The big picture is too big

On the right, my fat little jar of home-ground cinnamon.

As the pandemic wears on, I’ve been contemplating the big picture and coming to terms with the idea there is no big picture. Or if there is, it’s too big for me to figure out, so I’d rather just ignore it.

Deep thinkers and perhaps those with strong spiritual beliefs might take issue with that sentiment, but it’s the little picture that keeps me reasonably sane … taking care of my mind and body, tending to relationships and living as well as I possibly can.

I’m not sure what the future will bring, but that’s nothing new. My guess is lockdown and semi-lockdown will continue for months and months. We have enough money to get what we need, and so far, we’ve been able to get pretty much everything we need without going inside a store.

If that’s reality for the foreseeable future, we’ll call ourselves lucky. And grateful. In the meantime, I’m focusing on simple pleasures.

I’ve been walking almost every day. In fact, I just got back from a nice walk and spent much of it thinking about social distancing on the road and other pedestrian safety tips, which I will share in an upcoming post. Remind me to mention the snake!

Much of life seems to revolve around food, but then it always did. We spend a good bit of time shopping for it online, going to pick it up and preparing it. As always, different stores have different things, and we are fortunate to have multiple options. We’re buying more pantry items, so I tidied up that area, and Dale started calling me Marie, as in Kondo. He said all the little cans were dress right dress, which is a military term that refers to being parallel.

Yeah, man. Nothing like parallel cans to settle your soul.

I’m more careful not to waste food. I froze milk in two-cup portions. They say the texture changes, but I only use it for cooking anyway. We used to buy ripe avocados and eat them the same day. You probably knew this, but you can buy them firm and let them ripen on the counter. It turns out avocados keep at least a week in the refrigerator once they’re ripe. A semi-gnarly apple is greatly enhanced when microwaved with cinnamon and brown sugar. A dollop of yogurt on warm apples is delicious!

There seems to be a cinnamon shortage with all the baking going on, but I had plenty of sticks, so I let them roll around in a dry frying pan on low heat to get some of the moisture out and then buzzed them up in a coffee grinder we reserve for spices. I added a smidgen of brown sugar because I read somewhere it helps the process along.

Oh, and you can freeze parsley and cilantro.

I wash the herbs well and spread them out on a bath towel, so as not to squander my precious paper towels. I pat the herbs dry and remove any thick stems. Divvy them up into smaller portions, put them in a zip lock, label and freeze. The texture changes a bit, so you might not have a pretty garnish, but the taste is great.

For dinner one night I made baguettes, and we just allow them to be the star of the show with good olive oil, brie and Italian cold cuts. I tossed fresh spinach with vinegar and sea salt and had that on the side.

Dale periodically freezes raw scraps of veal, pork and beef that are left over from other dishes, and yesterday he used the Kitchen Aid with the grinder attachment to turn the scraps into meatballs. We had spaghetti and meatballs, and they were the best meatballs I’ve ever had. We were going to have leftover baguettes on the side, but someone ate them all!

Tonight’s dinner is Chiapas pork from the freezer. Dale made it a month or two ago, and we had tons of leftovers. It’s basically a pork shoulder marinated, spiced and cooked in the oven until falling apart in a puddle of delicious sauce. To go with, we have fresh shredded romaine lettuce, sliced onion and homemade blue corn tortillas. We eat them like tacos.  

I did a little yard work, my least favorite simple pleasure, but the weather is lovely, and I guess it wasn’t so bad. The air quality is amazing with so many cars off the road.

Germ-free entertainment

For germ-free entertainment, I previously recommended the Department Q series by Jussi Adler-Olsen. Featuring Danish police inspector Carl Mørck, the novels are excellent, but they can be dark. There are some exceptionally creepy people at the heart of the stories, so I stopped reading them.

I’m finding during this pandemic that dark is relative. It turns out reading about imaginary creepy people doing bad things is less disturbing than lying awake at night ruminating on our current reality. I jumped back in the pool, and I’m enjoying the books very much. 

The cold case investigations are detailed and suspenseful, which makes for great reading, but I especially love the character development. Carl is an interesting guy, but he is no less interesting than his current sidekicks, Assad and Rose. I peeked, and there’s another colleague arriving in a future book. They all have a back story, and I love the interaction among them.  

