The “what I did during quarantine” thread

[Ted]

Like it or not, quarantine is upon us for many and will end up upon us for the rest of us soon.

I still have to work from home and my wife still has to go off and fly the jet, but we have seen a significant productivity increase around the house from this already. If we’re making lemons from the lemonade properly, we should all be taking advantage of the situation to our benefits. So for me, that’s getting projects done.

Official lock down starts tomorrow, but we were encouraged to work from home last week. So here are some things I’ve done:

- changed oil on three tractors (getting them ready for the season), the power washer, and one of the go karts
- dug up 12-14 trees (I lost count) with the bulldozer, making good progress on the runway
- fixed my electric church organ. The pedals hadn’t been working since we moved here and several of the keys on the upper manual were broken
- been brushing up on pieces I used to play regularly
- set up my “work from home” workstation
- before the quarantine started officially, stocked up on a bunch of supplies so I could keep working on the Cobra and other projects
- installed some new towel holders in the bathroom
- figured out and ordered a new gearset for my bicycle (that’s been broken for 8 years)
- got the one big fish pond up and running, needed a new pump and installed an additional/new UV filter
- got the rear view mirror off the XKR (it’s been broken since purchase) to identify the correct type. They have multiple variants so needed to confirm the right type to order
- fixed the driveway lights that had been broken for over a year

Aside from the obvious Cobra build, I’ve got my intended conversion of an airline beverage cart into a drink fridge, cleaning up and turning an old Jag V12 block into a wine rack, installing hardwood floor into two of the bedrooms upstairs, and if we get all of that done and the Cobra running/driving we may start working on the theater room.

So what are you doing with your quarantine?

 

[cgrab]

self teaching guitar
walking everywhere instead of driving since gym is closed
listening to podcast by Scott Adams

 

[jrcox19]

Technically we finished a little before starting "work from home", but the garage turned out so good I have to post it...

New LED lights, complete interior paint, and new flooring.

 

[Fiveslide]

I have a 5 year old out of school, so I've jumped on the trampoline. And watched as he pretends the couch is a trampoline.

 

[Ted]

Technically we finished a little before starting "work from home", but the garage turned out so good I have to post it...

New LED lights, complete interior paint, and new flooring.

Is that RaceDeck flooring? Looks great!

 

[jrcox19]

Is that RaceDeck flooring? Looks great!

SwissTrax

 

[n2230b]

Like it or not, quarantine is upon us for many and will end up upon us for the rest of us soon.

I still have to work from home and my wife still has to go off and fly the jet, but we have seen a significant productivity increase around the house from this already. If we’re making lemons from the lemonade properly, we should all be taking advantage of the situation to our benefits. So for me, that’s getting projects done.

Official lock down starts tomorrow, but we were encouraged to work from home last week. So here are some things I’ve done:

- changes oil on two tractors (getting them ready for the season), the power washer, and one of the go karts
- dug up 12-14 trees (I lost count) with the bulldozer, making good progress on the runway
- fixed my electric church organ. The pedals hadn’t been working since we moved here and several of the keys on the upper manual were broken
- been brushing up on pieces I used to play regularly
- set up my “work from home” workstation
- before the quarantine started officially, stocked up on a bunch of supplies so I could keep working on the Cobra and other projects
- installed some new towel holders in the bathroom
- figured out and ordered a new gearset for my bicycle (that’s been broken for 8 years)
- got the one big fish pond up and running, needed a new pump and installed an additional/new UV filter
- got the rear view mirror off the XKR (it’s been broken since purchase) to identify the correct type. They have multiple variants so needed to confirm the right type to order

Aside from the obvious Cobra build, I’ve got my intended conversion of an airline beverage cart into a drink fridge, cleaning up and turning an old Jag V12 block into a wine rack, installing hardwood floor into two of the bedrooms upstairs, and if we get all of that done and the Cobra running/driving we may start working on the theater room.

So what are you doing with your quarantine?

Man, you are blessed! Don’t change a thing.
“Keep your powder dry and the world will turn!”

