This is my refuge. It is a place I go to chill. I live a Zen-like life in a cabin in the sierras. When the snow melts I will plant a garden and most likely transition from vegetarian to vegan. Actually, I predicted people would do just that in 2020. It could be worse...
UPDATE: Oops. That was quick. Breaking News: 40 million people in California are now under lock down. This is serious. We can go out for essential errands--but everything else is closed indefinitely. We have no choice. Ironically, as an author I sort of live like this anyhow when working on a book. I'm in a different zone--zombie-ish. But being told you are to stay at home is uh, um--kind of like being grounded or under house arrest (I never did the latter), but this is close to it. I am at a loss of words. In shock. Exhale. Tea time.
Are We on Candid Camera?
I am wondering, "What if the COVID-19 is a governmental experiment?" I remember seeing something like that in a movie. Wasn't Michael Douglas in "The Game" and all of his gruesome challenges were set up and performed by actors. It was not real. The bottom line: I don't trust anyone any longer...
The word is, people from Sacramento are driving here to hoard our food. One clerk said this morning a lady bought eight bags of brown rice. Earlier I went online. Both at amazon and walmart websites? Price gouging. Fifty dollars for a bag of brown rice.
Livid. I call the WH. Right. Nobody was home. Minutes later I received an automatic email suggesting I go to the CDC. Why? Do they have whole grains for sale? Then, I get another email from a popular news organization. Price gouging for food and toilet paper are "in"--yep. Hiking prices and hoarding are happening in most of the states around America. We are losing the battle. Like wild coyotes fighting over food.
Fasten Your Seat Belt
It hasn't even started yet. Everything is out of control. Testing begins and numbers of the virus infected soar...more than Italy. Millennials are in denial even after reports roll in stating they, too, are not immune. They flood the East Coast beaches and come here to Tahoe. But our ski resorts, casinos, restaurants, and bars are shutdown. What do they want? It's a ghost town. Are they going to party with the bears? Or just take our food and go.
Still, all is calm in my cabin but in my mind I am often resorting to "What if?" and race to the worst-case scenario. Last week it was the military arrival. Now I'm glad they are coming. The M*A*S*H tents by our small hospital scare me. Images of strangers in hazmat suits spraying our street with disinfectant freaks me out as does boarding everyone in their homes and leaving us to die.
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| My sense of calm goes only so far when the world is going mad |
March Madness
Funny, today my assignment is to write an article on how nature relaxes people. It's true. The trees, lake, and mountains are nature's medicine. However, when interlopers come here to steal our food, trash the town, and leave like robbers in the night, they take away our peace of mind and well-being. We closed the ski resorts for self-preservation. And maybe the food hoarders are getting us back? I hear some are staying at the tiny motels; the big hotels are closed. I miss the resort pool--my home away from home, a place I swam laps and soaked in the hot tub. Sold. Closed.
Don't the visitors have homes? It's irresponsible to crash our mountain town. In past summers they leave trash on land and lake--and go home. I wish they'd go now and never come back.
And this is only the beginning. I suppose fighting, looting and trying to use our healthcare is next up. I've seen "Trigger Effect" and "I Am Legend"--life here in the sierras is a hybrid of both films.
Sadly, this is our new normal. The store clerks are our eyes and care about the young and old. The self-serving tourists--and COVID-19--are our enemies. America has changed. And I am angry...
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