I downloaded the first Walt Longmire novel from the library, and it was great, but the rest were not available in digital format. While I wait for the library to re-open, I started watching the Longmire series on Netflix. There are six seasons, and I’m in the middle of Season 2.

While Walt seems the classic Wyoming sheriff, he’s a complex character … as is his deputy sheriff Vic Moretti. As a woman checking out another woman, I would say she’s tough and hot in the same breath. The stories have a strong connection to the Native American community, and that makes them all the more interesting.

The new season of Bosch has arrived on Amazon Prime! My first inclination is to binge-watch the whole thing, but I’m learning to appreciate the slow reveal. I’m watching Season 5 of Outlander on STARZ, and new episodes are delivered weekly – and then sometimes they skip a week! What? But I like the anticipation, and I certainly have plenty of time these days. I will probably alternate between Bosch and Longmire.    

I read a million good reviews of The Princess Bride, both the book and the movie. I can’t speak for the movie, but I did not get far with the book. I rarely say this, but I absolutely hated it. I hated the style of writing, the forced humor that wasn’t actually funny … even Buttercup. I found her completely unlikeable.

The good news? I downloaded it from the library!! I love not paying for a book I hated. To celebrate, I snagged a free Kindle book on Amazon. Dirty Little Secrets by Liliana Hart. It’s the first in a series featuring J.J. Graves, a small-town funeral director and coroner. I haven’t started it yet, but it sounds promising.

In my current role as director of supply chain management, I’m using a mix of Amazon and local grocery stores, depending on what we need. Although it’s working pretty well, we are talking about doing another in-store trip. I suspect the wackos are going to come out after May 1, you know, thinking this whole thing is over, so I’d like us to get there before the crush.

I got an email from Raley’s, a local chain, and they seem to have an aggressive approach to managing risk:

  • Shields at registers
  • Hand washing stations
  • Cart and hand sanitizers
  • Sanitation Marshals in each store
  • Social distancing signage and overhead messaging
  • Metered customer count

I like all that. I’ve become a wee bit obsessive about germs. As usual, Dale has adopted a more relaxed approach and does not appreciate my interventions friendly advice. I’m like the police, following him around to make sure he washes his hands a hundred times a day like the rest of us.

He suggested I apply for a job as Sanitation Marshal. Probably just to get rid of me, although he did make me a badge …

Bloody Mary breakfast

A Bloody Mary for breakfast.

We kept saying we should have a Bloody Mary, but we vetoed it every time. For some weird reason, it’s not a cocktail we enjoy before dinner. For us, it’s more of a breakfast or lunch thing.

I’ve been trying to make healthy choices for breakfast … fruit, yogurt and granola … and a Bloody just didn’t seem to line up. But Dale made rye bread yesterday, and I had a vision of buttered homemade rye toast, bacon and Bloodies. We executed my vision this morning!

The Budweiser pint glass is part of a set I got during some kind of a promotion during the mid-90s. I remember cutting off the UPC codes from case after case of Budweiser. I wonder where all those Buds went? My sister made the olive skewers.

I love special plates, glassware, serving dishes and hand-made kitchen accessories. Since we’ve been in self-isolation, I’ve made more of an effort to use them and will continue to do so after this is over.

The drinks are three parts Bloody Mary mix to one part vodka. Bloody Mary mix is a controversial subject. Everyone has a favorite! I made these with Lefty O’Doul’s, which I like, but we both prefer Big Daddy’s. Both are made in California.

Then I add copious amounts of Worcester sauce, fresh lime, Tabasco sauce and horseradish. I stir it all up in a large Mason jar. We like them spicy and lovingly adorned with fresh crisp celery and green olives.

That description reminds me of a scene from the Netflix series, Grace and Frankie. Grace (Jane Fonda) wants a Bloody Mary, but for some reason, she can’t get one. Instead, she orders a shrimp cocktail, hold the shrimp, and then she pulls a mini-bottle from her purse and makes a drink out of it.

Before I put the ice cubes in, I squeeze lime juice around the rim and dip it in a mixture of Kosher salt and Old Bay Seasoning. Yes, I lick it off. Toward the end, I like to run my celery around the rim to catch anything I missed.

