Shopsmith Forums

Get those N95 masks on, and hole up in the woodshed alone !

You'll be just fine, and possibly create something beautiful !

For me, my wife is trapped in Germany as of Friday, likly the kids schools will be shut down and I will be relegated to stay at home Dad for awhile ...

be safe everyone ,

B

Good advice. Hope the wife is safe and makes it home soon.

I talked with my friend yesterday who is a horse rancher. I told him to stay out on the ranch because nobody got Coronavirus from a horse or a fence post yet.

Stop the panic buying. Save the masks for those who really need them.

In the meantime, yeah, the wood shop is probably the safest place to be. Maybe love those grandkids from a distance. They're a bunch of lovable Typhoid Marys, carrying the virus without getting sick themselves.

There are going to be a lot closures. Each one will be arguable. The decision makers are having a real hard time of this, since there's really no objective way of knowing what to do. So, I may think something will be closed that ought to remain open. Or it'll remain open when I think it ought to be closed. But, none of these closure decisions will get me bent out of shape.

We'll get through this.

Cleaning agents can include a household disinfectant with a label that says "EPA-approved," according to the CDC. A homemade version can be made, using one tablespoon of bleach to one quart of water.

How does the coronavirus spread?

The coronavirus is spread through respiratory droplets when a sick person coughs or sneezes. People within 6 feet of an infected individual are most at risk for inhaling these droplets.

How can I prevent coronavirus?

One of the simplest prevention measures a person can take is proper hand-washing.

The CDC recommends washing hands with soap and water before eating, after using the bathroom, and after blowing your nose, coughing or sneezing, and before and after caring for a sick friend or a family member.

The most effective way to clean hands is to wet them with clean water, then apply soap and scrub for at least 20 seconds, before rinsing and drying with a clean towel.

Do disinfectants kill the coronavirus?

Yes, they can. The CDC suggests that anyone exposed to an infected patient clean all "high-touch" surfaces, such as counters, tabletops, doorknobs, bathroom fixtures, toilets, phones, keyboards, tablets and bedside tables.

https://www.nbcnews.com/health/health-n ... s-n1119081
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The things listed above use to be taught as something we should do on a regular basis? some where down the food chain people became filthy ?

The wood shop sounds great !!

My retirement preparations are working out perfectly for this situation, well there is nothing perfect about this situation, but as well as possible. I have a decent sized farm and plenty of horses to talk to. I have a large decently equipped wood-shop and a well equipped farm shop to occupy my time and a good sized batch of old tractors to work on. My to do list is so long that if this thing lasted 20 years I couldn't catch up.
I do have a question for the group since many of us are older and some of us are falling apart a little ...and many of us have talked here for many years.
Diana and I are sitting on the edge of the high risk category. She is a few years younger than I am and I am sneaking up on 80. Actually I turn 78 in early April. We still function pretty well except for arthritis especially in our backs. She has drug controlled epilepsy and an inherited blood mutation clotting disorder (Factor V Leiden) that is keeping her from getting a needed knee replacement. She also has a bit of asthma but not bad at all. I've lost a fair amount of weight in the last few years but I am still about 250#. My cardiac guy released me with "no limits and no restrictions" last year after following me after a quadruple bypass in 2013. I have type 2 diabetes but it is fully controlled by diet, no meds. I had a very full physical early this month, even including my brain, and I passed everything except my cholesterol is still a little high, not very bad. I'm still pretty active, still cut and split firewood and climb stairs constantly (the wood shop and the wood burning furnace are both in the basement).
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OK, I finally got down to the question...
We live in Central Indiana and our only son and most of his family live here at the corner of the farm, about 600 feet north of us. The middle of our 3 daughters and her husband live about 300 feet south of us in the house we used to live in. One daughter and most of her family live in Northern Kentucky and the last one lives in Vermont with her family. We have always just dropped in on each other and met at local eateries fairly often especially the local family members. We are hunkered down pretty tightly now and while we have not talked about it yet none of the local kids or grown grand-kids have come by and I'm sure they are concerned about infecting us. Of course all of the eateries are closed dining rooms now. There must be a fair number of folks here with similar situations, how are you handling visitations with immediate family from other households? There must be some point of balance between reasonable safety and severe isolation? Any tricks?
We are all in uncharted territory here... Thankfully we are in constant daily contact through Facebook and text ect. Never thought I would be that happy to have Facebook. I did read yesterday that there is a huge load on the internet from all of the people being at home...


