March- a month to remember

This month seems like a chapter from a science fiction book. We are in the midst of dealing with Coronavirus, Covid-19. This virus started in China with it's first reported cluster on December 31. On January 7th the Chinese government confirmed it was Covid-19. As of January 30th a total of 9976 cases had been reported in at least 7 countries. The first Covid-19 case reported in the US was on January 20th. On March 5th we had our first case in Maryland.

Sophia rode Nicki during the in-house dressage show and did AMAZING. She rode her musical freestyle to the music she put together from Grease. She earned at 78.13 on the musical. This is a very high score. She rode a 77.59 on Training Level 3. She also moved up a level and did the first test of Level 1 dressage and rode a72.59. Sophia and Nicki are an amazing pair with lots of potential. The Pony Club dressage rally is scheduled for April but may be cancelled due to the virus.

There was some questions about the Girl Scout mall sleep in being cancelled but luckily enough it was early in the month and it was not cancelled. It was one of the very few things not cancelled. The girls all had a blast.

Steve and I took Leslie out for her birthday dinner. We went to a sushi and hibachi place downtown. It was so great to spend time celebrating Leslie. We didn't think she would be here at this time last year. She was given 6-9 months and thankfully the chemo has slowed down the spread and we get more time with her. 

Sophia got her haircut for the first time in almost two years on March 11th. She loves it.

On March 10th the schools announced all out of state field trips would be cancelled for the rest of the year. Sophia was supposed to go to Hershey with her choir. 

On March 12th schools announced they were closing for two weeks. On March 13th the kids were told to pack everything from their lockers to take home. 

By March 13th people were panic shopping. You could not find toilet paper, towel paper, hand sanitizer or bleach wipes in stores. Other items like milk and bread were hard to find too. Here is the paper aisle on March 13th.

On March 16th all group lessons at the barn were cancelled. Sophia was allowed to go and ride Nicki until March 23rd. On March 23 the governor announced that all non-essential businesses would close. On March 25th she found out she could not longer ride Navajo. This is the same day we found out that the schools would remain closed until April 21st. On March 31 schools announced they would start online learning on April 20th. 

On March 16th a lot of my work moved to VRI from home. A fair amount of my work also cancelled.  Some of my work is considered essential so I was still going to a couple of job sites including VRS. I was sent equipment to do VRS at home so I will start doing that from home in April.

When I found out Leslie was diagnosed with stage 4 lung cancer last March I had just started knitting a wrap. I promised her if she lived long enough to have me finish it then it would be hers. The poncho I made Sophia took three or four years so I was hoping she would fight for it. It became our running joke. But I worked hard to finish it because I couldn't wait to see her in it. The wrap was knitted with love and I hoped she would feel it when she wore it. I finished it in March. She picked out the buttons online and once it was all done I drove it over. I was sure to keep more than the 6 foot distance they are recommending because she is high risk for Covid. She loved the wrap. 

With all this extra time at home we are trying to find fun stuff to do. I started working through the practice swatches from my color cable book. 

Sophia and I tried baking the cake we made a couple of years ago with Kim. It was an epic fail. The cake stuck to the pan. Our frosting was too thick BUT it tasted great.

Our pets are enjoying having us all at home.

And here is a horse from the barn showing the grass is always greener on the other side.