How are YOU and your FAMILY holding up under the strain?

[I_Like_Turtles]

I am 75 and in great shape for my age. I try not to let negatives get me down hence I turn off the radio during my day browsing the internet or watching Netflix.
Can you take your dad out for a drive. I hope that is permissible in your area. I just got back from a 4 mile walk and a freeway I passed looked like a normal day at noon so somebody is out and about. Is he a card player? cribbage etc. If he is, there are plenty of online sites where you can play against real players. here is one example, https://www.trickstercards.com/
I am assuming he is a little bit internet savvy, if not, do what I am doing, teaching my wife to work a computer.
YouTube is another option. I could, and have spend days just moving form one video to another.

Sorry for the randomness of my suggestions but maybe I got lucky with one or two.

I appreciate all of that but my dad hates computers, he hates his flip phone even. He has a lot of arthritis and really can't walk very far. He also can't see very well, computers screens are not something get can use. I have offered to take him out for a drive but he has refused to go.

I might talk him into a game of checkers, so thank you for reminding me of that.

[berettabone]

They also have books on audio and the radio. All he would have to do is listen...……………………………...audio.com...……….no sticks in the fire here.

[Armybrat]

Maybe a radio station could start playing old recordings of the original Gunsmoke series with William Conrad for us geezers to listen to.

As for TV, they have decades of great Johnny Carson shows they could rerun instead of those lame guys currently on late night.

[I_Like_Turtles]

Maybe a radio station could start playing old recordings of the original Gunsmoke series with William Conrad for us geezers to listen to.

As for TV, they have decades of great Johnny Carson shows they could rerun instead of those lame guys currently on late night.

Dad and I have been watching "Gunsmoke" reruns on TV since 2018. It's a great show, no wonder it ran for 20 years.

[AJBert]

The only changes in my wife and my lives is I am home instead of going to school. The dog seems to like it more than my wife, though.

We live up in the foothills, what most people would consider the boonies, though we do have neighbors that we can see their houses through the trees. Nobody comes knocking on our door and we don't knock on anyone's door, either. When I make a run to town for necessities, I will call around and see if anyone needs me to pick something up. My wife doesn't go as she has those "underlying medical conditions." She is starting to get cabin fever, and when it gets too bad we'll take a drive.

I'm not missing any paychecks, retired military and wife is on disability, so no worries there. Actually, saving money and getting projects done during this down time. My schooling has moved to online, so no problems there. Again, saves money as I'm not driving 45 miles each way to/from school.

As long as my wife stays safe, I'm a happy guy.

[187911]

Ilm living my life just as I always have, and just as I have during the flu season and the other annual overhyped media viral fear mongering. I go to work where I'm around dozens of other people, wenr grocery shopping today at several different stores to find everything I needed, have went to the range a couple of times, took the kids to the park last week, so all in all, it's business as usual. The family is just fine.

[JohnR]

Today my father had a full-on MELTDOWN over having to wash his hands. He yelled "YOU DON'T RESPECT ME!" and "YOU TALK TO ME LIKE I'M DIRT!" He even used the "YOU CAN JUST STAY AWAY!" at one point.

He is 79 years old, I do practically everything for him, and mom passed on with him by her side after we took care of her at home, bedfast, for 11 months.

I suspect he is just upset with being cooped up plus having to defer to his son when it comes to matters of preventing this illness.

Family and friends often tell me how much be brags on me for being there for him.

I try to stay super calm, even when he really hurts my feelings. I try to see it as a "game" with the goal being not to win the argument, but to beat the virus.

I assume domestic violence calls are on the rise along with suicides.

I cannot cope with exercise as the gym is closed and it's too wet and cold outside to exercise outside. I speak with my fiance and friends daily though, that helps me.

How is everyone else here holding up?

It's likely just a game, but your father sounds more like a teenager than a near octogenarian, but you probably know that better than us.

So far our extended family of five (wife, girls, and my mother-in-law) are fine. The online schooling gets frustrating for my wife and I because of the technology, but our 3rd grader handles it fine. I expect tensions to rise at some point, and figure it out when the time comes.

Article in today's news:
“Typically on a Monday, we’ll receive between 30 and 40 calls from domestic violence victims who are reaching out after a weekend. This last Monday, we had fewer than five calls,” Baldwin said.
Increasing stress at home and at work is one of the reasons the Florida governor is resisting a statewide shelter-in-place order in response to the new coronavirus.


They go on to say people are less likely to call a domestic abuse hotline if their abuser is stuck at home with them 24/7.

https://www.news4jax.com/news/florid...to-less-abuse/

[JohnR]

Maybe a radio station could start playing old recordings of the original Gunsmoke series with William Conrad for us geezers to listen to.

As for TV, they have decades of great Johnny Carson shows they could rerun instead of those lame guys currently on late night.

Funny you mention that. Yesterday I had a sort of a vision. I have despised TV for years now, but it occurred to me last night around dinner time that if this were "back in the day" when the late afternoon/early evening TV programming consisted of shows like Gunsmoke, Bonanza, and other shows that reflected our values and interests, instead of the constant barrage of political correctness and fake news, I would actually not mind the family gathering around the TV for at least a little while.

My wife is the only TV junkie in the family, but I think she keeps it on just to have some background noise. She grew up in a large family where everyone was constantly chattering.

[dustnchips]

Get a fire stick and watch old shows like Rockford Files, Columbo, and NYPD Blue. Such a vast quanity that everyone should find something to watch.

[berettabone]

I get every old western show known to man, along with Rockford, Streets of San Francisco, NYPD, Mannix, all the Law and Order's, Ed Sullivan, Highway Patrol, and the list goes on...……………...it's TV overload, but I only complain about the price.