Is there anything that you have learned from this current drill? Is there something that you wish you had done differently?

The only thing I wish I had done differently is to include more cheese.

Jeanette Isabelle

More food. I have a month or so worth at all times.

More entertainment for very bored kids.

More Xanax for me as I stay HOME with bored kids, sigh.

I learned that in general for this particular drill we were okay. For us TP and paper towels were never an issue. Food was fine and we were able to restock as the stores recovered from the initial panic shopping.
We had health items like vitamins/minerals in stock. (Vit.C, D3 & zinc are apparently very beneficial)

Staying in good overall physical condition seems to have been key to this “drill”. FoxNews presentation yesterday spoke to the stats of people who died as having underlying conditions such as diabetes (and pre-diabetes) with BMI’s over 30 (ave. 33). So watch your diet and particularly processed sugars (simple carbs). All that walking in the hills around here was a good thing.

Mentally, I’m doing fine because I’m still occupied with work. That said, in case the situation deepens or is extended, I’m looking to relearn a musical instrument from my long ago past. I haven’t played in 50 years, but I can still buzz a trumpet mouthpiece so I’m going to relearn the basics and then maybe start playing some jazz. Honestly, the trumpet music for new students sucks, but there are some tunes that for me are much more interesting. This will be good for me regardless of the lockdown, but for my better half I also bought a new mute so she won’t go insane listening to me do scales.
I understand that learning a musical instrument builds new neural pathways — I wonder if that’s true of relearning...

No bored kids here - the li'l Hikermor is at UCLA and we have been helping her and her BF with stuff which has been beneficial to all.

i am fortunate because I was anticipating home confinement as the result of hip replacement surgery, now postponed until ??, so I made plans to help remotely with volunteer projects I am working on. Doing real meaningful work is really beneficial. I have also been able to get outside in the sun and work a bit at yard chores. The fresh air and sunlight have been helpful, as is the recently purchased exercise bike. I really need that cardio workout.

And there is no one on this green earth with whom I would rather share home confinement than Mrs. Hikermor.

I reevaluated my stored items. The food would probably last for 2 months, 3 months if I stretch it a little. Articles for hygene would have lasted for 3 weeks to half a year depending on the item (TP reached the restock level).
There was no real shortage of anything. People panik bought a lot of the cheap stuff. Items in the midpriced or higher range were still avaiable. It was interesting to see that some of the higher priced stuff (e. g. salmon) got cheaper. I took advantage of that when it was food I liked. Things that also stayed available were larger paket sizes. Monday afternoon 500 g packets of spagetti were out, 5 kg packets were still in the shelves.
I also had plenty of cheese.
I have a monthly delivery from Amazon that includes food items. They had everything and delivered on time. That spares some trips to the supermarket.
For most szenarios I might be fine.
I am contemplating to offer some volunteer time for neighborhood help like assisting with shopping.

I guess things have gone as well for me as I could reasonably expect. I have enough food on hand for probably a month or two although it's not going to be keto friendly. The stores aren't really out of any foodstuffs that I normally buy. The pasta and dry beans are low in stock as is rice but I avoid those foods anyway. Probably one "prep" that might have been nice is a chest freezer but I don't really have a good place to put one if I had one. Could have had more canned food on hand but again it's still available in all the stores.

Bleach, could have used more of that. And hand sanitizer too although I never really used it in the past with any regularity.

Been disabled/retired for ten years now, so I have lotsa time to work on preps-gasoline cache in a shed, 12v solar charger/battery inverter system in another shed, water supply and triple backup filtration systems in place, not that any of those things are in foreseeable play.
Had lots of paper products, with rag/laundry backups due to a couple of elderly incontinent dogs. Chest freezer and a 15 pounds of emergency oatmeal should see us through the ups and downs of logistics.
The garage holds a rich array of metal and woodworking projects, so i work at the forge or bench everyday.

A few years ago we left a small denominational church and joined a non-denom evangelical megachurch, televised sermons, christian rock and roll praise bands, 10 sites and 27000 members: my wife loves the place, I go where she goes. Their theology and politics drive me nuts, but the love is there. We get daily emails, texts, instagrams, live facebook and website presentations and website services. Lots of mission stuff going on in the community...and it all matters. The community, whatever the source, is the part that contributes most powerfully. The church provides a digital village. So does this forum.
Thanks for that.

The second part of the "buy what you eat, eat what you buy" mantra means that some of my stocks happened to be at a low ebb when the panic buying started, but realistically I don't think there's much that can be done about that. I have enough of the stuff that matters. Mostly I feel vindicated. I've been using a machine to make bread at home for decades, and flour etc is something I've always kept on hand, so that's fine. I switched to a cheap plastic hand-held bidet about six months ago, so now use very little toilet paper. I'm not expecting power cuts or similar. Here people who show symptoms are being asked to self-quarantine for 7 days, and even if that stretches into two weeks it's not very long in the scheme of things. Longer than that and I'll probably be hospitalised anyway.

I sort-of regret not keeping my push-bike in better order. It's not been ridden for 5+ years. Tyres are flat, and probably perished. Part of me thinks I ought to get new tyres. The other part says the last thing I need now is a cycling accident.

Apparently having fat around the face and neck makes it significantly harder to insert the tubes for a ventilator. Probably too late to do much about that now.

A beard can make it harder to get a good seal around an oxygen mask, if that should be necessary. In normal times hospital staff would shave you, but during a pandemic they are going to be very busy and you might not want to wait to start breathing, so if you have a beard I'd recommend you shave in advance. Maybe not immediately, but if you get symptoms. (It takes a few days for symptoms to become so bad that you need to be hospitalised, if that happens at all, so you should have time.)

I am an introvert by nature, and have a big home library. So, all is well with me personally, except for worrying about the kids and worrying about my perscription meds.

Having said that I Learned quite a bit in this drill . A few DIY home projects finished sooner proved very helpful in this situation, and proved the saying : Do not postpone todays job until tomorrow!!

Some other great ideas were not really planned, they just came by coincidence. It is my philosophy to keep old stuff as long as they are working fine. So, all our TVs at home are older models. Mrs. Chisel isn't happy about it but she knows our financial plans and financial restrictions. This last Mother Day, the kids bought a few gifts for mom, and my gift was a 50 inch TV, which she extremely liked. It has become very very useful since it connects to Wi-Fi and the kids run older (more funny) Tv shows which she likes alot. This fills more of her stay time with laughs.