Becoming Hermits

[Dollytrolley]

Well folks here we are.... Where ever we are.

The folks that contend to know most of what's known (not all that much is known at this point) about Covid-19 tell us old GEEZERS to get away from EVERYONE and stay AWAY from EVERYONE. 

 

So........IF like good GEEZERS mind the "Covid-19 experts" advice / orders.....we are where we are right now and likely to be wherever we are for a fairly long time maybe....  

 

So.......since trading yarns at the campfire seems out of style for a while perhaps we might tell each other where we are and what we plan to do to thrive wherever we are apart..    

Having coming from a fairly long of line of hermits, hillbillies, and outlaws we have been alone a LOT so in some ways this is not too new to us. Horse camping is often like we do (used to do) tends to often be done in remote locations with few if any folks around.

 

So.....to get things started......here we are......and we are .....at our Winter camp at Last Chance Peak , Nevada about ten miles NW of Pahrump NV .  Seems like the name Last Chance Peak might fit Covid-19 to a tee but what the heck they did not ask me before they named it.

A half hour drive West gets one to Death Valley so what else can I say.

Anyhow we have some changes to be done to hunker down to spend the spring AND summer (maybe) in a place hotter than hell. 

We actually have a small home at camp with good air-conditioning and a well with plenty of water so we have enough advantages to get by.  

We own a few other properties in the West but most of them are near Covid-19 hot spots and have more people close by so relocation to those properties seemed not appealing.

About a month ago some doctors I used to fly around advised us to hunker down and prepare to be hermits for a while so we stocked up then before the rush and planted a large desert garden to keep us supplied in fruits and vegetables so here we are..... 

Where are you?

What have you done to do what you plan to do?

 

Cheers,

Drive on.......well drive on a bit later....

[SuiteSuccess]

We are in a semi rural part of East Tennessee.  We began the social isolation 2 weeks ago and since we’ve always had a pretty limited social life being confined to our acreage is not bad.  We’re getting a lot of projects done and I’ll spend some time working on truck and trailer.  Wife is gardening, watching Andy Griffith reruns, reading, talking to friends over phone.  Another month or two just isn’t depressing for us.  When Aunt Bea starts looking like Marilyn Monroe then I’ll know it’s been too long. 😂

[hone eagle]

Boomer remover😎

[alan0043]

Hi Everyone,

This is an interesting question. You could say I am a hermit. I am a widower of 11 1/2 years and have been retired now for 7 years. My pick-up truck does not move for days. There is most days I won't even talk to anyone or see anyone. I see my neighbor mostly on the weekends. I also live on 5 1/2 acres. Most of my neighbors have 5 1/2 acres. So you can see there is a distance between the houses. But I get by. I have a smart phone and I sent text's to my grand kids. The only bad thing with what is going on in Ohio is that all spring sports are cancelled. All my grand kids are into sports and that is one way I can get to see them, is to go to their sport. 

Remember, live is good.
Al

[Imurphy907]

I have been sent to work from home as much as possible. Still a few things I have to go do in the field, but trying to limit my trips to town and what not. Giving me lots of extra time to work on the house. Painted the ceiling in the 2nd floor and installing crown moulding and new baseboard.

 

[Striper]

Interesting subject and answers.  We have been enjoying the piece and quiet of the Oregon Coast.  Our annual trip to the Depoe Bay area.  We were already here when the governors started shutting everything down, so have really had to curtail our usual activities.  Still it's nice sitting here watching the waves and the idiot kayakers out on the ocean.  Heading home soon, so will just have to see what transpires once we're there.  It's not like I don't have enough projects in my shop to keep me occupied for many weeks without personal interaction with anyone.

 

Joe

[GlennWest]

They closed down most all projects here in the gul coast. So I sitting at home.

[mr. cob]

Howdy All,

We have been boondocking a few miles south of Quartzsite for the last two months, really enjoying it as we now have a great solar system on the trailer so we have been living like we are plugged into shore power. ( Thank you Chad )

However due to family commitments, Donna's Mom who is now living in an assisted living village needs to be moved to a place that will accept medi-care so we don't have a lot of choice we have to go back home to Washington were this crude is rampant and get started on making that move happen.

Fortunately we live in a small community 25 miles from the nearest real city, Everett, and 50 miles from seattle so with luck we will be OK.  We don't socialize much anyway so staying at home is normal for us so not much will change for us so long as we can get groceries and regular supplies we will be alright.

That said we are looking forward to the West Coast Rally, hoping things will have calmed down by then.

