Some Wednesday shopping observations.

I went over to the Midway district in St. Paul.  At Menards in I saw several well dressed people checking out the dust masks.  I couldn't find any hand wipes there but an employee says they usually don't have many.  (Paper towels and windshield wiper fluid from a spray bottle or the car system makes a good hand disinfectant.  You might want to save those spare fast food napkins and stock up on windshield washer fluid if you find a good price.  I will be looking for a good price on a perhaps a case of six gallons of washer fluid.  The car as a hand wash liquid "dispenser" is very old but it might catch on.  If it does washer fluid might become scarce.)  

At the Midway Aldi all of the "essentials" were still in good supply.  I picked up a container of 80 "sanitising wipes" for $2.  Looks like they are designed for diaper changes but they will do the trick.  I'm not sure what effect summer heat will have if they are kept in a car trunk.  Something I was just thinking of are those individually packaged alcohol wipes.  I have had some in car glove compartments for years and they seem to stay moist.  I may keep an eye out for a good price on boxes of 100.)  Not a high priority.

In studying this the demographics of Aldi foods vary widely.  It occurred to me that I have never found marked down pork at the Midway store.  That has a lot of Vietnamese and Hmong customers and they like pork.  The Midway Aldi has had marked down beef from time to time.  Go figure!  

At the other extreme the Minneapolis Franklin Avenue Aldi has a large Somali clientele so that is a literal "porkfest" when it comes to markdowns.  I checked the Aldi price for dry milk.  $5 for enough to make two gallons.  They have nonfat milk for $2 per gallon and fresh is definitely better than reconstituted.  The dry milk is more of a stockpile supply.  Mostly, I love "skim milk" so if things go bad milk is something it would be hard to get along without.   From my past experience up to one third dry milk mixed with regular milk works out, especially if you make it a bit "rich" with a bit more milk powder.    Here is something I got off the internet.

"Our Mix'n Drink will keep its nutrition value for up to about two years if kept cool and dry, and the only vitamins that actually decrease over time are the vitamins A and D. These are not shelf-stable vitamins and are sensitive to heat and light. A good rule of thumb to follow is that the vitamins A and D will dissipate at a rate of about 20% every year if stored properly. The less heat and moisture the milk is exposed to, the better the vitamins will keep. A freezer could extend the shelf life, as long as the powder does not get moisture in it. If you had to put a time limit on the Mix'n Drink, for rotation purposes, I would date it at two years after the date of purchase."

Basically, you rotate stock.  One thing to consider is that I have a basement. I've been told that most houses in the US don't and even some new construction houses in Minnesota don't have basements.   It has a small root cellar room in the Southeast corner with storage shelves.  With the taller house on the south side this gets little sun,  I put a remote thermometer in there last year and even on the hottest summer day it has never reached 50 degrees Fahrenheit.   If I decide to get some milk power I will keep it there.  I will probably seal the unopened box up with a few plastic shopping bags and leave a note "Use in June 2010.".

This is all "preparedness 101" but the "discovery" can be interesting.  The basic idea is to stock up on the less perishable items you will use anyway, especially if you can get them on sale and "rotate" the stock.  It's some effort but it is empowering.  So far. I've only got burned on a two $6 24 packs of snack size cookies.  These got nasty after a year so I threw them out.  I have had few old canned goods that were bad.  If the top is bowed out throw it out and definitely cook thoroughly.  That said rotate and manage.

March and April were the "big spend" where I paid the total $2650 2009 property taxes on  my http://searhouse.com  Also paying winter utility bills real time that definitely "hurt".  The mortgage is paid off on my http://searshouse.com (no government bailout needed ).  I get my "cash flow" recharged Friday so I will do more in-depth stockpiling and chronically it.  More $8.69 a case Mountain Crest beer of course but I'm down to five rolls of toilet paper.  Postage stamps are going up so I have to decide how many hundred "forever stamps" to buy (I'll probably put the stamps into my will).  The Postal Service will be our lifeline in a pandemic.  I fully support them (buying forever stamps now helps them now but with a future cost to the USPS).

I'll chronicle my spending here after the first of the month.  I'm still thinking this out.  The official government source is http://www.ready.gov/  Worth reading but I consider it somewhat "lame".  I was a boy scout.  Our motto was "Be Prepared".

For anyone wondering, I have actually dealt with terrorists who tried to kill cops and have a "well dressed" neighborhood defense network including myself and a lot of law enforcement people on my block who are "hot to trot" and "well dressed".   I might consider having a meeting and giving all the "well dressed" attendees a case of Mountain Crest.   No actual threat but several late night visitors to my house were challenged by off duty police who were "well dressed".  Basically, don't even think about it.  I think we have the total "Dirty Harry VHS/DVD library and we "share".