Wish you nothing but the best.

 

[Ted]

SwissTrax

How do you like it? My wife bought me race deck in our last house. We liked the way it looked but it didn’t hold up to my use at all.

Man, you are blessed! Don’t change a thing.
“Keep your powder dry and the world will turn!”

Wish you nothing but the best.

Yes, I am very blessed. But I’m also taking a positive attitude with this situation.

 

[Timbeck2]

Not quarantined ...yet. I'm working shifts for those who are (under questionable circumstances) and I'm getting a little salty.

 

[Salty]

Went to work. I already worked from home before all this. Ironic, huh?

 

[jrcox19]

How do you like it? My wife bought me race deck in our last house. We liked the way it looked but it didn’t hold up to my use at all.

So far so good. It was a gift from a friend that works as a distributor for them. Hopefully they hold up, as well as they claim.

 

[FormerHangie]

Like it or not, quarantine is upon us for many and will end up upon us for the rest of us soon.

I still have to work from home and my wife still has to go off and fly the jet, but we have seen a significant productivity increase around the house from this already. If we’re making lemons from the lemonade properly, we should all be taking advantage of the situation to our benefits. So for me, that’s getting projects done.

Official lock down starts tomorrow, but we were encouraged to work from home last week. So here are some things I’ve done:

- changes oil on two tractors (getting them ready for the season), the power washer, and one of the go karts
- dug up 12-14 trees (I lost count) with the bulldozer, making good progress on the runway
- fixed my electric church organ. The pedals hadn’t been working since we moved here and several of the keys on the upper manual were broken
- been brushing up on pieces I used to play regularly
- set up my “work from home” workstation
- before the quarantine started officially, stocked up on a bunch of supplies so I could keep working on the Cobra and other projects
- installed some new towel holders in the bathroom
- figured out and ordered a new gearset for my bicycle (that’s been broken for 8 years)
- got the one big fish pond up and running, needed a new pump and installed an additional/new UV filter
- got the rear view mirror off the XKR (it’s been broken since purchase) to identify the correct type. They have multiple variants so needed to confirm the right type to order

Aside from the obvious Cobra build, I’ve got my intended conversion of an airline beverage cart into a drink fridge, cleaning up and turning an old Jag V12 block into a wine rack, installing hardwood floor into two of the bedrooms upstairs, and if we get all of that done and the Cobra running/driving we may start working on the theater room.

So what are you doing with your quarantine?

Wow, that's super productive. All's I've done is to clean up the mess left by a tree removal and put some sod plugs in place. Since my wife still has to go to the hospital five days a week and I'm working from home, I've taken over dinner duty and I've been doing the shopping, which is annoyingly time consuming since so many stores are out of things. That' plus doing springtime yard stuff/

Next on my project list is to install three lengths of Trex fencing, then it's back to paver block work. Speaking of fencing, does anyone have any experience with that polyurethane post filling material, or any brand of poly sand?

 

[MBDiagMan]

Ted I found it quite interesting that you fixed the organ. I have a Hammond C3 that I moved away from the wall to oil yesterday.

Our daughter that lives across the creek and her husband went to their lake house and locked down about ten days ago. Another daughter who live near San Marcos also locked down pretty tight, but the third one went to Colorado on a ski trip and weren’t at all quarantined. We are hoping they will be okay. They got back Friday. We locked down tight about ten days ago. I have been to my ranch on the river a few times to try to keep up with things, but my pasture and meadow is leased out so I’m not buried in work there.

No one goes in my hangar besides myself so I go there a lot, for a safe escape but haven’t had any decent flying weather in a few weeks. Hope to fly on Wednesday. If so I gonna do some flying over the lake in the 140 and maybe drag out the Mooney and knock out some maneuvers and landing practice. It needs to be flown. Hopefully the virus will pass by the heat of the Summer and we will fly to Galveston and stay on the beach awhile.