Dave, Donna, Newt and Willy

[Chad Heiser]

 

50 minutes ago, mr. cob said:

Howdy All,

We have been boondocking a few miles south of Quartzsite for the last two months, really enjoying it as we now have a great solar system on the trailer so we have been living like we are plugged into shore power. ( Thank you Chad )

Your welcome Dave.  I’m glad you guys are getting so much good use out of it.

 

52 minutes ago, mr. cob said:

That said we are looking forward to the West Coast Rally, hoping things will have calmed down by then.

We too are looking forward to the WCR and are hopeful we can still have it.  I am still planning it, but will monitor things and make decisions based on the circumstances as the rally gets closer.

Unfortunately for me I am still going to work every day.  I am in one of those “essential” classes and don’t have much choice in the matter.  Not much of an option to work from home either.  It’s not like I can get the bad guys to come to me.  Luckily things are pretty calm and everyone is behaving themselves (mostly) so far.  We have implemented some changes in how we do business, but we still have to do the “business “.

At least on my days off I can retreat to my property and keep to myself (not much different than normal for me).  I am getting some projects done.  I installed some nice new parts on my RZR last weekend and I’ve got a few more to put on this weekend 😄.  I’m not sure my wife is too happy about the money I am spending on the parts though.  Hopefully this shelter in place doesn’t go too long or she might really get mad 😜.

[Randyretired]

We have 140 acres of mountain property.  When the snow melts we will be there for the summer.  

[Star Dreamer]

I guess we can say we have been somewhat lucky.  I retired on Dec 15th and so far have been glad I have not had to work to keep money coming in. The wife had some foot surgery done a little over two weeks ago that was planned so we have not been getting out much anyway except for me to do the shopping which so far has been OK. We even got Toilet Paper and Paper Towels today! We did have to cancel a car show in Myrtle beach due to the wife's surgery but again it was lucky because they had to cancel the show due to the virus at the last minute. We are also lucky that the wife got her surgery in when she did  as now most non essential surgeries are being canceled. We originally had plans to go to Hawaii at this time and we postponed them to next year due to her surgery. With all the issues with traveling and the virus again we were lucky. We are still planning on going to Deer Run RV resort in April even though the ECR Rally is cancelled unless the government tells us otherwise. We will just stay at least 6' away from everyone!  

[rickeieio]

Life goes on down on the farm.  We have the freezers stocked, and last summer's bounty is in rows of mason jars in the basement.  Pantry has enough dry goods to keep us going for a while.  We'll have a garden again, like normal, and the grandkids aren't far away.  In fact, the youngest is out in the swim spa with Grandma right now.  

I don't plan to change our habits much, except dining out.  Fortunately, we both cook and don't mind it.   We don't care for sports or movies and such, so we won't miss that either.

In the short term, I hope things don't get so weird as to force us to abandon our trip to Crossville next month.  We may have to sit a little farther away from each other, but that's okay.

[phoenix2013]

Dolly, we are self quarantining in southern Florida, it's tough.

Pool is almost where I like it (89 with solar heat)

But we are OK with Pinscher love and toilet paper.

Edited March 20, 2020 by phoenix2013

[chindog]

We're hunkered down at Sumter Oaks in Florida, where we've been wintering the last few years.  Our normal routine would have us on the road cruising around the country pretty soon, but we've extended our stay here for a while.  The worst thing that has occurred per my wife, is the cancellation of the weekly park dinner.  That was the night she didn't have to cook,  and now that opportunity is gone.  "C'est la vie" I said, to which she replied "Lahvee".

Hopefully this pandemic thing will resolve itself before it gets too hot down here, and we can travel to cooler climates for the summer.

[Chuck]

I am old sub sailor. Isolation. This is a piece of cake. Lol

[NeverEasy]

 

Not much change for us.  A bit over a year ago, Deb’s 89-year-old mother moved into our mother-in-law suite so we are stuck at home unless Deb’s sister can come down from PA and sit Mom.  We live in the rural part of Virginia Beach, too far for the care givers to help us.

I am getting some things done.  Got the garden spot tilled and planted potatoes and one row of green beans.  Last fall, I bought a 10 ton Back Hoe Pro trailer to haul the back hoe around.  It needed a new deck so I had full 2” x 20’ white oak planks cut for it.  They are drying along side the fiver while I paint the trailer.  Spent the last three days sandblasting it to bare medal. 

Playing with a 3-D printer in the evenings.  Making it print something is easy.  Using a CAD program to make something to be printed is the tough part.  We are using Fusion 360.  It appears to be a good product but the learning curve is pretty steep.  Our printer is an original SnapMaker.  It will print, lazer engrave, and mill light material.  I am interested in the mill function to see if I can engrave brass.  Deb is going wild with the print function, printing anything she can find on ThingiVerse.com to print.  She has printed some parts for her sock knitting machine that are pretty cool. 

