Traffic has really slowed down in a lot of places.

Live Cam Cloudcroft
https://www.cloudcroftwebcam.com/camera-1/

Ranger Hill IH20 Cameras
http://its.txdot.gov/ITS_WEB/FrontEnd/default.html?r=BWD&p=Eastland%20Area&t=cctv

Ruidoso Midtown cam
https://www.ruidoso.net/visitor-information/ruidoso-midtown-webcam

Weatherbug this one ou have to play with but it will take you all over the place.
https://www.weatherbug.com/weather-camera/?cam=JMANM

The new normal. Just watched the press briefing. Help is on the way.

Heck, we took a drive on a Kentucky Scenic Byway just to get out of the house. Can you remember the last time you just took a drive?

Its been years for me. I think I gave that up at the first oil embargo.

Yup. I was a kid the last time I remember doing that.

About once a month, we take a drive, just to see the changes. Wait more than a month and a new subdivision will be where a cotton field used to be.

The cams of Ruidoso and Cloudcroft show the traffic, today almost none, normally on a Saturday pr Sunday the downtown areas are bumper to bumper.

Pecan trees are all budding. Spring is on the way.

How are the mesquite tries coming along?

Nobody is on the roads because they are all on the lake. I got to the boat ramp this morning at 9:30am and there wasn't even a parking left. I have fished holiday weekends before and never encountered that! It was nuts!!! I ended up having to jump the curb and park in the median.

Stay home, be responsible.

Real sad people aren't taking this serious, next two weeks will tell the tell, I hope all you partiers are right.

In a strange but somewhat happy twist, the coronavirus variant that struck north Texas also killed all the mesquite trees...but in their place biologists are recommending planting honey locust.

Going fishing aint a party Concho...….especially since I fish alone. And I never got within 10 yards of another human today so where did I go wrong?

Some are getting some green, but the old ones still look dormant.

Stay home dude, you will thank me later.

Once again let me state, the schools are closed, you are being told to shelter in place, the churches are closed, you can't eat inside a restaurant, the economy is headed down hill due to the actions being taken, what in the world does it take to make you folks understand this is deadly serious? I give up, knowing that you folks who refuse to take precautions will be the first to whine.

Still need to think where you're walking. Read that the soles of your shoes can pick up the virus and then you take it everywhere.

Probably 1/2 to 2/3s less on the highways.

Refuse to take precautions?? I followed all the rules in the lock down orders. So where did I go wrong? You never answered my question but continue to make assumptions. I think you need to take a chill pill.

Two people at my workplace tested positive for it now. Make no mistake, it's here.

This was Cooper St. on the UTA campus a week ago at 7PM.

In ten days you will appreciate my advice.

We have no shelter in place order in Abilene.

I'm sure, each to their own, and edited to say, they will most likely blame President Trump for their failure.

A Houston Chronicle reporter named Leon Hale did a series about heading south to meet spring for years. He would meet spring when he found mesquite trees greening up.

He called it premivara.

https://www.chron.com/life/hale/article/Hale-Ponderings-on-the-end-of-Primavera-1968334.php

Several of the customers have reminded me the last few days that it's time to go south to meet spring.
Another one left a message on my voice mail asking, "What's this about going to meet spring?"
A fair question, if you haven't been a follower of this column very long. So, once again, I'll back up and explain that going-to-meet-spring trip.

Frank Grimes of the Abilene Reporter News penned the famous ode to an anticipated spring years ago, "The Old Mesquites Ain't Out,' written in 1939