March 18

I went to Home Depot today to get seeds and a Jiffy Germination kit.  It was great to get out of the house.  And while I can go into my sizeable backyard or take a nice long walk around the block or the mile to the pond, it was just good to be in traffic, to engage in commerce, to wander the scant plants Home Depot had out and take away a “stash” of perennials, cauliflower starts and seeds.

Growing something, especially a vegetable garden, is a hope for the future.  It takes work.  You have to till the soil, make sure the soil is healthy.  And then plant smartly. I learned much to my surprise that tomatoes hate cucumbers.  I mean I know about Companion Planting, but I didn’t know that Tomatoes hate Cucumbers! Which explains my cucumbers being a complete failure last year. That bed was right next to the Tomato row. Peppers of several varieties were right next to another tomato row and my haul was amazing.  So I need to look up their “companionship”.

But back to “The Corono” as I call it.

I have been so wrapped up in Italy I haven’t been monitoring the USA.  And frankly, Italy is way more dramatic.  They had 7 cases on February 21^st, they now have 31,586. That should make your hair stand on end.

However, our first case in the US was on January 19^th, a guy arriving in Seattle from China.  It took us a month and half to go from 1 to 80 on March 1.  And then on March 10 to be at 712.  And yesterday, March 17^th, Johns Hopkins reported we are at 5,894,

Think on that for a split second.

Since I last wrote, restaurants and casinos have been shut down, here in Maryland.  So all those people who don’t have kids in school or like to gamble just got a wake-up call.  As a recovering Gambler myself…that is a painful withdrawal (unless you get scared straight like I was by attending a couple Gamblers Anonymous meetings...trust me alcoholics aren’t nearly as devious as Addicted Gamblers, Dang!).

My husband, has been doing reconnasaince at various grocery stores, checking inventory, picking up a few items in an elaborate unofficial food & toiletries hoarding “study.” He reports the Weiss Grocer on Route 108 has a posted a “Closed Until Further Notice” sign on the door…say what?  Fairly good sized Grocer, but maybe they couldn’t compete with Giant for supply chain superiority.

My daughter’s restaurant is still open to “Carry Out” but my guess is, if the owners really do the math, is it worth it?  I was hoping once the Governor closed all restaurants that would be it…but the Governor excepted Drive Thru, Carry Out and Delivery, so my daughter is still “on the job” since she is a Manager.  But it still pisses me off since their “Carry Out” is about $1,200 a day.  Is it really worth it for all they have to pay for Management staff, wholesale food prices and packaging? I’d say Corporate is a bunch of Morons not thinking about their overhead and liability.

I’ve been pretty spot on since February 21^st when Italy caught my attention.  And I think I will be spot on now.

Expect to have a thing not called “Marshall Law” but it will be Marshall Law, to be imposed. Not saying you should go Crazy Ape Shit, but you should understand it is what it is.  And it will be Marshall Law.  You will not be able to come out your house or your property unless it is to get more food, go to the hospital or attend to a family emergency.  Carry your ID with you, have texts or emails to show authorities to back up your claim and be sure you can prove your motive for mobility.

Expect that to go on for about 3 weeks.  Don’t get irritated or nasty that your Freedom has been taken away, it will be temporary and necessary to SAVE YOUR LIFE OR THE LIFE OF SOMEONE YOU LOVE.

And it will be because of the dummies we’ve seen pictures of at Spring Break in Florida.  They just don’t get it…we have a responsibility to others not just to ourselves

.

The cases in the USA were 80 on March 1^st.  March 10^th they were 712. The cases in the USA on March 17^th, were 5,894.  If we can do math, even on one finger, we could have 40,000 cases on March 23^rd.  And 40,000 will become 320,000 on March 30^th. And 2.5 million 7 days later.

So when you are told to “Shelter in Place” do it.  It’s called a Pandemic for a reason.