Out with the old and in with the new.

The time has come to move on.  

2020 is finally over and it seemed like it went out with a lot of whining and then a whimper.  It was quiet here except around midnight when the neighbors set off some fireworks.  I'm glad someone was celebrating.  

We had some snow fall before Christmas Eve, but since then it has warmed up and it's been raining ever since.  It is now a very wet, soupy, sloppy mess out there.  

The year was filled with too much sadness and grief, lies and hoaxes, craziness and loss of common sense.  Retired Mountain Man went through three major surgeries and cancer treatment, plus other hospital stays all the while trying to avoid catching the virus.  It was stressful. 

Americans didn't learn much after eight months of the pandemic since for the most part, we re-elected the same incompetent people to continue to govern us.  In my opinion they've done a lousy job.  2020 couldn't end soon enough.  

Good riddance, I say.

It may be 2021, and so far nothing seems to have changed yet, but I do believe that the tide is starting to turn and there is hope on the horizon with the vaccine.  Yes, there are problems with the rollout, but in seventeen days, in spite of all of the recounts, audits, lawsuits and political antics, we will have a new president and administration.  They will have a different approach to the handling of the virus and the vaccine rollout.  Almost anything would be an improvement.

There will be sunshine as in this photo from 2015. 

It's hard to grasp that every day more that 3,000 Americans are dying and whatever it is that our government is doing, the deaths are not waning or stopping.  As individuals we each have only our own power to make this change.  

Our president-elect, Joe Biden, announced a national memorial event on January 19th to honor and remember all of the Americans who have died of Covid-19.  It's something we need to do as a country.  It's time to acknowledge the losses so many are suffering.  The death count as of today is almost 350,000 and it will be so many more by the 19th.  Yes, it's more than a couple of weeks away, but make your plan.  How will you honor and remember them?

Light a candle in their memory

along with

A moment of silence.  

and listen

to some beautiful music to bring us together. 

There will be brighter days.  Let's make it happen.