As proper Californians, we should switch to reusable straws. Note to self.

Anyway, breakfast was delicious. As for pandemic juice, I highly recommend the Bloody Mary. We each get only one, so it’s not too big of a buzz, and we could definitely drive if we had to go somewhere.

Oh, but we aren’t going anywhere, are we?

Death by junk food

A paean to lard from a Gibble’s potato chip bag.

Keeping everything in stock seems like a full-time job. Between Amazon, local grocery store pick-up and a few specialty products from online vendors, we’re fabulous, thank you. Except, well, Dale’s gone feral.

He ordered two “snacker packs” of Gibble’s potato chips from his buddies at Ship My Chips. He calls potato chips Vitamin P. Gibble’s are from Chambersburg, Pa. We (mostly he) developed a taste for them when we lived there years ago. The chips are fried in lard, and our recipe scrapbook even includes the paean to lard he once clipped from a bag of the Gibble’s.

They aren’t here yet. Every day he waits and watches by the door.

Then there’s the pretzel situation. I wrote a post about this more than a year ago, but some people never learn. When we did our last in-store shopping, I snagged a bag of pretzels and asked if he wanted a bag. Dale likes extra salty, and I like extra dark. He said no, but by the time we got home, he was regretting it. He went online and ordered straight from the manufacturer. I asked if he got some for me, and he said it didn’t occur to him.

It’s every man for himself out here.

Later, Dale said he didn’t think of me as a pretzel eater. Really? That’s the best you can do? I said maybe I can pick the salt off yours, and he responded, “That’s a good idea.”

No. It isn’t.

Dale’s junk food Jones seems to be at peace for now, but I fully expect a truck full of Cheetos to arrive at any moment.

Walking

A walking path near our home.

I didn’t walk for a couple of days, mostly because of rain. Yesterday, I did my five-mile loop, and it was lovely. I only encountered a few people, and we all gave each other a wide berth. When we were figuring out where to live after I retired, traffic-free walking paths were a priority. Although we live in a suburban area, there are plenty of uncrowded trails.

I’m so glad I stuck to my guns. Walking lifts my spirits in so many ways. In the current hunkering down edict, my mood cycles throughout the day and depends in part on exposure to news. But a nice long walk blows off the stink and makes me feel human again.

Liquor store run

We made a liquor store run. I wasn’t sure what to expect, so I wore my homemade no-sew mask. I wore the hat because it was raining. Dale said I looked like Butch Cassidy.

I liked the set-up. The store itself is closed to walk-in traffic. You shop and pay for your booze online and select a pick-up time. The entrance is roped off, and there’s a kiosk attended by a store clerk. I showed the clerk my receipt, she got the box and handed it over. There’s hand sanitizer on the kiosk, and I had my own stash of disinfecting stuff as well.

Anything that isn’t perishable goes into the garage to “cool off” for a couple of days.

For food, we’ve been waffling between reasonably healthy and indulgent. Dale made homemade refried beans from dried pintos, which sounds healthy enough, except then he made golden-fried beany cheesy chimichangas, which are a wee bit indulgent.

I mean, I don’t want to die of scurvy or whatever, but right now indulgent feels good. I actually don’t feel too bad about it, because we do eat a wide variety of food, including fruits and vegetables, we exercise and we’re good about portion control. Even our indulgent stuff is homemade.

That’s my story, and I’m sticking to it.

Yesterday, Dale made sausage and cheese breakfast sandwiches on my home-baked English muffins. Seriously, you could sell those things on the side of the road and live comfortably off the proceeds. For dinner, we split that scrawny steak from Whole Foods delivery, and it was absolutely delicious. We also split a baked potato, and I sautéed mushrooms and spinach to go with. We opened a bottle of local Cabernet Franc.

Oh, and we emptied the bottle, as well.

My last grocery pick-up included long grain rice, which seems to be in short supply, so I was happy to see that. Score! We also got some kale. While we’re not on the “All Things Kale” bandwagon, we do like it. Tonight, Dale is making a one-pot wonder with kale, Italian sausage and canned white beans.

