As I have enjoyed the meandering Pigs in a Blanket post, I am thinking fondly of those 4 or 5 days or so we were stuck with the Polar Vortex temperature extremes and and snow. Those were the days, when hunkering down for a 72 hours seemed so challenging. I guess it was a dry run.

Thanks for all you Chiffer's, shared interests and good humor provides a nice respite in the slow motion chaos of quarantine.

That's a fact.

Just had a plumber back out at the last minute (actually, one and a half hours late) due to concerns over the virus. I wouldn't have minded so much if he'd have been more decisive about it. Maybe I can find someone more dauntless.

_________________
"Time is the wisest counselor of all." - Pericles

"I remain not entirely convinced of it." - Nano

I had to get some power of attorney stuff squared away with my adult children and my bank. That formerly was simple. Although they don't provide witnesses they would snag another customer and ask if they minded witnessing a signature.

Now my relatively big bank is down to 1/3 of its in person staff and few walk in customers. I wasn't excited about going there myself knowing I don't know who's been in and out, though they are actually spraying and wiping between customers and have hand sanitizer. I really didn't want to go back with 4 family members, two of whom are seniors, dragging a neighbor as a witness.

So I called a mobile notary, set up a card table in the garage and kept a safe at six distance for all but a few seconds. I'm not sure the notary (who did have a good sense of humor) ever did a power of attorney signing with a garage door open at 40 degrees F.

We are all well and living in the same house for the duration. So there's that. One came in from Duluth as his grad school had shut down their program two days before Illinois was scheduled to shut down. He felt he'd be happier with all of us than he'd be if he were quarantined by himself.

Good luck on the plumber. They are considered "essential services" in Illinois, so unless you are actively symptomatic you may be able to find another if your regular guy is not game.

Got another guy coming, thanks. Plumbers are essential services here, too, but even when the customer is asymptomatic (as is everyone else in the entire building), you can't in good conscience force people to work in such extraordinary times when they're terrified; how would that succeed? They'd probably just quit anyway, or they'd resent you forever, and what kind of management model is that? There's essential, and then there's essential; plumbing is not quite as essential as health care, law enforcement or firefighting, nor does it carry the same occupational level of commitment. I completely understand how the plumbing company would make allowances for their worker, and I thought I should, too; the work definitely needs to be done, but it's not a critical emergency like a burst main. I thought it was a bit too early to start worrying much about my chances for service since there were plenty of other plumber fish in the sea, but it was nice to be able to get someone else from the same usual company; you want to be able to keep that trust relationship going, and I think that was their hope as well.

There's been a big push to abandon one-use plastics in Minnesota, shopping bags being the most visible, and I've dutifully gotten on board with my various reusable cotton mesh bags and what have you, but some stores won't handle customers' personal bags now and are going back to the one-use bags as a health safety precaution for the time being. I never thought that day would ever come, but it makes sense in its sadly ironic way.

_________________
"Time is the wisest counselor of all." - Pericles

"I remain not entirely convinced of it." - Nano