This virus has impacted a lot of things pertaining to my life although, to my knowledge, I haven’t been infected by it.
I am supposed to be in Platteville, but I am now home for the rest of the semester and the summer. They closed the residence halls, and the store I work at in Dubuque, Longhorn Saddlery, is temporarily closed. On March 28, an EF1 tornado struck my rural area and ripped down a lot of power lines. For twenty-four hours we had no electricity. It is not the first or the last time that we will lose power, but it was the first time that we hadn’t gone on a family excursion while waiting for the linemen to fix the power lines. Instead, my dad ran the generator we use for our race trailer to power some lamps and we played board games that we haven’t played in years.
Speaking of family, I see a lot of them now. My dad retired in November from his job as an equipment operator. He mostly does work on our hobby farm, my brother’s race car and babysits my niece. My mom works for our school district so she is also at home now. My brother had abdominal surgery in February and has not been cleared to go back to work. His doctor’s office will not clear him until the Stay At Home order is lifted.
I almost feel like I am back in high school. My routine is pretty much the same: from waking up, doing chores, finishing school work, riding horses and family dinners. I really am glad to be back with my horses. Since the weather is nice I can ride and be outside because I don’t have anywhere else to be. I am anticipating taking my horses to shows this summer and getting ready for the upcoming season with the UW-Platteville Equestrian Team.
A lot of things have and haven’t changed in my little town. The gyms and libraries are closed, so no working out, unless you want to run all over town. All of the restaurants in town have closed their dining areas. We have this volunteer delivery service, Chowtown Otown (I live in Oregon, IL, hence the Otown). Basically, we order food from the delivery guys, and they get our order and bring it to us; we barely have to leave the couch. My friend’s step father has been helping out with that the last few weeks, as he is on temporary leave from his job too. While businesses are shutting their doors temporarily, the new jail being constructed in town has not yet ceased their efforts to finish the project. There are still a lot of construction workers on the site.
Many things are different this spring. I wish I was back at UW-Platteville and able to copy edit for the “Exponent”, or spending time with the equestrian team. I wouldn’t even complain about all of my 8 a.m. classes that I have this semester if I could just be back on campus. However, thankfully I am healthy and can’t wait to be back in the fall.