Corona Virus #7

[MossRoad]

Needless to say our was a bit more than that. Well a lot more. But we came here in 2002. Had to move here for the new job in Harrison Ar. at the time and so the wife could still travel to her job at the time in Springfield, Mo. Through the diligence of the wife, we managed to pay off the 30 year loan in 18. Glad to see it gone.

Nice!

After we paid off our first home in about 4.5 years by making double payments, we bought 20 acres. We did a blanket mortgage combining the value of the land with the value of the house. Since the value of the house was more than 20% of the value of the blanket mortgage, we didn't need a down payment. Payed that off in 5 years as well. Then we bought our current house. We did another blanket mortgage with the combined value of the new house with the existing house. Again, since the existing house was worth more than 20% of the blanket mortgage, we didn't need any down payment on that either. We were on track to pay this house off in 5 years as well, when my father passed away. He was gracious enough to leave my siblings and me a nice sum, so we payed off this house in 3 years instead of 5, and bought a used van to haul our growing family around in. Anyhow, we are now in our 5 year house going on 24 years! It's been paid off since about 1997. Wife and I are very frugal. It gives good peace of mind on at least the financial front in times like this. Still have to worry about toilet paper, though, just like everyone else.

 

[k0ua]

How do you think the cat's feel about it, entertaining you all day....

The Cat's are like "why are my humans in my house ALL day?" It has to be confusing for them.

 

[Peter 315]

The Cat's are like "why are my humans in my house ALL day?" It has to be confusing for them.

True.....LOL

 

[MossRoad]

How do you think the cat's feel about it, entertaining you all day....

Oh, they learn on their own schedule, not mine! :laughing:

I work with them about 3-4 minutes, maybe twice a day.

I did this with our first cat back in the 80's. Raised him from a kitten with a Cairn Terrier (like Toto) to think he was a dog. He could do a lot of tricks and walked on a leash. Not fast like a dog, though. Slow, but well behaved. Funny to walk him into a Vet's office on a leash with the Cairn. They'd both hop up on chairs. All the dogs would be barking at the cat and the cat would be looking around like "Hey guys! What's up?" :laughing:

I trained another cat a couple years ago to sit, shake, high 5, sit up, speak and fetch. I was working on roll--over with him. Unfortunately, the poor little guy developed congestive heart failure after some emergency urinary tract surgery and we had to put him down. He was only 2.

So, current cats are almost 2 years old now and learning.

 

[MossRoad]

A little virus humor distraction...

 

[Peter 315]

I have 2 barn cats they sleep on my tractors in the barn and my wife has 1 indoor cat that sleeps in bed with us 3/4 of the bed for them 1/4 of the bed for me.........

 

[cqaigy2]

About the ventilators, apparently you need doctors and technicians who are trained to operate them.

Chris

1 of 5, if you want to try your hand at it.

Mechanical Ventilation Explained Clearly - Ventilator Settings & Modes - YouTube

 

[k0ua]

Oh, they learn on their own schedule, not mine! :laughing:

I work with them about 3-4 minutes, maybe twice a day.

I did this with our first cat back in the 80's. Raised him from a kitten with a Cairn Terrier (like Toto) to think he was a dog. He could do a lot of tricks and walked on a leash. Not fast like a dog, though. Slow, but well behaved. Funny to walk him into a Vet's office on a leash with the Cairn. They'd both hop up on chairs. All the dogs would be barking at the cat and the cat would be looking around like "Hey guys! What's up?" :laughing:

I trained another cat a couple years ago to sit, shake, high 5, sit up, speak and fetch. I was working on roll--over with him. Unfortunately, the poor little guy developed congestive heart failure after some emergency urinary tract surgery and we had to put him down. He was only 2.

So, current cats are almost 2 years old now and learning.

We had one that you could play fetch with. She would fetch her "mouse" and drop it at your feet, and that was how you knew she wanted to play. You could throw it over and over and she would bring it back until she was tired and she would just stop. I guess it is more like she "trained" us.

 

[/pine]

My cat just asked me if I want the radio left on while he goes out.
******* cat thinks he's funny...!

 

[California]

It's a good feeling. My wife and my first house cost a whopping $20K. We had to borrow (gasp!) $18K. This was 1985. We paid 3 points to get the rate down to 12.5%!!! We were so worried because the monthly payments were going to be $256. That included escrow for taxes and insurance. :laughing:

Similar, 1983. $15k 9.6% variable, became 11.5%. We spent the one thousand dollars it had taken us a year to save, on sweat-equity renovation that qualified the house for an FHA loan.

That first house was a duplex. Rent covered all our housing expense so with zero housing cost we started savings and then investment. Retired at 54. Recommended.

 

[RoyJackson]

A little virus humor distraction...

View attachment 648828

View attachment 648829

Yup!!
Very good!
We have a dog (Bella, the boxer), my stepdaughter has two cats which stay in her apartment (which is in our house). I take care of the cats when she's out and about...and, although I'm not a cat guy...I love all critters...and they love me.
My nickname (to the cats) is "Mr. Treat Man"

 

[D2Cat]

Important info from an infectious disease epidemiologist:

As an infectious disease epidemiologist (although a lowly one), at this point I feel morally obligated to provide some information on what we are seeing from a transmission dynamic perspective and how they apply to the social distancing measures. Like any good scientist I have noticed two things that are either not articulated or not present in the “literature” of social media. I have also relied on my much smarter infectious disease epidemiologist friends for peer review of this post; any edits are from peer review.



