Yep…they are at that strange, weird, surreal, and for me a wee claustrophobic. Last month somehow my new puppy got loose and posted a column. I must apologize for that. It has been 16 years since I last had to raise a puppy and I forgot just how disruptive and sneaky they can be. Juno is her name and peeing and, well, leaving camouflaged gifts of the smelly kind is her game. She now knows the association between doing her stuff outside and treats, but it’s that “I could give a damn” attitude of “hell no I won’t go outside” when it is cold or just when it suits myself is the problem. And she has learned to be sneaky about it so turn away for a millisecond and she has emptied her bladder and bowels on the floor and will be at my feet asking for a treat. Not to mention the midnight, 3AM, and 6AM runs that I have to accompany her on….every damn morning. So I hope her column was polite and respectful. Mine column will reflect my current state of sleep deprivation..
Strange Days…strange that I haven’t heard any Bluegrass tunes with that title, it’s a good one. As some of you know, my day job is that of a scientist, specifically the biochemistry of how to genetically edit cells, so aspects of this Coronavirus pandemic are fascinating to me…thankfully I have not experienced the infection, or at least if I have I was one of the fortunate ones and had very mild or no symptoms. Eventually, once all the testing development has been worked out, I expect to find out if I have the telltale trace of antibodies to the virus that would indicate somewhere in my past we had become intimately acquainted. But for now, I have to assume I am, as they say in the industry, naieve (no comments or riffs on this by those who are just aching to try and score points). And somewhere in my dim dark past, I actually worked with viruses, ones that infect bacteria, and had considered making a career move to study human viruses. I did not make that move but I still find them really cool.
What we know about the Coronavirus is scary. It is really infectious, much less the associated relatively high mortality, which now we all know means it is really difficult contain and all it takes is a few folks present in a crowd and dozens, if not more, people will likely be infected, and they will go one to infect more. But jams present an even bigger problem in that we like to move from jam to jam, we’re singing in three-part harmonies (a great way to spread the virus) in really close proximity, and then for the better part of a week, we repeat. Talk about a great opportunity to carry out a research study on how to spread a respiratory virus among a large population in a short period of time….!
The CBA Board of Directors had to make the unenviable decision to cancel the Spring Campout and the Father’s Day Festival. We had to make that decision based on what we knew about the progression of the pandemic as of April 5, and what the future looked like for the Festival week…it was not a good forecast.
The majority of emails that I have seen have been supportive of that decision and I want to thank all of you for those kind words. The CBA is in much the same situation as many of our members and small businesses…our operations are disrupted, we can’t hold events for our community and some of those events are our main fund raising events, which means we are having to make some difficult financial decisions to ensure we survive. The Bluegrass Breakdown is moving to a shorter newsletter format and we will start posting more of that Breakdown content on the main cbaweb.org website. Some of our board members and CBA community are also working on a project that will let us get more of that Bluegrass community feeling but in a different way….more on both of those in the near future.
The Board is working hard to keep the CBA thriving but we cannot do it without you…our community and bluegrass family. Now more than ever we will need your help in anyway possible, whether as a volunteer or with financial help. There will be a couple of articles in the new Breakdown newsletter that talk about the financial health of the CBA and some articles of what we are working on. Please take the time to read it and let us know your thoughts and ideas.
Now if I could only find time to pick up my dobro and pick a bit…take care and be well.
