Cowgirl Weather Forecast

April 5, 2020
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Jolyn Young

It is officially spring, and the extended forecast calls for continued mass hysteria all across the nation. The main storm centers are New York and California (aren’t they always?) with large quantities of storm clouds also originating from Washington state. Washington D.C. is trying to curb the potentially devastating financial impact of the storm, but efforts are curtailed by panic from the left.

This storm is unique in its global reach. Dubbed “COVID-19,” its dark clouds have gathered over most continents and impacted every single American citizen. People who haven’t contracted the new coronavirus and physically felt its effects are either isolated at home, out of work, or walking the aisles of Walmart wondering who bought all the canned tomato products.

Many grocery stores are also out of bagged potatoes, cleaning products, and – of course- toilet paper. Because when an unknown storm is brewing on the horizon, it’s best to have a lifetime supply of bathroom tissue. Nobody is sure why, but that isn’t stopping folks from stocking up on TP like Charmin just went out of business. Businesses and schools are closing for the foreseeable future, with some slated to remain shuttered until the new school year begins in the fall.

So, what’s a cowgirl to do with all this unexpected time at home on her hands? Um, ride a pony, of course!

forecast

The weather is warm, winter coats are shedding, it’s the perfect time for the kids to be home from school and getting some saddle time. The weather is typical of springtime in Nevada – a skiff of snow one morning, mid-sixty temps the next afternoon, then wind gusts driving walls of sand across the sagebrush desert the next day. I was unsettled by the sudden cancellation of my daughter’s elementary school at first, but I brightened up when I realized we could log more hours in the arena.

And after spending the morning learning about new Covid-19 cases, increasingly restrictive mandates placing cities on lockdown, businesses closing, stock prices falling, and the trillions of dollars our federal government is borrowing against future generations to help stabilize our economy, I am definitely ready for some horse and sunshine time by early afternoon. My daughter catches the kids’ pony, helps saddle her up, then she and her next-youngest brother take turns riding for an hour or so.

After their rides are over, me and the kids head back inside the house to muddle our way through home schooling, which apparently we are doing now. We use my laptop for my first grader’s online classes, where I can’t help but glimpse the latest headlines. Every news report carries chilling information about lengthening quarantines and economic collapse. Will it be as bad as the recession of 2008? Or will it be worse – more like the Great Depression?

The storm clouds haven’t finished gathering, and we won’t know the answer to these questions and more for some time yet. But until the storm has passed, this cowgirl and her kids will get outside and enjoy every moment in the saddle and sunshine that we can. Many factors are at work that we can’t control, and all we can do is ride it out and hope for the best.