Preppers , a rant
 

For many years I have been doing food and supply storage. Even though I do not have a garden now, I still can items when I find a lot of them on sale. And even after downsizing, there is always room to do some prep.
So I really did not need to do a lot when the current run on groceries began. To me it makes sense to be prepared.

But all of a sudden some housewives can't get stuff, even tp. And they are furious at people who stock up, calling them hoarders and all sorts of unflattering names. Even now they want everyone to buy one of something. It's as if they expect in a few weeks, everything will be back to normal.

It's as if the possibility that there may be supply glitches in the future due to people dying, businesses closing, this virus possibly mutating for the worse, has not occurred to them.

I am perfectly aware of how one is supposed to act at a tea party. One does not put more than one piece of a particular pastry on one's plate so that everyone can have a slice of Aunt Edna's chocolate layer cake.

I try to kindly get the idea across that this ain't no tea party, but they don't listen.
Thank you for letting me rant.

They are clueless. They can cuss and rant at me all they want.

It's not so much that some people preparing for the worst expect the source of items to evaporate as it is that people are stocking up so they can go into bunker mode and not have to run out to buy something for a reasonable stretch of time. Like possibly MONTHS. IMHO, the best thing to do in a pandemic like this is to hunker down in a safe and isolated place and let the contagion burn out around you. This is a highly contagious organism that hides it's infectiousness in asymptomatic victims and can be spread easily through the air and from contaminated solid objects. IMHO, the best thing you can do is to just avoid people and places they are and have been frequenting as much as is humanly possible.

If people want to remain in denial even at this very late date and rant at those people who are taking this seriously and preparing accordingly, well, don't expect any sympathy cards from me when they wind up in the hospital hooked up to a respirator.

I don't understand the run on TP. There are alternatives if one does not mind doing extra laundry or stepping into the shower after doing one's business. While detergents have taken a hit the shelves have never been empty, and you can still find ammonia or oxi-clean.... and yes now I have enough of those to last a year.

Heck I have 80 snakes, a dozen of which are retics, burms, anacondas, etc. They make messes. They make BIG messes. So, some old jeans and shirts have been sacrificed into clean-up rags, and they get washed separately in hot water with a long soak and an extra rinse cycle.

Yes it's gross but the alternative is for me to go through 10-12 rolls of PT a week and right now that's not happening.

Some enterprising person is going to make a bundle developing a Boa Bidet....

I'm just glad the weather is warming up. Over the years I've developed a decent eye for when my larger snakes are about to take a dump, and I make sure they get exercise on the lawn in the sunshine at those times.

Heck last summer I had halfway convinced one of my neighbors that they could be housebroken. I had taken a retic out and sure enough the exercise got things moving, and he did his business as she was passing by on her bike so I started praising and patting the snake just like you would with a puppy... it was funny...

I have no issue with people planning ahead, and making preparations for their families. However, clearing the shelves of TP, Kleenex, hand sanitizer, and disinfectant wipes by the cartful, and trying to sell it at a premium, is wrong. I'm glad that Amazon and ebay shut down sales from private individuals, and that some stores are not allowing returns. Obviously, not everyone is doing that, but some are.

As Melinda said, there are alternatives if it becomes necessary. What's strange, is that I saw people with carts packed with paper products, but no food. I just think that non-perishable food supplies are far more critical than toilet paper, but looking at the store shelves, I seem to be in the minority on that.

Non-perishable frozen/canned/rice/pasta/etc. foods did get cleaned out but everything except rice was restocked fairly quickly. I was already well supplied so I'm just buying fresh produce and dairy now.

Fortunately I get my meat from local farmers by the half hog and quarter beef and I'd placed my orders in early January; butchering is set for next month.

Luckily my wife and I anticipated certain items would sell out at least in the beginning. We have normally stocked up on dry goods and paper products since it is cheaper that way and then all we need to do is stop for bread, milk and other sundries quickly as needed. So we did order about double normal and that should last about 4 or more months. Basically instead of a box of 108 rolls of tp we got 216. Same south soap, paper towels, shampoo. Sanitizer we bought 2 six packs and only use it after we have come back from somewhere.

Joe, are you feeling better? Are you back home?

Hi Kathleen,Thanks for asking. I spent Sunday through Thursday last week in hospital. I'm on heart, blood pressure, diuretic and potassium pills. Because of coronavirus my open heart surgery is postponed till they have firm outcome of Ohio infections. With pills I am comfortable. At least it doesn't feel like I'm drowning.