Trudy, I'm glad your cousin is feeling better.

So I survived my company's layoffs. I'm hoping this is the only round. I have plenty of work to do for current clients, but it's the stuff that's in the pipeline that could be an issue.

The restaurant is still open for takeout. I'm managing social media, graphic design, and content creation in the hopes that my sister doesn't have a nervous breakdown. My father drops off food a few times a week since we aren't going up to help anymore. MedicGuy and I aren't going to chance it. Every call he goes on now requires universal precautions. All of the station's remaining PPE is inadequate, so that's lovely.

We made fancy dinner tonight. Shrimp, farfalle, onion, garlic, curry powder, cream, Pernod, pistachios, and spinach.

I so sorry for everyone.

One of my cousins in Massachusetts has been sick. Her Covid test was negative, but her doctor thinks it was a false negative. She's been isolating from her whole family, which has been tough -- she's got a baby grandson and a 90-year-old mother. She's feeling somewhat better now, which is good.

I've had these lyrics as my tagline here for over a decade, I think. Just had to Adam's name and the z''l (which is short for the Hebrew phrase meaning "of blessed memory.")

Tomorrow I am working registration table at a Blood Drive for 2 hours. YAY out of the house!

We get protective gear to do it, so I am not worried. They came to the county asking for volunteers and I figure, better me than someone that lives with others.

That's so good! I wish we still had blood drives.

Oh JZ, Cindy, Calli... I'm so sorry.

Thank you Trudy. I'm glad your cousin is feeling a little better.

I hope your cousin keeps improving, Hil.

Husband's aunt may not have Covid. I am not even sure she is intubated (which I said earlier). He showed me the family text message, and while his sister said "intubated" she later said the aunt was fighting with everyone, so I suspect she's just on O2 (maybe high flow) and either my s-i-l or someone further down the telephone chain didn't know the difference.

I think the Covid-19 swab is still pending. Now they're talking about aspiration pneumonia. It's difficult when no one in the family can be there.

I guess my son's GF hasn't had her Covid test yet, either. They'll call her tomorrow, and her roommate, who's also a nurse, will take her to drive-thru testing.

Do I need to send you the link?

Yes and thank you for sending it last night. Definitely good for the soul.

I ran out of dog food because my autoship was running late so I texted a neighbor that would surely have plenty. I left a solo cup on his front step with wine in it covered with a plastic bowl. He took the wine, filled the bowl with dog food and left it for me. We agreed to a rain check on hugs.

People are good! Yay good people.

So appreciative to have Buffistas nearby in times of trouble.

Buffistas are good. Even with distance, Buffistas are there for you. Every damn time.

Things are not good here. 

Oh, JZ, I am so sorry.

(which is short for the Hebrew phrase meaning "of blessed memory.")

That is lovely in a time of sad news.

My sister tested negative for flu and there are no COVID tests available so she's presumed positive. She's self-quarantined for two weeks, with a husband, teen twins and three dogs. That's going to go poorly or just not really quarantined. This is why we need tests. And a lot of PPE and so much more.

Sympathies, virtual hugs, and best possible thoughts for all of us.

As a number of musicians whose work I've loved are picked off by COVID-19, and I look at the confirmed cases charts and the exponential curve and the utter incompetence of the Trump administration's response I am starting to grasp how big and horrible this April will be.

When Trump was first elected, his complete incompetence was a bit of a balm. He accomplished nothing in the first year because he's incapable of doing much. But then powerful forces around him exploited his narcissism and he started to remake the Judiciary and SCOTUS and he started putting children in cages. And so it continued.

But now...he's literally going to kill hundreds of thousands of people through not only his incompetence but his greed as Jared sells off PPEs and masks to other countries.

Hundreds of thousands of people. Everybody will lose somebody.

I keep thinking of that stupid SNL skit riffing on Love Actually with Kate McKinnon holding up the cue card that says "He Will Kill Us All."

It is April 1st, and we're about to enter one of the worst months in American history.

I can't stop thinking about Matilda drawing a card for her grandfather and writing a sweet note on the back of it, and not knowing whether he will ever see it, and how I nagged her about FaceTiming him after he got back from his last ill-fated trip but didn't force her to do it, and now it's gnawing at me.

{spilling buckets of love and ~ma all around}

JZ, I am so sorry. Continued ~ma to your house. Calli, I am so sorry. Amy, I am also enraged on your behalf. I hope that Sara is doing well. ~ma to Katie Bee and Hil, too.

(I skimmed more than a bit. So love goes to all of you, these are just the ones I saw).