Ah Evelyn, we are now firmly in my wheelhouse. I do these calculations regularly as a yacht delivery skipper. On most boats (some have watermakers) we only have the water we leave the dock with for the trip. The numbers are straightforward.
One gallon per person per day is sufficient for drinking and basic sanitation. It does not account for flushing toilets (we use sea water). It does not account for showers or washing clothes. No pets, no plants. It also assumes some hydration from the liquid in canned goods. I’m curious where you got that number - it’s a good number in context. Note that accounting for all use, Americans use more than 80 gallons per person per day (source: Google).
So what to do? We keep forty gallons of water in jugs that I have anyway for work. One of those is frozen solid in our chest freezer. Our big concern is sustained power outage from winter storms. The best solution for laundry is ammonia - you can mix 50/50 with water and clean your clothes, wring them, and hang to dry - no need for a rinse as the ammonia evaporates on the line. The best solution for personal hygiene is baby wipes. You would need to manage toilet flushes. There are resources for the latter driven by California water rationing on the Internet.
Remember that your water heater has a lot of water in it. Turn off the valves and you have a source of water. Do you have a short hose to use from the drain valve to access it?
Forget morphine, you want dilaudid. When I had my knee replaced morphine wouldn’t touch the pain but dilaudid put me in a 3 day daze, a happy daze. I want my other knee replaced and it’s fine.
In the interests of avoiding gender bias, a couple averages two rolls of toilet paper per week. I am unhappy to know that. As it happens we use a bit more than that. I’m not happy that I know that either. The cases we buy in a warehouse store are I think are 54 rolls. We usually buy more when we get down below about eight. Under current circumstances that threshold is going up. I’m not sure how much - our goal is to go shopping less (less people, less risk). So if we hit our trigger threshold for something else we’ll buy a lot of things earlier than we would otherwise.
We do have a bidet. I rather like it. My wife is less impressed.
My health insurance coverage specifies that ongoing prescriptions be refilled in 90-day increments, from the mail-order division of mega-pharm giant, CVS. Scrips are reauthorized annually. This, and refill requests, can be done online and arrive by mail in a few days.
This is fairly common practice in the U.S.
Love my bidet! H refuses to even try it. Unless, he has cagily done it while I’m away…
May I gently suggest a product called Balneol when water is either at a premium, or if it’s hard for people to shower or self clean. It’s very gentle, but a good cleanser and a lotion like feeling afterwards. I wish I didn’t know about this product either.
Interesting. Different doctors and different plans - my pharmacy calls my doctor’s office who look me up and almost always an RN or PA authorizes another round of refills. No opioids or other schedule medications - just the usual accumulation of stuff associated with a body that has been ridden hard and put away wet too many times.
Someone mentioned virtual urgent care. Our insurance provides that service. We haven’t used it yet. Our regular doctor reviews email every morning so as long as we can wait until the next morning we can get help that way. People are different and I can be VERY different sometimes. I find email to have developed a better relationship with my doctor than short office visits with her.
H was kind enough to run into TJ’s for me, after a beautiful sunny day spent in Seattle today. Wanted to get a couple liquid hand soaps, some assorted nuts, 2 jars of lemon curd, and a few other things for the pantry and freezer. I waited in the car, since I’m compromised right now. Things seemed pretty normal in Seattle, with only one person spotted wearing a mask. Not the usual number of people out however. Pretty easy to find parking spaces too.
Harters
(John Hartley - a culinary patriot eating & cooking in Northwest England)
261
This is becoming a fast moving situation here in Europe. The whole of Italy is now in lockdown. And their infection numbers just two weeks back are what the UK’s is now. And our cases are already spread right across the country rather than initially restricted to a region as in Italy. Yesterday, the government’s cheif medical officer said that the UK is probably only a couple of weeks away from serious containment measures - he said anyone showing even minor symptoms, such as a cold, will be required to self isolate.
On a personal level, I’ve been trying to deal with a serious flare-up of my COPD for the last four weeks. I’m coughing pretty much constantly (although am able to sleep). I took my “emergency supply” of antibiotics without significant benefit. I’ve seen the doctor who prescribed a short course of steroids - also without effect. Seems like it’s just going to have to be waiting for it to go away. In the meantime, I’m almost at the self-isolation stage even though I know I havent got the virus. On the one hand, the COPD already compromises me and the flare -up makes me even more vulnerable to serious effects should I contract the virus. And, of course, I’m uncomfortable going out in public where others may note the cough and think I do have the virus. This is all not much fun.
Here, the culture minister is tested positive yesterday evening. He had a meeting with the president and prime minister and other ministers last Wednesday. Rumours said they refused to be tested to avoid public panic. I’m “more panic” to see the president over reacting these days in going everywhere and visiting hospitals, I think he should stay home instead to show an example.
We had to make a Costco run this weekend, and while it wasn’t a rush of people, the people who were there were certainly stock piling water and toilet tissue. I don’t quite understand that, but hey…
What really puzzled me was that several carts had stock piles of paper plates and cups. ?? One or two people and I assume they are just throwing a party, but they had multiple giant-sized Costco packs. So unless they are caterers, does coronavirus impact someone from being able to wash dishes???
They were also all out of garlic. If you’ve been in Costco, you know that they always have extra palettes and boxes of stuff available, but there was not a single bag of garlic left. Why are you stockpiling garlic?! Is there an incoming wave of vampires that I missed?
Theory: People have convinced themselves that they won’t be able to wash the virus off their dishes, so they’ve decided to eat and drink from disposable plates and cups.
I would very much like to be wrong.
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Harters
(John Hartley - a culinary patriot eating & cooking in Northwest England)
266
The toilet paper I understand but not the water. Is there something of an expectation where you are that normal water supplies will be disrupted?
I know there are people who never wash dishes in their home, coronavirus or not.
I also happened to know people who only drink bottled water, especially their kids.
Some rumours are circulating that spicy food keeps you away from covid-19. Some people concluded that India or Indonesia don’t have much outbreak due to what they eat: curry.
Picked up my regular shopping order yesterday. Oddly, the only thing that was sold out from my order was the batteries my thermapen takes!
We had a bit of an intense weekend with my toddler getting bit by a dog. We decided to get it checked at the pediatric urgent care and my husband went first to get us logged in. He said it was a crazy scene. Lots of kids with masks. Huge signs about the virus everywhere. Didn’t even take her inside. I spoke to her pediatrician over the phone and got prescriptions for antibiotics that way. People seem on edge here.
you won’t care if you have the flu or not
