Day 3-A last Horrah

randy | March 15, 2020, 5:22 p.m.

Today is the last day to venture outside. We have decided to get what last groceries we need for a 14 day period and hunker down. Both kids wanted to see a couple of friends in person one last time. We tried to nix it but the juice isn't worth the squeeze. We dropped off one child to hang with a couple of teammates and went to Costco. Wasn't really sure what we would find but we did have a list of staples and non-perishables we wanted. Things like puffed rice, protein drinks, and Georgia Honey. The honey is for me since, regardless of the pandemic, allergy season is starting up and I always have issues. Taking a spoonful of local honey seems to be helping minimize my reaction in the last couple of years.

Speaking of sneezing: I had a sneeze fit from the dust at Costco and you thought I had Ebola from the reaction around me. People were pulling away and looking quite disgusted. I mentioned it was just allergies but I don't think they were satisfied.

We also stopped by Publix for a couple of other items, some milk, cereal, butter.. that sort of thing. Not a square of any paper products and all the cases of water were cleared out. One guy walked in straight to the meat counter, picked up everything he could carry and went straight to the register. I sure hope he know how to properly freeze all that or it will just end up in the trash. What a waste that would be.

'Flatten the curve' seems to finally be understood. More and more people posting on FaceBook seem to understand what that means and what it will require of all of us to not be the next China or Iran or Italy. The Washington Post and NY Times both have great articles and even some simple models explaining the difference in slowing the spread will have on our health system and by proxy, our mortality rate in this country.

The virus, just like the Flu, will work its way through the population but hopefully at a manageable rate.

Anyway, I plan on tomorrow being like any other workday. The challenge for us parents is impressing on our students that this is not a vacation or snow day: Schoolwork is expected to be completed and in a timely manner. With both girls home and not outside activities, we also will be holding them to be more accountable for household chores. I realize that we may not have required as much from them before, but I hope to change that over the next 2 weeks.

I just read that AT&T and Xfinity will be removing data caps. Thank goodness for that. Last Christmas, my kids blew through a terabyte of data in 2 weeks of streaming videos. I am sure with both parents video conferencing and both kids streaming school videos, we will go right through 1TB in no time.

Well, off to one last dinner out with friends and lots of disinfectant. Tonight-Frozen2 on Disney+