We heard it on the radio in the car, on our way to the horse pasture at the top of the hill, a front row seat overlooking  multiple verdant hills. Sandwiches were on board, packed for a quick picnic lunch — al auto — during what would surely be but a brief break in the rain.

Our radio informed us that starting at midnight, we would not be allowed to do what we were about to do. We were going on lockdown. It appears the San Francisco Bay Area will be the first region in the country to take this step. And our home county is the hot zone right now.

Daily life is about to change. Everywhere. I find myself at ground zero on day one. So I think I’ll write a public diary of sorts, for the record.

And for the record, we’re both fine, we’ve been taking the proper precautions for quite a while now. We can still go out to buy food and gas and Australian shiraz and take walks. But that’s about it. I can live with that for a few weeks, no problem.

But after this is over, we all need to have a very serious talk. A very, very serious talk.

Also for the record: We had a perfectly wonderful time on the hilltop. Here are a couple of photos from up there (not from today):