Wednesday, March 18, 2020

Reflections on a surreal few weeks and a look ahead.

What a surreal few weeks! Today we began on-line classes for all of my high school students, and my guess is that this will be the new norm for quite some time. There's still no sign of any toilet paper arriving in stores around here. Ironically, the were no runs on bullets and booze until just this past weekend. I'm OK with the social distancing, and perhaps it will keep back those annoying guys who want to fish right next to you as soon as they see you hook something. The Gemma Rose II just returned from Suburban Marine, so I plan on doing a lot more social distancing over the next couple of weeks. The lure of $50 round trip flights to Florida is pretty tempting as well, but do I want to be that selfish guy? I feel a bit like Pinto in Animal House. (My wife pointed out that a week at the Fontainebleau Miami Beach is only $300!) These are pretty uncertain and terrifying times for many people, fearing the Covid-19 virus and/or the impact it's having on our economy and so many peoples' livelihoods. While I certainly plan to do a lot of fishing, maybe a few trips to the range and some hiking while riding this thing out, I am also very much aware that to pull through this, we're going to have to reach out a hand (at least metaphorically) to our friends and neighbors in the community. It's time to pull together while keeping our 6' safe distance. If that means ordering some takeouts from local restaurants, or booking a charter to make sure a buddy has an income, great. There are also a hundred others ways that just about anyone who is healthy can help someone out at this time. If each of us find just a few of these around our communities, we'll pull this this Corona Spring OK. Stay healthy and positive!

-Redneckangler