Cogitating On It

As I sit here remembering that gophers typically only breed and give birth once or twice a year, usually in the spring, I am wondering if It is a pregnant female.  That would certainly explain her pudgy cuteness.  Guess we shall see how many small gophers show up here in the next month digging holes! The little ones are self sufficient and digging their own burrows three to five weeks after birth if I remember my biology studies from long ago.

My husband and his two colleagues are even more grateful tonight that they went on their own mandatory retreat and didn't wait to go with the rest of the diocesan clergy.  In response to the COVID19 virus arriving in our province yesterday, the diocesan retreat has been cancelled.  I am rejoicing that my husband got out of town for a good break and some deeply spiritual fellowship because who knows how this whole mess is going to effect our own lives in the near future.  Tomorrow morning we are going out to find some meat to put in the freezer and a bit more bread and breakfast foods that I can safely eat.  Hopefully the rest of the city won't have the same idea!  Many of the grocery store shelves in Alberta have been stripped of food and the news report photos show many shelves are completely bare even though in Calgary, where the photos were taken, there has been no lockdown procedure implemented.

We received an email from the pastoral team at my church as well this evening.  For now we will still have Sunday church services, but we are to sit 2 meters apart on the pews. There will be no more shaking hands or hugging. There will be no coffee hour this coming Sunday. Instead there will be a meeting to discuss the best way to handle the upcoming crisis, what we should do about further services and meetings and some ideas brought forth as to how we can continue to assist each other and our community members if things become desperate in our city.  One of the things I appreciated in the email we received was the call to caution in regard to taking on fear and paranoia, that we should avoid wallowing in terror over this situation and try to be practical without freaking out.  

Interesting times.....yee haw....sigh.....