Back to what we’re doing though, it’s been just wet enough, windy enough and cool enough to keep us inside. I fixed the organ and cleaned out my roll top desk and in the process got everything ready to go to the accountant for taxes. I have dug out some good movies and my wife has put together some gourmet meals. In fact I’m worrying about gaining weight before it’s all over.

I’ve gone to the grocery store several times, but have taken extreme caution doing so. Nitrile gloves. Haul it in and set it in quarantine, throwing the sacks away and then take off all my clothes and throwing in the washer on the way to the shower.

I’ve been relearning playing the organ and would be playing the guitar except arthritis has taken that out of my life.

We’re retired so we don’t have the pressure of losing jobs or anything.

 

[AGLyme]

Did 2 months of landscaping jobs -- in a week.
After 10 weeks of grounding due to maintenance delays and weather (wind)... finally flew on Sunday. Went to Fishers Island, NY (just off the coast of CT) for the first time... very cool place to land and takeoff, and, walk around. If you ever go, bring a picnic lunch, chill on the beach and see the beautiful Long Island Sound.

 

[upstateny]

Totally non-aviation
Found an online sailboat race http://www.sailonline.org/
and spent the day catching up with those who found it before I did. Started 30 minutes late, finished 120 out of 644 boats. Great way to kill an afternoon for those into sailing.

 

[benyflyguy]

Working. Our healthcare group is Closing 75% of its offices and switching in large part to video and phone visits. Patients seen in person only if absolutely necessary. No patients waiting in waiting rooms anymore. This is when I worked at a COVID test clinic over weekend.
outside of that playing with kids 9,11yo trying to make this time seem like the best couple of months ever.

 

[Ted]

Ted I found it quite interesting that you fixed the organ. I have a Hammond C3 that I moved away from the wall to oil yesterday.

Mine's an Allen TC-1. I used to be a pipe organ snob (needed to be proper pipe organ or I didn't want to play it). But I was more than a bit spoiled - got to play some truly fantastic organs in New York City growing up, including the one at church I played daily. But when I moved to Pennsylvania and decided I wanted to have one to play, the electric made sense.

The pedals never worked great on it from when I got it. It's a very simple setup - one power wire goes to the pedals and then when you push a pedal it completes the circuit to another single wire (per pedal) going back to the main console. There were 5-7 wires that had broken and needed to be resoldered to their connectors, some of the pedals themselves were a bit corroded at the electric contact points, and I also just cleaned up the pins in general. Only took a few hours and it's working much better now.

But the woofers are completely destroyed (thanks to the kids) so I need to fix/have fixed/replace them. That'll be for another day.

 

[MauleSkinner]

We’re an “essential service provider”, so I’m going to be working, although business is way down.

I’ve got enough lumber in the garage to keep projects (house and fun stuff) for the month that we’re locked down (excuse me, “sheltered in place”). We’ve got crafty projects for my wife and daughter, and she’ll be starting back to school online in a week or so.

speaking of lumber... @Ted DuPuis , what kind of trees did you knock down?

 

[Everskyward]

View attachment 83882

Working. Our healthcare group is Closing 75% of its offices and switching in large part to video and phone visits. Patients seen in person only if absolutely necessary. No patients waiting in waiting rooms anymore. This is when I worked at a COVID test clinic over weekend.
outside of that playing with kids 9,11yo trying to make this time seem like the best couple of months ever.

I had a previously scheduled physical with a new PCP and new medical group today. A week ago, when we got shelter-in-place orders, I called the facility and asked if I was still supposed to show up. They told me they would call if they wanted me to do a video visit instead. Sure enough. I wondered what a video physical would be like.

It went better than I thought. The "appointment" started right on time. I first apologized to the doctor saying there is nothing currently wrong with me but I thought it was a good idea to establish a relationship with a PCP, especially during these times. My previous PCP went into concierge practice, and I didn't think I go to doctors enough to make it worthwhile. We mostly went over my medical history and he wrote orders for a few routine tests. He said I didn't need them right away, anytime this year would be OK. I was impressed with how much time he spent with me. At the end I waited a couple minutes for his supervising attending to review my situation (the doc is a resident). Even the follow up orders came through their app in a hour or two.