World Health Organisation calls new strain of H1N1 "Mexican flu"

http://www.radionetherlands.nl/news/international/6280110/WHOs-call-new-strain-of-H1N1-Mexican-flu

WHOs call new strain of H1N1 "Mexican flu"

Published: Wednesday 29 April 2009 17:32 UTC 
Last updated: Wednesday 29 April 2009 18:04 UTC

The World Health Organisation (WHO) has said that the most recent research on swine flu has shown that the virus is not caused by pigs. The disease is now being referred to as Mexican flu or "2009 H1N1 flu". The WHO has moved the pandemic alert from four to five, the second highest. The first case of what was called swine flu was reported in Mexico and its first fatality was confirmed there two weeks ago. 

The 23-month-old infant who died in the US state of Texas, in the first fatal case from the swine flu outbreak in the United States, was also Mexican. The child came from Mexico to Houston for medical treatment, officials said.

In Europe, new cases of swine flu have been confirmed in five countries. Germany has officially reported three cases, Austria one and Croatia has confirmed some people are infected with the virus. Earlier, Great Britain and Spain had reported cases of swine flu but some new cases have since been officially diagnosed.

There are multiple cases in Mexico and the United States; diagnoses have also been made in Canada, Costa Rica, New Zealand, and Israel. All those found to be suffering from the virus have recently been to Mexico. After further testing, Mexico lowered the official number of those killed by the virus from 20 to seven.

France says it will ask the European Union to ban all flights to Mexico in an attempt to prevent the virus from spreading. Brussels say that the European Commission does not have the authority to implement such a ban. Transport Commissioner Antonie Tajani said the EU should wait for the outcome of the health ministers' meeting in Luxembourg on Thursday before taking action that "would create panic…detrimental to the economy and tourism".

Swine Flu Myths: Wash Your Hands, Eat the Bacon

http://www.cnbc.com/id/30441225

Good article, read if possible, here is an excerpt.  

"You can get swine flu from eating pork, bacon or other pig products???

FALSE, FALSE and FALSE! Memories of sick Thai picnickers are still fresh in many people’s minds from the bird-flu outbreak, so many people assume that with swine flu, you can catch it from eating pig products. Not true, say both the WHO and CDC:

“Swine influenza has not been shown to be transmissible to people through eating properly handled and prepared pork (pig meat) or other products derived from pigs. The swine influenza virus is killed by cooking temperatures of 160°F/70°C corresponding to the general guidance for the preparation of pork and other meat,” the WHO reports on its Web site.

Bacon lovers, rejoice!

“I don't think anyone should ever be afraid of bacon,” said Megan Woo, creator of the food blog IHeartBacon.com. “Of all the things we do on a daily basis that are slowly killing us, bacon is the least of our worries.”

"It is a scientific fact that you cannot catch swine flu from eating pork products," Lauer added. "[E]veryone should continue consuming their normal levels of bacon. I would even argue that everyone should increase their bacon consumption in solidarity. If we don’t, then swine flu wins."

Well said, ladies. Now, let’s let America get back to doing what America does best: Wrapping things in bacon.

U.S. officials want 'swine' out of flu name

http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/N28343516.htm

U.S. officials want 'swine' out of flu name

28 Apr 2009 21:31:42 GMT

Source: Reuters

WASHINGTON, April 28 (Reuters) - What's in a name? U.S. pork producers are finding that the name of the virus spreading from Mexico is affecting their business, prompting U.S. officials to argue for changing the name from swine flu.

At a news briefing, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano and Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack took pains to repeatedly refer to the flu as the "H1N1 virus."

"This is not a food-borne illness, virus. It is not correct to refer to it as swine flu because really that's not what this is about," Vilsack said.

Israel has already rejected the name swine flu, and opted to call it "Mexico flu." Jewish dietary laws forbid eating pork.

The Paris-based World Organization for Animal Health also objected to the name, saying the virus contains avian and human components and no pig so far has been found ill with the disease.

And there is growing sentiment in the farm sector to call it the North American virus -- although disease expert Anthony Fauci told a Senate hearing the "swine flu" designation reflected scientific naming protocol.

For U.S. pork producers the swine flu name has hurt, forcing government officials into the position of stressing that American pork is safe to eat and that other countries should not ban imports.

Pork, soybean and corn prices have fallen in the last two days, "and if this continues, obviously you have significant potential, which is why it's important to get this right," Vilsack said.

At the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, there was also talk of stripping the "swine" from swine flu, which CDC acting director Richard Besser said was leading to the misapprehension that people can catch the disease from pork.

"That's not helpful to pork producers. That's not helpful to people who eat pork. It's not helpful to people who are wondering, how can they get this infection," Besser told a briefing.

