Discombobulated

[SPedigrees]

These past couple months have really opened my eyes to the plight of city dwellers who are quarantining. Up until now I've been able to walk my dog everyday, not up in our woods, but at least around our open field, but now the snow and ice have reached glacial proportions and we have been confined to the house and part of the back yard where I've managed to keep a few paths shoveled and sanded.

I caught the virus back in April and spent a hellish week on the couch trying to just keep myself and my dogs alive. I was wearing a mask the only 2 times that month that I'd ventured out, so I don't have a lot of faith in masks to protect against this airborne illness. But I'm willing to wear one to comply with regulations and keep those around me happy. I usually only drive to town twice a month to stock up on groceries and run an occasional errand.

Most of what I buy (except for fresh produce and dairy), I buy online, so when grocery store shelves emptied out, I ordered massive cartons of paper goods from Amazon, so never ran out of essentials.

Being tested, tracked, or traced is something I avoid. It is one of many reasons why I don't own a smart phone. I have an appointment for my first of two covid shots next week, and am looking forward to it.

As I said, up until the wall of ice surrounded my home, I was coping pretty well with the pandemic, and my gardens (even in winter) including my little forest kept things pretty much normal. Nature is a great healer. But I am so over this winter now. I feel like this winter has kept me away from even my houseplants, which need re-potting, because it is just so much easier to do this outdoors. Let's all hope for the swift return of summer.

On second thought some of you may be lucky enough to live in states with warmer climates. Perhaps I should amend that as well for any of you unfortunate enough to live in Texas. I have both a sister and a neighbor whose daughter & her family were affected by the cold snap and massive power outage, and that was no picnic. :-(

 

[digitS']

Waiting for DW to qualify and hoping that we can do this together .

 

[Rhodie Ranch]

I so love her. Always have.

 

[Zeedman]

Ditto. A truly caring & compassionate person, who leads by example. Wish we had more like her.

 

[flowerbug]

These past couple months have really opened my eyes to the plight of city dwellers who are quarantining. Up until now I've been able to walk my dog everyday, not up in our woods, but at least around our open field, but now the snow and ice have reached glacial proportions and we have been confined to the house and part of the back yard where I've managed to keep a few paths shoveled and sanded.

I caught the virus back in April and spent a hellish week on the couch trying to just keep myself and my dogs alive. I was wearing a mask the only 2 times that month that I'd ventured out, so I don't have a lot of faith in masks to protect against this airborne illness. But I'm willing to wear one to comply with regulations and keep those around me happy. I usually only drive to town twice a month to stock up on groceries and run an occasional errand.

Most of what I buy (except for fresh produce and dairy), I buy online, so when grocery store shelves emptied out, I ordered massive cartons of paper goods from Amazon, so never ran out of essentials.

Being tested, tracked, or traced is something I avoid. It is one of many reasons why I don't own a smart phone. I have an appointment for my first of two covid shots next week, and am looking forward to it.

As I said, up until the wall of ice surrounded my home, I was coping pretty well with the pandemic, and my gardens (even in winter) including my little forest kept things pretty much normal. Nature is a great healer. But I am so over this winter now. I feel like this winter has kept me away from even my houseplants, which need re-potting, because it is just so much easier to do this outdoors. Let's all hope for the swift return of summer.

On second thought some of you may be lucky enough to live in states with warmer climates. Perhaps I should amend that as well for any of you unfortunate enough to live in Texas. I have both a sister and a neighbor whose daughter & her family were affected by the cold snap and massive power outage, and that was no picnic. :-(

houseplants are a good version of dirt therapy. if you don't want to wait just get some plastic and put it down and then go for it. may need to shut the door to keep the doggies out but otherwise it is easier than trying to work in too small a space.

to me it sounds like you do need some dirt therapy. i got to see some of my worm friends this morning when i fed them some food and paper scraps.

 

[Zeedman]

House plants are like pets for people that don't want to go for a walk... or for gardeners that won't surrender to the snow. DW has a whole corner of the house devoted to them, and that is the most pleasant & relaxing part of the house. We have a recliner there, and I think the plants sing me lullabies.

 

[digitS']

Insightful cartoon today, something like this: Rat is showing 2 graphs to Pig. First is the growth of social media over time:



Next is Rat's stress level over time:


Pig says, "Interesting. Do you mind if I post it?"

Social media . But, would we really be less stressed interacting within larger society on a person to person level?

Steve

 

[Zeedman]

Social media . But, would we really be less stressed interacting within larger society on a person to person level?

I think that would be like comparing being hit by a BB, to being shot with a shotgun.

On a person to person level, we limit our exposure to negativity by default - we don't intentionally seek the company of unpleasant people. Although we might run into rude or abusive people occasionally, we tend to hang out with people who lower our stress level. Someone is less likely to make inconsiderate or insulting comments face-to-face, when the repercussions could be immediate (and physical). Most "trolls" wouldn't last long person to person.

Social media is far less filtered, and a user is bombarded with far greater numbers of people simultaneously - for good or ill. Unfortunately, shielded by distance and/or anonymity, too many on social media become antisocial. There are no consequences for such behavior, so social media is a magnet for trolls, agitators, and those of cruel or abusive demeanor. The tendency for bad actors to gang up on others creates a level of social toxicity whose only non-digital equivalent might be walking into a dive bar just before closing time.

 

[digitS']

It seems that I was searching for a word different from "interacting" when I wrote that, @Zeedman .

I was thinking about work, involved with the public. Socializing with friends would be something different. I have a small family so the stressful family gatherings some report is quite unknown to me.

The troll personalities are out there. As are those who function to exploit or simply to deceive. But, you are right, social media provides an easier venue for anyone to express those tendencies. I'm sure that lots of folks count to three before responding in any setting. In a person to person setting, it is, however, difficult to count to ten and just turning and walking away isn't always an option.

Steve

 

[flowerbug]

the expression "Grin and bear it." comes to mind for some social events. for us a family reunion on just one side is normally 100 or more people. the other side is not so big but there it is more like 30. our immediate family gatherings are usually a half dozen to ten depending upon who shows up. in this time of being concerned about pods and virus spread it has been fewer.

i don't do social media for the simple reason that if i were to even try to do that i'd get way too stressed out with family and relative stuff - i'm a quiet person and i don't like a lot of drama of any kind.