by Pa Rock
Citizen Journalist
One of the things that I did to prepare for the quickly approaching zombie apocalypse was to sort through my cabinets and try to figure out what foodstuffs I already had - and what I needed to stock up on. It took the better part of two days, but now I have a handle on the situation. One area in which I was lacking was soups, so yesterday I went to one of the local groceries - the one that usually has the best buys on brand-name canned goods, and bought some soup.
Business at the store was brisk, though not dangerous. I managed to get what I needed for the larder - and then get out of the way and let others have their turns.
Late in the day I talked to my Kansas City son. Things up Tim's way are apparently a bit more serious. He and his three-year-old son had ventured into the local Trader Joe's yesterday morning and discovered the store to be enveloped in pandemonium. They managed to get most of the staples that they were seeking, but the experience seemed to have left some emotional scars on my forty-year-old offspring. He said the only thing that he could compare it to was the gas lines and panic after 9-11.
Tim related that his neighbor had gone to Costco yesterday morning and found it to also be in turmoil. She told him that the check-out lines extended back as far as the meat department. (That's the length of the warehouse for you non-Costco shoppers!
Cancellations are also coming down the pike fast and furiously. Another friend in the Kansas City area sent me a copy of a notice yesterday morning stating that all meetings and events in which more than a thousand people would be expected to attend were now cancelled. Tim told me later in the day that he heard that number of attendees had been lowered to two-hundred-and-fifty. (That should effectively kill the Cher concert at the Sprint Center on April 18th. I will be sitting patiently at home awaiting my refund!)
The NBA has cancelled the rest of its season, March Madness is no more, and all NCAA spring and winter championships are cancelled. Baseball spring training has been suspended, and the opening date of the MLB season has been postponed for at least two weeks. NASCAR will go ahead with its next planned races, but without live audiences. Anything and everything that has been open to public attendance is being re-evaluated, and most are being cancelled, suspended, or modified to exclude the public.
The Democrats are moving this weekend's planned presidential candidate debate from Phoenix to Washington, DC, and there will no longer be a live audience.
The footlights of Broadway are off until at least April 12th as the Great White Way shuts down!
And every one of those cancelled or reformatted events represents a major hit to the economy.
Another slice of society that is taking a direct hit during these challenging times is the senior care (rest home) industry. I have a friend in her nineties who is in one of those facilities, and fortunately I was able to visit her this past weekend. Now most are closing their doors to outsiders - even family members. That is causing some anguish and anger among relatives who want to get in to check on their family elders - understandably. But that particular population is one of the most susceptible to the rampaging killer virus. (Thinking of you, Mertie!)
For the time being it looks as though the best response to the increasingly ragged situation is to gather food and supplies and then hunker down for the duration. At some point it will begin to get better!
Either that, or we will all go the way of the Dodo - and Mother Earth can finally begin to repair herself.
Citizen Journalist
One of the things that I did to prepare for the quickly approaching zombie apocalypse was to sort through my cabinets and try to figure out what foodstuffs I already had - and what I needed to stock up on. It took the better part of two days, but now I have a handle on the situation. One area in which I was lacking was soups, so yesterday I went to one of the local groceries - the one that usually has the best buys on brand-name canned goods, and bought some soup.
Business at the store was brisk, though not dangerous. I managed to get what I needed for the larder - and then get out of the way and let others have their turns.
Late in the day I talked to my Kansas City son. Things up Tim's way are apparently a bit more serious. He and his three-year-old son had ventured into the local Trader Joe's yesterday morning and discovered the store to be enveloped in pandemonium. They managed to get most of the staples that they were seeking, but the experience seemed to have left some emotional scars on my forty-year-old offspring. He said the only thing that he could compare it to was the gas lines and panic after 9-11.
Tim related that his neighbor had gone to Costco yesterday morning and found it to also be in turmoil. She told him that the check-out lines extended back as far as the meat department. (That's the length of the warehouse for you non-Costco shoppers!
Cancellations are also coming down the pike fast and furiously. Another friend in the Kansas City area sent me a copy of a notice yesterday morning stating that all meetings and events in which more than a thousand people would be expected to attend were now cancelled. Tim told me later in the day that he heard that number of attendees had been lowered to two-hundred-and-fifty. (That should effectively kill the Cher concert at the Sprint Center on April 18th. I will be sitting patiently at home awaiting my refund!)
The NBA has cancelled the rest of its season, March Madness is no more, and all NCAA spring and winter championships are cancelled. Baseball spring training has been suspended, and the opening date of the MLB season has been postponed for at least two weeks. NASCAR will go ahead with its next planned races, but without live audiences. Anything and everything that has been open to public attendance is being re-evaluated, and most are being cancelled, suspended, or modified to exclude the public.
The Democrats are moving this weekend's planned presidential candidate debate from Phoenix to Washington, DC, and there will no longer be a live audience.
The footlights of Broadway are off until at least April 12th as the Great White Way shuts down!
And every one of those cancelled or reformatted events represents a major hit to the economy.
Another slice of society that is taking a direct hit during these challenging times is the senior care (rest home) industry. I have a friend in her nineties who is in one of those facilities, and fortunately I was able to visit her this past weekend. Now most are closing their doors to outsiders - even family members. That is causing some anguish and anger among relatives who want to get in to check on their family elders - understandably. But that particular population is one of the most susceptible to the rampaging killer virus. (Thinking of you, Mertie!)
For the time being it looks as though the best response to the increasingly ragged situation is to gather food and supplies and then hunker down for the duration. At some point it will begin to get better!
Either that, or we will all go the way of the Dodo - and Mother Earth can finally begin to repair herself.
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