[jenandjon]

We are at home. Just don't leave the farm much. We have caught up on all winter projects. The grain markets pretty much crashed so we are not busy hauling right now. Spent a lot of time on the couch. Emptied my DVR. Like Rickeieio we are pretty well set with jars in the basement and freezers and such. Living out in the boondocks we stay pretty well stocked up anyway. Especially coming out of winter. One good blizzard and we don't see town for a few days. However my supply of Yuengling is running dangerously low.

Were itching to use the new to us trailer but rain and more rain then ice and snow are keeping us in the driveway.  Parks in Nebraska are open as far as I know. There is at least one I know of that has free access right now.

[Dollytrolley]

15 hours ago, phoenix2013 said:

Dolly, we are self quarantining in southern Florida, it's tough.

Pool is almost where I like it (89 with solar heat)

But we are OK with Pinscher love and toilet paper.

Henry,

So.........you took your temp and ........you are ........."stable".........at about 85f  /29c.........hummm, and it looks in the picture like rigeeemortizess  has set in.....please don't tell us what body parts you utilized to obtain the temp.....

Forwarded the pic to a couple of OLD docs that I used to fly around in grim locations and they fired back a very short response.............they said " in average humans a 85f / 29c body temp would indicate death occurred about 3 hours prior, HOWEVER since ENGINEERZ are only distant species to humans ......a body of 85f / 29c is actually a fairly high fever condition for ENGINEERZ and IS NOT a fever brought on by over-work but most likely to occur when the ENGINEER falls asleep so long that the arc of the sun exposes the ENGINEER to direct sunlight........"treatment" ........suit-up with protective gloves and mask and firmly RELOCATE the ENGINEERZ chair into a shaded area so that the body temp drops to 70f temp range of most ENGINEERZ......."

 

Being Docs even though retired they still know how to charge for services so..........just post the credit card numbers and security codes and valid dates of your THREE best credit cards here and I will forward back to you a bill mark paid as soon as the docs run your cards........

Drive on.........Henry is.......kool...

 

Edited March 21, 2020 by Dollytrolley
left word out

[Kirk W]

15 hours ago, Chuck said:

I am old sub sailor. Isolation. This is a piece of cake.

How old? I had an experience in those days which should have prepared me for this. In 1964 the SSBN 600 (blue) had a new supply officer who chose to make his mark on his commanding officer by showing how much money he could save by not buying excessive amounts of expendable supplies for our next patrol. The result was that 6 weeks into a 9 week missile patrol we ran out of toilet paper. Even 56 years ago, submarines didn't have a single copy of the Sears & Roebuck catalog!

[Dollytrolley]

So far we seem to be a fairly ...."low-key bunch"......except for Henry......

Perhaps IF Dollymomma will give me a break from my stable-boy and snake ranch chores I might be able to spice things up a bit ......I might type out a few Grumps (and a few other family-outlaws) tales regarding ......"social distancing & isolation" ..........

 

Stay tuned.......

 

Drive on...........Just practice trailer backing .....with you mask on......

 

 

[rickeieio]

1 hour ago, Dollytrolley said:

.......Just practice trailer backing .....with you mask on......

I see a new event at rallies....Trailer backing with no camera or mirrors.  Some of us have an advantage, rear windows.

[Chuck]

Kirk, I am 68. Served on the Nathan Hale and Woodrow Wilson, early to mid 70’s.

[Steve from SoCal]

Boy you folks don't know what a windfall this could be for Stevie boy,

 

I am sitting on 20K plus sq ft of medical supplies.      I have been culling through it and there is some promise of getting rid of this stuff I never envisioned!

 

Steve

[Exile]

Working from home and saving 17$ in tolls and 10$ in gas per day.  Plus i get two hours of my life back each day.

and doing plumbing projects for neighbor.  Need to go get some new rear ends next week if the store is open.  And two truck batteries, and some flat bar to finish the bed, and, and, .. .

Then go buy sheathing and siding and work on my own house.

Society will certainly change after this, gotta say I don’t miss traffic

[Alie&Jim's Carrilite]

9 hours ago, Steve from SoCal said:

Boy you folks don't know what a windfall this could be for Stevie boy,

 

I am sitting on 20K plus sq ft of medical supplies.      I have been culling through it and there is some promise of getting rid of this stuff I never envisioned!

 

Steve

I remember that stash.... You could start making "Quarantine Kits" and put them on E-bay.