(Reporting by Tabassum Zakaria; Editing by Patricia Zengerle)

KLA: Name Of Hybrid Flu Virus Inaccurate

In a day or so http://hybridflu.info will also reach this blog.

http://www.cattlenetwork.com/Content.asp?ContentID=310338

4/28/2009 10:40:00 AM 

KLA: Name Of Hybrid Flu Virus Inaccurate

 

According to the world organization for animal health (OIE), the Mexican influenza virus is a hybrid containing swine, avian and human components and should not be referred to as “swine flu.” OIE officials said no swine have been found ill with the disease to this point. 

 

A network of federal veterinarians, state animal health officials and private veterinary practitioners regularly monitor U.S. swine for disease symptoms. To date, there are no reports an influenza virus is circulating in the U.S. swine herd. To guard against herd infection, the National Pork Producers Council has asked its members to intensify normal biosecurity procedures to prevent introduction of the disease. 

 

Meanwhile, some international trading partners are tightening their borders to U.S. and Mexican pork. According to American Meat Institute CEO J. Patrick Boyle, these trade suspensions are based on “unfounded fear, not scientific facts.” Public health officials are reminding consumers pork is safe to eat. The flu virus is not transmitted by eating pork or pork products, therefore, there is no food safety issue related to this hybrid flu.

Swine flu scare batters Minnesota's struggling pork industry

http://www.topix.net/forum/source/twincities-pioneer-press/TQTBEO9P7BBMBTHIM#lastPost

Swine flu scare batters state's struggling pork industry

Minnesota's pork producers already were having a bad year. Then came swine flu. On Monday, the industry shuddered amid worries a Mexican swine flu outbreak might spread into a global panic - and take much of the hog industry down with it.

Full Story: TwinCities.com   http://www.twincities.com/ci_12241161?nclick_check=1

 Read Comments

Bretbart.com challenges calling it "swine flu" since it has not been isolated in animals. Mexican flu seems logical.

http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=CNG.8282347267271b64646e51f83dc4437f.8a1&show_article=1

Money quotes: 

"In an interview with AFP, OIE Director General Bernard Vallatdescribed the virus as a "cocktail" of four different strains."

"The OIE noted that past epidemics of human influenza epidemics with animal origin had been named after their geographical origin, such as Spanish flu or Asian flu.

"It would be logical to call this disease 'North American influenza'," it suggested."

Monday afternoon report.

This might be the first Internet epidemic.  I posted a http://birdflu.gov link on the header.  It goes to the government info on the pandemic and birdflu.gov is easier to remember and spell than "avian" or "pandemic".  http://www.drudgereport.com/ is also covering it well.  I had talk radio on assorted channels when I was driving around today.  A lot of chatter but not much misinformation.  

At the stock market close the Dow is down under two-thirds of one percent.  Not bad considering everything.  

The Aldi three pound rice supply was still good.  That is my benchmark.  I went out to the burbs to stock on on the $8.69 per case Mountain Crest Beer.   Suffice it to say I have enough of this "necessity" to ride out a quarantine .  This "Damn good beer" keeps well in a basement so I will probably get more this weekend.

The Mountain Crest beer story has an odd Mexican angle.  Young Ravinder Minhas set out to market more affordable liquor in Canada.  He locked in the price of Tequila just before there was a huge shortage of the plant used to make Tequila.  (or maybe Jimmy Buffet greatly increased the demand for Tequila).  He then went on to purchase the second oldest continually operating brewery in the US in Monroe, Wisconsin, south of Madison.  A side effect of NAFTA was the opening up of the Canadian beer market.  Before this, Canadian beer had a basically fixed price of $25 to $30 per case so quality, image and advertising were heavily used.  Minhas does little advertising and relies on "word of mouth" and their website.  I consider Mountain Crest to be equal in taste to the bland beers like Budweiser but at half the cost.  When I go to one bar I frequent I drink Grain Belt tap.  It has more "hops" than most beers.  Two beer "tricks" are a drop of vanilla extract or a drop of lemon flavoring.  Artificial vanilla seems to work as well and it's cheap.

I suspect that Minhas brewery won't be asking for a government bailout.  From the bio:  "Ravinder has a simple philosophy when it comes to running his companies, he likes to be hands on in many aspects and works on a zero debt mandate. He has no loans, partners, lines of credits or financing, he has been able to grow and sustain his business by re-investing profits and keeping low overheads."

Anyway, back to the epidemic stuff.  I noticed I am down to five rolls of toilet paper.  This weekend I will stock up.  I will also monitor retail supplies as a indicator of public reaction.   

Sunday shopping report.

I went to the Franklin Av. Aldi late Sunday afternoon.  There seemed to be plenty of three pound bags of white rice, the "benchmark" item I am watching.  I picked up one bag.  Curiously, at Aldi Macaroni and cheese costs less per ounce than boxed Macaroni.  They are something like thirty-seven cents a box so I got three.  I've used year old Macaroni and cheese, at worst the "cheese powder" clumps a bit so you have to break it up.  That is probably heat.  From experience I found that the one "staple" that gets rancid with age are cookies.  I had some nine month old cookies, sealed snack size packages and they were rancid.  

