Coronavirus

[Hopalong]

A very few places do on sort of sheltered (plastic drapes usually) patios that have big propane heaters. I wish dogs were allowed indoors at a few places (after Covid) but they just ain't. The U.K. is a lot more adaptable to pooches, imo.

I've been agonizing over a steel round simple firepit thing for the small patio. It's not cheap and would require a lot of logs. No maintenance, good heat output, etc. And movable so no permanent installation. But I'm asking myself whether with my back issues, I should even bother. Stacking firewood would hurt and also require a rack I don't have....a lot of fuss and bother.

It might be that my best solution to virus isolation this winter will be just to suck it up, make walking dates for sunny days, and/or find 1-4 people (possibly including M IF (big IF) the just-friends thing works out)-- to be in a "pod" so once or twice a month I could host or attend a movie night with just 1 or 2 invited at a time. Masks on indoors, sitting 6'-8' apart. Would be weird but maybe comforting. Third option is just to wait it out.

M is the only person I know so far who's as intense about virus precautions as I am, but he's problematic. It's possible Zoomie could become one. He's been very careful but has gone into some stores. I suppose I could tell him if he gets tested negative after 2-3 weeks of real quarantine, he can be in my pod!

The social drive is SO powerful. To get a grip when I'm wavering, I check the daily Covid dashboard for my area. Forty-six new cases today. That'll do it.

I hope you find happy safe places where you can get a bit of that humanity-feeling!

hugs
Hops

[Hopalong]

Been torturing myself over a lovely minimalist patio steel firepit that gets great reviews for putting out a LOT of heat and being generally wonderful. However, it's not cheap...and, it requires wood (I don't want to mess with propane) and eats a lot of it, so that would mean also setting up a firewood rack, and dealing with tarps and covers and cleanup. (You just turn the pit thing upside down and it leaves very little ash...burns almost all of the wood to nothing.) But it should be protected.

So by the time I get the steel pit AND a firewood rack AND split firewood AND a cover or tarp....it's not small bucks on my budget. It'd be perrrrrfect on my patio but who knows if that many people would even want to come during the cold months?

I am vacillating between talking myself in or out of it. Thought of a chiminea, but I like this sleek smaller thing a lot better. Patio's fairly long but not wide.

Just yappin'...
hugs
Hops

[lighter]

What IS this fire Pit....thing you speak of, Hops?

 Lighter

[Twoapenny]

I'd be inclined to see outdoor heating as an investment in health and wellbeing, Hops.  If it means that at least the possibility of people coming over is more real and keeping safer while you socialise is more possible than I'd say it's worth the investment.  Could your gardening chap stack wood/chop it small/look after the maintenance of it for you?  Long walks on sunny days is a good idea. I think socially distanced movie nights would work, odd though it would feel at first?

Cases are up in our area as well, it's sobering.  We're still being mostly inside and very careful but for most people it's nigh on impossible - by the time you factor in work, school, checking on elderly relatives and so on, there's a fair amount of mingling going on however careful people are being.  Is it true that Trump has it?  I wasn't sure if it was a (not very funny) joke doing the rounds.  Hard to know with the internet these days! xx

[lighter]

Do yu really think Trump tested positive for COVID?  I think it's more likely than not.

Lighter

[Hopalong]

Lighter, search for "Solo stove Bonfire" and you'll see it. There's a larger one too. I like their looks and they're portable, so you don't half to walk/sweep around it the other half of the year.

Tupp, he does have it, and the first lady. Schadenfreude. After his terrifying rampage of a debate it's a mercy he may be a tiny bit quieter for a while. Boy, it's a real test of whatever traces remain of my childhood religious training....not to think of karma. I'm trying to channel "When they go low, we go high" except that may have gotten us this sociopathic president in the first place. The U.S. has been asleep at the wheel for too long (that's karma too). The damage done is heartbreaking.

I'm still reading with my jaw on my chest. Time to write more postcards to voters. I voted early, curbside (like a drive-thru restaurant!) a week ago and in this small city it was a breeze. But in other places like Texas, one side is doing all it can to suppress the vote--the governor there just ordered only one secure outdoor ballot box per COUNTY (you can drive almost 2000 miles from end to end of one). So seniors and/or the disabled who really need to deliver their votes outdoors ... how can we have sunk to this? Okay, I'll stop. I apologize for the politics, that's not our VESMB custom. And that's wise. It's just a really tense time until the outcome.

Back to cozy patio fantasies....my lawn guy is going to deliver some split seasoned firewood and there's a super-cheap way to build a sturdy rack: four steel brackets made for the purpose. You insert two treated pieces of lumber lengthwise for the bottom, and four regular ones that stick upright from each corner. You choose the rack dimensions based on how much firewood you'll get (about 250 lbs for me for the season is my guess, not much) and buy 2'x4' lumber cut to suit. Even I could assemble this thing!

hugs
Hops

[Twoapenny]

The cheap rack sounds perfect Hops, I'm glad there's a way to do it without spending a fortune.  Good omen, I reckon.

