Our RV Adventures

Jan and I headed out a little before 1pm for a WalMart/Sam’s Club run. We needed to pick up the prescriptions I had dropped off yesterday, and also to pick up some supplies while we were there.

After WalMart’s big announcement yesterday about restricting the number of people in the store starting today, I expected to find a line outside the door, but No. One entrance was closed completely, and the Market side entrance had the entrance and exit roped off in different directions, but that was it.

Not sure how funneling everyone through one entrance is better than spacing them out over both.

Of course that could be because it was drizzling when we came in and raining when we came out, so I’m sure how well people would have taken to lining up in  the rain. And they certainly weren’t limiting the people inside, since it looked like a pretty normal Saturday afternoon crowd.

Well, normal, if you consider that a lot of people, including Jan and I, were wearing masks. However a number of folks had apparently given up, and had them up on their foreheads or under their chin. Probably because they’re hot, or kept fogging up their glasses like they did for Jan and me.

WalMart had this sign posted over their water fountains today.

I guess this explains why I found two employees drinking from the lavatory faucets in the bathroom. Not sure that’s an improvement, Kung Flu wise.

Apparently WalMart is catching up with the supply chain, since they had plenty of brand name toilet paper, paper towels, and baby wipes. The only thing Jan couldn’t find was the Dial Antibacterial Hand Soap that she wanted.

Next it was right across the street to the Sam’s Club to pick up our other 3 prescriptions. Every year when we get new ones from our doctor, I go through them looking at WalMart’s $4 – $10 list and Sam’s Plus Member list, to find the cheapest place.

Luckily all of them are on one list or the other, so $10 or $12 at the most for a 90 day supply.

Before we left the Sam’s parking lot, I put in an online order for the Whataburger right back across the street out on the feeder in front of the WalMart. And after we picked it up, we moved over to Kohl’s big empty parking and had our burger feast. YUM!

A little later on the way home, I pulled in Costco to get gas there, and was surprised to find it still at $1.45. Expected it to be lower, but not bad.

As forecast, it did rain all night and into today, so I’m glad we got the roof and  the doors finished on the shed yesterday afternoon. And I was happy to see that there was no water inside the shed when I checked it this morning.

Back on the virus front, a number of epidemiologists and immunologists are starting to worry that the lockdown is delaying the development of Herd Immunity. Herd Immunity is the concept that once enough people have contracted the disease, it becomes harder and harder for the virus to get a toehold in the population.

This is what happens with the seasonal flu each year. And it’s what I depend on to protect me from the flu. As I’ve said before, I can’t take the flu vaccine so I depend of the ‘kindness of strangers’. If everyone else gets their flu shot then there won’t be anyone for me to catch it from.

At least that’s my story and I’m sticking with it. And have since 1966 when I got my second and last flu, resulting in me being hospitalized and in and out of a coma for 10 days.

And in what might be really good news:

HIV drug leronlimab, which successfully treats coronavirus, moving to phase 2 trials, and could be ready and could potentially be approved by the FDA for use in four weeks.

And there’s more news about Ivermectin, an anti-parasitic drug already FDA approved and in use all over the world. Originally developed as a veterinary drug, it was approved for human use 50 years ago and is credited with going a long way toward fighting River Blindness and other Third World parasitic diseases, being administered over 200 million times a year.

In recent years here in the U.S, its human use to combat head lice has been replaced by other drugs more aptly used as a shampoo, but it’s still used as a farm animal treatment, with some people using it themselves as well.

Thought For The Day:

Ignorance more frequently begets confidence than does knowledge.” – Charles Darwin

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On the way home from work this afternoon, I stopped by WalMart and Sam’s Club to drop off some prescriptions and pick up a couple that Jan’s doctor had sent over directly.

I noticed that, though people were exiting straight out as usual, the entrance was roped off into a line leading to the side away from the exit. I thought that this was just a way to keep people more separated, but when I got home and went online, I found it’s a little different.

It seems that Walmart is going to start limiting the number of customers allowed into each store at one time, that is, 5 people for each 1000 square feet of store space, about 20% of normal capacity.

Of course I don’ t see how they’re going to queue people up in the line, since the length of the rope line would only allow about 10 people in the line at one time.

So do the rest of them just wander around the parking lot or what?

While I was in WalMart, I saw some people wearing gloves, some people wearing masks, some wearing both, and one person wearing what was either some sort of weird protective suit, or more likely a ex-large white Hefty garbage bag.

Getting home about 4pm, Jan and I got right back on the storage shed, in case it did rain all weekend as forecast.

I got the roof rollers installed, and with a little adjustment, the roof moves back and forth very smoothly. After that it was only a few minutes to get the doors installed and screwed down.

It’s really nice how the sliding roof lets you get to the rear of the shed without stooping over.

Now all we lack is to screw the walls down to the flooring and install some inside bracing and the door hardware. And then we’re done.

Once it’s done, Jan and I will slide it back onto the rocks behind the concrete patio. I’m looking at getting a 4’ x 8’ x 3/4” sheet of marine-grade ground-contact pressure-treated plywood as a base for that. That way I won’t need any pavers to to keep it off the rocks.

Bad Combinations?

The FBI has reported that the month of March saw more background checks for gun purchases since the program started in 1967.

And for the same period, alcohol sales are up over 50%.

And now that everyone is supposed to stay sheltered at home, it’s being reported that there is a looming condom shortage in our future, since they’re mostly made overseas.

In addition, it seems that the latest item showing up on the ‘shortage’ list is hair coloring. With all the ladies not able to make their monthly hair appointments, it seems like some things are coming to ‘light’, getting to the ‘root’ of the problem, so to speak.

On the HCQ front:

1. An international poll of over 6200 doctors in 30 countries report that HCQ is the best and most widely-used drug to combat the WuFlu.

2. India is apparently all in on the HCQ cure since they’ve ordered 100 million tablets for their citizens.

3. Australia had eliminated all regulatory requirements to import as much HCQ as they can.

4. And lastly, here’s a guy who was in a medically induced coma for 10 days, was given HCQ and had a complete turn-around.

I mentioned the other day about doctors and nurses using HCQ prophylactically, I.e. as a preventative. In this area, HCQ is also routinely prescribed for patients with lupus and rheumatoid arthritis, and no one has been able to find anyone taking HCQ for these other illnesses, who had contracted the WuFlu.

And in one of those off-the-wall items, researchers in Australia have found that Ivermectin seems to be active against the WuFlu. And you can buy Ivermectin at any drug store, at WalMart, or even at Tractor Supply.

In fact if you have kids, you’ve probably dosed them with this a few times.

Ivermectin is the active ingredient in many of the head lice shampoos. And also in dog and cat dewormers, too.

So it’s a Two-Fer. No WuFlu and no worms, either.

And I won’t even mention sheep dip.

Thought For The Day:

“Truth is often more fantastic than reality.”

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