Steve and I went to our local grocery store yesterday afternoon. It was time to do some stocking up. Staples. Too much of what we eat is perishable, so if things go as south as many fear, frequent grocery shopping may not be what we can or wish to do. Besides, the store sends out coupons, one of which was for $7 off a shopping trip of $70 or more. It turned out either of us could have used it. Between the two of us, we spent nearly $250.
The store was a zoo. Parking was available at the far ends of the lot and store aisles were packed. Shelves, not so much. Two things stood out. First, toilet paper was out. Discussion ensued between shopping strangers, with a lot of head scratching as to possible reasons why. Had people heard the word "flu" and decided that meant the type involving hours on the ivory throne? The fellow behind me in our long wait to check out discussed alternatives. No leaves down here exist without thorns somehow being involved. But hey, no poison ivy around either.
The easy answer is using paper towels or napkins, or baby wipes if still on the shelves (neither of us had checked out that part of the store, go figure), and disposing of them into a bag for the garbage so no worries about the sewers blocking up. It seems everything that grows down here sends masses of roots far and wide, especially into sewers which are frequently the only regular source of moisture. Fertilizer too. But mostly water. And when your sewers went in in '61, every plumber who scopes them tells you yours are hopelessly shattered and entangled with roots, but for only $______, they'd fix it right away for you. I'm sure the fix would last almost as long as they expect any of us to in this lovely seniors community.
The other surprising empty shelf space was in the soda crackers section. ???? Soda crackers? Really? Maybe it's those same people who think the coming "flu" is the intestinal variety and all they'll feel like eating is soda crackers. Hmmm. I didn't think to check if that affected the supply of chicken soup as well. I was stocking up on chili myself, which was my excuse for looking for soda crackers, and not chicken soup.
The local evening news brought another surprise last night. No, not Trump's attempt to appear competent which of course showed his concerns were financial and personal image than feeling anything for (fellow?) humans. This time the news informed us that our neighboring senior community, Sun City West, was closing down for a couple weeks starting tonight at 5PM. One day's warning for whatever was needed. Reasoning given was that 45% of their residents are over 75, and thus the most vulnerable population to covid 19. This was just one announcement among those for TV shows planning to air without audiences, basketball pausing their schedules, or sports events occurring in empty arenas... and on and on.
We figure Sun City will likely follow suit soon. As a club officer (secretary, what else?) I contacted our president to make sure she'd heard, and what did the club need to plan for in the event? She responded she'd been at a concert that evening and the audience was very sparse. Most of the concert-goers were discussing the SCW announcement of closure, and would it happen to us? As president, the governing body would contact her first, and she will be getting the club email list on a thumb drive and taking it home so she can contact us from home. I verified this morning on my way in to the club that when the centers close, absolutely nobody except employees can enter. Those little electronic discs that many of us have to open club doors will be locked out of the system, a good thing because I can forsee many of our members deciding to let themselves into the club for a little time on whatever equipment in the peace and quiet. You know, each thinking it'll be safe because nobody else would have that same idea.... Uh huh. Nobody.
Some of our members will be heading north soon. They worry about travel plans, particularly if they flew down, and particularly about returning to Canada or the UK. With our half-assed response in regards to few test kits being available, what happens on the home end for them? Forget our letting others cross our borders. Without sufficient testing, how many countries will shut us out?
Club-wise there is another complication for many. Not all of us own where we live. For those renting or leasing by the month rather than year round, rules require that once they are no longer in residence, their membership ends for all community center activities. therefore all jewelry in the store must be removed, one of the privileges they lose till next time they're down here. If they plan to head out soon, and must purge their items, will any closing announcement give them enough time to get their things? And for those who don't use email, can we contact them in time?
In all the discussions this morning in the club on the possible closing, I was -silly me - surprised at the loud voiced insisting any such thing was way over reacting. "If People want to risk coming in, they should be able to." Nevermind community protection extending beyond personal. "Nobody should be able to tell me what to do and where I can or can't go." Again, nevermind community contagion. It's never just one's self to consider. If I risk getting hurt by, say, climbing a tree (dream on!), that's one thing. I doesn't necessarily affect anybody else. A virus is like risking what may happen to others when someone gets behind the wheel drunk or on drugs. It's no longer just one person. It's even worse than that since it spreads exponentially.
We're not panicking. We are taking considered actions and thinking about sensible options. Hopefully, you are as well.
I wish to add that not all life circles around covid 19. I've not finished with purging photos yet, but those combined 20,000 are now down under 5,000. This is the 4th? 5th? purge before I transfer everything on to one machine.
I love the new herringbone wire pattern, and have been working nonstop with it, first for bracelets, and yesterday starting on earrings, pausing occasionally due to sore thumbs from pushing wires into positions. It's a hand created pattern, not tool made for the most part.
It's been raining down here, and expected to continue a few days yet. It's been lovely, except for those visitors expecting to watch spring training or some such. I had enough warning to put out a little fertilizer around plants I thought could use it. My tiny aloes are blooming, the large ones starting to push up their flowering stalks. Tiny ones bloom in orange, large, including the gift ones, yellow. None have actually died yet this time around.
Unfortunately, the same holds true for those weeds I hit with round-up last week.
The elephant agave at the northeast corner of the house suddenly shot up a flowering stalk. It's a bit crooked. The first day I noticed it, it pushed up under the eave, so I pulled it forward, away from the house a bit, so it could clear that and grow. Grow it did, and the next thing I knew our neighbor was knocking on our door letting me know it was pushing up on the shingles.
Yep, he was right.
Except it was "shingle", singular, not "shingles."
It's about another 14" higher now, and despite curving each time it reaches the slightest impediment, it is now so hard and determined to hog its claimed space that it can't be pulled away from the roof enough to fold the shingle back down between the end of the eave and the stalk. At least it's not raining or anything.
Oh wait. That was thunder, wasn't it?
The stalk is lined with buds, a hair lighter green than the stalk. Once they open, we'll know what color they flower. The stalk is also lined with, well, maybe leaves. They are flush with the stalk, vertical for about 3 1/2", pink in the center, and about half an inch wise at their bases. You know me: photos have been taken. Perhaps a dozen so far.
This particular agave stalk produces plantlets, not seeds. This means when mature they can be removed from the stalk and planted. Note to self: this time do NOT plant them with the center under the roof. Those stalks can reach 25 feet! And no, while I did read that back just after it was planted, I was in no way inspired to dig it out and relocate it.
Have you seen those spines on that sucker?
Yikes! Worst in the yard, even more than that foothills palo verde. At least those can be pruned so must of the nasty bits are out of reach so long as you're careful. Any time I want to get close enough to the elephant agave to take a photo, I have to ver-r-r-r-ry carefully move between each blade.
So far so good.
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