The thing that struck me most about the Trump news was whether or not I could believe it.  How have we go to a point where we can't trust anything we see or hear anymore (at least now without a decent knowledge of the source or the topic)?  Kind of scary.

And yes, voting.  I kind of don't want to watch, here or there.  I'm still looking at eco retreats in out of the way places and wondering if I can break son's internet addiction and get him into coppicing or something instead   Lol x

[Hopalong]

Coppicing! Brilliant! I loved the documentary about that...

Even in high-end media (just the commenters, not the reporters/opiners) there's some speculation about T's diagnosis being a hoax. I have a feeling it's not, but doubting that sort of news is a symptom of what he and his ilk have done to us.

UGH.

hugs
Hops
PS In case I didn't say, I bought the fire pit. It'll be here end of Oct. and I'm glad.

[lighter]

:: kicking back next to burn barrell::

I think a lively fire Pit is a most excellent investment, Hops.

Light

[lighter]

Just walked into emergency care center to ask about Covid-19 Rapid Test.

First avail appt is Monday.
Rapid Test is $179.00 without insurance and $200.00 for regular test.....should have asked about timeframe for results, but so upset over crap poor planning, high expense and lack of care I had to turn on my heel and walk out.

I guess the policy is.....go home.  Spread whatever you have.  If you can afford the test, come back and get an idea of what you've been giving to those around you, bc....
that's a plan.

My brother found the rapid test at a little mom and pop emergency clinic for $120.00 a person.  I guess price gouging is up to the provider, and their sense of entitlement to profits.

Lighter

[Hopalong]

What spurred it, Lighter?

Have you been exposed?
Or feeling any symptoms?

I've worried about your mingling/hosting etc....

Fingers crossed,
Hops

[lighter]

Not me.....guest tested regularly before meetings with care team.  At least I know he doesn't have it.

Brother felt he might go to island, but alas...
no power or water so all that money wasted....$360.00.
Lighter

[Twoapenny]

400 more cases in the last week in our county, almost all in the area our University is in.  They should have put all teaching online, this is just a crazy risk to take - I understand it's different with younger kids but adults can stay home and learn from their laptops and with online seminars and so on.  The death rate is still mercifully low (I think because it's mostly affecting younger people so they're recovering from it) but that's still a huge jump in numbers in such a short space of time.

Lighter, I hear you on the testing!  It's an absolute shambles here; they miscounted thousands of results because they were apparently just using a normal Excel package - like the one you have on your own computer at home? - to run the database???????  And the numbers got too big for it to handle so tens of thousands were unreported until the following week.  People are finding they can't get a test at all and of course, a lot of people can't afford to take time off work so I'd lay money that some people have symptoms and aren't going for a test or self isolating because they just can't pay their bills if they do.  I did find out that our local osteopathy clinic is doing private testing for about £100 a time - our chances are low but if either of us got sick I'd rather know sooner than later.  Absolute madness.  A friend's son is doing a work placement with a pharmaceutical research company - all staff get tested weekly as standard - smart move, I think.  Teachers, on the other hand, aren't even considered a priority for testing and many are having to stay off work for two weeks at a time because they can't get a test to find out one way or the other.  Crazy bonkers madness.

[Hopalong]

This may be bonkers too, but I'm not concerned about testing.
If I ran a fever for days and especially felt short of breath, I'd assume it's Covid-19, and my ticket would be punched (by me) pretty soon thereafter.

I have read so many accounts of the long-term damage and the PTSD and what ventilation is like, etc., that I'd just as soon skip the hospital part.

Also, it seems clear that people are relying way way too much on testing as though it actually offers anything protective. It does for those around you if you're not self-isolating, but it is after the horse left the barn. Also, from reading for hours about DJT and the White House...they were using a less reliable test, and according to experts, negative tests do NOT mean Oh goody, in the clear. They just mean that this time, this test...didn't detect it. You could still be contagious, asymptomatic. There's a particular timeline for when enough virus blooms in your system to register on a test, and some of the tests are better than others.

Same with masks. They lower the risk, absolutely, and a lot. But it's not 100% because so many wear masks with gaps around the edges where virus-laden breath can escape anyway.

I think people just latch on to the magic fairy safety tools, and forget that the ONE sure way not to get it (if you have this luxury) is to stay home. Period.

Americans especially just don't know how to endure it. Socializing is a huge drive for me (hence my pricey fire pit) but with all the reading....I know complete lockdown would be the safest.

Then again, I'm a coward, and I really don't want to go this way or make anybody else go this way if I can help it.

The current DC saga about infection, risk and especially consideration for others, as though we're actually all in this together...is overwhelming. Hope I make it to the election without a nervous breakdown. Already voted, curbside, easy as pie, and wish everyone who possibly can would vote right now.

hugs
Hops

[Twoapenny]

Aw, Hops, well hopefully it won't come to that as you're taking so many precautions.  Our risk is pretty low due to not going out much and not being around people when we do (booked cinema tickets for Friday; you can see which seats have already sold when you book your tickets and it's completely empty again).  It's all just such a shambles.  I was watching one of the comedians here do a spoof sketch mimicking Johnson doing one of his 'announcements' and the comedy version actually made more sense than the real announcement.