Garden is in, and I got my first two cucumbers out of it yesterday. Husband is still working from home, and was just informed that he’s going to be working from home through at least September. This is one of those summers where I’m very glad for the watering system I have in place for the garden. Dry doesn’t say it enough! The old pool is down completely, and gravel is in the hole. I did my math wrong and didn’t get enough to fill the hole, so now we’re deciding between more gravel, or a layer of pavers.
In the wider scheme of things:
Meat prices MIGHT have stabilized, but I’m not holding my breath on that one.
My work has started receiving deliveries of pressure treated lumber again, enough that the aisle isn’t COMPLETELY empty, but its still not enough to stem the demand. Cleaning products are still in very short supply. Walk behind lawnmowers are in short supply except for a few specific models. Pesticides are coming up short in several areas, notably wasp/hornet sprays. Tomato cages are still a hot commodity, chicken wire is hard to get. Landscape edging is hard to get. Weed barrier is still non-existent. Patio furniture is selling out faster than I’ve ever seen before, and we still can’t keep firepits in stock. We’re short on several garden soils as well. Bird feeders, wild bird feed, shepherds hooks to hang them on, are all in short supply or gone completely. Hose reels and hoses are also hard to find. We’re out of buckets. Yes, buckets.
One question that I keep getting over and over again is why are we out of so much? In a bit of irony its almost always the person with double masks and gloves who’s asking.
Look people. We just shut down huge swathes of manufacturing for 2-3 months. The few who were able to stay open had to reduce capacity in order to space their employees out, or to deal with people calling out sick. So, the factory that makes that walk behind lawn mower had to shut down for 2 months. The factory(s) that make the parts to make the lawnmower had to shut down for 2 months. The factory(s) that process the raw materials to make the parts for the lawnmower had to shut down for 2 months. So, now the lawnmower factory is waiting on parts, the parts factory is waiting on raw materials. And they’re all running at reduced capacity due to the need to space people out further. Repeat the same steps with the warehouses. PLUS there’s transport issues. Trucking/transport companies had to also deal with employee call outs, and issues like the states shutting off rest areas. AND that assumes everything is coming from the USA. Do I need to explain the issues with stuff coming from overseas?? I sure hope not. Not to mention what this does to all those jobs involved.
Look, its going to take MONTHS for things to catch back up. I don’t really care if you think the shutdown was the right thing to do or not. We just screwed the HELL out of our economy. And since we’re pretty much guaranteed to have another virus spike come fall when flu season comes around I have some serious doubts as to whether it was worth it. And god protect us all if the .GOV decides to try to shut us all down again then, cause if you think the unrest now is bad, its going to be SO MUCH worse if they try to do it again.
Edited to add: no sooner do I post this than I see this post over at Borepatch.
Click through and look at his picture. Yup, this is gonna suck.
Thanks for an excellent explanation! We don’t all know how these things work.
Its scary. I keep watching all this and I just want to cry. Add in that I fully expect prices to climb through the roof on much of this stuff. Just the staffing issues alone mean manufacturers are going to have to raise prices to cope. I’m hoping that now that things are reopening we can at least get the food issues stabilized….
I am with you on the food. The only positive I see is the interest in Congress, albeit rather faint, in making it easier for small slaughter houses to meet USDA requirements. I am sure the big guys are opposing it all over the place as it would give people other options than the grocery store. Can’t have that now can we? Can you imagine what our taxes will be this fall and next February? I am terrified of that too.