This got me thinking about regular emergency preparedness.  I haven't used a manual can opener in a year and a half.  I should have a few around here but I have to look for them.  I need to track down the service door keys to the (detached) garage.   I've used only the remote for the last year or so.  I have plenty of candles, batteries and even a few wind up led flashlights.

The freezer is in the basement where it's always 45 and it has room.  One trick I have to get to is freezing some bottles of salt water for backup cooling of the freezer.  Basically save empty milk jugs, rinse them out and fill almost to the top with salt water.  Any salt will do, even sidewalk or water softener salt.  With a permanent magic marker clearly mark them "Salt water! Do not drink!"  Then put them in the freezer with the cap sealed.  The salt should reduce the freezing temperature to zero or maybe ten degrees Fahrenheit.  In a power outage the salt water in the jugs will gradually melt and absorb a lot of heat in the process.   This will help with the freezer during a power outage.  Have old blankets ready to cover the crest freezer and try no to open it during an outage.  The frozen salt water jug is a quick and easy trick.  

On Friday, the first of the month I get my checking account recharged with the pension.  Staying proactive, I paid my total $2650 property tax for 2009 in March and April.  Even with tax refunds that "stung".  I try not to dip into savings but it's four days until the Friday. 

At this point I am not really concerned about major utilities going down.  Unlike SARS, this seems treatable with proper medical treatment.  The key utility people should get high priority.   Also, it's Spring and electrical demand is low.  Added to that my Longfellow Neighborhood of Minneapolis has a rather robust electrical grid.  The high voltage lines run between Minnehaha and Hiawatha and the substation is at 39th And Hiawatha.  The local electric lines are in the alleys where they are very well protected against storms.  

For now I gotta find the garage keys and manual can opener and think about a "beer run" to get six or eight cases of $8.69 per case Mountain Crest Beer from Top Value Liquor.

First posting at my MexicanFlu.info

First off, for the latest official government information on this out break (which I check and trust) go to http://birdflu.gov/

That said, I may be wrong but I sense that this will be a serious epidemic.  I hope it isn't but the viral mix of swine and avian (bird) flu is "weird".  It's almost like it is engineered.  The Mexico City release might be very difficult to contain and it apparently has already spread to the US.  I spent something like $1.20 to register MexicanFlu.info at http://godaddy.com for a year.  I will link it to this blog.  The domain name is what was available and this did originate in Mexico.  No offense is meant against Hispanics.

I hope this threat fizzles and this blog is a dud but I have a bad feeling.  I know a lot about epidemiology.  Beyond this knowledge I have several advantages.  I retired in December 2007 so if necessary I can "hunker down" if necessary though, with spring I would like to get out and bicycle.  I consider "bargain hunting" a sport, I especially like Aldi Food's markdowns.  I am something of a "packrat" and have a lot canned foods.  Also, Aldi tends to deeply discount meat and other frozen foods that don't sell.  I have two freezers full of them.  In the event of a power failure I have tow generators, one a 1KW and from Aldi a $200 2.6 KW generator that I have tested with an outside tank but never used.  Also, both freezers are in 45 degree basement, and I am developing strategies here.   

For starters, if you have freezers the basement is best because of the lower temperature difference.  If you have freezer room fill empty containers like one gallon milk jugs with salt water and let them freeze in the freezer.  Any salt will do, mark the jug "salt water, do not drink" and add a skull and crossbones.  Salt lowers the freezing point of water so the frozen salt water will "cool" by melting at a temperature far below freezing.  This will help keep the freezer cold during a power outage.  During a power outage don't open the freezers and blankets over the top will help keep the contents cold.

On the positive side some medicines like tama-flu seem to work so key utility workers should be first in line and this is not "personal contact" work.  Hopefully basic utilities will continue to work.  

Tomorrow, I will go to Aldi and get three or four three pound bags of long grain white rice.  This will be my panic benchmark.  I'm also down to six rolls of toilet paper so I will probably "stock up".  This will be another indicator. I will watch the Aldi inventory on these items and report.

Like I said, I hope this "epidemic" is a dud but I have a bad feeling about it.   I feel it will be hard to contain.    I hope that I am wrong.  For dynamics, I have adequate money in savings but I like to live by "cash flow".  Beer doesn't spoil and I would like to stockpile a large quantity of my favorite Mountain Crest http://www.damngoodbeer.ca/ which is $8.69 per case of 24 cans.  I'd like to get something like 25 cases and store in basement where it will keep well a very long time.  Should I risk waiting until Friday, the first of the month?  The cheap price is out in the suburbs so I usually get six cases and joke about "stocking up for bird flu".  If I get 25 cases they might actually believe it!

This blog will tell the details.