My dad just told me he has about 200 rolls of TP. ("I work at a grocery store," he said. "I buy it whenever it's on sale!") I called him a hoarder.

This information is probably really only useful to Hil, who does live near-ish to him.

I hope Tim’s test comes back negative.

Here’s hoping the rest of the week is better for people.

Last night, at the family Skype call, I learned that my niece would be hosting family Christmas. She’s in upstate NY, I’m in NC, and the rest of the family is in MI. I floated the idea that I’d be watching the COVID rates, and if things didn’t get much worse, I’d drive up. I expect things are going to get significantly worse and sincerely doubt I’ll be traveling over Christmas. But with 11 years of Christmas visits in my rear view it seemed best to ease them into things.

This information is probably really only useful to Hil, who does live near-ish to him.

Heh. I'm actually in NJ now, so not all that useful to me.

My dad had to bring my mom's old SUV to the wheelchair van place, because they're getting a new one tomorrow. It took me a while to convince him to let me drive there, too, and then give him a ride home. He thought he'd be fine just taking an Uber.

This information is probably really only useful to Hil, who does live near-ish to him.

Heh. I'm actually in NJ now, so not all that useful to me.

I betcha he'll STILL have a veritable bunker of TP whenever you get back. You could get back in 2022 and he'd probably still have quite the stash.

Wow 200 in a house of 1 is some serious stockpiling. I’ve now got 34 and was feeling pretty prepper about it.

Wow 200 in a house of 1 is some serious stockpiling. I’ve now got 34 and was feeling pretty prepper about it.

He's a little nutty. I told him to stop buying TP or he'll have nowhere to sleep.

I told him to stop buying TP or he'll have nowhere to sleep.

What do you want to bet a mattress ticking stuffed with toilet paper rolls is more comfortable than one stuffed with straw?

Ahahahaha!!! This just made me do my loud donkey laugh. (I *knew* I was keeping this C-PTSD around for a reason!)

Right? Some of my behaviors that contribute to my panic disorder, particularly contingency thinking, are suddenly useful. Growing up in a co-dependent situation, I'm skilled in the art of doing the worrying for others, which has helped keep my family healthy. I'm also ready with a wisecrack at tense moments.

When I have to go somewhere, my old friend, Denial, gets me there and back home again, where my overdeveloped concern about contamination keeps us safe.

Oh my goodness me, Small Mean Cat vs. Big Hunk o’Bun was exactly what I needed to read. Thanks for that great story!

This will be the first Thanksgiving of my life when I didn’t get together with a big crowd. We lived in a university town where both parents taught, and Mom felt sorry for all the lonely kids away from home for the first time. We always hosted a giant party for the students and they were so happy to be home for the holiday it was a giant buzz of goodwill for all.

Then when we came to California to live with our Dad and met his brother Bill and sister with four kids in our age group who loved Star Wars as much as we did, we became fast friends and and ate a lot of turkey dinners together for many years.

Then when we got married, we invited everyone to our house so we didn’t have to split the days between our families. It worked out that all four parents liked hanging out so much they often did it without us when San Francisco was just too far away to get to on a work night.

Now both dads are dead and the old women are too medically compromised to have visitors, my sister is going through chemo and I’m just going to stay holed up at home with my sweet baboon and defiantly eat a non traditional Thanksgiving dinner. We don’t enjoy turkey all that much... it’s so much better in the form of sandwiches.

OK, I think I counted 4-5 ayes to Nilly's idea of a zoom gathering in honor of DX (more here: [link] ).

Is that enough to start? Should I also post this in Press/other place so that more people will be able to see and decide if they want to join?

(Pre-coffee, apologies if I'm not being very coherent).