Our city declared an emergency early last week with all non essential services shut down and the province has followed suit. Still some outdoor parks and other recreational areas were full of people this weekend. This is why we can't have nice things. Sadly these places will have to be closed too.

Some of the people at my wife's home are not doing well as the place is in it's 3rd week of lock-down and they want to see family and what not. Most people are OK but the ones with mental and cognitive issues who don't really understand are having a bad time.

We have tried calling my mother in law but she is having hearing aid issues and is very confused so everyone in the family is writing letters and sending pictures. Hopefully that will help a bit.

We are hand washing a lot and using Virox and Spray 9 on touch points in the house and car.

As for the cats we buy their food when it's on sale. We use a little over .6 KG or 1.4 lbs per day. Luckily it was on sale in February and we got 64 KG so we should be OK until the beginning of June. We also were able to grab a 25 KG sack of flour so we have bread and what not taken care of for a bit and I have about 15 liters of stock in the freezer.

The only really regular thing we have to go out to get are my wife's medications. They say stock up, get 3 months worth, but at a more than $400 a month that is not really an option right now.

I've seen more homeless around the last couple of weeks. With everything closed it's only going to be harder for them to get through a day. At least the weather is not bad.

I decided to take a look at the major social media sites for the first time in a long time and it just made me despair. So much dumb shit. Some good stuff, some fun stuff, but so much dumb. Facebook is by far the worst. The phrase 'cleansing fire' just kept popping into my head.

Watching videos from the crush time in Chinese hospitals and Italian hospitals is eye opening. Reading things from doctors in both countries and New Orleans is crushing.

Be well and stay away from others as much as you can.

Maine goes from recommended shutdown to mandatory shutdown at midnight. I've been home since 3/12. Plenty of food, etc., and I can go for walks in my neighborhood, which is not crowded. It's all I can do to help, and it feels pointless. This is an especially frustrating time to be an old person. I'll have a birthday soon, do not feel celebratory. Mostly not super-scared, but occasional moments of real fear and fierce loneliness. Having occasional cocktails on zoom and chats and calls.

Facebook works well for me, my feed is packed with stuff that interests me, a bit of twitter as well.

Stay well, y'all

My retail job is going gangbusters and it's more crowded than the beaches that were shut down because of crowding. Many, many people here are not taking it to heart.

The drafting work has dried up; projects are cancelled.

I have managed to stock my Mom's larder with 3 weeks of provisions. She has no ability to understand what is going on, or even grasp that anything is wrong with the world. That's perhaps helpful in these times. I am expecting to be exposed at my retail job and think 3 weeks will be enough to see her through.

I have also provisions for me and my kitties for 3 weeks, and have made trips to the store for my elderly neighbors.

Now I am waiting for the nation to be shut down. Just do it. It's inevitable even if the orange menace doesn't get it.

I have time to do a bit of yardwork now. The weeds are going away!