State of the Erin Report

Hi everyone! It's been a long time since I wrote a post just talking about how I'm doing. A lot of that is due to how freaking busy I've been working on Pink Pistols and Operation Blazing Sword business, and some of that is due to a generalized funk regarding creativity that I'm only now starting to come out of. Sorry about that, my brain chemistry is odd.

So how is everyone doing with the quarantine and all? As I wrote in my article for Blue Collar Prepping last week,

I'm actually doing quite well. I'm an introvert and rarely leave the house more than once a week (I have a designated "chore day" where I put on pants and brace myself to deal with people), so this is barely affecting me. When I did go outside this week, I found myself enjoying the lack of congestion. I know this can't last forever and that businesses can't prosper if everyone stays away, but at this moment I find myself really enjoying all the extra space and wishing that social distancing were something we could adopt year-round.

I've also been spending a lot of time tending to my preps, which I'm sure will come as no surprise to you. I always do a seasonal check-up every time change, and the fact that this year's Spring Forward coincided with the CV-19 outbreak here has given me reason to put a little more care into my preps. For example, I just recently upgraded my Get Home Bag and am in the process of tweaking to be exactly as I want it. I'm also taking a lot of my secondary preps and putting them into a Bug Out Bag for my mother, so that only only will she have something in case we need to evacuate but also I'll benefit from having the secondary gear nearby to supplement mine. I'm also taking all the leftover preps that are too good to throw away but not good enough for my family to use and putting them into a gym bag, so that if there's someone I know who needs supplies I can give it to them. That way they have something they can use but I'm not taking supplies away from us.

My family and I are healthy and showing no signs of the COVID, although that's not terribly surprising since we aren't very social people. I'm not terribly worried about getting sick due to my under-50 age and general good health, but both my parents are over 80. Mom is otherwise in good health, but dad has so many other pre-existing conditions that if he catches it then he's going to end up hospitalized and/or dead, which is why I'm not making a Bug Out Bag for him. If for some reason he's still healthy and we need to evacuate for whatever reason, he can use my Get Home Bag.

But in general, I'm not worried about this and I'm slightly unsettled by how much I'm not worried by this. I have good preps in place and so far I haven't detected any holes in them. I have flans for if the stores close and if we lose water and power. Right now, though, this is the cushiest disaster ever. We still have air conditioning and Netflix! I've been more inconvenienced while out camping.

If anything, it's the news and anticipation that's getting to me. I keep hearing about how awful this virus is and how we need to take more and more drastic steps, yet nothing is changing and nothing appears to need changing, although that last part is probably helped by living in a rural part of my state. The dichotomy between the news and what I observe is really troubling, like having a hurricane stalled off the coast in that I can deal with awful because I have plans for awful times, but the waiting for that shoe to drop is eating my patience and sense of calm and I have to choose between being calm and uninformed or informed and (needlessly?) worried.

Finally, here's a video from Les "Survivorman" Stroud about what you can and can't do in a lockdown. Hopefully you find it useful, or at least reassuring.



Anyway, that's me and mine. How are the rest of you holding up?