickn3
I have a different plan, find the best looking contaminated woman around and give her big kiss and get it over with. At 62 and in good health my chances of survival are not bad. I may as well get it over with and get back to living. For me survival in quarantine would be worse that exposure. I’m not sure I could take 2 to 6 weeks cooped up at home with my wife and those damn dogs.

If you have a wife and give another good looking "contaminated" woman a kiss you might die from other "natural" causes.

You are so right.

I never thought I'd say this to anyone, but OP, you are over reacting.

You could have just really washed your hands well before eating or touching your face.

a reply to: recrisp

Seems a bit extreme!

Only one to two percent of us are truly at risk of death. People over 70 or people who have existing health conditions are the ones who need to take extreme measures. For most people it's an exercise in futility.

Not sure why you would need to store so much water? The country is not going to shut down and the utilities will no doubt be just fine.

I think the needless panic may be far more of a problem than the actual virus. I'm more concerned about panicky people than anything.

I'm at high risk from this myself due to current health issues. The only thing I'm doing is to make sure I can continue to work from home and avoid the stores and banks as much as possible. Freezer, the pantry and all that are full as always, so really only a minor inconvenience for a few weeks if it hits here, knock on wood.

The real issues will play out in the hospitals and their readiness for an unusual number of sick at one time.

originally posted by: BoxerBrawler
Were you wearing a mask during all of this? Were the people you were dealing with wearing masks?
What if someone bumps into you and sneezes or coughs all over you at Tractor Supply? do you have a quick decontamination tent handy or a travel sized Lysol in your pocket?
It's good to be prepared for sure.

I have noted in my long story that I was not wearing a mask.

I have a mask in the car, but IF anyone coughed or sneezed, I had plans on running away and leaving the seed and corn there. This was mainly a test to see what would happen to me if I screwed up and even though I (thought) I had planned it well enough, I might learn something.
I don't have to go out anywhere really, for a long while, I am retired, so no need.
Actually, I may have already contracted the disease before today, or, today, I won't know for a while.

For those that say that there's nothing to worry about, I'd love to see your plaque that shows where you graduated from a school of virology! heheh
You do YOU, I'll do ME.
This is all 'just in case', if you feel the need to tell others that they are crazy, please go and start your own thread, this thread is not for negative people.

NONE of us know what will happen tomorrow, much less a week, or two from now.

I read in the news yesterday that a Chinese man that had contracted the virus and was said to be completely O.K., then released from the hospital on a Friday (I think) and by Monday he was back in the hospital and died within hours, he was 'supposed to' be cured of it, maybe he was, but at any rate, he died from it after he was told by 'officials' that he was fine.
He was 36, and that is about all I know. Whether or not that is true or not I don't know, but it sure is in the realm of possibilities.

originally posted by: toolgal462
I never thought I'd say this to anyone, but OP, you are over reacting.

You could have just really washed your hands well before eating or touching your face.

Like I said, you do you, I am going to do what I think 'might be' needed IF things went south, and, neither one of us know what will happen.

I am not overreacting at all, this is a scenario that could happen, and hopefully not, you CANNOT do too much, I am not paranoid, I am only trying to 'see' how things could work out, if things really were bad.
You can handle it however you want, that's fine with me, I'll handle it my way.
I'm not here to ask how to do this, this was an example of how it might be handled, I'm not shaking in my boots at all, nowhere in my post did I say I was afraid, or anything like that, this was just a 'what if' scenario.

a reply to: toolgal462


I think the one lesson most people could learn from this entire thing is always be prepared for problems. I think this only shows how unprepared most people are.

In my opinion everyone should have some sort of food and water reserve at home and in most cases it can be budgeted fairly easily. Basic food that can last a long time such as rice and beans are inexpensive and can go a long way. Now how much is really a different debate but I don't think it is unrealistic for most households to be able to have a couple weeks to a months survival food and water reserves pretty easily. If you want to go further then that obviously you need the space and the time to manage your stock.

At some point I think you have to ask yourself is if the stuff really goes down and you need to have 6+ months of food and water around then the entire world will have changed and it isn't going to be a pretty site and all bets are off at that point.