That road trip to the American Legion meeting of Post 11 in Wagner that Turk Peterka had planned worked out pretty good. He and I arrived at about 6:30 last Thursday evening at the Legion Hall, and that was just in time to get in line for a delicious prime rib supper. The menu also included corn and a baked potato, and enough desserts to satisfy the most discriminating palate. I know some folks will have a hard time believing this, but I showed pretty good restraint when I went through the buffet if I do say so myself. The prime rib covered a large portion of my plate, leaving room for just a small scoop of corn and a baked potato that was not much bigger than a golf ball. Every body should be so fortunate to have that good a meal from time to time. Did I save room for dessert? Believe it or not, I passed on all of the pies and cakes. I think between now and the end of 2018 and the start of next year, I will have ample opportunity to make up for it.

The Colony supplied me with an onion for the forecast again this year and I am sincerely grateful. Do to the way things are working out, I had to do the onion forecast a little earlier this year, but nevertheless, I’m supremely confident in the accuracy of the prediction. Here we go for 2019:

January: Dry February: Dry March: Dry April: Wet May: Wet June: Very wet July: Wet August: Dry: September: Wet October: Wet November: Wet December: Dry. I count five months that should be drier than normal and seven months with above normal moisture. May The Force be with us.

Some times I have to scratch my head in sheer disbelief at the passing of time. Can it really be possible that Marianne and I have been married more than 53 years? We now have kids in their fifties and siblings in their eighties, along with grandchildren who are, or soon will be, teenagers. Over the years, I’ve filled out 5 or 6 of the funeral planning books that they give you to help make that day go a little easier. The songs and hymns that I have picked and would like to have played have pretty much remained the same, but the eight or ten guys that I decided on for pall bearers in the first planning book are pretty much unavailable, if you know what I mean. I don’t remember what some of the other things are that I had put in that planning book, but when that day comes, I suppose it will all work out. And if it doesn’t, I’m not going to worry about it, if you know what I mean.

Which brings us down to the hard part of this column. I had kind of promised that this would be my last column and so it shall be. When I started doing this for the Wagner Post, I didn’t plan on writing for very long. I didn’t write down any special day to mark my first article, so I’m not sure how long this has been going on. I think I started in the early 1990s, so it must be around 25 years, and that would be right at 1300 articles. You know, that amounts to a lot of hot air, and so it is that I have done my share to add to global warming.

Well, I guess that about does it. Thanks to everyone for reading this stuff and sharing your opinion with me. Thanks especially to Marianne. She often gave me a pat on the back when I deserved it, and a harder pat a little lower when I needed it.