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Visitations is a good topic. Even before our governor gave the shelter at home edict our pack have resorted to using our phones and text messages everyone in full family contact every day.

We have two sons who live local and one daughter who is in DE. That amounts to a family of 12 located local and 5 in DE. We don't have physical contact with the DE group often and so we are use to that and have in place ways of communicating. The local group we now are doing pretty much that way with no physical contact.

I have dropped off things at there houses but just left the items at or by the door and not even had them open the door. So far that has worked out pretty well and perhaps we are even sharing more now then we did before.

No one has shown any signs so far, so as they say so far so good.

We have been out and about to the grocery store and hardware but trying to limit those trips. Local grocery stores are starting to offer senior hours which we will take advantage of in the future.

I'm still getting my 10K steps but now have to deal with weather issues that I can't solve by walking in our local mall. The mall has closed for now. Missed one days walking with an all day rain so far but still on for 6 days a week this week.

I have not heated my shop all winter but I might start so I can get a few more things going and finish some projects before the nicer, warmer weather gets here.

We are not social people anyway so no plans to hit the bars or go to sporting events anyway, so not much of a change for us. Good so long as they don't close the grocery stores and hardware store.

Ed

My wifes Mom is in ICU with liver cancer in Germany-wife was there until Tues this week when she was informed no one would be entering the hospital anymore to visit patients to protect the patients from Covid.

Pretty hard situation to go through for her unable to help. She made it back to US, but now is quarantined at home for 14 days.

In general i think people understand that interaction raises the chances of getting this thing substantially, and that it seems to be most damaging for people with existing conditions and over 65 or so. There are so many ways to stay in contact now it really shouldnt be an issue.

Have the conversation-family should understand that the intent is to keep everyone healthy for those real holidays and reunions in the near future.

stay safe !

b

I’m not yet 65, but indoor visits by family members who don’t live in my house strike me as unreasonably risky. I’m in favor of visiting outdoors ... in particular taking walks together.

So far so good on this front...
We have had visits with a few people including our son and one daughter, both of whom live here at the farm in homes they own. In all of the visits it was outside and we were always about 20 feet apart.
We have a few practices that we use to reduce daily risk. We have a largish lidded container sitting out about 20 feet from the house with a sign to place all deliveries (UPS, Fedex, Amazon etc.) in it. When anything comes it will sit in the container until the next day. On the rare trips to the grocery we only bring in the stuff that needs to be in the fridge or freezer. The rest sits in the car until the next day. The same for the mail. We never get checks or any payments in the mail so it just sits there over night. I know that they claim that the mail is safe because of the transport times but I'm not buying it. I used to carry mail on rural routes (including this one) and not only did most of the postal employees handle every piece in the morning pre-sort but I handled every piece again sorting which ever route I was carrying. Even more risky is that as I carried the route not only did I place the mail in the boxes I also picked up from any house sending mail out. Over the whole route I was constantly handling both mail for delivery and out-going mail back and forth but also in many cases people walked out to the box and handed me their outgoing mail since it was often bill payments and they didn't want those checks sitting in the box. Nice fresh germs.
Careful hand washing is constant along with hand sanitizer away from home. Gas is pumped with a disposable glove for the hand that holds the nozzle and pushes buttons.
I should mention that my stash of gloves and masks are from the wood shop, not medical grade and have been open packages for several years. Maybe by the time I run out the supplies will be back on the shelves.


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