I’m not a serious prepper. Sure, I live in an area with a lot of potential for natural disasters; earthquakes, severe storms, and sooner or later there will be a lahar from Mt.Ranier. Might not be in my lifetime, but it will happen.

This being the case it makes sense to be prepared for a protracted loss of services; have a way of cooking without electricity, a source of clean water, some medical supplies, durable food stuff etc. Power might be out for days, even weeks in the case of a particularly severe event. Best to be prepared, and we are, but it doesn’t dominate our lives.

Such an event might include some breakdown of the social order but, well… duh. I write a gun blog; you can pretty much figure we’ve got that end of things covered. But honestly, for the type of emergencies we’ve anticipated guns and ammo have been the lowest priority. When this pandemic popped up I didn’t run out for ammo or reloading supplies; I bought canned food, pasta and dried beans to supplement our existing stocks. Because honestly, that’s a lot more likely to be useful.

Anyway, Linda and I are pushing 60, and she has COPD. We are at a heightened risk should we become infected, Linda very much so. Watching this thing from the beginning and living in a ‘Hot Spot’ has given me some perspective on this thing that a lot of folks are lacking. I’ve read the science and the medicine, and done the math. As of a week ago Linda and I have been hunkering down, avoiding going out and contact with others.

Given our situation, our neighborhood, age, physical condition etc. we always figured that in the event of a serious emergency we’d hunker down at home- a ‘bug-in’ so to speak. I did not imagine we’d be doing it with water, power, high-speed internet etc., but I’m hardly complaining! But still, it’s kind of weird…

I mean, you prepare for events like this, but you never expect them to, you know… actually happen. It’s kind of surreal, and it hits you in odd ways. Got a sweet tooth? Just run to the store and… nope. Go to dinner, to a movie, a shooting range? Nope. Have guests over? Nope. Sure, we’re home, comfortable, got pretty much everything we need… but it’s like a few layers of life have been stripped away.

We’re very lucky; I’ve worked at home for decades, so it isn’t costing me anything to stay home. In a given week aside from running to the store we don’t get out much. Might have a guest over for dinner or a visit, but we live a fairly secluded life. But choosing to be home and having to stay home? They’re different things.

The Governor has cancelled all public events and ordered all public gathering places to close; theaters, bars, restaurants etc. The major local super-market has stopped delivering groceries. Starbucks has gone to drive-through only. Really, there’s not a lot of places to go right now…

So here we sit. I work in the shop, we don’t go out or order food in. Got a sweet-tooth? Make something sweet. Bored? There’s about a jillion movies on Amazon, Netflix etc. There’s social media if I feel the need to be frustrated, amazed and appalled by people. Plenty to do. It’s not like we’re in jail or anything. It’s just… weird.

Nothing for it; I think we might be OK if we went about our business more normally. I think we’ll likely be OK even if we catch it. I think a lot of things, always have… so I know that what I think isn’t always right. In this case even a small risk is too much to take if it can be avoided, because if I decide not to put up with the inconvenience someone could die. Maybe not one of us, but if we spread the infection someone, somewhere down the line. Someone I don’t know and have never met, but that doesn’t matter; they are important to someone. Given the option I’ll pass, thanks.

Michael Tinker Pearce, 17 March, 2020