Corona And Salty

Wow. What a week! Unless you’re living under a rock, you know what I’m talking about.

If you’ve been to the store lately, you’ve probably been greeted with sights like this:

This was the meat aisle in my Walfart Neighborhood Market on Friday. The bread and dairy didn’t look much better, and forget about the toilet paper!

I was walking down the baking aisle looking for cooking oil when a lady asked out loud, “Why has there been a run on flour?”

Me: I think, because the bread is running low, people are buying ingredients to do their own baking (including me).

Her:

Apparently, she wasn’t raised by a father who was born at the beginning of the Depression or a mother who was born at the beginning of WWII, like I was. I didn’t have to stock up much because the lessons of my childhood taught me that an empty pantry or refrigerator shelf is bad and having two or less of anything means YOU’RE OUT AND GO TO THE STORE NOW!

She also seemed puzzled by the fact that anyone would make their own bread.

First of all, Karen, homemade bread is the bomb. Store bought is just convenient. Second of all, it’s much easier to stock up on flour and other ingredients for long term rather than try to keep bread fresh (unless you freeze it, which I also do).

Second of all, Karen, I’ll be damned if I’m going to die from Coronavirus while in a state of ketosis. When they conduct my autopsy and examine the contents of my stomach, it’s not going to be full of kale and cauliflower pizza crust. It’s going to be full of yeast rolls, pancakes, Mexican cornbread and flour tortillas.

While the virus is a horrible thing, and a scary thing, I think there are some positives to be gleaned from this whole situation. I, for one, am revisiting the lessons of my youth (again, from parents who grew up with nothing, or with rationing) and relearning what it means to waste.

With TP at a premium these days, I’ve come to realize that I don’t need nearly as much of anything as I’ve grown accustomed to using.

I’ve instructed the boys to only run the washing machine or dishwasher with a full load because detergent and dish soap are among the items that are getting hard to come by. It goes with out saying for paper products as well. And while I’ve never allowed much food to go to waste, I’m cracking down on the leftovers. We’re either eating them up right away or they’re getting frozen.

In other words, we’re doing things the way we should’ve been doing them in the first place, instead of doing them the way people in fat, greedy, overindulged countries do them.

But I digress…

Another positive is that despite all the ugly behavior this crisis has brought out, it has also brought out the best in people. Facebook groups have popped up for people to post “toilet paper sightings” and updates on where other essentials can be found, so you don’t drive all over town for nothing.

Taco Larry put out an all-call on his practice’s Facebook Group page for N95 masks and protective eye wear because he is still seeing kids (and their parents), working out of the parking lot when necessary, and he is running low on needed supplies that he can no longer get from his supplier. People in the practice have shown up with whatever they can scrounge up for him.

Employers are doing what they can to pay their workers, even though they have to send their workers home, and restaurants and businesses are being creative to keep their doors open and keep their people employed.

Isn’t this also how we should’ve been all along?

If you are not on my Facebook page, you probably didn’t see my post about my role during all of this. Here it is:

I’ve alluded to this in the past here on the blog, which you can read here: Happy Little Trees.

So, in an effort to take your mind off things for a while, or at least find the humor somewhere, here is some of the best of what I’ve seen around the internet during this very strange time!

Stay weird, my friends. Normal is boring! And stay safe!