How’s your decluttering going? Can’t say I’m full steam ahead every day, but I’m chugging along, a little bit at a time. See, if I make the job too big, I get discouraged before I even begin. I find that chunking it down into manageable pieces is the way to go. When you set a small goal like that and accomplish it, it makes you feel good. Like everything in life, finishing the job is key, right? I just don’t get these folks who never seem to finish anything. Living like that would make me kind of anxious. You? There’s this house in town where they’ve been putting up shingles, forever. Charlie and me joke …

Okay, buckaroos, we are over halfway through January. It’s usually a long, cold month, right? A good time for hunkering down, using the hell out of your slow cooker, and enjoying the beauty of nature (from inside your house, of course). But this year’s different (surprise, surprise). January is no darker than usual, but it hasn’t really been all that cold. Still, it sure has felt cold and dark, hasn’t it? And I don’t think I’m alone here. Like every January, I try to convince myself that now would be a perfect time to do my spring cleaning. It makes sense, especially this year. You know, do it now, while you’re under Covid house arrest. …

Hard to tell what goes on in other people’s marriages, but sometimes you wonder. Can’t help it. There’s this couple from away that Charlie and me see when we’re out and about. They’ve only been in town a couple of years. We don’t know them and I haven’t been able to dig up much info. I think they pretty much keep themselves to themselves. Charlie and me have nicknamed them Fred and Ethel. About the only time we see them is when they’re out walking or riding their bikes. We’ve never once had just a Fred or just an Ethel sighting. Nope, it’s Fred and Ethel together, and Fred is always smiling. Ethel is friendly …

When you read that title, what was your next thought? Good riddens, right?” I hear you. Wow, 2020 was one heck of a year! And honestly, one I’d hate to do all over again. Aren’t we all ready to flip the page on the calendar? I sure am. But it’d be sad to miss an opportunity to think about what we learned this year, how we got through it. The coronavirus has this way of shining a special spotlight on things we might have been ignoring, or not appreciating, or just plain clueless about. I’ve come up with some questions to ask yourself. You don’t have to answer all of ‘em, of course, but I …