Day 4 COVID 19

Don't Pet my DOG!!!!!!!!!!!!!


Life Aspen style with mountain closed and social distancing in full effect (ish).  Turns out people live in Aspen who want to recreate (duh)--with the mountain shut and a lot of trails covered in snow and slush there are limited number of places to safely recreate and social distance.

Yesterday, I was walking the dogs up independence pass and it was crowded.  Half of the people knew not to pet my dogs, 80% of the others started to pet my dogs but responded to my entreaties not to.  And then the other 4 people just petted the heck out of em.  One guy even challenged me as to why not--I said COVID and he looked at me like 'What'?  I said coronavirus on your hands then on my dog and then on my hands.  He gave my dog a good rub and kept walking.  I took my dogs home and gave them a bath, wiped the car down, then bathed in bleach.  Never had I wished I owned pit bulls instead of Golden Retrievers.

Things to add to the list:

1.  don't go grocery shopping for one or two items.  If you are making a spicy Mexican dish and it calls for jalapenos and you don't have any don't go to the store for them.  Use cayenne or tabasco or anything else.  Make a different dish, but try to limit trips to the grocery store to once or twice a week.  Ditto the pharmacy if necessary.  When China locked down Wuhan they allowed one person per family out of the house every 4 days to shop for necessities.  You don't need to shop for a months worth of food at a time (that creates runs on supplies) but you also should limited the amount of times you head to the store.  To be honest, the grocery store is probably the most dangerous COVID-19 place in the world right now.  Fewer trips with excellent hygining before and after is best.  Best time to go tends to be early as well because traditionally they stock first thing in the AM.  So far no signs of shortages so don't go creating any--buy what you need for a week and come back in 6 days.

AND THEY WILL NOT CLOSE THE GROCERY STORES.  IF IT COMES DOWN TO HAVING THE COUNTRY STARVE OR EVERYONE GETTING COVID-19 THE FEDS WILL CHOSE COVID---1% mortality vs martial law, dystopian hunger games type world the government will go with the flu.  Absolutely.  No doubt.  So don't worry about food supplies.  China made it through, we can and will too.

on that front my daughter made fettuccine alfredo last night with homemade pasta.  Excellent and time consuming.  She also asked if we thought her kids would ask her someday about what the COVID-19 pandemic was like and we said yes.  She nodded her head and absorbed the fact that she was living through serious history.

2.  Another nexis of COVID-19 is housekeepers.  If you are lucky enough to have one live in your house full time have em clean away.  If they clean 5-10 different homes and they have their own home you might want to think really hard about letting them into your home.  If you decide to keep them away, you might want to consider paying them something because it's doubtful they have lots of savings to cover pandemic work stoppage.

3.  lastly if your kids are to be trusted it might be possible to have them x-country ski or bike near friends.  Yes you have to make sure they only get together via their own transportation and that the will stay 6 feet apart, but it might be doable for certain kids with certain friends.

AND TO YOU STUPID PEOPLE OUT THERE WHO THINK THIS IS NO BIG DEAL, BY VIOLATING THE SOCIAL DISTANCING POLICIES YOU KINDA WRECK IT FOR EVERYONE ELSE.  Also as I said before listen to actions not words WHEN THE ENTIRE COUNTY CANCLES SCHOOLS, SPORTS, TELLS YOU TO WORK FROM HOME AND THE STOCK MARKET IS DOWN 30% ITS NOT A JOKE, HOAX ETC--TAKE IT SERIOUSLY.  If 30% of the town is all over each other at the White House and Mi Chola and then you go to City Market to buy something I am not just touching you with one degree of separation I am touching everyone you where close to with two degrees of separation which ain't enough separation.  That will help to keep transmission flowing which risks both overwhelming our medical resources, prolonging the length of social distancing and increasingly the likelihood of the government enforcing a more aggressive ban.

Think of it like this---if 50% of the town looks like its still going to travel for spring break (and yea the FEDs know who you are) then it increases the likelihood of them locking down the town.  If they lock us down and your friend's kid who is in boarding school in UT shuts maybe the sheriff's deputy on 82 or I70 lets your friend pass to get their kid.  But maybe not.  Do the right thing so the government doesn't have to force the right thing on us.

We are all in this together.  Listen to your better angels and think of the stories you can tell your kids.