Another rainy Saturday morning and 43 degrees. Yeah, that would make it feel pretty chilly out there. The birds and the squirrels don’t seem to mind one bit. Maybe that is because the rain isn’t a hard rain. There are a couple of robins out there that are really liking it. They are hopping all over the yard grabbing a walk here and a walk there. I haven’t had very many cardinals today. The starlings were  here earlier as well as a bunch of finches, but that is pretty much it.

We went out and did a little shopping yesterday. Everything they say about empty shelves where the toilet paper and hand sanitizer is true. I had actually hoped to get some hand sanitizer to put at the entrances of the churches but there probably isn’t a bottle to be had in the entire city. And the toilet paper was mostly gone in the stores we stopped at. We went to Target and Walgreens and to a Dollar General Store. I’m told there is also a “run” on  bottled water too. While I was in Dollar General a lady brought up a single bottle and the clerk told her that she had just gotten the last bottle in the store.However, I stopped at Walgreens because Ms. Kate drinks Dasani bottled water, (it’s about the only thing she does drink) and they had Dasani on sale with no limits.  At Target they had noting but “off brand “ water and were limiting customers to a couple of cases. Bottom line: people have gone nuts!!!

More and more events and things have been cancelled and or postponed. Some schools have closed until the Monday after Easter. That is a whole month away. So much for no “snow days used this year.” And yet, —- we went out to our favorite Mexican restaurant last night for dinner and the place was packed and a long line was developing by the time we left. People will probably avoid church in the morning but they will fill the restaurants this evening. I know I made a lot of comments yesterday about the virus but the world and societal panic and reaction is astounding. So far I think we have eleven cases in the entire state of Indiana and none of them have been fatal because 98-99% of the cases are cases where people get well. But no one says that. And yes, I truly feel sorry for those who have lost loved ones. Perhaps taking all of the nation-wide precautionary tactics will help this thing “flatten-out” quicker and hopefully no one else will die. I hope it does help. I suspect that in four to six weeks this will be a bad memory and all of the newly stocked shelves of toilet paper and hand sanitizer will collect dust because people already have enough to last them for the next year.

In the mean time, I would again ask you to simply pray for calm and pray for peace and patience. Practice simple hygiene and stay hoe if you are sick. Noting hard about any of it. God bless you.