COOPED UP ...

Yesterday's blue skies were most welcomed and beckoning after 3 rainy dismal days. The chickens had been given free range from their coop but they needed feed. Natureman was ready to head out for the local Co-op where they would leave his order on a pallet by the warehouse. I stopped him at the door and suggested we could combine it with a dog walk on our local town's trail right next to the Co-op. So, he waited for me to change to walking clothes as I had been exercising and off we went... 

It was a light jacket day and we did see a handful of others with the same intentions of changing their scenery. The handful of folks we did see were very space conscious either moving onto the grassy areas and cutting their own path. 

I felt for the young mom with 4 boys all under the age of 5. This social distancing must be really tough for young families. These guys really needed to stretch their legs after being 'cooped up'. One dog owner with 2 furry creatures had one off leash who ended not being happy with her decision to approach Balto. Our Balto now after a couple doggie daycare visits thinks every dog must want to play with him. Well, he found out otherwise. It took everything I had to hold him back with his leash. The other owner looked PO'ed but never called her dog back and seriously, my dog wasn't the one off leash. Now who's getting testy?

What also caught my attention were 2 teenaged girls who drove up in separate cars. Did their parents know of this meeting/ did they care?  We passed the girls 20 minutes later as they visited on a bench near the water's edge. It's this naivete that still takes me aback.  This social distancing has to be understood. 

When emails arrive talking about seeing each other in April, I am befuddled. Seriously, this virus is not going to just dissipate because it's inconvenient.  The  La Crosse county so far only has had 18 testing positive but the CoVid19 tests are limited and most folks with some symptoms are sent home for the 2 week household isolation. Until folks start getting really sick and needing to be hospitalized will we begin to know this virus's severity. 

Meanwhile we need to be vigilant limiting interactions and really helping others understand the importance of using our electronic devices to connect us and help us with this cooped up feeling. 

       Oh yea, there's this thing called a phone too ...