winter_rules

That’s interesting in itself, outside of COVID. Where did all these people go who would otherwise “need” healthcare in any other year? Have the heart attack and stroke deaths increased significantly this year because people are afraid to go to a hospital? That was a discussion back in the spring but I haven’t heard anything since then. Elective surgeries must be way down, too. Hmmm.....

Everybody at my office who has voted this morning, including myself, has commented about how many more people were at the polls than usual (all before 7am). Factor in all the mail-in ballots and this could be interesting.....

Agreed. I trust very little of what I hear on the news or read online, including this forum, but I do trust people I know stating facts about their families. It’s not guaranteed to be truthful every time, but it stands a better chance of being truthful than almost anywhere else.

BW, I’m mainly just a lurker on this forum, but you seem to have a good head on your shoulders and I appreciate your regular posts about weather and trips to the Adirondacks. I’m sorry to hear about your mother’s situation - there’s not much worse in the world than helplessly watching a parent fight a bad disease. On top of that, your wife must be very frustrated about her employment. 2020 has been rough for you. I wish the best of luck to the two most important women in your life! In relation to your wife’s employment, what are the latest statewide numbers for deaths and hospitalizations relative to positive tests? People near Oneonta are freaking out because college kids are not practicing social distancing (what a shock...). There are now 65 current cases in Otsego County, but zero hospitalizations. I can’t help but wonder if the virus has mutated to cause a less serious illness? Not one person in my social/work circle has contracted the virus in months, but I have heard, 2nd hand, of two local situations of an older person dying of other causes but the families finding COVID on the death certificate! Both families are fighting to get that changed, but you know the statistics won’t be updated to remove a few deaths. I’m not a conspiracy nut, but I am starting to wonder about how much of a role politics is playing in this pandemic. That’s a very scary situation if it’s true....

I was looking for a little CRF50/70/110 for my 7yr old but they are so overpriced on the used market that he’ll be waiting a year. I plan to keep my eyes open over the next year or two when some of these ATVs/SxS/dirt bikes are for sale with hardly any use. Hoping to upgrade for cheap. Even thought of selling my 2001 Sportsman 500 right now while the market is up, but I can’t go a winter without it....it’s my firewood hauler.

We have seen our grocery bill explode this year. Whether it’s from supply and demand, price gouging (which is basically supply and demand, right?), one thing is for sure: Most prices that increased recently won’t go back to “pre-pandemic” levels ever again. Go up 15%, maybe go back down to the equivalent of “only” a 5-10% increase?

Wow! It seems like it would be a relief to have had it and hopefully be past it. Is it actually a relief for you?

Congratulations! I will certainly miss your posts - it was fantastic to have someone posting from about a mile from my old house that we sold in the fall of 2012 (which seems like a lifetime ago!). I still really like that area. Nice and rural, good snow, but only 4-5mi from the convenience of Pulaski and 6-7mi from the mini-ocean of Lake Ontario. Good luck with your new ventures!

I haven’t been listening daily but I just can’t understand how anyone can speak for even one full hour every single day for months on this subject. The only thing that changes every day is a few statistics. Seems like 3 minutes would be sufficient most days with a weekly big picture update. I guess I’m just not a politician....

Man that stinks. Yet another longer term ripple effect of this shut down. My wife is also a teacher and we’re curious to see what happens next school year, both in terms of position cuts and the overall school schedule/mechanics of going to school.

Dumb question: Can someone explain, in layman’s terms, how the government can just create several trillion dollars seemingly out of thin air? I live in a simple world where a dollar is a bartering measure, just like a bushel of corn was back in the day. If you think your product/service is worth 2 dollars/bushels of corn and I agree, then I give you the corn/dollar in exchange for the product/service. I always assumed the nation’s debt was in the form of actual debt to bond holders/investors/other governments. Does the debt really even exist if we can just create massive sums of money with the passage of a bill? It’s not like someone just stepped in and offered TRILLIONS of dollars that we can now pay back with interest, right? Any good links to reputable sources that can explain this?

This seems inevitable, unfortunately.

I agree. There is a general resistance to change in any society/industry, but now that almost every society/industry in America is being forced to use as much automation as possible, eyes are being opened to the convenience and efficiency of it and there’s no going back. Goodbye to many brick and mortar stores. Not just because of this immediate hit to sales in the short term, but because less people will be going back into stores in the next 6-12-24 months than were going before this all started. With that said, I do think (hope?) restaurants will boom for an extended period when they open back up, as long as that happens fairly soon and the economy isn’t totally destroyed.

My wife (and therefore I) went through a similar scenario in the same timeframe. Graduated from college in 2007, but she didn't get a full time teaching job until 2012. Schools were either laying off teachers or not replacing those who retired. Then when things started improving, the schools had to offer the new openings to all those who had been laid off first. She kept taking long term sub positions (Pulaski and APW) and eventually earned a full time classroom teaching position. Like BW said, it was tough on her confidence. Teaching elementary kids is definitely the perfect career for her, but she was literally questioning it for YEARS. Wolfie, keep pushing on and you’ll earn yourself a good job!

I certainly don’t blame them at all. It is absolutely a smart move for them. I just wish they would take it a little more seriously. Ripping around on 4-wheelers in the dark, or having bonfires where everybody is drunk, is not exactly a smart move right now. They’ll end up in the hospital for a different ailment and catch it or spread it there.

We live in an area where many old rural farm properties are owned by city slickers from downstate/NYC/NJ/CT. These people are typically only visit their properties for the major summer holidays and the first week of rifle season. There are now multiple vehicles at most of these properties, with 4-wheelers running all over. Vehicles were parked on my property with people fishing my creek....I don’t really mind, but I have never met these people before. It feels like July 4th weekend. This “quarantine” is being treated as a summer vacation for many people. They/we had better hope this virus doesn’t hit hard around here because our little hospital won’t be able to handle more than a few of these cases at a time.