Trying to avoid death by junk food, but I have to admit, I’m looking forward to those chips. How about you? Cookies? Ice cream? Candy? Do tell.

The stress baking continues

My first attempt at homemade English muffins.
Nooks and crannies, toasted and buttered.

I’ll be brief. Here’s the recipe for no-knead English muffins. Special stress baking edition. They were really easy and absolutely delicious. I simply followed the instructions, and they came out great!

You’ll need bread flour. The dough rises about five hours at room temperature. Then you’ll dollop out muffin-sized bits of dough onto a sheet tray, and your little treasures will spend the night in the refrigerator before you cook them, so plan accordingly.

We picked up an order from a different grocery store today. We couldn’t find the pick-up point, but one of the guys dragging carts around in the parking lot told us it was by the rear entrance to the store. Once we got there, everything went smoothly.

Among the goodies today were romaine lettuce and fresh spinach. My eyes got misty at the sight of romaine. Oh, how I long for the days when romaine was the most dangerous thing that came out of a grocery store.

As we speak, Dale is doing an online order from the liquor store. In my professional expertise, an early afternoon pick-up time is ideal. Late enough to linger around in the morning but not so late as to interfere with happy hour.

Still hanging tough. It’s pouring rain today. An absolute deluge. We need it, but really? It seems like pretty soon we’ll be boarding in twos.

Managing the supply chain

Our first order from Amazon Fresh delivered to our doorstep.

Shopping

We got our first delivery from Amazon Fresh. I believe you have to live near a Whole Foods store, which was a requirement on my retirement location spreadsheet.

Go me.

Amazon has two ways to shop at Whole Foods, and honestly, I don’t understand the difference, but I got what I wanted. Fresh raspberries, radishes, our favorite bacon, salmon and other goodies.

One item I ordered was a boneless ribeye steak. We usually split one. Was it as thick as we normally get? No, but hey, it’s a steak!

I liked the experience because they tell you whether it’s in stock before you complete the purchase. The packages were delivered within a two-hour window with no personal contact. Not even a ringing of the doorbell, which is fine with me.

Later we went to pick up an order at the Safeway. I drove to a designated spot, called the number posted there and popped the trunk. A few minutes later a guy put the groceries in the trunk and waved bye. No contact. They were out of oatmeal and hot sausage, but they substituted regular sausage. No substitutes for oatmeal.

Dale has entered the acceptance phase of his grocery store grief and is helping me with the tasks. He’s the supply chain guy, and he’s teaching me how to do it efficiently. I’m keeping a log of what I’ve ordered and assuming some things might not be available, I’m checking them off as they come in. Also keeping a running list of items we might need soon.

We have enough toilet paper, but I’ve been on the lookout just the same. Target claims they have some in stock, but you have to go into the store. This morning I found it on Amazon – a popular national brand – and theoretically it will be delivered next week. My days of treating toilet paper like party streamers are over. No details, of course, but it’s like my ass knows there’s a toilet paper shortage.

BAking

Oh, and I guess everyone is baking! We have plenty of flour, but thinking ahead, I ordered more AP and bread flour from King Arthur. Shipping is three to four weeks out, but that’s fine for us. I had some pastry flour in the freezer. I forget what I bought it for. I used it to make cinnamon hand pies this morning.

Reading

I successfully downloaded a book for my Kindle from the public library … the first of the Walt Longmire series by Craig Johnson. I liked it and want to read the rest, but I like to read them in order, and the next one wasn’t available as a digital download. I don’t want to pay for it, so I got another Jack Reacher by Lee Child. He can be a bit violent for me, but so far, so good. This one is “The Midnight Line.”

At the recommendation of writer Ann Patchett, I purchased (for $0.99) “The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane” by Kate DiCamillo. It’s a children’s book, and I loved it. In fact, it’s a quick read, so I may read it again today. I highly recommend this book if you haven’t read it. Quite uplifting!

I’ve been reading more than watching, although I look forward to every Sunday, when a new episode of Outlander arrives.

We’ll need to replenish the liquor soon. That’s when I learn about just-in-time delivery.

Online grocery shopping

A snip from our online order at a local grocery store. Cocktail peanuts, because you know … cocktails, peanuts.