 

[Stewartb]

Finished putting my Cub back together. And I’m still working.

 

[Ted]

speaking of lumber... @Ted DuPuis , what kind of trees did you knock down?

As @James_Dean called them, "Trees from the 7th circle of hell".

You don't want this wood, I promise you. Unless you're trying to make home-made barbed wire, at which it would be far more effective than the man-made stuff. I've jumped barbed wire fences before just fine. This stuff will leave scars... many scars...

 

[MauleSkinner]

As @James_Dean called them, "Trees from the 7th circle of hell".

You don't want this wood, I promise you. Unless you're trying to make home-made barbed wire, at which it would be far more effective than the man-made stuff. I've jumped barbed wire fences before just fine. This stuff will leave scars... many scars...

Lol...ok. Worth asking.

 

[DaleB]

I’ve been working. From home. Same as every stupid day since 2004. The zombie apocalypse could happen and I’d be fine for a few weeks at least.

 

[azure]

Not under quarantine (yet), but I'm working from home. Online classes began officially today. I'm currently helping my astronomy students prepare for an exam on Wednesday. The challenge is going to be physics lab, since obviously they can't actually do an experiment. But they can do data analysis on fake data that I feed them.

Expecting shelter in place orders from the Governor within the next day or so. That will eff me over royally as I have no way of getting supplies - my car is waiting its turn outside a garage due to (most likely) a seized A/C compressor. The garage is snowed under (figuratively and literally) and probably won't get to my car this week, even if they're allowed to stay open. What happens in states with a "100% of the workforce must stay home" order? That's stronger than "non-essential businesses must close". Are auto service garages allowed to work?

 

[murphey]

We're working MW or TR at the office, Friday is an option, rest of the time at home. Unfortunately, for some strange reason, I can't log into the office network with the company laptop, and I'm not allowed to us my personal one. Everywhere else, just not work. The ticket (IT Help desk) was issued on Thursday, still haven't gotten back to me. Ticket was upgraded to Urgent today. We'll see what happens. So I'll be in the office tomorrow. Last Tuesday, there were 5 of us. On Wednesday, 4. I haven't been back since. Spent 3 hours on a telecon on Thursday. Fortunately, much of what I need to do is on public websites for the time being.

Just because the Gov issues the order, I work on a Federal project, so I have no clue what to do. Fortunately, I've been semi-sheltered in place since the last time I taught at the university was August. Not much to do, and without a reasonable salary, no reason to go anywhere that takes money. We've shut down Young Eagles for the foreseeable future. I don't expect to start up until this fall at the earliest. But not taking any bets.

Not sure if I'll be able to get the GPS installed this fall. Assuming the shop will be open, I can get the airplane to KALS, but how do I get home? I'm guessing the commuter airline will be shuttered so my only option is renting a car each way. Probably cheaper to keep it for the 2 weeks rather than pay the penalty of dropping it someplace other than the rental location.

I don't think my kitchen has ever been this clean.

 

[SoonerAviator]

Working 10 hours per day because the financial forecasts/O&G market have gone to hell and now we’re having to revise a budget that was based on having $200M more revenue for my division. I wish I had time to work on home projects even though the view out the office window has been considerably better this week while working from home.

Weather has been kinda cold and rain/mist most of the week anyway, so not much I could do for my home projects which mostly consist of landscaping and paint work on the house exterior.

 

[OkieFlyer]

Well, I would go flying, but I ain't seen the sunshine since I don't know when.

Life has been pretty much completely normal here so far since we were on spring break last week. I suppose it's a little different this week with the kids starting school work at home. Today was the first day I got sent home from work, so we'll see how that goes. I reckon I'll build some stuff out of wood, or maybe start my deck restoration. I'm afraid I might spend too much money hanging around outside of work all week. Might turn the kids into really good backyard baseball players without a team or a season. Might just go to the lake and fish. Already scalped and sprayed the yard, and bought a new lawn mower, but the grass isn't growing yet. No idea where all the free time will take us. Oh, of course I'll "work" from home too No idea how a plant operator can work anywhere other than a plant. Might be able to invent a few hours of actual work. Thought about putting on some shoulder pads, going to Wally World, and waiting by the TP aisle for shoppers taking more TP than any human could possibly need and then delivering textbook tackles that would make Bear Bryant proud.