Specifically, I want to make two aspects of these measures very clear and unambiguous. First, we are in the very infancy of this epidemic’s trajectory. That means even with these measures we will see cases and deaths continue to rise globally, nationally, and in our own communities in the coming weeks. This may lead some people to think that the social distancing measures are not working. They are. They may feel futile. They aren’t. You will feel discouraged. You should. This is normal in chaos. But this is normal epidemic trajectory. Stay calm.



This enemy that we are facing is very good at what it does; we are not failing. We need everyone to hold the line as the epidemic inevitably gets worse. This is not my opinion; this is the unforgiving math of epidemics for which I and my colleagues have dedicated our lives to understanding with great nuance, and this disease is no exception. We know with a high degree of certainty what will happen; I want to help the community brace for this impact. Stay strong and with solidarity knowing with absolute certainty that what you are doing is saving lives, even as people begin getting sick and dying. You may feel like giving in. Don’t.



Second, although social distancing measures have been (at least temporarily) well-received, there is an obvious-but-overlooked phenomenon when considering groups (i.e. families) in transmission dynamics. While social distancing decreases contact with members of society, it of course increases your contacts with group (i.e. family) members. This small and obvious fact has surprisingly profound implications on disease transmission dynamics. Study after study demonstrates that even if there is only a little bit of connection between groups (i.e. social dinners, playdates/playgrounds, etc.), the epidemic trajectory isn’t much different than if there was no measure in place. The same underlying fundamentals of disease transmission apply, and the result is that the community is left with all of the social and economic disruption but very little public health benefit.



You should perceive your entire family to function as a single individual unit; if one person puts themselves at risk, everyone in the unit is at risk. Seemingly small social chains get large and complex with alarming speed. If your son visits his girlfriend, and you later sneak over for coffee with a neighbor, your neighbor is now connected to the infected office worker that your son’s girlfriend’s mother shook hands with.



This sounds silly, it’s not. This is not a joke or a hypothetical. We as epidemiologists see it borne out in the data time and time again and no one listens. Conversely, any break in that chain breaks disease transmission along that chain.



In contrast to hand-washing and other personal measures, social distancing measures are not about individuals, they are about societies working in unison. These measures also take a long time to see the results. It is hard (even for me) to conceptualize how on a population level ‘one quick little get together’ can undermine the entire framework of a public health intervention, but it does. I promise you it does. I promise. I promise. I promise. You can’t cheat it. People are already itching to cheat on the social distancing precautions just a “little”- a playdate, a haircut, or picking up a needless item at the store, etc.



From a transmission dynamics standpoint, this very quickly recreates a highly connected social network that undermines all of the work the community has done so far. Until we get a viable vaccine this unprecedented outbreak will not be overcome in grand, sweeping gesture, rather only by the collection of individual choices our community makes in the coming months.



This virus is unforgiving to unwise choices. My goal in writing this is to prevent communities from getting ‘sucker-punched’ by what the epidemiological community knows will happen in the coming weeks. It will be easy to be drawn to the idea that what we are doing isn’t working and become paralyzed by fear, or to ‘cheat’ a little bit in the coming weeks. By knowing what to expect, and knowing the importance of maintaining these measures, my hope is to encourage continued community spirit, strategizing, and action to persevere in this time of uncertainty.



WRITTEN BY Jonathan Smith Infectious disease epidemiologist focusing the dynamics of disease transmission. PhD en route at Emory, Lecturer at Yale.

 

[cqaigy2]

^^^^^^^^
Good info there.

 

[shooterdon]

Good post D2Cat

We have seen the enemy and he is us

 

[IslandTractor]

^^^^^^^^
Good info there.

I agree too.

 

[Jstpssng]

I searched for that Jonathan Smith, and he's written several things along that line to try to help stop the spread.

 

[MossRoad]

We had one that you could play fetch with. She would fetch her "mouse" and drop it at your feet, and that was how you knew she wanted to play. You could throw it over and over and she would bring it back until she was tired and she would just stop. I guess it is more like she "trained" us.

That cat we had to put down a couple years ago would play fetch. He'd drop it right in your lap. And he loved the laser pointer. We keep it in a little basket on an end table. He'd dig it out and drop it at your feet. I always thought that the feeling of metal on his teeth would be awful, but he didn't seem to mind it.

Our current cats play fetch. One better than the other. He'll bring it back right up on the couch with you.

 

[sd455dan]

Anyone else start wearing mask and gloves to the store recently?

We had to do another restocking run for family and dug out the cheap HF masks i use for auto body work + disposable gloves for changing oil wife did to.
Neither of us want to be responsible for killing/ possibly infecting our parents.

While at Walmart noticed about 20% of the people were dressed the same.

Parts store worker wasn't wearing any mask- said they were getting them tomorrow also that he understood, said his father has stage 4 cancer and wife is a medical tech and they have a a 9 month old baby.

ps. starting look like they may start calling the virus (close) to an airborne disease since even breathing may spread it.


Over 1,000,000 infected as of today

 

[Diggin It]

Anyone else start wearing mask and gloves to the store recently?

No, and never will. I only saw about three the other day who were and they all looked as if they had other issues.

 

[newbury]

Anyone else start wearing mask and gloves to the store recently?

<snip>

My wife and I wore gloves the last trip, about 2 or three weeks ago. I'm hoping to make a drive tomorrow to pick up a D-handle for my 660, some free neworking equipment from my BIL (a doctor) and groceries (mainly meat) at a Walmart parking lot. I plan on wearing gloves and maybe a paper towel mask.

Since HF canceled my order of 2 painters masks a few months ago.