Lockdown or Liberty: How to Deal with Stay-in-Place Orders

Backpacking, Camping, General Talk, ,

Or When Can We Go Backpacking & Camping Again?

Like almost most Americans, we are isolated at home due the our local state, county, and city “stay-in-place” orders. Life isn’t working out according to plan. After a full-time engagement of four years of house remodeling projects, this was going to be a year of extensive backpacking and camping. I should point out that during the previous four years, we did are fair share of camping, probably more than most people. I also did several backpacking trips during each of the past four years of my retirement. Currently, in the State of California, most backpacking and camping opportunities don’t exist. Most places are closed to use. At the same time, we are in a high risk population as regards coronavirus infection. I’m scheduled to reach my 70th year milestone on the planet and Joyce isn’t far behind. Approaching 70, the fact is very real I don’t have a lot of backpacking years ahead, so I would like to maximize each year going forward.

Given all of this, it is wisest for us to stay in place until life equalizes and gets back to some sort of normality. So we are stuck at home, or perhaps better stated, we are willing staying at home for a while.

Staying at home for extended periods of time is a new state of being for many Americans today. Many aren’t handling it well. So the purpose of this post is to share my experiences as a retiree for the past four year, and more importantly, the 18 years I spent working from home – often for months at a time. The following topics will be reviewed with a focus on how to maximize your time, or better yet, how not to waste time.

When I first got my “work from home” job, it was a truly new experience. Early on, I had to travel to my corporate office in Dearborn, MI. Keep in mind I had never worked in an office environment before this. What I found in my first few visits to the corporate office that too little gets done during the day. Employees are not very efficient in their work and their overall productivity was lacking. Efficient means how much you get done when engaged in a specific task. Productive means how much time you actually spend on a project versus the amount of time you are at work. The lack of efficiency and productivity was a function of the office environment.

Productivity Barriers

I’ll just list some of them instead of going into great detail

  • Getting to office and not starting work immediately (chit-chatting about the football game, family, social media, news items, etc.)
  • Office noise and conversations, especially in offices with cubes, not doors
  • Hanging out at the water/snack area
  • Co-workers popping into your work space for no necessary reason
  • Endless meetings of dubious value
  • Email management (inbound & outbound)
  • Phone calls (inbound & outbound)
  • Pre-lunch planning, lunch with co-workers, post-lunch reviews
  • I’m sure you can add others

Efficiency Barriers

I’m not going to list a bunch. The biggest problem I saw was people trying to figure out where they left off before being interrupted by productivity interruptions.

The Good News

My experience was I could get much more work done from my home office. What would take 8 hours in an office could often be completed in a couple hours in my home office. It should be noted my work entailed finished products such as training manuals, or software applications. This is much different that providing customer service, such as fielding calls from customers seek information or reporting a problem.

The Productive and Efficient Home Office

The Work Space

If possible, set up a home office or work space isolated from the rest of the household. If others are at home, close the door! A bedroom can become a daytime work space if the door is closed. The important factor here is to mitigate any distractions.

Work Schedule

If your work responsibilities allow you leeway for what you do at any specific time, set up a schedule. Start work at the same time every day and keep to the schedule. When working from home Joyce and I would get up at about the same time. I would get a cup of coffee and go straight to my home office. No time wasted on “getting ready” for work. I would guess most office-bound workers spend an hour or two getting reading and commuting to an office. So in my case, I already was more productive compared to my total number of working hours.

Skip Lunch

Yeah, I never stopped for lunch. But to be honest, by noon I had already done more work than my office-bound co-workers would get done in two days.

Keep Working

There is probably going to be a desire to do non-work things during the day. Don’t stop. Keep working if you have something to do. If you can get 8 hours of work done in 2 hours, then you might be able to get a week’s worth of work done in a day. You might even be able to bank this time and add it to your inventory of recreation time. It was many a week that I would spend Fridays camping or backpacking. My situation may have been different than yours.

Eliminating External Distractions

In your home office, you have more control over distractions than you many thing. Let’s take email and phone calls as examples.