I’m not feeling particularly creative, but I feel good and thought I’d share an update. So far, we’ve avoided bad craziness. But there’s still time.

We converted to online grocery shopping. Dale is not happy about it, but we made the decision together. While the precautions we took last time might be adequate, we decided it isn’t worth the risk.

One of my favorite songs is “Fort Worth Blues” by Steve Earle. It’s a tribute to Townes Van Zandt, a musician who passed away relatively young after many years of substance abuse. There’s a line referring to death, but I think it also applies to life during these strange times:

Somewhere up beyond the great divide

Where the sky is wide and the clouds are few

A man can see his way clear to the light

Just hold on tight

That’s all you gotta do

I keep thinking just hold on tight, that’s all we gotta do. We are safe at home until the worst is over. We’re the lucky ones, and I can’t even begin to describe how grateful I am. Although I’m no Mother Teresa, I made another donation to the food bank and will most likely give more throughout the year. I don’t see how I can’t.

Dale was the principal shopper prior to the pandemic, but he doesn’t want much to do with online shopping. I thought maybe he would get into it, but that has not been the case. I’m doing it in consultation with him about brands, quantities, etc.

I ended up ordering from three different services. Two are pick-ups at local grocers, and one is a delivery from Amazon Fresh. You have to reserve a time for pick-up at the local stores, and that’s running about 5-7 days out. That hasn’t been a problem, since we keep a lot of food around anyway. The window for Amazon Fresh was much quicker – two days.

Substitutions are part of the deal for all these stores, but I don’t care. I did opt out of substitutions for a couple of things – cat food, because we have a picky eater, and he only likes prime filets. I also opted out of a certain kind of sausage we prefer, assuming it’s not essential, and we probably wouldn’t like the substitute. 

This sucks but actually doesn’t bother me all that much. I remember when I had cancer the first time – 1999 – and there was a high probability I would die. The most optimistic five-year survival rate was 40 percent. The majority relapsed within two years.

I tried to think of cancer as an adventure, but I had to adjust to so many changes, and it wasn’t exactly what I would call a fun adventure. Even when I was on the mend, I knew the statistics and spent five years not knowing if the treatment worked. Wondering if I would die. So, what’s a couple of months locked up in a comfy house knowing the statistics are quite possibly on my side this time?

With cancer, there was virtually no way to mitigate my risk, but now I know what to do. Stay home. I have enough to keep me amused.

The hardest part is dealing with each other’s expectations. We still like each other, but we’ve taken to not talking much during the day. He does his thing, and I do mine. I guess it gives us our space. Then we start chatting away at happy hour, just like we used to.

Although I am taking walks, I’m keeping my distance. I don’t touch anything, and I don’t touch my face. I wash my hands as soon as I get home. Our town’s population is about 45,000. Definitely not rural, but not the big squished-together urban scene, either. We have lots of walking paths, and it’s easy to keep my distance from anyone I encounter. Being outside and seeing nature at work is comforting.

I have several different routes. Some shorter, some longer, depending on how my body feels. My longer route is a five-mile loop, and I was thinking it might be kind of cool to work up to 10 miles. But I didn’t think my bladder would hold. Then it occurred to me I could do the five-mile loop, stop at the house to use the restroom, and then do the loop again.

Who said I wasn’t feeling creative?

DIY pedicure and haircut

I gave myself a pedicure today, and it looks pretty good for an amateur. I don’t keep my toenails painted anyway, so I was just going for neat and clean. Beauty base zero.

It wasn’t so bad. I have a little teak stool I put in the bathtub. Then I ran some hot water and added a handful of bath salts. Soaked, pushed back the cuticles, cut and filed the nails, used a pumice stone to remove dead skin on my feet and then shined up the nails with a buffer block.

My tools are starting to deteriorate, so I ordered new buffer blocks and fake pumice stones from Amazon. My stuff should come next week, but I checked the box that said, “No hurry.” Just doing my part for humanity.

When I let my hair grow long, it was for simplicity and convenience. I didn’t want to spend my precious time in a salon. With the current COVID-19 restrictions, staying home has not been a problem for me hair-wise, since I only get it trimmed a couple of times a year. Blunt cut with no unruly layers growing wild. No gray roots to worry about when it’s all gray!

