Oh that sort of problem 
I guess I’ve worked with some strange people over the years. One didn’t park in his garage for fear that it would cause a fire when he started it. Another didn’t park in her garage because she didn’t want to be stuck if the power went out. I guess I just never heard of that rash of garage fires and she had never heard of the manual override on garage door openers?
Lol, yes I lived across the street from some characters, who really abused/misused their garage space, even more than ours…
They both quit their jobs and opened a sign business, which they ran out of their home. The garage was the “workplace”, if you can call it that. They had a ‘56 Chevy stored in there which didn’t run, wasn’t shown, but delighted the wife to look at because she “won” it in a divorce. Can appreciate the fact that it was a classic car, and worth some $$, but should have been stored elsewhere IMO. The rest of the garage was an unholy mess, things tossed all over the place - in fact the main craftsman (husband) couldn’t find stuff he already had because no organization. He was always running to the hardware store for basics he couldn’t find. No damn wonder they couldn’t make it work, and moved south to find some sort of municipal jobs. Also, I never felt the metrics worked - you’d have to make a lot of signs for the economics to pan out.
Oh, had a very disorganized contractor once, same sort of thing, all the time. Never used him again.
Regarding the many uses for baking soda, ran across a new one to me. It makes a good soak for a home pedicure to help remove dead skin. Chickened out on going to the nail salon, so am doing that tomorrow, adding some essential oil to the water too.
Evidently, some dermatologists recommend not using too often, as it can change the PH of the skin.
I have a Rikkar on the boat. I think it’s great. When my now wife and I started our relationship she was impressed. We went vacuum shopping and she bought a Miehle. I still like my Rikkar better.
I’m not calling it routine but I was at a friend’s house and we heard a series of bangs. We went out and there was a car on fire in a garage and the bangs were small explosions from stored products in the garage.
The Houston Fire Department was on the scene battling the blaze right in the middle of it. I’ve never seen anything braver.
I talked to a firefighter later and he said what I saw was routine, no big deal.
I love first responders.
Think this was the thread in which baking soda came up, and the many uses for same.
Heard it was good for softening callouses before home pedicures. Well, put it to the test. Mixed it in very warm water with a tiny squirt of Dr Bronner’s peppermint soap, and a few drops of essential oil, called Pirate’s Blend. Made by some wonderful folks from the ever fun city of Portland, Oregon. Soaked the tootsies for 45 minutes, while watching the oh so depressing as always news. Try to watch it 3-4 times a week. But I was enjoying chilled white wine during the soak.
I can report that the BS seemed to work extremely well for dry skin removal. As well, it felt great, and this morning, arthritis in feet not nearly as bad. Placebo effect on the osteo? Dunno, but whatever works. Totally unexpected side benefit. Might even be able to wear some higher fashion shoes today, to go nowhere 
I foresee a continued rise in CV-19 and expect with it another surge on groceries. We are engaged in stocking back up to “full” including gas in the cars and rotating gas in cans. Nothing like refueling a car from a US EPA “improved” gas can to bring hand washing to the forefront.
Nothing in particular of note on our lists - just what we buy in the normal course of life, just to our “full” level.
Yesterday morning we went to Sam’s Club warehouse store and stocked up on dry goods and proteins. We paid particular attention to things (like chicken) that were rationed when available a couple of months ago. I must admit to buying another big pack of toilet paper. sigh Soviet-era shopping reaction to availability. Really cool is the Sam’s Club app for smart phones that lets you scan products as you put them in your cart, charges your card, and you just walk out. No lines, no registers, just walk out. I was so happy.
Got home from Sam’s and updated our online shopping cart for curbside pickup. Scheduled time slot was between 6p and 7p and we had until 12p to adjust the cart. I’d been careful to choose a slot that gave us time to update after we knew what we had and had not found at Sam’s. This was our third time through the process and it just gets better. Tick off what we want online, coupons applied, what substitutions are acceptable for and what not, all very good. We focus on “stuff in the middle” - canned, boxed, and dry goods.
This morning we zipped through Giant in twenty minutes for produce. Scanning app at Giant also but do have to go through the self check line to pay.
In the spectrum of caution and preparedness between the ant and the grasshopper, we are ants. Very very glad to have a small chest freezer.
Ouch, a good point that I hadn’t considered. Oddly enough we did get a 24-pack of TP last week (which is 3-4x our normal purchase) not to stockpile, but because it was on a really good sale. The same for coffee (2$5) and eggs ($0.99\dozen).
But now I’m thinking we better go out tomorrow for some more pasta, sauce, canned tomatoes, flour, salt, garlic, beans, etc. Not to mention we’re getting a little low on cleaning supplies and hand soap.
As a result of a power outage last week we emptied the freezer, so I guess on the bright side we have plenty of room to go to the local meat market and stock up.
Ugh, will this ever end?
Anyone who says they know is either guessing or lying.
Your point on cleaning supplies is spot-on.
I’m sorry about your power failure. Bad news. We have a small 5 kW generator. It won’t quite manage our air conditioner but it will the fridge, chest freezer, lights, and Internet going. grin Below my man-cave/office/lab. My wife’s office upstairs has a better view but she has lots of screens also. She didn’t go multi-head until she met me but now she can’t imagine going back to one screen.
