The Way Things Once Were...

 We traveled to the county seat of Box Elder County this morning to visit our new grandson. We had some time to kill before they were home so we stopped in at the local thrift store. It's a small one, but clean and organized (for the most part...). Inside there were some of things we could have used, a lot of things we didn't need, and even things no one needs.

Such is the way of things and thrift stores.

But, it wasn't until I stopped at one particular tub that made me stop and snap a picture. 

At first, I thought they were socks--new, still in the package. Socks are good. We need socks. I checked it out. Were they socks?

Nope.

They were masks.

In the storage tub were dozens--maybe hundreds--of masks. There were ordered by the local Box Elder High School...Home of the Bees. For some reason I'll always remember Box Elder being the Home of the Bees, because as a freshman attending Davis High School (Home of the Darts...), Davis played Box Elder in the first high school homecoming football game of my high school career. And, I believe Davis beat the Bees back in the fall of 1980.

Getting back to my story, I looked those unused cloth masks from 2021. I'm thinking they were ordered for graduation, two years ago this summer. For me, timelines, as far as when things were required at not required during the pandemic are fuzzy. I don't know if by June 2021 we had ditched the masks or not. I do know that in Northern Utah, we ditched things before other parts of the country. I guess that's how it was living in sticks.

I'm no doctor or scientist, nor do I have specific facts about the usefulness of the masks, but I'm guessing simple cloth masks would not be helpful at this time, so that tub of masks will most likely get thrown out at some point, tossed in the local landfill.

It's funny how just seeing something as simple as a mask can bring us back to a previous time...to the way things once were.

When It Hits Home...

 I should say at the onset that 2020 did not affect me or my family to the degree that it did others. We escaped 2020 almost unscathed. It is something we are eternally grateful for. I--thankfully--was able to keep my job, a job where I was already working from home. We were able to shop and get everything we needed...we never wanted.

I personally know those who were not so lucky. They lost jobs, and more devastatingly, lost loved ones, parents, children, siblings. For many 2020 was a living hell...and 2021 is more of the same.

But, when things don't impact a person directly, that person forgets the tragedies experienced by others. I know that's what's happened to me, at times.

A few weeks ago my wife and I did some shopping at our local Walmart. I noticed the Subway Restaurant located inside the store was closed. They posted their new hours...they were scaling back. I thought it was most likely due to staffing issues, or maybe even changing in eating patterns from the public. Then, the next time we entered the store, a new sign was posted on the door and the restaurant was gutted.

THANK YOU FOR 16 YEARS OF PATRONAGE

SUBWAY

Now, I have no idea why this particular business closed, but I would guess that had not the pandemic hit last year, there's a good chance the business would have seen Year 17 and beyond. Seeing that sign sort of punched me in the gut in a way. It was personal. 

I hope the owners and workers have found new opportunities. I hope also those others adversely affected by the events of the last year can find some comfort.

One Thing We Haven't Lost...Is Our Sense Of Humor

 Like many of you, I've done my fair of internet surfing. Of course, there's the crap posts out there that try and divide and pick fights, but what I've been most impressed with, are those that do the opposite.

The ones that make us laugh.

And there's no end of material to chose from.

I found a post today, I took a picture of it and sent it to friends and family. It blends the Star Wars universe and the pandemic.

Humans constantly surprise me. We are going through a tough time, some have it tougher than others. I'm amazed how some people will do what they can to make the best of things, even when it seems everything is on fire.

Yes, it's a simple and funny meme, but it reminded me that no matter how bad things get, there's always someone who will do something to make us laugh. We need more of those people.

The Cub Scouts...How Much Its Changed

Scrolling through my social media feed (something I'm doing less and less these days...), I came across a notice that caught my attention.

I had to read it twice. What I was reading made sense, but when I considered what the message actually said, it floored me.

How times have changed.

And yet, it's almost a forgotten change.

The notice was for people living in my area and the surrounding cities. It let us know that Cub Scout Pack 27 in a nearby town was starting. They're looking for kids (and their parents...) who want to be involved in cub scouts to contact them. But what really shocked me is that this pack--this one pack--will be the only one in the southern half of our county.

Unbelievable.

I spent several years involved in the cub scout program, both as an active parent and as an advisor. My three boys graduated from the cub scouts--the last one leaving almost five years ago. I don't know the exact number that constitutes a pack, but to put things into perspective, five years ago, our neighborhood had its own pack. Our town had several dozen packs, and our town was one of the smaller ones. That means hundreds of packs of young boys have disappeared from the program. I don't think I could have contemplated such a change five years ago.

And yet, here we are.

There are numerous reasons for this change--I won't go into any details. Another thought crossed my mind as I read and re-read the words from the post. Normally, something this big would be discussed, debated, considered for months, maybe even years. But now, in a world of impeachments, global pandemics, quarantines, and lockdown, earthquakes, protests and riots, the fact that an entire cultural institution has basically disappeared barely moves the needle. If nothing else, that--to me--is shocking.