 

[NoHeat]

My happiest day of the recent week was today, when I went to the airport, by myself, without coming into contact with anyone. I did six approaches in the clouds to stay current. Some hand-flown, others by autopilot.

 

[Radar Contact]

I would go flying, but I ain't seen the sunshine since I don't know when.

Channeling your inner Johnny Cash...I dig it. Feel your pain. Haven’t seen my bird in a few months.

To @Ted DuPuis question: We’ve been working like normal (minus some flights and some tower personnel). I did start training in a decathlon for my tail wheel endorsement. I figured this being 20th year of flying, it was time to try new things. After the tail wheel I’m hoping maybe to check glider off the list as well.

 

[AggieMike88]

Been working on my lesson plan book.

 

[denverpilot]

Home isolation, taking so many pills I set alarms on the phone for all of them, and if the steroids really kick in, probably rearranging and cleaning the entire garage. Monitoring myself for side effects. Walking to keep exercise and moving while I can’t go to PT. Probably come up with some band exercises for the arms and hands.

Also technically working — when not being interrupted by calls from Doctors and such. Ha.

Finish CFI renewal which will probably now get screwed up by virus crap.

Interested to see how much I waver from wide awake to instant sleep required.

 

[Morgan3820]

Still going to work like always. The Navy needs their helicopters. Can’t do that from home. Even if the state shuts down, I expect that I will still go to work as it is a federal facility and deeded essential For national security. Wife is a nurse, so nothing new there.

 

[saracelica]

Hoping to give the house a cleaning it won't forget. Small things cleaning baseboards and crap never have time to do.
Clean out closet and find items for next garage sale... Suppose to be neighborhood one in May that probably won't happen
Learn to fold the sheets the right way and then put in storage bags because we have so many they're just jammed in there.
Hoping to walk everyday but it's pretty chilly out there. Only been furloughed 14 hours so we'll see what really happens

Hoping this shelter in place is only two weeks. Husband says it'll be alot longer then that. Actually have a job I enjoy so looking forward to going back again.

Now that I wrote my to do list I may do it.

 

[Bill]

We're manufacturing and a large majority of our orders are DPAS rated, so I'm working and we will continue to work even if the area goes on lockdown.

 

[JCranford]

- changed oil on three tractors
- dug up 12-14 trees (I lost count) with the bulldozer, making good progress on the runway

I have an old International you can come work on.

If they were big trees I can come over with a chainsaw. I need some firewood

 

[bnt83]

About 10 hours later the autopilot's analog audio output is connected to the audio panel... Picture was taken about 4 hours into the job.

 

[kayoh190]

I'm still working, but fortunately reserves in my category don't get called much. Nothing like going out on the road to fly mostly empty airplanes and eat takeout from a hotel room. Of course now when I'm home, I'm mostly stuck indoors. My wife is home from work as well, so we're catching up on bad TV/movies, walking the dog regularly, and I'm now working on some of the programming projects that I haven't bothered to finish. Anything to take my mind off wondering when my last paycheck is gonna be.

 

[Ted]

I'm afraid I might spend too much money hanging around outside of work all week.

I told a friend of mine that this was going to be an expensive quarantine. The way I look at it, I have lots of stuff I want/need to do, may as well do as much of it as I can. I'll feel less bad about the big credit card bill than I would about going "Could've done that during quarantine..."

 

[GRG55]

Technically we finished a little before starting "work from home", but the garage turned out so good I have to post it...

New LED lights, complete interior paint, and new flooring.

Nice!!

 

[simtech]

Normally life and going to work here. The air force still wants it simulators up and running properly.