four horsemen of the apocalypse

How is everyone doing? Are you self-isolating and only going out when it is essential like they recommend? Have you started getting stir-crazy? Today was our second day at home… normally we would have had company for lunch or supper by now and for sure Carm would have been out of the house shopping or something, so it feels a bit weird. 

I limited my time on facebook and only listened to a bit of news today so don’t feel as close to the precipice of panic. Perhaps the situation is normalizing in my brain too. 

On the bright side: it’s St. Patrick’s day and we’ll be eating Jig’s Dinner all by ourselves. Oh yes… corned beef, cabbage, boiled potatoes, and Irish Soda bread. A veritable feast with leftovers :-)  (honestly though I’d rather have company!).

The worst closure for us so far is our local dog grooming place. It is a challenge to do Adia’s nails so we’d been taking her to Kate. We had an appointment for tomorrow so today we drugged her (Adia, not Kate) and I wrestled her into submission while Carm nipped at her nails. Success. They aren’t as short as Kate gets them but are better than before.

Do you have times when you want to start to hoard food? The four horsemen of the apocalypse ride through my mind with every doom and gloom news forecast triggering a grip in my chest and a dash to the basement pantry cupboard. It takes a bit of time to calm down. I realized tonight that our grocery store is open 24/7 so Carm can go in the middle of the night… deep breath… we don’t need anything! Oh, but if he has to go, now is better than later when more people are sick. But I don’t want him going out. Maybe for some frozen fruit and vegetables if we get desperate.

It’s not just our food! Do I have enough dog food to last for long enough? Will the dog food stores stay open? I haven’t figured out exactly how long a bag will last us so I sent off a frantic message to our local shop where Carm can do a drive by grab for another bag or maybe 2.

CNN reporters (ones that I respect), are freaking out right now saying that people aren’t taking social distancing seriously enough and that if they don’t the US (and Canada probably) will end up like Italy and Spain, or worse. Cue the horsemen...

“Listen, my friend, all forms that exist in God's universe can be found in the human figure. A man's body and face can tell everything he represents. So how could I ever exhaust my interest in it?”

~Irving Stone, The Agony and the Ecstasy