Although I used to call it retirement hair, perhaps I should call it pandemic hair. I guess I could cut it myself if it comes to that.

Dale gets his hair cut at the military barber shop just outside the commissary, where he normally goes twice a month for “the big stuff.” He’s bald on top and gets the Number 3 for the rest of his head. His hair has been driving him nuts, and we talked about whether I could successfully cut it.

Today he said, “Let’s do this thing.”

I watched a few YouTube videos. Then I got the trimmers and practiced without turning them on. I’m like, I think I got this. We went out to the backyard, and I put a towel over his shoulders. I started with the fuzz around his neck, which was easy.

Then I set the trimmers to 7, figuring there would be less damage if I messed this up. Nothing horrible happened, so I gradually worked my way down to 3. Then I just kind of went over the whole thing, zapping stray hairs I missed and trimming around the ears. At some point, I decided I was done.

He went into the bathroom to check himself out in the mirror, and he said, “It looks great!” Another mission accomplished.

The whole thing reminded me of when we first got Riley, a long-haired kitty. He had nasty matts, and I got Dale’s beard trimmer to see if I could get them out. I didn’t put them back right away, and one day Dale asked if I had seen his beard trimmer.

I didn’t even think … I just said, “Oh, you mean the cat’s?”

He was horrified, but we both laughed. It still makes us laugh, which is a good thing.

Fun and games

Of course, we’re both in a funk of sorts. I had a meltdown about a week ago and have since felt reasonably calm and content. It was during the meltdown I said, “I’m just gonna go outside and ask people to spit on me.” I call that my rock bottom, and it has been nothing but up since.

Dale doesn’t do meltdowns, but I would say his low point was after we got back from the grocery store, because that was his happy place, and it’s not anymore. It also turns out Dale is much more extroverted than I am. He misses even the smallest interactions with clerks and neighbors.

We’ve talked through it, not without pain mind you, but we’re still a unit, committed to getting through this healthy, happy and together. I read about relationships being stressed right now, and my favorite line was something like this:

Don’t search for the perfect partner. Try to be the perfect partner.

I could tell Dale needed some comfort food and suggested burgers. We have everything for that, and he jumped right on it. We’re taking an indulgence break and will have burgers tonight. Then it’s back to broccoli on Friday.

We talked about playing board games, and I did an inventory of our toy chest:

  • Risk
  • Monopoly
  • Othello
  • Scrabble
  • Yahtzee
  • Backgammon
  • Dominoes
  • Pente
  • Cribbage

Most of these have been sitting idle for some time. This might be the 70s talking, but I don’t remember anything about Othello or Pente. Dale doesn’t like Scrabble or Yahtzee, my two favorites, so we’re going to start with backgammon. We used to play a lot and have a beautiful board we bought in Egypt. We’ll need to brush up on the rules.

We both used to like cribbage, but his mother was a fanatic, and we both got burned out on it during one of her visits many years ago. Perhaps enough time has passed that we can try it again.

Other unexpected items that showed up in the toy chest during my inventory include:

  • German flag
  • Survival cards
  • Mexican game with cup and ball on a string
  • Multiple decks of playing cards
  • Phantom of the Opera mask
  • Latin dictionary
  • Arabic at a glance
  • English-French dictionary
  • Eisenhower postage stamps

How about you? Are you playing any games while in confinement? What’s in your toy chest?

A report from the grocery store zone

Dale’s yeast rolls, which we had with baked beans and cabbage salad.

Note: This post is longer than usual, but I thought it might be helpful to read through the details of our excursion to the grocery store. I have no way of measuring the effectiveness of our approach or whether it is even necessary. As always, proceed at your own risk.

Although we are in good shape as far as food and supplies go, we hoped to buy fresh produce and fill in a few other gaps … with dare I say it … a trip to the grocery store. We want to eat well but also want to do what we can to avoid getting this virus.

We read articles about how to shop safely during the coronavirus pandemic. We tossed ideas back and forth. Much of our strategy is based on guesswork.

