Lowndes County and the City of Columbus Lockdown
Early on, some time in March (maybe) both Lowndes County and the City of Columbus closed down all but essential businesses, put in place social distancing guidelines and did so without guidance from our new governor. I was very glad to see that people in this community had apparently been paying attention to the medical experts and were not going the way of the wild wild red states—at least those that were as slow to act as the President. Sorry my Trump-supporting friends here in the Friendly City...this is not a diatribe about Trump, because he's mainly absent from life here in Columbus. Polite Southern society generally stays silent about him. If pushed (by accident) they will say, "He's done some wonderful things." Ok. Enough on that issue.
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| Sheltering in Place BEFORE Covid-19 |
Because I am "sheltering in place" or "self-quarantined" I just have to mention my twin calicoes, which you can see to the left. Like all of us self-quarantining, they seek out comfort in their food, or sleep. The girl on the left is Ellie. The girl on the right is Mae. Over the last four years however, their names have grown as their personalities have emerged. Most of the time Ellie is now Ellie Girl or Miss Ellie, and if she could talk, she would say, "I'm Miss Ellie. I'm the pretty one, and I like to bite!" All said with enthusiasm and clarity. Mae has become Mayberry or Miss Mayberry, and if she could talk she would say, "I'm Mih-maybewy," in a kind of breathless voice, kind of subdued, and with equal taciternity, she would admit to her middle name being "needwant" and say, "Can I have a treat?"
And here they are continuing to self-quarantine. This time sharing a chair in the living room and allowing me to sit in the other one during TV time, which self-quarantined creatures, human and feline, must do to stay sane....or...uh...catch up on sleep. Mae is the girl on the left and Ellie is the girl on the right.
That's our basic day while the virus rages and the world is hunkered down. Eat, sleep, watch TV and take naps. Just not that different for us anyway.
With the stimulus check received this month of April, on the 15th, I was able to buy a bigger bill of groceries, which means I don't have to venture out every three or four days to buy a few groceries. I will still have to keep bread and milk on hand. I even bought the rest of the ingredients I need to bake a chocolate cake from the recipe that has been on the Hershey's Cocoa container for decades. I'll add Southern Pecans to the icing! I will attempt to make it last, but I suspect I just might have a piece for breakfast.
One of Cliff's friends from when he lived here (her name is Beth and she lives just one street farther north) has been bringing me cooked food during the several weeks that we have been isolated, and my neighbor down the street and her friend have also given me prepared food. What I appreciate more than the food is that this just has to be their way of telling me they're fond of me, want me to be safe, and are watching out for me. I feel the same way about them. And so it is with many of the others I have met and become friends with here in Columbus during the past four years. It is hard to believe that I have already lived here four years! And next month will be my second-year anniversary to have quit smoking! The odometer has also turned over into a new decade of my life, from my sixties to my seventies, but like my father, I still don't think of myself as one of the old people. If I was ever right about anything, the last four years living here in Mississippi, which has a really bad reputation for being backward and uneducated, has proven that this stereotype is just not true—at least not here in Columbus. During this pandemic, people who still work in public to keep open the grocery stores, gas stations, building supply stores, etc., are risking exposure to the virus to keep the rest of us feeling like life is still going on. They wear face masks, they clean and re-clean surfaces in the stores, they use hand sanitizer, and otherwise have made logical and safe choices—just so that the rest of us can continue to thrive.
No doubt, people everywhere during this time of anxiety and fear are taking precautions. Not that many people are being reckless and stupid, as far as I can see. But especially here in Old Dixie, where outsiders still think that Mississippians are backward, nothing could be further from the truth. There are backward and stupid people in ample supply elsewhere too. But given a place to live in times of trouble, I'm glad to be here among these people. I get an extra-strong feeling that they care about their neighbors and each other.
Columbus is a small city of only 24,000 residents, but it does have its own TV station, and local businesses often have the television turned to WCBI in Columbus. And here is a relevant sample of the station programming during Coronavirus:
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| Actually sheltering in place During Lockdown |
That's our basic day while the virus rages and the world is hunkered down. Eat, sleep, watch TV and take naps. Just not that different for us anyway.
With the stimulus check received this month of April, on the 15th, I was able to buy a bigger bill of groceries, which means I don't have to venture out every three or four days to buy a few groceries. I will still have to keep bread and milk on hand. I even bought the rest of the ingredients I need to bake a chocolate cake from the recipe that has been on the Hershey's Cocoa container for decades. I'll add Southern Pecans to the icing! I will attempt to make it last, but I suspect I just might have a piece for breakfast.
One of Cliff's friends from when he lived here (her name is Beth and she lives just one street farther north) has been bringing me cooked food during the several weeks that we have been isolated, and my neighbor down the street and her friend have also given me prepared food. What I appreciate more than the food is that this just has to be their way of telling me they're fond of me, want me to be safe, and are watching out for me. I feel the same way about them. And so it is with many of the others I have met and become friends with here in Columbus during the past four years. It is hard to believe that I have already lived here four years! And next month will be my second-year anniversary to have quit smoking! The odometer has also turned over into a new decade of my life, from my sixties to my seventies, but like my father, I still don't think of myself as one of the old people. If I was ever right about anything, the last four years living here in Mississippi, which has a really bad reputation for being backward and uneducated, has proven that this stereotype is just not true—at least not here in Columbus. During this pandemic, people who still work in public to keep open the grocery stores, gas stations, building supply stores, etc., are risking exposure to the virus to keep the rest of us feeling like life is still going on. They wear face masks, they clean and re-clean surfaces in the stores, they use hand sanitizer, and otherwise have made logical and safe choices—just so that the rest of us can continue to thrive.
No doubt, people everywhere during this time of anxiety and fear are taking precautions. Not that many people are being reckless and stupid, as far as I can see. But especially here in Old Dixie, where outsiders still think that Mississippians are backward, nothing could be further from the truth. There are backward and stupid people in ample supply elsewhere too. But given a place to live in times of trouble, I'm glad to be here among these people. I get an extra-strong feeling that they care about their neighbors and each other.
Columbus is a small city of only 24,000 residents, but it does have its own TV station, and local businesses often have the television turned to WCBI in Columbus. And here is a relevant sample of the station programming during Coronavirus:
