As I have crates of old dirty bayonets lining my man cave, I decided to do a crash course on some common U.S. pokey things over in my column at Guns.com.
Because nothing says social distancing like a rifle topped with a pokey thing.
As I touched on briefly a couple weeks ago, we are all in this together and I thought I would talk briefly about what is going on in my life and neck of the woods when it comes to the whole Mexican beer flu (aka Coronavirus, COVID-19, Wu-Tang Clan flu, et. al).
My family and I have been social distancing by and large and, being away from the large “hot spots” have remained under a soft quarantine for the past couple weeks. I’ve canceled all my upcoming travel– with work trips to Minnesota and Tennessee scrubbed– and have barely put 100~ miles on my truck in the past two weeks.
The few trips I have made outside of the homestead are to touch base with a few friends in small (sub-8-person) groups, even then maintaining a good 2-meter distance from each other and talking outside in the drive/yard without touching anything. I proctored a 5K race make-up with six runners in a local club along the beach.
Most importantly, I have remained away from the big boxes and the crowds of scarecrows looking for TP.
I’ve responded to calls from friends for guns and/or ammunition, passing on three of the former and about 1,000 rounds of the latter to a variety of folks with concerns who have been confronted with empty store shelves. I’ve likewise done the same with extra venison from the freeze.
Lysol on doorknobs and surfaces, putting mail and delivered packages in a three-day quarantine of its own before opening, washing my hands 10x a day, using mouthwash after every conversation, nobody outside of the family inside the house, keeping up with my daily vitamin and supplement dosing to keep my immune system up, and the like have been the rule.
As far as work goes, I’ve passed on to the other editors that we still need to cover gun news but also to provide entertainment as there are millions of people stuck inside these days. We have responded with gun quizzes, TP in the wild photoshoots, classic gun coloring sheets, Glock word searches, and fun shooting videos.
As many recent new gun buyers are apparently first-time gun owners, we have also repeatedly touched on gun safety tips in the past couple of weeks.
For reference, via the NSSF, should you feel the need to share:
Been working on my Victory Garden. I recommend everyone with the ability do the same, as this isn’t going to be over tomorrow.
Speaking of veggies, one thing I have stumbled upon is the fact that the local produce vendor has been stuck with a double whammy that they have to continue to accept contracted deliveries of fruits and vegetables while the restaurants they have traditionally supplied have all but shut their doors.
That leaves them with pallets of perishable produce and no buyers. A quick call to said vendor produced the below for $10, curbside service included.
I do believe I will keep heading back every week or so for such deals. Remember, shy away from veggies or fruits you cannot either peel, wash (most detergent-based soaps can also be used on food and rinsed with lots of water) or heat (to 149F for three minutes at least).
Stay safe out there guys, and remember to have fun.
Using the standard British Army pace stick–the 30-inch measure introduced by Sandhurst Sgt. Maj. Arthur Brand in 1928– WO2 Drill Sergeant Rae, 1/Scots Guards explains and demonstrates the correct distance individuals should keep apart, during the Covid-19 lockdown.
The Scots Guards have been following such rules for PT, which, unlike many U.S. units and branches, still remains standard in the British Army, even in garrison.
Speaking of the Guards, the ceremonial changing of the guards at Buckingham and elsewhere this week changed to a more understated “Administrative Guard Mount” where the Old Guard hands over duties to the New Guard without music or ceremony. It is not a new drill as it is standard for situations, for instance, during heavy rainfall.
Looks like rain.
Excuse me while I drag out the soapbox.
As a guy who ran a Y2K website 20+ years ago, penned zombie books (shameless plug) and have spent 40~ years living in a hurricane zone, I like to keep a stockpile of non-perishables on hand just in case. In short, if you don’t have 90 days worth of non-perishables on-hand even in good times then you just aren’t “adulting.” My grandmother, who grew up in the Depression in Weimar Germany and survived the leanest years of WWII, later became something of a “hamsterkauf,” socking away canned goods and cured/smoked meats on the regular. Open a cabinet to get a towel and you had to move sausages out of the way.
With that in mind, visiting my local big boxes for standard weekly shopping this week I was blown away by the panic buying I witnessed over the upcoming possibility of having to self-quarantine for the next 14-to-21 days in response to the COVID-19/Coronavirus scare.
Folks, jamming yourself into tight areas to queue for things that aren’t there is just a bad idea when it comes to catching a virus. Just think rationally, pardon the pun. Panic is always a mistake.
Furthermore, people are stocking up on the wildest stuff. Shopping carts full of TP, cans of garbage Chef Boyardee meals full of salt and preservatives, bags of over-sugared cereals and Pop-Tarts. People fighting over $7 packs of vanity napkins.
Meanwhile, the produce department has stacks of untouched long-lasting veggies like spaghetti/acorn squash, carrots, potatoes and onions along with fruits packed with natural sugars like apples– none of which have to be refrigerated. Likewise, nuts and raisins are untouched. Shelves of tinned fish products like sardines and herring are packed. Rice and beans left behind. These are the kind of staples people should have on hand.
The concept of flattening the curve of infection— simply limiting the rate of new cases to a level the healthcare system can match– is sound. After all, on any normal day, some 80 percent of the ventilators in circulation are already hooked up to a patient and the Strategic National Stockpile (SNS) only has 4,000 of those vital machines in reserve. Hopefully, the next few weeks will be enough to break the cycle and let people get back to being addicted to Instagram while they wait in line for a pink drink.
With that, and the fact that the two upcoming trips I had booked for late March and Mid-April are canceled, have me all-in on “social distancing” and becoming largely a shut-in for the next few weeks.
I’ll start working on the fresh stuff and freezer full of deer roasts and feral hog sausage just in case the power grid gets iffy later on in this crisis while I work on my usual garden for the Spring.
I think I will at least double the size of my plot this year.
You guys be safe.
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