Stay at Home

Governor Cooper's Stay at Home order takes effect today at 5:00 p.m., and local law enforcement is already gearing up.  There was another roadblock on the Walhalla Road this morning when I drove to Highlands.  I rolled down my window, and a young female police officer asked me, "What brings you to Highlands?"  I replied that I was going to the Post Office, and then for a run, and then returning to my home in Clear Creek.  "Where are you running?" she asked, which surprised me.  I hadn't really decided yet:  Big Bearpen?  Lower Lake Road?  The "Usual Three?"  I think I said something vague like, "You know, just around Town."  She told me that was still allowed, but to be sure to practice social distancing by staying six feet away from anyone.

"Still" allowed?  That had me a little worried.  I had read the Stay at Home Order, and it clearly says, "except to visit essential businesses, to exercise outdoors, or to help a family member."  I guess I am helping a family member, too, come to think of it.  I would be difficult to live with if I couldn't go running.

They are definitely getting out the word to Stay at Home, and I applaud our small Town with its limited manpower for getting out the word so well.  The roadblock was gone when I returned an hour later, moved to another highway, probably.  During the few minutes I have been sitting at my computer writing this blog post, I received a text message, all in caps as usual, from Macon County.  NC IS UNDER A STAY AT HOME ORDER TODAY AT 5PM PEOPLE SHOULD STAY AT HOME AND LIMIT INTERACTIONS AND TRAVEL.  And then we heard a message on our land-line's answering machine saying the same thing:  "This is a Code Red Message from Macon County 911, etc."  This would be a difficult time to be in local government; I feel for them, and I support them wholeheartedly.  The worse emergencies I had to face when I was Town Administrator were hurricanes, Town-wide power outages, and blizzards, but nothing like this.

When I arrived at the Post Office with some packages to mail, I found that they had hung long strips of clear plastic from the ceiling, in front of the counter.  The lobby smelled strongly of Lysol.  Postal Clerk Tabitha was as friendly as usual, but she was wearing latex gloves again, and this time she slipped on a surgical mask.  "Stay safe!" I said as I left, and she said the same.  How quickly we are adjusting to the New Normal.  We no longer blink an eye at a surgical mask.

Yesterday, I had come to Highlands for a Sunday morning visit to Bryson's Grocery Store, and I found it almost empty at 11:00 a.m.  Fred had told me Saturday that the Methodist Church's virtual worship service on Facebook had 1000 viewers last week (and they only have 500 members) so perhaps that is where most of them were.  The bread aisle had been cleaned out again, and toilet paper was down to a few rolls, of course; but what an earth would anybody want with shelled edamame beans?  The bread was no problem, really; I returned home and baked an artisan loaf that afternoon.

But tortillas!  Who cleaned out all of the flour tortillas on the lower shelf in the Mexican Food aisle?  I managed to find one overlooked box of an Old El Paso Soft Taco Dinner set, which contained six tacos and two foil bags of enchilada sauce.  Martha told me she had a good tortilla recipe, so I guess that is what we will try making next.

The Town was deserted for a Sunday morning.  I circled through the Shell Station, donned latex gloves, and topped up the gas tank.  There was not a single car there.  I circled around and drove back down Main Street from the east end, where all of the parking spaces would normally have been filled by Episcopalians, Presbyterians, and visitors to Wolfgang's and Highlands Inn and Old Edwards Inn.

These are terrible times, and after a weekend without cable news, I turned on my computer this morning to horrific visions of body bags, makeshift morgues, and emergency hospital tents being set up in Central Park.  I am so thankful that my problems are so very few.  And that I know how to bake bread and make tortillas.  And that I can still run on these deserted streets.