Plans for today (2019-2022)

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My turn to bring food over to my parents and drop it off on their porch, 140 miles round trip, so it'll take a good part of my day.

I'm to the point, frankly, of stopping this. I've been talking to my folks every few days since this shutdown started, and they're going out nearly every day regardless, getting carry-out food, which they then proceed to eat right there in the parking lot of the restaurant, because they don't want it to get cold.

That means they're going out nearly every day, getting plenty of food, and ignoring the safety advice about eating carry-out (take it home, take it out of the bag, wash your hands, put it on a plate, nuke it to kill anything, then eat it).

The whole point of everyone chipping in and making them food was with the understanding that they're stuck at home and they're too old to cook for themselves, but that's obviously not happening, so I think I'm done after this trip.

It'd be different if I lived around the corner from them, but I don't; it's a hard 70 miles each way, and I don't even get a visit in, as I'm just dropping it on the porch and heading back home. I don't even shut the car off.
 
TastyReuben said:
The whole point of everyone chipping in and making them food was with the understanding that they're stuck at home and they're too old to cook for themselves, but that's obviously not happening, so I think I'm done after this trip.
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It honestly does seem a bit pointless if they persist in ignoring the lockdown.
 
TastyReuben said:
That means they're going out nearly every day, getting plenty of food, and ignoring the safety advice about eating carry-out (take it home, take it out of the bag, wash your hands, put it on a plate, nuke it to kill anything, then eat it).
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I can sympathise.

Luckily for us, living on a small island and providing the traffic is clear no one is much more than 30 minutes away from anyone else.

My mum was being especially stubborn about all this, popping off to the shop for this and that despite the fact that she is classed as at very high risk due to her ailments.
Finally after being lectured by us children and her doctor she has agreed to stay in a lot more and only go out for short walks with Pud-Pud (their Shiatzu).
They now get packs of meat and veg delivered and left on their doorstep.

It is obviously very difficult for the older generation, they've spent a large part of their lifetime being independent so it must really go against the grain to have to accept help they really didn't request.
 
Prolly making bread later, just finished pasta sauce. I got 2x 2 litre containers for freezer. It's 2 o clock pm here. I may decide to leave until tomorrow ??

Russ
 
TastyReuben said:
My turn to bring food over to my parents and drop it off on their porch, 140 miles round trip, so it'll take a good part of my day.

I'm to the point, frankly, of stopping this. I've been talking to my folks every few days since this shutdown started, and they're going out nearly every day regardless, getting carry-out food, which they then proceed to eat right there in the parking lot of the restaurant, because they don't want it to get cold.

That means they're going out nearly every day, getting plenty of food, and ignoring the safety advice about eating carry-out (take it home, take it out of the bag, wash your hands, put it on a plate, nuke it to kill anything, then eat it).

The whole point of everyone chipping in and making them food was with the understanding that they're stuck at home and they're too old to cook for themselves, but that's obviously not happening, so I think I'm done after this trip.

It'd be different if I lived around the corner from them, but I don't; it's a hard 70 miles each way, and I don't even get a visit in, as I'm just dropping it on the porch and heading back home. I don't even shut the car off.
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Good call.
 
We're defying stay-at-home orders to visit my sister-in-law, brother-in-law, and my wife's mom. I am going to bread and bake skinless drumsticks. My brother-in-law will burn the hamburgers. It's tradition. There will be enough other unhealthy things so as to ensure that everyone will be in pain by the time we're done. I used to dread these Sunday dinners because of that last bit. Now, I'm looking forward to it as a welcome bit of normalcy, at least for one day.
 
epicuric said:
Good call.
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One aspect of not doing this any longer is the practical side - they're obviously getting fed, so there's just no need on my part to go to so much trouble to get them some food.

The other part of it is just the frustration in dealing with them. I know, I know...they're in their 80's and all that, but I drove all the way over there, sat their food down on the porch, then called their landline phone (their preferred phone).

It rang 12 times before I hung it up, then I called their cell phone. That went to voicemail, and I could tell they've never bothered to set that up, and my mom wouldn't know how to get voicemail anyway, if she had set it up.

Both their cars were there, so I knew they were home. I texted my brother, the one who looks in on them then most, and I let him know that I had dropped food off, and since it was only about 45F/7C, it could probably sit out there a while, but asked that he try calling them shortly to tell them it was out there, and I headed back home.

I got caught at a train crossing about 10 minutes later, so I checked my phone, and he'd texted me back to say he'd called them and they got everything.

How do they miss my calls and get his just a few minutes later?!
 
Yorky said:
I'm not quite as old as they but I have been there. Not with a landline though.
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The cell phone thing with them is a whole separate level of frustration.

They've had one for years, going back to flip phones, because my mom felt they needed one in case they were out and about and she had a heart attack or something.

However, she is, and always has been, completely and utterly clueless as to how to use a cell phone (or a modern cordless landline phone). She's used to hearing a phone ring, walking over to the phone, picking up the receiver, and saying "Hello?" Anything else, she can't comprehend it.

She decided a couple of years ago that she wanted a smartphone, because she felt like she was being left out, since none of us call each other any more, we just text.

That lasted three days and nearly gave her a nervous breakdown. Seriously. She called me up (from her landline), nearly in tears, she was so flummoxed by her cell phone.

She went back to a flip phone, and now she's back to a smartphone again, and she still can't figure out how to use it, and my brother has spent hours and hours and hours going over it with her, again and again and again.
 
Hoping to get the grass mowed, and hoping to get back to regular menu planning. Right now, it's kind of hard, because I have to first see what they have in the shops, then go from there.

That means I'll find, say, chicken thighs, I'll get those, then I'll come home and start looking through recipes, find one, but it'll have some ingredient I don't have, and I don't want to go back out to get it.

I may also bake some bread today.
 
When I first relocated to work in Malaysia in '94 my boss (in UK) could contact me in the hotel because I was invariably in the bar during their daytime.

After a few weeks I didn't just stay in the hotel bar but ventured out into the clandestine establishments of Kuala Lumpur. This meant that I was not contactable during their afternoons so my boss requested that I buy a handphone. I didn't. I didn't like the idea. He nattered and nattered but I still didn't.

Eventually I did, rang him with the number and he asked what had changed my mind.

The hotel bar had a system for residents and regulars. If you placed an order for beer before 19:30 (the end of "happy hour") any amount of beer that you ordered would be charged at half price on condition that you were served and drank it during that evening, e.g. order 10 beers at 19:25 and they stayed in the pump until you were ready to drink them.

One evening, myself and two colleagues were trapped in a traffic jam until almost 20:00 hours without any "happy hour" beer ordered. The handphone was purchased the next day to permit me to call the bar staff to ensure sufficient beer for the evening was ordered prior to 19:30.
 
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