Good Things Will Come

As I dipped into my revolving supply of morning smoothie ingredients and was quietly grateful for that which is "on tap" within our home on a regular basis, I felt my gratitude multiplied this morning.

Many, many (many) decades ago an acquaintance mentioned her parent's habit of always keeping an extra of everything they used regularly on hand. When their spare item was taken from its place in the pantry, it was immediately replaced. Thus, they always had a ready supply of all regularly used items on hand.

I immediately incorporated "keeping a revolving inventory on hand" into my way of living and budgeting. Any time someone took the last item from our stock, they were supposed to write it on the list so I knew to replace it. This way of shopping has served us well over the years.

Add "budgeting" into this formula and there are times when I'm waiting for the next pay cheque or credit card cut off date before I replenish my supplies. That was exactly were I landed last Friday.

I have been working hard to spend within my allotted budget amount. In order to succeed, I had to wait until Friday to do my shopping. Add the fact that "self isolating" is a way of life for me. I live for weekends where my car doesn't have to leave the garage.  The fact that I had plans to go out that night resulted in shopping at 10 p.m. on a Friday night. Not my favorite place in the world to be. Ever. Let alone in the midst of a time where scarcity is ruling the world as we know it.

I have been very calm, level headed and practical about all the advisories during this time of the COVID-19 Virus. I have read or heard in more than one place: "Everything we need to know, we learned in Kindergarten". Share, don't hog the toys, be kind to one another, protect others when you cough, wash your hands, wash your hands and wash your hands. Stay home if you are sick. And as Glennon Doyle taught me, "do the next right thing".

If we all follow these simple instructions, hopefully we can slow the spread of this virus.

Then I found myself in a Walmart at 10 p.m. on a Friday night, when it should have been close to abandoned. It was busy. The shelves were bare. I had a hard time finding the items on my list to replenish my revolving supply of household goods and groceries.

Yes. I felt the anxiety that is running rampant. I came home to find my son reverberating a different version of the same reality. The university cancelled classes. This is real.

Remember what you learned in Kindergarten. Be kind. Be considerate. Share. Wash your hands often. Plus one amendment to those rules ... give everyone their space and learn to appreciate alone time. This is the breeding ground of great ideas, imagination, creativity and listening to the quiet within the world you may find.

I believe this will get much worse before it gets better. I hear glimmers of hope all around me. Some good will come. I have heard it said that this is giving our earth a chance to breathe. This is a rude awakening ... but it is never so bad that it couldn't be worse.

Thank you, thank you, thank you to our health care system and providers. Thank you, thank you, thank you to those who work in the front lines and are exposed to hundreds upon hundreds of people on a daily basis. I can't begin to think that you are bearing the brunt of people's fear and anxiety. Thank you, thank you, thank you to truck drivers and those in the delivery field. We are so very fortunate to have you in our corner.

Please be mindful, considerate and kind. In times of great uncertainty, please let kindness win.

Construction Notice

A Water and Sewer Mainenance notice was waiting for me in our mailbox when I returned home yesterday. I scanned the notice, was grateful we will be away from home during most of the hours water could/will be turned off and tossed it onto the counter for further consideration this morning.

This means we could potentially be without water from 7 a.m. - the time of day when most of our water consumption is used. This will take some planning and practise.

We keep approximately 30 litres of water on hand at any given time. This came about due to a need to fill our extra fridge so it wouldn't be wasting power cooling a fridge that was not full and after a time I read that a household should keep one gallon of water per person per day (and one should be prepared to be self sufficient for 72 hours) in case of emergency. I added one and one together and came up with a most excellent solution of cleaning out and filling empty 4 litre milk jugs to fill the empty space within our extra fridge and voila! We are never without an emergency water supply.

If this planned water shut-down begins at 7 a.m., this will severely hamper my coffee intake and outflow capacity and our morning bath/showers. I rinse dishes to the point where they are basically clean so I will need to adapt my morning rinsing habits. Hand washing and tooth-brushing ends the list that presently comes to mind.

This morning, I am practising living with a defined amount of water. I cleaned and partially filled the tub with hot water so my bath is already drawn. I made my lunch before the potential 7 a.m. water shut off time. I have water in the bathroom sink; water in the kitchen sink and I have been conscious of my water usage.

This is a test. It is only a test. When the actual water shut down occurs, I should be able to tell by the road closures in and around 6 a.m. which will give me a little warning to prepare for an actual case of lack of water.

Our water was turned off for a few hours a while ago. This didn't happen during our hours of high volume water usage. I brought some of our emergency water upstairs and my son commented that it was a very good idea to always have this water on hand. I agree.

As I prepared for this planned water outage I couldn't help but think that in a true emergency, we may be without sewer and power as well. How long could we survive a cold Saskatchewan winter day without heat? How long before pipes would freeze? How prepared are we for an outage which would affect our means of communication with the outside world?

One cannot worry about things that have not yet happened but it doesn't hurt to be prepared. Just in case.

We have a fair supply of emergency water; we have batteries on hand, flashlights and a battery operated radio; we have candles and matches; I like to top up the gas in my car when it reaches "half"; right now I have a spare canister of propane on hand for the barbeque. We may not be as prepared as we should be but some of the basics are covered.

As we head into the winter season, my head is consumed with being as prepared and safe as we can be. Which brings me back to the car (always, the car it seems these days!). Not only is the windshield wiper pump not functioning, neither is the rear defrost working up to par. This was confirmed on my drive home last night. Thankfully, the car was already booked in at our neighborhood garage. I just hope it doesn't need a standing appointment throughout the upcoming months.

It pays to be aware of potential emergencies. As I consciously go through this morning, I am reminded of the storage of battery power within our dust buster, power drill and our laptop computers.

There is comfort in knowing I can still tackle emergency vacuuming and drilling situations in case of a power outage and knowledge we have water to wash our hands. It's all good.