March Madness

Wauchula, FL

March Madness used to refer to the NCAA Basketball Tournament held every March; but with the coming of Covid-19, the original March Madness has been cancelled and replaced by a new kind of March Madness. Businesses are being asked too close, sports events (including the Olympics) have either been postponed or cancelled all together, and we are all being told to practice social distancing. Some are even being required to shelter in place.

The stock market has been like a roller coaster (mostly headed down), and there are all sorts of shortages at the grocery stores as people hoard supplies of hand sanitizer, hand soap, toilet paper, and bottled water. Bottled water? Really? Do people think the virus is going to infect the water supply or do they think all the municipal workers are going to call off sick and they're going to turn off the water pumps?

In the midst of all this madness we're both doing fine. We live in a rural area, and as of this writing the county in which we live (Hardee) has no reported cases of Covid-19. The county to our east where we do most of our shopping (Highlands) has only 5 reported cases.

Florida residents are being urged to stay home, but there are mandatory shelter in place orders in a couple of highly populated areas of the state around Miami and Gainesville, both of which are pretty far away from us. All across Florida, however, bars, restaurants (except for take-out orders), beaches, state parks, and even churches are closed. Doctors and dentists have been asked to cancel all appointments for routine exams and procedures.

All the events at our little resort here in Florida have been cancelled. There are still a few meetings going on, but they're being held outside on the pool patio where everyone sits at least 6 feet apart. Our pool is open, but it is limited to 10 people at a time.

Margery is working on the April newsletter. With all the events for the second half of the March and all of April cancelled, it will be a pretty short issue. After a few months of intense activity among a number of people in the park, she is now working with one of our members to get the updated info on prospective membership loaded on to our web page.

Paul is working on a couple of small landscape projects and a few chores around the Resort, mostly by himself. We haven't had much rain recently, so he has watering to do. He is also puttering around our site cleaning and fixing things here and there, organizing the shed, and tending our own plants.

Speaking of plants, our orchids, which normally live outside, are both blooming like crazy. We have them inside temporarily so we can enjoy them up close. Flowers can really brighten your day.

Orchids from our garden

Other than a weekly trip to the grocery store, we're hangin' around home riding this thing out. It will get worse before it gets better, but it WILL get better. In the meantime, stay safe, stay healthy, and wash your hands.

 

Comments

[Ginny Molliard]

I so enjoy reading your posts. The orchids are beautiful. Norm, my husnband, used to grow beautiful orchids before we took up RV life almost 20 yeats ago.

[Margery]

And thanks to Norm, those two orchid plants came from the orchid farm he told us about in Bradenton! Thank him, again, for us Ginny! 😊

[Laurie Milliard]

Very nice post! Great description of how we are doing here at our Florida SKP Resort. Thanks for all you both do to make our home such a great place to hang out, even in this March Madness!

[Janice Evans]

The orchids are gorgeous.

The rest is madness indeed. The worst for us has been "no church services." We really miss everyone!

[Margery]

You're so thoughtful. Thanks, Laurie.