In March I wrote a blogpost in which I mused about what it would be like to live through some sort of natural disaster. Three years— excuse me, three months later, my curiosity has been sated. Lancaster County is now in the Yellow Zone. Pennsylvania is re-opening in stages: red was the total shutdown, yellow is partial, and in green you're to good to go (but not without your face mask, of course.) Most counties in Pennsylvania are green, but Lancaster and several other high-population areas … [Read more...] about Letter from the Yellow Zone
Family
Beefing Up! An Ascension Day Project
Today I learned that 1/4 of a steer equals a lot of meat! A few weeks ago, we heard a neighboring farmer was selling his grass-fed steers to anyone who wanted one. (Like everywhere else, our local farmers are hurting from the supply chain disruptions.) All you had to do was arrange for transporting and butchering. So some of my family decided to go together and purchase a whole steer and then divide the meat. My sister made the arrangements with a butcher shop and the steer was scheduled … [Read more...] about Beefing Up! An Ascension Day Project
A Home for Birds, Bats, and Skunks?
"As soon as the birds flew out, the phone started working again," said Mom this morning. "No one will believe me if I tell them our phone call got cut off because of the birds."' "Everyone will think we're cuckoo if we say our phone and internet isn't working because the birds are building a nest again," I agreed. This, however, is absolutely the truth. The phone box that houses the wires that lead to our house and tether us to the outside world via phone and internet has become the … [Read more...] about A Home for Birds, Bats, and Skunks?
Why We Had Potato Soup For Supper
Grocery stores are rationing milk; farmers are dumping milk into their manure pits. Welcome, April 2020. Since I last wrote a blog post, Lancaster County and the whole state of Pennsylvania was put under a stay-at-home order. Since I haven't been going anywhere besides work, this hasn't changed much for me, except it feels more serious now. Especially since the stay-home order is in place until the end of April. On Sunday afternoon, I went on a long walk and took pictures of local … [Read more...] about Why We Had Potato Soup For Supper
Penny Letter From a Lockdown Zone
"A natural disaster would be interesting to see," I once told some family members. "Not people dying or anything like that. I just think it would be fascinating to witness a devastating natural event of some kind. Don't you think so?" "No!" My family members were aghast. "That's crazy! Why would you want to see something like that?" "Oh." Apparently, not everyone daydreams about riding a boat down the street, or standing in a doorway during an earthquake and seeing if that really is … [Read more...] about Penny Letter From a Lockdown Zone