Email

There seems to be an expectation that employees will immediately respond to any email. In an office, your boss or co-workers know you are at your desk and often expect an immediate reply. In your home office, no one knows exactly what you are doing. So here are some tips:

  • Just check your email three times a day. At the beginning of your work day, the middle of the day, and at the end of the day.
  • Turn off email notifications – not need to be distracted if you are going to check email later
  • If you are copied on an email, don’t respond – read it during your set mail review time

Here’s an interesting tidbit: several years ago I was traveling with a client. At lunch, he told me he was having problems with his email and asked if he could sent me an email to see if it was delivered. Sure. When I got the email, I showed him my iPhone to verify it was delivered. Now, on my iPhone, there is a counter showing how many unread emails are in the mailbox. He was shocked to see I had something like 27,000 unread emails. I explained that these were emails accumulated over something like 10 years and we all emails I was copied on. I keep them in case the sender thought they were more important than I perceived. Gosh, how much time would be wasted reading 27,000 emails? I simply look at the subject line to determine whether or not it is important.

My bossed once called my on my lack of response to these kinds of emails. I pointed out he did not send them to me, but just “cc’d” me, thus not requiring a response.

Phone Calls

I had a team of direct reports who worked daily at client locations. They traveled everyday, often flying to and from client sites. When one of them called, I always immediately answered. A couple of things here. First, my team knew I would answer the phone and secondly, they know I had no tolerance for idle talk or socializing. So a call to me meant they needed assistance of some sort right away. If not an immediate need, then email is the proper communication method.

Since we now have Caller ID, we know who is calling. If I expect a call, I answer it. If I am not expecting a call, I am not going to answer if I am in the middle of an important task. Of course the caller doesn’t know what you are doing when they call. If their call goes to voice mail, they will usually assume you are on another call or otherwise productively engaged.

Even if my boss called, and I was working on lines of computer code, I would let it go to voice mail. Once my present task was completed, I would check voice mail to see if the call was important, versus just calling back. Most of the time, the voice mail was just a message not requiring an immediate response – and again, something that could have been sent in an email. But it is so difficult to train bosses 😉

Television

Turn of the TV. It’s a distraction.

Social Media

I spent much time in my career consulting. It was truly amazing to see how much time employees waste at work on social media. It can become a time black hole at home. Let’s face it, you are being paid to work. This means you have an agreement to work for a certain number of hours or to complete a certain task/project. Your company isn’t paying you to spend time communicating with friends and family on FaceBook, Twitter, Instagram, or whatever platform you may enjoy.

Music

I throughly enjoy music and have a fairly large library. But for me, most of the time when I am working, music distracts me. I start to listen to it and get less work done. So I rarely listen to music when working. Check yourself. Listen or do not listen as is appropriate.

When Your Family is at Home

This time of coronavirus presents unique challenges for many of us. You may have kids to supervise. Your spouse or significant other may also be at home and need to work too.

I can’t cover all the bases here, especially with kids at home, since we have been empty-nesters for a couple decades. If two of you have to work, set up separate work spaces if needed. Or take turns working and watching kids. The important thing is to figure our a way to accomplish al the best practices outlined above.

First and foremost, ask yourself this question, “When all of this is over, will I regret I wasted my time and didn’t do __________________.”

One thing about time: you can’t go back and change what you did or didn’t do. The past is gone forever. Don’t get yourself into the position that you wasted the time past and regret it.

Most of us are in a unique position with these stay-at-home orders. Just like with the work at home tips, put yourself on a schedule. Get up and go to bed at the same time. Set aside time for tasks to be completed. Maximize your time off.

Attention Deficit Disorder

I have this theory that our technology is causing A.D.D. in most of the population. We are bombarded by so many stimuli at one time that we can no longer pay attention. People have lost the ability to listen effectively. I see so many people with a TV blaring, while they are talking or texting on a cell phone and have a tablet or computer on their lap at the same time. All of this stimuli at once has to be unhealthy.

