In my previous marriage, I was not the Quartermaster or the Hunger- Gatherer. My wife handled the money – I was happy to let her do this – and paid the bills and kept an eye on our household needs. I rarely went to the bank or hardware store or bought detergent or other household needs.

My life is different now.

Maria handles most of the physical work on the farm, I shop, cook, and am the official Hunter-Gatherer/Quartermaster.  Turns out she is not domestic, and I am, what a good match.

I order hay and firewood, pay the bills, go grocery shopping, keep our household supplied with domestic needs from tissues to plungers to soap and toothpaste, and lately, to search for the right sanitizers.

In recent weeks, the country has split into different camps. People who just want this to be over, and insist that it is,  and people who are reeling at the idea that this will not be over for a very long time.

The Hunter-Gatherer is taking this work seriously.

I find I am very good at things I never did – managing money, ordering stuff for the refugees and Mansion residents, food shopping, and taking care to get enough hay and firewood and tissues and towels and detergent and now hand sanitizers.

Every doctor I see talks about masks and sanitizers. I have five different masks.

Maria can make us masks and has, I set out early on in search of toilet paper and sanitizers.

When I first started looking, sanitizers were not available, neither was toilet paper. I found some in China and ordered some, and now, toilet paper is appearing on supermarket shelves. I have enough to last quite a while.

The hand sanitizer was trickier. I took this seriously. For one thing, I am an OMAR, an old man at risk. For another, Maria was adamant about using sanitizers because she didn’t want me to get sick because of her.

First, I ordered tiny bottles at exorbitant prices online before being told they needed to be alcohol-based to kill off the coronavirus. Tiny bottles of non-alcohol bottles arrived from China, we gave them away.

Getting anxious, I got up early and discovered Amazon puts some up for sale at 5 a.m. I got a couple of small bottles there.

One morning, getting frustrated, I went online and found three ethical companies selling the good stuff – high alcohol content in grown-up sized dispensers and ordered a dozen or so bottles, since the websites said they might not come until June or July.

Maria and I are both disciplined about using hand sanitizers, so getting some mattered, especially if we may need them for a year or more. Today, all of the sanitizers I ordered arrived abruptly and at the same time They are all alcohol-based, reasonably priced, and of generous size.

I am giving up red meat, for now, it’s good for my health and diet, and I’m happy to buy chicken and fish. I found giant rolls of brown industrial towel paper online and have a dozen rolls.

I know which markets around here have what and when. I’m proud of these sanitizers. We’re good for a year or so. And there are plenty of places to go if I need more.