I was in favor of curbside pick-up at the store or home delivery. Dale was skeptical of quality and wanted to see what stores actually had in stock before subscribing to that plan. Personally, I was not worried about getting a bruised cucumber considering the alternative.

My next favorite option was going early. Our favorite store announced they would be open from 6 a.m. to 8 a.m. on Tuesdays and Thursdays for those 65 and older. Dale is 70, so he qualifies, but I am 64. I didn’t imagine they would check IDs at the door, but we’re the sort who never have more than 10 items in the 10 items or less lane.

If they did check IDs, I would say I was his caregiver. Ha!

Dale envisioned a line of old people at the door starting at 6 a.m., and he could not see how that was particularly safe. Under normal conditions, he goes to that store almost daily, and he said the least crowded time was about 2:30 p.m. I trusted his judgment and said OK.

The other question for any in-store experience is whether you go solo or together. Most of the articles I read said go alone. Dale is theoretically at higher risk, but he was itching to go. I was worried about him touching stuff. We ended up going together.

I have one tiny bottle of hand sanitizer, but I have a box of vinyl disposable gloves. Antibacterial wipes are nowhere to be found, but I made a little batch of makeshift wipes by soaking paper towels in a mixture of water, isopropyl alcohol and coconut oil. I divided the folded stacks, stuffing them into quart-sized Ziplocs.

Although I have no idea whether the wipes actually work, it seems like they should. Perhaps better than nothing.

I did not take a purse but wore a raincoat with big pockets. I had three cloth shopping bags, a Ziploc of makeshift antibacterial wipes and my tiny bottle of hand sanitizer. Two disposable gloves, just in case. Dale had two gloves as well.

We did all our eye-scratching, throat-clearing and generalized spewing before we got out of the car. No face-touching until after we got home and washed our hands. We pulled into the parking lot, which was mostly empty! My guy knows his store.

We agreed in advance Dale would wear gloves to push the cart around and open refrigerated cases. I would not wear gloves, but I would be the one to touch the food and put it in the cart. My thinking was if I had worn a glove and touched a contaminated product and then touched the next product, the glove wasn’t much of a help.

I had the list divided into general areas of the store – cheese, milk, meat, condiments and produce. That’s the route we would normally take anyway. We had a plan of attack, and we executed with precision.

There were 20 items on our list, and we were done in 10 minutes. It was like we were on Guy’s Grocery Games, where the winner has to find all the items on the list while the clock is ticking.

With the exception of paper goods and some cleaning supplies, we were pleased with availability. Granted, we aren’t looking for frozen pizza. We got everything on our list:

  1. Whole milk mozzarella
  2. Sliced Swiss cheese
  3. Yogurt
  4. Pickles
  5. Sauerkraut
  6. Green olives
  7. Black olives
  8. Ground meat
  9. Dish soap
  10. Olive oil
  11. Triscuits
  12. Pretzels
  13. Broccoli
  14. Ginger root
  15. Iceberg lettuce
  16. Avocados
  17. Cucumber
  18. Zucchini
  19. Cilantro
  20. Apples

There were a few other shoppers, but no one got close. There was no one in line at our check-out. The clerk asked if we found everything we needed, and I said, “You seem to be out of hand sanitizer.” That got a good laugh. Gee, I hope laughing doesn’t spray germs!

Anyway, we got out of there. I unloaded the bags into the trunk. Dale dropped off the cart and removed his glove before opening the car door. I gave each of use a healthy squirt of hand sanitizer. When we got home, I brought the groceries in from the car.

I put the bags on the floor not the counter, and we washed our hands. I had placed a beach towel on the counter, and I unloaded the bags into the towel, using my wipes to clean the items with non-porous packaging.

Then I threw the grocery bags and the towel into the washing machine.

Geez, I think that’s it. We were both happy it was over. No real way to know at this point whether it worked, but it seemed safe to us. We did the best we could based on what we think we know.

I have no images from the war zone, but I added a picture of Dale’s yeast rolls, which were tender golden pillowy puffs of perfection. This is why we care about food and shopping!

We are continuing to discuss our grocery shopping options, including online ordering. Our neighbor, who is much younger, also offered to shop for us. As for meals, we’re looking at what’s the most perishable, and starting from there.