I mean, I don't know his name, and don't ...like...talk to him or anything, but I know him. I call him Teddy Bear Guy, because for a long time, he rode around with a giant white teddy bear in the front seat of his car. Word is, he put it there so nobody would ask him for a ride. Other word is, that bear is his best friend and he always wants it nearby. Be that as it may, I know who he is.
He works on a Vitally Important Machine right across the aisle from my department. Now, Teddy Bear Guy hadn't been at work since Thursday, but as far as I know, he got his test results today. I'm sure they'll put out another paper with the details on it soon. Anyway, as soon as the plant found out, they sent everyone who works on that Vitally Important Machine into quarantine for two weeks. The bad thing is, they don't have any back ups for that machine.
Today, they ended up sending some of the assembly lines home early. I don't know what they're going to do for the next two weeks. Some of us were talking, it'll be the same if one of the sub-brazers gets the virus. What will they do if they have to quarantine all of us? They don't have any back up sub-brazers. They've got maybe 4 or 5 people who can sub braze, but ...let's just say, there's a reason they aren't in the sub-brazing department any more. There's only one guy who I'd consider to be reliable, and he's still pretty inexperienced.
Now that it's becoming so prominent in the plant, I've begun to get a bit paranoid. Every cough, every sore throat -- is it the 'rona? Every morning when I wake up, the first thing I do now is to feel my face, to see if I have fever. I know they take our temperatures before they let us into the plant, but what's to stop someone from just taking Tylenol before coming to work? I once worked three days with full blown pneumonia before I broke down and went to the doctor. Cody was little then, and I wasn't making but $11 something an hour. I couldn't afford to take a week off work at the time. At least with the COVID, if we get a positive test, we'll get two weeks straight time pay. I didn't have that option back then.
Well, in these uncertain times, I've come to loathe that phrase. Loathing notwithstanding, in these uncertain times, I thought I'd show you something. If you've followed me on Facebook, or even here on the blog, you'll know I've recently developed a strange fascination with survival gear. I'm in the process of putting together a bug-out bag. I'm going to show you my progress so far.
*Note: Keep in mind, this is a work in progress. I'm sure you will want to suggest I add this, or I add that, or I need such and such. Whatever you might want to suggest, it's probably already on the list. Fishing gear and more snares spring immediately to mind. OK? Here we go:
1. First up, a tent and sleeping bag.
3. Mylar blankets, body warmers, and rain ponchos.
4. A pocket saw
5. Battery operated lanterns, a weather radio, and a hand crank flashlight.
6. Lifestraw water filtering systems. I still need to add some sort of canteen or water bag.
7. Paracord, a compass, and a snare. I want to get some more snares, also.
8. What? Doesn't everybody have a Giant Pacific Octopus in their bug out bag?
9. A hunter orange bandanna for visibility, with survival tips on it, a bush craft book, and a blank journal for making notes. You know I've also got some pens in there, but you don't really need to see a picture of them.
That's my progress so far. As I said before, it's still a work in progress. I've still got a lot more to add to it, bit by bit.
And finally, we've already got our second named storm, Bertha, and the season hasn't even started yet! They said it's be an active one.
They weren't kidding.
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