Southwest corner weather has been dreary and is projected to remain that way for at least a week more. For years, we would have a month of dreary weather somewhere between October and early April. Then it went away. It’s back. In spades.

The weather guessers were greatly disturbed by a relatively dry February. The word “drought” kept slipping back into their lexicon. Now, they are all estatic it’s raining damn near every day. Of course, next week, they will all be complaining how all of this rain will be increasing vegetation and making wildfires more likely and more volatile in the upcoming dry season. i shake my head in sadness. “It’s called weather,” i think. Of course, i watch as now most of the weather guessers are very pretty, voluptuous really, and weather watching has taken on a whole new meaning in the world of political correctness and women’s equality. As usual, i’m confused.

The weather fits my mood.

Today, after a very wise email from our daughter Blythe, we changed our travel plans for April from “maybe” if things get better to “nope.” i cannot adequately describe the depth of my sadness. It’s always “too long” between spending time with Blythe, Jason, and, of course, our grandson Sam, and this time has been even longer than most.

This included my extending the trip on the back end to visiting back home in Tennessee. The last significant time spent in Lebanon and Nashville has also been too long, way too long.

So the long and short of it is i ain’t going to Texas or Tennessee as planned. As i have noted to others: It’s not cancelled. It’s postponed.

This whole thing has me spinning. The medical experts seem to now be getting the platform they needed. Quite frankly, up until yesterday, i was wondering just how bad the corona stuff really is. i never have liked the beer (stories along the border can sway your opinion, but it is essentially because i don’t like the taste), but this, this is even worse. i was perplexed in the media, as it does with every thing that breathes took the news of COVID-19 with complete over reaction. In this case, it may have been the correct thing to do.

And then i thought, “big deal.” Viruses happen all the time. Don’t like ’em. But they’ve been sort of there for a long time.  And they kill people. Sad, but a fact. It sounds like this baby has a leg up on the killing stuff. Blythe forwarded two articles from NPR and the Washington Post, that put some perspective on the spread. She made me smarter. Maureen made me smarter too with her comment this morning when were considering dining out this evening. She doesn’t want to be a contributor to this being passed along to others.

That’s it. That’s the key for me. Although well beyond the classification of “elderly” (she is nowhere near as “elderly” as  i am), Maureen and i are in pretty good health and the only “precondition problem we have is i have always been pretty goofy.  BUT, we can be enablers of the spread if we don’t observe good health practice. To be blunt, i don’t wish to be responsible for someone else dying. i have many, many friends who are “elderly” with “pre-existing conditions.”

So we are hunkering down in the Southwest corner. Oh, we won’t raid the stores for toilet paper. We will go out for necessary things like groceries and health care, and we will attend medical checkups, etc. But we are pretty much hunkered down.

Of course, now i have to figure out how to play golf on Friday.