Yes, things change, but rarely has so much changed so quickly. We're just trying to keep up. Good luck Pack 27! I hope you make it.

What To Do When The Closest 100' Ethernet Cable Is A Month Away? Make Your Own...

We're living in a new reality. In the last two weeks, so much has changed, and I have a feeling some things will never return to the way they were. Yesterday my neighbor and I struck up a conversation since we're both working from home. He said he went to Costco over the weekend and it was interesting to see what things people go for, what they buy.

Interesting, indeed.

First things people bought--toilet paper, bottled water, and hand sanitizer, at least, that's what disappeared where I live. As the realization of the situation befell us, other things began to disappear from the shelves. I think sociologists are going to have a field day and study this past month for decades to come (and they'll never run out of things to study...).

As time went on, other things began to be in short supply, flour, rice, almost all baking ingredients vanished, at least, that's what disappeared where I live. 

But, what about ethernet cables?

Hadn't thought about that, at all.

Until, I needed one.

My oldest got permission to work from home. Great--more isolation for the family. We had a problem. My son had to be hard-wired to the router (no wifi...) and he had to work away from my work station so we needed an ethernet cable, a long ethernet cable. No problem--we'll just drive down to Best Buy and pick one up.

Problem--the longest cable they had was seven feet--seems everyone was doing the same thing. We needed a hundred-foot cable. We looked on-line--a month's wait. We tried Walmart, Home Depot, Target...nada. When we built the house, we put CAT-5 cable in each room. The problem was, I never put the cable into a box, so there's ethernet cables running throughout my house--we just have to tear open a wall to get to them. I didn't want to do that and I was frustrated.

And then it hit me...

I can make my own.

We bought the cable, the connectors, and a tool to crimp them together. It works beautifully. 

My dad grew up in the Great Depression. They had to make due with what they had. I know my situation is nowhere near what my dad or his generation went through, but for a brief moment, I was able to do something myself, something that helped the family. I think we'll need to do more things like that in our new reality.

To Quote Kip..."So I Guess You Could Say Things Are Getting Pretty Serious"

It all seemed to hit tonight, at least, for us. For millions others, it "hit" days, weeks earlier. I suppose, for some, it won't hit them until later, even though I don't know how.

But, tonight, because of actions by our President, the NBA, the NCAA, and other organizations around the world, the effects of a world-wide flu reached so many Americans who thought about it before, but maybe thought it wouldn't get that bad.

It's amazing what kind of a world we live in today. Something like this flu is introduced and it disrupts the illusion that we're somehow safe. We think we're immune from illness if we eat the right things, exercise, get vaccinated, even treat each other well. Then, something infects us, something for which we have more questions than answers. It comes to town and we lose it. We stock up on "necessaries," and face the possibility of our mortality.

Truth is, we've always been at risk. Deep down, we know all this, but we choose to not think about it too much (I'm speaking for myself here, so I may be way off...). Maybe we don't think about the bad so we can't enjoy life, enjoy the good times. And then a virus comes along and spoils the party.

I heard someone on a talk show discuss the stock market. He said it's crashing because things are not predictable. When people can't count on the future, they get nervous. We're seeing this not just in the market, but with other things, vacations, concerts, sporting events. That's when it hits home.

I have no idea what will happen. I doubt anyone really does. Many have educated guesses and some will be better and predicting the future than others. It's like we're all on a giant roller coaster, one we've never been on before, riding in the dark. Some hate it, Some may like it (if so, I worry about them a little bit...). Hopefully, when the ride's over, we'll be wiser, tested, and maybe even more humble.

Time will tell.

Yeah, We Went To Costco...But We Didn't Go Crazy

We went to Costco last Friday, not Saturday when apparently everyone went and cleaned the store out of toilet paper and bottled water. No, things were much tamer the day before. 

A couple of observations...

Almost every cart had a couple of things, a five-pack package of Clorox Wipes, and a package of toilet paper.

Most people looked like they were doing their regular Costco shopping, like us.

A few were loading up on cases and cases of bottled water. My first thought, when I saw flatbed carts full of water was those people must be in charge of a 5K charity event and they were buying water for the runners, or maybe they owned several vending machines and needed to re-stock.

It never occurred to either me or my wife that people were buying water because of a possible pandemic. The toilet paper I can understand, but water...really? That never crossed our minds.

No, my wife and I got our regular things, and a couple of things it would be nice to have--extra dog food, extra sugar. Other than that, the stuff we jammed into the back of Donk the Subaru was pretty much what we usually get.

There are two kinds of people in this world, those who rush to Costco and buy all the toilet paper and bottled water they can grab, and those who say too themselves, they'd never be caught dead at Costco while the first group are there. I'm glad we went and experienced something that thankfully, doesn't happen very often. It was like participating in Black Friday before the internet, when scores of people are out in force, fighting others for the best deals. If you just hung back and observed, just being there, seeing what people think are "necessities," watching others prepare for bad times ahead, taking it all in (while others take it all out...).

Yes, I'm glad we went, and I'm glad we didn't go crazy. We'll leave that to those who have garages full of bottled water.