Entertainment

Visual

From what I have read, a lot of people are spending enormous amounts of time on Netflix and other streaming platforms. I do find this mind boggling. Obviously from what I have written, when I was working from home, I was working from home.

Once I retired, I didn’t change my routine much. I just changed what I did during the day. Instead of working for a company, I was working for me. Not a self-employed kind of working, but working to get things done that are important to me and to Joyce. One of the first things I did was cut the cord. For me, TV or anything kind of entertainment on a screen is something to be managed. Too much is damaging. And if we think about it, do we need hours of visual entertainment everyday? If you are reading this, then you are an intelligent being, and in my opinion, intelligent people don’t get bored. At lease they don’t get bored of they would just evaluate how they are spending their time.

When I want to watch something on our TV, usually Netflix, I schedule what I want to watch. For example, a friend of mine recommended the comedy series The Good Place. It is a wonderful work. Four seasons were produced and three are now playing on Netflix. So I watch a couple episodes at a time. And I space them out, watching it every four days or so. I do enjoy watching movies, and I plan ahead what I want to watch. If Joyce wants to view a movie and it doesn’t interest me, I take out my hearing aids and read a book.

Music

Earlier I mentioned I rarely listen to music when working. In fact, other than listen to the radio when driving, I plan my music time. I set aside time, and just listen to music. Usually just a single album. I’ll sit down, clear my mind and listen, doing nothing else. This way I can immerse myself in the piece and get maximum value.

Social Media

If you follow my blog, you know I don’t do social media. What’s the point, other than to waste time? Oh, I get it… some people keep up with family this way. But I bet most folks enter a bottomless pit of wasted time.

I do spend a bit of time on a backpacking forum. Mostly talking with a few of my backpacking friends. Sometimes I won’t go there for weeks at a time, and sometimes I stop by daily. But my world wouldn’t end if the site was closed down. Occasionally, and I mean occasionally, I log onto an old tent trailer forum I used to participate on frequently when we had our tent trailers. I suspect we would have hundreds of thousands of suicides if Twitter, FaceBook, Instagram and similar sites were to close down… suicides caused by addiction withdrawal.

In recent years I have spent weeks and even months camping without Internet. It wasn’t hard, in fact it is refreshing. WiFi technology has become so invasive, it is even in most of our national parks these days. However, used as a tool, the technology is useful. When we are gone for extended periods of time, I bring my laptop with me for one purpose. Periodically I go online to pay our bills. This usually requires driving to some town, since we normally camp where there is no cell phone service or WiFi.

Alternative Ways to Spend Your Time

Self Improvement

One good thing about the internet is it can be all things. One idea is to further your education. Not necessarily to get a Degree of some sort, but just to learn more. I highly recommend checking out are the free online courses from Hillsdale College. I have taken a few and they are high quality learning experiences, which can help each of us become better citizens. And if you deem them worthy, you can donate to support them.

How about learning to play a musical instrument or learn a foreign language. Yes, lots of resources for this too.

Many Kindle books can be downloaded for free. Most local libraries now offer free eBooks and even music for downloads.

Overweight or out of shape. Again many free options on the Web to start an exercise program. Oh heck, just walk an hour or more everyday.

Chores Around the House

When was the last time you washed and waxed your vehicle? Now is a good time. Is it time for an oil change or other car maintenance? If you never done any of this, now is a good time to learn and save money.

Do you have a bicycle? Have you ever tuned it up? If you don’t know how, you can learn how to do it. And once tuned, go ahead and ride it everyday… most cities still allow, and even encourage this activity.

How about a deep cleaning of EVERYTHING to include the garage or storage areas if you have them. Most of us own a bunch of stuff we no longer need or use, but is still in good condition. Box these things up and take them to a charitable organization when the they re-open if they are now closed. On the other hand, if you are short of money in these trying times, you might want to try your hand at selling your surplus on eBay or similar auction sites.