Impressive! Makes me yearn for the sports book at Ceasare’s in Vegas!
Bet the farm on the Yankees and Giants if you must but the Wise Guys are backing the Texans and Astros.
No the Astros don’t need to cheat they’re simply the finest club ever assembled.
The Texans and Deshaun Watson, please. 
“Was this cheating?”
“We broke the rules”.
Who doesn’t they just got caught.
I’m looking forward to going to the game tomorrow in Houston. I heard there might be a sparse crowd so I’ll have all the stale popcorn, cold hot dogs or pizza and over priced beer to myself.
The food may be from last year but as long as the beer is cold I’m good.
I’m bringing my own peanuts.
Sort of weird that we are all tricked out in generators because of all our power outages last summer . Still not doing the extra freezer. Its just two of us, although that is like change.
It’s rather easy when you are focused on one hazard to lose sight of others. It’s called target fixation.
It’s hurricane season and the Atlantic is heating up. For those of us close to the Atlantic or Gulf Coast it’s time to pay attention.
Here are the resources I watch.
The Daily Atlantic Weather Brief from NOAA/NWS/OPC is my early warning trigger. It takes some background to get the most out of it. Just ignore everything except the charts labeled surface analysis or surface forecast. https://www.weather.gov/marine/nwatlanticbrief
Of course the National Hurricane Center is the brain trust. You’ll recognize many of the graphics from the TV news. NHC does assume you know what you are looking at and have access to other data streams for interpretation. Still helpful. https://www.nhc.noaa.gov/
For the weather geek, Mike’s Weather Page aggregates all kinds of sources. Most helpful is the presentation of ensembles and spaghetti models. I won’t bore you with what those are but if it looks like a storm has a bullseye with your name on it reach out to me and I’ll help. https://spaghettimodels.com/
Levi at Tropical Tidbits does one of the best jobs I’ve seen at explaining what it all means. He only posts when there is an active storm in play. https://tropicaltidbits.com/
Preparation for a major storm is not much different than what we’ve been talking about for coronavirus. Chances of losing power or other utilities are higher. Remember that storm surge (flooding) is a bigger cause of damage and injury than wind.
Keep your pantries stocked. Never miss an opportunity to eat, sleep, go to the bathroom, charge something, or top up fuel and water.
Have a plan. Consider that social distancing will be hard to impossible if you have to evacuate.
With an apology to Jimmy Buffett “Trying To Reason With Hurricane Season.”
Yes I am a weather geek since was a child. Here is my resume, three major hurricanes, three biblical flood events from tropical storms and depressions plus scores of other cyclones of varying intensity all in Houston… I am fully in my element today as a nice feeder band from Saffir-Simpson scale Cat 1 Hannah just passed through my part of Houston.
While I am not going to say the Saffir-Simpson scale is a fraud it needs to be taken with a boulder of salt.
Case in point.
Hurricane Alicia in 1983 spooled up from a low at the end of a cold front in the Gulf to a Cat3 in three days. It was a small but intense storm with 12 foot tides.
I got the eyewall in SE Houston and lost power for three weeks. My brother on the other side of town watched the whole thing on TV. Location…
Hurricane Ike came into Galveston/Houston in 2007 as a strong Cat2 but had been a Cat5 with a lot of energy.
It had twenty foot tides and some of the survivors from the Bolivar Peninsula said the conventional wisdom was Ike was only a 2 and Alicia a 3 and they lived through it. Over 40 people died there.
There was talk of replacing the Saffir-Simpson scale with one based on kinetic energy where Ike was virtually off the chart. It never happened.
Dave’s right, water is the killer but be ready for the wind.
What is rather easy?
Hurricane Hannah update here in Houston we just got another nice feeder band with nice cool wind gusts and another one setting up.
I love it as it’s July in Texas and not the 10 day upper 90 stretch we just had with a caveat. I’ve been through enough of these things to know if it stalls there can be disastrous flooding anywhere.
The good news is it appears to be headed toward the King Ranch shore line and its 90 miles of cows and mesquite trees but the circulation is large and everybody needs to keep their guard up.
Unfortunately I see multiple high water rescues when people think they just have to get across that road, flood be damned.
To lose sight of the big picture. Forgetting about hurricanes when coronavirus dominates is like focusing on whether the dump truck on a cross street may run a light when the tractor-trailer behind is barreling down on you without slowing down.
Yeah, no. I’m not forking that metaphor. I agree you should never lose focus on what is happening in your motor vehicle, but I’m focusing beyond that, right or wrong.
So I am still thinking about our local power outages, and fire season, and the fact I can’t meet my kids for our planned vacay in the EU this year, so also thinking of my far flung loved ones and what is needed where they are, but glad I have some water for the garden. For now.
DD opted out of today’s family call, saying she’s on a march.
Son and DIL are now thinking of London. I’ve never been, and never wanted to until recently, in part thanks to a broader vision care of HO.
Also, making dinner with boneless pork loin from the freezer, which I hate. 
Using vadouvan as a rub, and TJ’s Butter Masala, both for the first time.
