The other day, I was greeted on Facebook by a photograph of my daughter, Allie, with green highlights in her long golden brown hair.

“Do I go full green or leave it as is?” she asked her Facebook friends.

She has received 42 responses so far and the consensus is — stay with the streaks.

Allie is fortunate. Since March, she has been allowed to work from her home in the Washington, D.C. area. Her office has been closed, thanks to the coronavirus pandemic that has upended most of our lives.

That still doesn’t stop her from becoming bored at times. Hence the green streaks. Can blue and red, the colors she proudly wears as a graduate of the University of Kansas, be far behind? a cousin asked during our family’s weekly Saturday afternoon conference call.

Closer to home, I haven’t resorted to dying my hair green; however, it’s easy to understand Allie’s impatience. You can only put together so many 1,000-piece puzzles before your emotional stability becomes an issue.

Which brings me to the staff of the Independent-Reporter.

Business manager Juanita Kepka and I have been working from our homes since Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly wisely issued her stay-at-home order in March. JoAnn Bohl also is at home.

Meanwhile, advertising director Alan Rusch and graphic designer Bill Beckmeyer have been going into the office and maintaining their distance, as per Gov Kelly’s suggestion.

[The I-R is allowed to have in-office employees because newspapers are considered an essential business.]

At the same time, the front door to the I-R office has remained locked during business hours as a safety precaution for I-R employees and customers. Those of you who normally pick up your copies of the newspaper on Wednesday mornings are now receiving them in the mail.

That arrangement will continue indefinitely.

We’re aware that not everyone takes the coronavirus pandemic seriously.

We are not in that group and even if we were, even the smallest possibility of risking the health and well-being of an I-R employee or customer is enough of a reason to err on the side of caution.

We wish it could be otherwise. We miss the Jim Grays and other readers who stopped by the office to chat. Every Zoom meeting we attend — and there are plenty — makes us feel as if we’re in an episode of the Brady Bunch as we see each participant’s face framed in a square.

Fortunately, like daughter Allie, we can continue to do our jobs from a distance. Like everyone else, we have no idea how long it will be before the pandemic passes. We hope sooner rather than later.

The positive side of this health crisis has been the support Ellsworth County residents have shown for local businesses by shopping at home.

We hope that will continue — long after COVID-19 becomes history. We need something good to come from this.

Linda Mowery-Denning is editor/publisher of the Ellsworth County Independent-Reporter. If you have questions, call the office, (785) 472-5085, or Mowery-Denning’s cell phone number is (785) 472-7339.