It’s springtime, when many folks do much of their gardening. Even if you have never gardened it might be a good time to grow something, even if you have limited space, you can garden.

Time to paint or do other home upgrades? Why not now?

The Bottom Line

If you sit down and create a list of things you have put off, forgot about, or haven’t thought about, this might be a good time. Get out all the manuals for your appliances and read up on them. Things like refrigerators, washing machines, driers, heating and air conditioning units usually have filters that require periodic replacement. You may not know this, most water heaters need to be drained and flushed once a year. Doing so can add years to their longevity.

Is it time to clean or wash, inspect or perform maintenance on your gear?

Cleaning

Down Products

When was the last time you washed your down clothing, sleeping bag or quilt? Western Mountaineering, a premier manufacturer of outdoor down products, has these tips for their down products.

Tents

Recreational Equipment Inc. (REI) has a useful article on tent care, maintenance and cleaning here.

Wash Your Backpack?

Dan McHale (McHale Backpacks), pack builder extraordinaire has these tips:

Summer is the best time to wash your pack because they dry fast and you won't get mildew. Fill a tub with water - cold is fine - not hot - especially with dyneema or spectra since the coating adhesion can be weakened. A mild dish soap is fine to use but nothing stronger. Amonia will remove waterproof coating - other chemicals may also, so keep things simple. Mostly, you want to loosen the dirt and SALT. Salt buildup can hurt the frame inside the frame tubes mostly at the base where fluids accumulate and dry. Salt also attracts animals that want to eat the salt and then your pack! Scrub with a nylon bristle brush. Do not scrub the inside coating unless you are trying to remove the coating! 

Do not remove the frame since the pack will shrink when it drys and you won't get the frame back in. It may not be a bad idea to wash the pack once in a while while on a long trip like the PCT. Do it on a rest day - the packs dry fast and it may save you rodent damage later down the trail. Rodents can destroy shoulder pads and hip belts, especially at night while you sleep.

Waterproof or Water Resistant Fabrics

Many of these clothing items, to include wind shirts or windbreakers, require periodic renewal of the Durable Water Repellant (DWR) coating. This article from REI covers the cleaning and renewing process.

Air Mattresses

Does you air mattress have a slow leak you keep forgetting to repair? This article from Therm-a-Rest covers the basics.

Stoves

Liquid gas stoves require maintenance. Companies like Mountain Safety Research sell annual and expedition kits. Sometimes canister stoves require maintenance, although parts are difficult to find. I do have a Snow Peak GigaPower Maintenance kit for this stove, although it has been discontinued by the manufacturer.

If your canister stove isn’t working as it should, a little care and Google search may tell you how to safely disassemble and clean it. Any needed O-rings can probably be found by measuring what came with the stove. Just make sure you get the replacement made from the proper material, usually Viton.

Buttons, zippers, pockets, tears, etc.

Inspect all your garments and fabric materials. Needle and thread are your friend. There are cleaning and lube product for zippers, plus many Internet sources for minor zipper repairs. Cuben Fiber (now Dyneema) fabrics use special tape for repairs. There are special patch repair tapes for items like nylon shells on down garments and sleeping bags.

GearAide

This company makes almost all the products to clean, wash, revive, and repair the items I have discussed in this section. You can check out their products on their website.

Most can be purchased from Amazon, REI, and other fine outdoor equipment companies.

For “car campers” most of the tips above apply to your gear.

If you own a camper, travel trailer, tent trailer, motorhome, or other kind of recreation vehicle, there are many maintenance items that need to be performed periodically. This would include, but not limited to:

  • annual refrigerator maintenance
  • wheel bearing repack
  • fresh water tank sanitizing
  • battery maintenance
  • trailer breakaway switch testing
  • wheel lug not torque check
  • wash and waxing
  • lubing cables, latches, hinges, etc.

Check you owner manual and complete any required items. Also, many manufactures do not include the recommendations for appliances and other components and usually include manufacturer manuals for items like awnings, generators, water heaters, refrigerators, stoves & ovens, holding tank components, axles, etc.

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