{"id":29701,"date":"2020-04-03T00:01:25","date_gmt":"2020-04-03T07:01:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/barbarafalconernewhall.com\/?p=29701"},"modified":"2020-04-03T00:01:25","modified_gmt":"2020-04-03T07:01:25","slug":"twenty-seconds","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/server.stagingweb3.net\/barbarafalconernewhall\/twenty-seconds\/","title":{"rendered":"Twenty Seconds: What’s Good for the Hands Is Good for the Potatoes. Right? Sheltering at Home Week 3"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"washing-potatoes-for-twenty-seconds\"<\/a>
Coronavirus guidelines recommend washing your hands for twenty seconds. Why not do the same for your potatoes?\u00a0 Photo by Barbara Newhall<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
Sheltering at Home Week 3<\/strong><\/h5>\n

The coronavirus is out there. It could get me, which is why I’m doing a lot of weird stuff lately — besides washing my hands for twenty seconds umpteen times a day.<\/p>\n

Like:<\/p>\n

Slathering<\/strong> an envelope\u00a0with sanitizer<\/strong> for twenty seconds before mailing it to my daughter — just in case I’m exhaling coronavirus microbes and they’re mean and tough enough to survive the 3-day trip to Christina’s mailbox in LA<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Washing the romaine lettuce<\/strong> that Jon got delivered to our house by a local supermarket. And I don’t mean rinse the lettuce in cold water. I mean sink it for the prescribed twenty seconds in a tub of warm water and dishwashing liquid. Agitate. Rub. Then rinse in cold water so Jon doesn’t notice that the lettuce has wilted a bit since he last saw it.<\/p>\n

“Some of the lettuce was a little slippery when I made the salad tonight,” Jon said over dinner.<\/p>\n

“I washed it with dish soap,” I said. I was sheepish, but only a little.<\/p>\n

\"wash-fruit-twenty-seconds\"<\/a>
The fruit that arrived from local organic farmers got washed for twenty seconds too.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Jon did not scold. I notice that he is indulging my new-found microbe phobia. He expects to be locked down in this house with me for weeks. He is picking his battles. Cabin fever is a thing. Even the New York Times knows about it. A little soap in the salad? He lets it pass.<\/p>\n

A few days later, when I dunk the baby potatoes in their dish soap bath, I am careful to give them a good rinsing.<\/p>\n

(See my update on washing vegetables below!)<\/p>\n

Asking Jon to drop his pants on the garage floor<\/strong> after a run to his favorite coffee shop for a pound of No. 3 grind espresso. He doesn’t drop his pants when he gets home, but he does take off his sweatshirt and drop it in the garage, as requested. He leaves his dust mask in the basket I’ve provided, so he can use it again. He washes his hands, face and what’s left of his hair for twenty seconds each. I toss the sweatshirt in the washing machine.<\/p>\n

Going public here with my true feelings about Donald Trump. <\/strong>I tried my best to be reasonable, rational, kind even, in last week’s post. Lots of people cheered it on. And I’ve lost only one subscriber because of it. So far. For those who missed the post, it’s “Will Donald Trump Be the Death of Me? Pardon My Rant as I Shelter in Place”<\/a><\/p>\n

If you are enjoying my coronavirus chronicles, you can sign up for email updates by clicking on the orange “Sign Me Up” button on this page — or click here<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n

Need a distraction from the weirdness that is our life right now?\u00a0 \u00a0Go to “At Tuolemne — Celebrating Getting Born.”<\/a>\u00a0 \u00a0Or “Gray Hairs, Wrinkles. And Kids Who Won’t Stop Growing Up.”<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

Note:<\/strong> I’ve done a little on-line reading, and here’s what I’ve concluded — for now!<\/p>\n

An article in the Huffington Post says that food experts are warning<\/a> against using soap on your fruits and vegetables, as soap can irritate the gastro-intestinal tract and even cause symptoms resembling coronavirus infection.<\/p>\n

Sources keep saying that there’s no evidence that the corona virus is borne on food. I kinda don’t believe that. How is the slick skin of an apple different from the slick surface of a railing or doorknob? Why can’t an infected person who picks up an apple and puts it back spread the virus to the next person who picks up that apple?<\/p>\n

I’ve read elsewhere that vinegar is effective against bacteria, but not viruses. We don’t have anywhere enough vinegar in our house to use to clean our fruits. So that one is out for me.<\/p>\n

So, my advice to all is to read up on various sources, on-line probably, and make a decision.<\/p>\n

I think I’ll keep using dish soap and rinse really, really well — on peelable foods like bananas and oranges. Also apples. But NOT potatoes!<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\"washing-potatoes-for-twenty-seconds\"<\/a><\/p>\n

COVID-19 is out there. It could get me, which is why I’m doing a lot of weird stuff lately. Like soaping down the potatoes. For twenty seconds, of course. Read more.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":29754,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10,41],"tags":[2179,34,2227,2228,29,82,2229,2184,2230,2231],"class_list":["post-29701","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-a-case-of-the-human-condition","category-sheltering-at-home-chronicles","tag-coronavirus","tag-dont-miss","tag-getting-groceries","tag-hand-washing","tag-jon","tag-on-the-funny-side","tag-pandemic","tag-sheltering-at-home","tag-trump","tag-twenty-seconds"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/server.stagingweb3.net\/barbarafalconernewhall\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29701","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/server.stagingweb3.net\/barbarafalconernewhall\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/server.stagingweb3.net\/barbarafalconernewhall\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/server.stagingweb3.net\/barbarafalconernewhall\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/server.stagingweb3.net\/barbarafalconernewhall\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=29701"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/server.stagingweb3.net\/barbarafalconernewhall\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29701\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/server.stagingweb3.net\/barbarafalconernewhall\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=29701"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/server.stagingweb3.net\/barbarafalconernewhall\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=29701"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/server.stagingweb3.net\/barbarafalconernewhall\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=29701"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}