More Pandemonium Postcards

Did RantWoman say Pandemonium? RantWoman THINKS she means #Pandemic, though pandemonium is not a terrible description for the state of RantWoman's jangled nerves. RantWoman needs to walk more and sleep more and breathe.

For some reason, half the time when RantWoman opens her mouth to talk about the pandemic, pandemonium is the first word RantWoman is in danger of saying. RantWoman is NOT, not, NOT going to speculate as to possible reasons for this; RantWoman simply offers the next in her series of postcards.

Supplies: Legumes

RantWoman lives in a building where in addition to some options for having meals dropped off, things like boxes full of packages of legumes sometimes appear. The most recent box included several packages of pinto and great northern and lima beans, a bag of yellow split peas, and a bag of lentils.  RantWoman let the 2 lb. bag of lentils sit untaken for 24 hours. Then RantWoman scooped up raw material for more lentil brownies!

Supplies: disinfectant wipes

Early in the pandemic, RantWoman asked some friends to look for some supplies. RantWoman was rewarded with toilet paper, paper towels, a bottle of chlorox, and a container of disinfectant wipes. RantWoman has not been using the disinfectant wipes so she...gave them away to a neighbor who wants to disinfect the wheels of his manual wheelchair anytime he comes back to his apartment.

Microwave 

Not having a working microwave is driving RantWoman crazy. It IS lovely to make baked potatoes with a real roasted taste from cooking them in the oven. Lovely roasted potato flavor does NOT, though, balance RantWoman's irritation about all the pots and pans she is now washing because she needs them to reheat all the single-serving portions that rumble out of RantWoman;s morning food prep rampages..

Probably RantWoman should admit this is kind of a #FirstWorldProblem .Probably RantWoman should also work in extreme gratitude for running water for dishwashing, handwashing, turning into ice to help keep her whole body hydrated.

Meanwhile, RantWoman is not doing well about patience regarding online shopping for a replacement microwave. RantWoman really really really wants to see promo text that says something like "large easy-to-find raised control all microwave oven functions." A girl can dream!

RantWoman does NOT want:
--Loud kicky videos that seem to have some visuals but have NO text or voice to point to all the details RantWoman cares about. Haven't y'all heard of Audio Description?

--A microwave she has to talk to. Sorry Alexa. NO, RantWoman does not want her microwave on the internet any more than she wants her refrigerator on the internet. Jeff Bezos just does NOT need to know what RantWoman is microwaving even if RantWoman is certain the world needs to hear more about lentil brownies.

--bluetooth controls she has to access via her phone.

In other matters Flat Panel New Machines in laundry room

Glorious looking
new washers and dryers

RantWoman is terribly excited. The laundry room has all new machines. That is the old machines which years ago looked miraculous compared to a previous round of laundry flambeau had reached the falling apart phase of their life cycle. This involved either eating of coins or spitting out of coins with no prayer of getting cycles started.

Some of the old machines, for all RantWoman knows, may have been exploring their identity as swimming pools: sometimes the full cycle worked and spun out fine. Other times the cycle ended with a heap of very soggy clothing moldering away in a pool of undrained water. The clothes got clean; they just had to be wrung out  by hand and took forever to dry in the dryer.

Here the forces of service contracting sprang to work.Neighbors opined about important accessibility features including front loading so that wheelchair users can do their own laundry, big tactile buttons so blind and deaf-blind people can do our own laundry, and signage in the languages spoken by neighbors and their caregivers.

The new machines are mostly getting rave reviews. And then there was Rantwoman's experience.

Maybe post the signage
where people can actually read it.

Signage: posted helpfully above RantWoman's eye level so RantWoman has to lean across the sink to even try. RantWoman can tell the top signs are about COVID, but darned if RantWoman can actually read them.

Then there is the part about tactile controls. In rantWoman's rich fantasy life, tactile controls would mean large easy-to-find buttons. In the brave new world of otherwise mostly awesome new machines, tactile controls mean some kind of pressure sensitive bumps covered with rubber which, if one does not have enough vision to be able to tell grey from black can only be found by feeling around very carefully.

RantWoman for instance succeeded in washing most of her laundry. However, RantWoman will be collecting data from neighbors. RantWoman is grumpy and disappointed to need to do that, but hey, it's #CoronaVirus time and RantWoman has a long list of grumpy making themes and will just put this one in queue.

Exercise: A walk in the park.

Luckily, although laundry is one of those activities of daily living that counts decently well as exercise, RantWoman also lives very close to Martin Luther King Park. there are several concentric circles of good sidewalk with scenery, sunshine, trees.

Sun Clouds Trees sidewalk

There is also a lot of lawn which like many things in our Shelter in Place era has grown a little shaggy. Great greenery, but a little shaggy

The latest from Gov. Inslee

Seattle Times Gov Inslee press conference Friday May 1

RantWoman will shortly be going off about :

drive through pickups: the hot new thang in retail as well as certain trendy food outlets.

Drive up church spiritual activity.

the latest in #CarOwnerVirus / #WindshieldBias

Gooing off on these themes, FWIW, will not occur tonight.