For 15 plus years, 8 of my buddies and I have been having breakfast together at fast food restaurants. This morning I had to cook my own breakfast. The restaurant dining room was closed but they have drive through service. So the boys and I are going to run down to Ace Hardware, buy us a folding table, put it in the bed of a long wheel base pickup truck, some folding chairs, order ham biscuits at the drive in window, and have breakfast in it. In the parking lot. Dare the manager to run us off. He won’t run us off. He is one of us.

I cooked up breakfast of eggs and bacon. Very disappointed because I have never had ramps and some of my breakfast gang said they were going to bring me some to cook in eggs. I whipped breakfast up in a big black iron skillet which has been in the family for years. Reminded me of a domestic disturbance I once went to where a woman was berating her daughter in law for putting her skillet in the dishwasher. BTW, the only time I cook breakfast is on Christmas Day when everything is closed.

I got my breakfast cooked, read the Asheville Citizen. Did not find any uplifting news till I got to the comics.

I went out back and there was a terrible omen. The trees in my back yard were filled with buzzards and I swear everyone of them seemed to be giving me the evil eye. I am not paranoid, but.

On the way to town I thought about the closings and in some respects, it was a blessing. Several of those kinds of meetings I have to go to are cancelled. Ones where you can be exposed to PowerPoint poisoning. Including those where you break out into groups, appoint some poor soul to write on a flip chart, then hang those darn charts around on the wall and never see them again. I feel blessed. No meetings.

So, what is the story in Franklin with all that is going on.

I urge everyone to get a yard stick. Hold it at arm’s length and if it touches someone you are too close. Social distancing is something I do all the time but now I add three feet to it. Keep washing your hands. Do not squander common sense. Greet each other with sincere elbow bumps.

The news about this Covid stuff is fluid. It keeps changing hourly. None of us have ever faced this kind of such a wide-spread thing. I have faced floods, fires, all manner of disasters but they were of a nature where you could look out a window and see what it is you are facing. Not this. You cannot see the danger but we have been told by experts it is there.

I ambled downtown to see how the restaurants were faring with take-out service. I found everyone to be in good spirits. There was a sense of going to a big picnic as folks left with their take out meal(s).

Sort of reminded me of car hops at drive ins back home --when I was in high school.

I talked with some hikers. Several were surprised to find Franklin in limbo when they came in off the AT for rest and resupply. I talked with several of them. They love Franklin and will tell you so. My buddy, AKA Mr. Hiker, Ron Haven, was with several of them as he has been for many years. Ron is sorta like an old mother hen to our hikers. Watching over them.

I had a most unusual experience this afternoon. Several days ago, a mother of a hiker, who lives in Minnesota, called me to ask about the weather and all that. She said her son was somewhere near Franklin but she had not heard from him in a few days.

I was talking and taking photos of hikers and asking them where they were from. One said he was from Minnesota. It is a small world. He is the son of the mother who called me and I told him, “you call your Momma right now! She is worried about you.” His phone battery was dead. I called his mom and she said he had just called. Franklin is a small place.

Personally, I want to thank our residents who are taking this in stride and with a bit of humor. So far, all this has been a huge inconvenience. I do remain very concerned about the economic impact on individuals as well as our businesses. We have to take it day by day. And please, do not hoard anything. Hoarding causes shortages. There is enough of everything to go around.