No End in Sight

As expected, Michigan's state of emergency was extended till the end of April.  The legislature voted for it, but our governor seems to imply that she did it on her own.  I understand that the law is a little vague about the matter so, if push comes to shove, the courts will have to rule on it eventually.

I found an old newspaper in the garage that says the first two cases in Michigan were reported on March 10, and the state of emergency was declared shortly thereafter.  That means this thing has only been going on for a month but, for some reason it seems longer than that to me.  Everybody says that it's working, in spite of the fact that the two cases we started with have grown to over 20,000 since all this social distancing was mandated.  I am reminded of the old saying we had at the paper mill whenever something unpopular was implemented: "Try it for 30 days.  If you don't like it, try it for another 30 days."

Going to church was my favorite part of Easter back in the day.  We used to sing a hymn that used the tune from Sibelius' "Finlandia":

"Oh morn of beauty, morn of gladness, the Earth awakes with victory as her strain.
Gone is the gloom, the sorrow and the sadness, for Christ the Lord is risen again."

Like a lot of Christian traditions, Easter and all it stands for can be traced back to Pagan origins.  The idea that a god could die and be resurrected was likely inspired by the changing of the seasons.  Those who worshipped a female deity believed that her male consort died in the fall, or at least went into a dormant state, and his re-awakening enabled the goddess to be fruitful and multiply, or something like that.

Be that as it may, the earth under Beaglesonia is not yet ready to awake with victory as her strain.  We had snow today, it didn't stick, but it reminded us that we're not out of the woods yet.  There are signs of course.  The frogs have begun their courtship vocalization, geese and cranes have been heard and even sighted overhead, a few robins and doves have been poking around, but these are only early birds trying to beat the rush hour traffic.  Hunker down folks, it ain't over till it's over.