a cold rain out there, steady, and staying above freezing so it's not turning to ice. that's not to say it's not snow or ice on the mountain, or in the village, both of which are 1500 feet higher than us. but we're down in the valley, safe, enjoying the steady wet downpour that will make everything mud, but add a glorious element to our mountain existence.

of course we are worried about the coronavirus. we are stockpiling food and toilet paper. we are limiting our trips to town, and getting our groceries by pickup instead of in-store. i am trying to refrain from shaking hands - very hard. i am learning to wash hands obsessively, and becoming more conscious of the times i touch my face - often. as of now, no cases reported in new mexico. but every surrounding state for miles around has it. and highways come through it that everyone uses.

the question brought up by all of this is, to what degree should we scale back on our activities? i know that lots of people don't have the luxury of not going to work - there's no such thing as sick pay in most places. pull kids out of school? no way. we are probably alone in our community, in thinking and saying that they should consider closing the school, and putting it online, for the protection of the kids. people will point out that kids don't get it; generally they don't, or at least they don't die from it. but they almost certainly carry it, and it's only a matter of time before it gets here.

you might consider me to be a chronic over-worrier. yes, and i just retired, so i'm on my news feed, like, every minute. my relatives don't really get it, maybe. my brother is not really worried about being in prague, even though i've said: the government should have warned seniors not to travel; the CDC warned seniors not to travel, but the government didn't want to issue the warning. to travel or not to travel? he didn't seem to mind taking the chance. i would have said, stay home.

a son-in-law is going to vegas in the morning - that's another example. he has an office mate who just got off a cruise. there you go, i say. or a friend who left for london this morning. people have lives and a lot of travel is generally involved in them (not ours, especially). people seem to think all schools will shut down (very likely, most will). no way can you just think, no problem. it's looming and looking like a big problem.

part of my worry is this: for the first time in my life, i can actually watch the news unfold all day long. i stopped the day-to-day 8-hour workday just a little while ago, and now, go back to being a sub? not advisable for a 65-year-old. but the news is coming fast and furious. it's actually possible to be absorbed by the news all day long - there's plenty of it - and they announce new things constantly. each country shuts its schools, goes on lockdown, rushes around trying to find every single case. we have barely begun, because we just got the tests this weekend. we don't even know if we have the virus.

i hate to end up sounding kind of confused, but basically i am. i don't know how many events to cancel. i don't know whether to take a strong stand, for example, and just pull kids out of school (as lots of parents will do). should i warn people? should i advise them to stay home? that's not easy either. pulling our kids won't be easy. keeping them busy won't be easy. being a fireman won't be easy either.

ah but who ever said it would be easy?