Happy New Year to all and may it be better than last year. Now it all starts over again. Today I got a letter from my CPA informing me of my appointment for her to do my taxes. It is mid-March again and I won’t have received all the reports.

Happy New Year to all the non-profits, foundations and charities. We write checks to the same organizations in the first few days of the year. The budget allows for a certain amount and all those charities who call or mail for the next fifty-one weeks are wasting time and money.

Happy New Year, I am hoping this year will see more weddings than funerals. At our age it is unlikely. Therefore, it is time to review our wills and death plans. Most people of our age paid more for their first three or four cars than what a standard funeral costs today. The motto of funeral directors must be “you CAN take it with you.”

Happy New Year and we should expect a call from our primary doctor for our yearly appointment. They have two man functions. One is to see if we can remember three words-I tell them to write them down so we don’t disagree-and to talk us into taking more drugs.

Happy New Year to all who got a raise including those getting Social Security. A raise means it is time to redo our budget.

Happy New Year and it’s the new season for all those series we have become addicted to seeing every week. The new season’s Doc Martin, 800 Words, Game of Thrones, and all the NCISs have started.

Happy New Year to all those who aren’t getting paid because of the shut down. I hope it will be a better year for all those people wanting food from federally funded food banks, the soy bean farmers looking for their subsidy payments because of China not buying agricultural products, and all of us wanting to visit National Parks.

Happy New Year. This is the traditional time for us to evaluate our lives and come up with new ways to make ourselves better people. Many of us will have losing weight at the top of their list of resolutions. Over 80% will forget that one by the middle of the month. As long as we are thinking about New Year’s resolutions, how about we make our first resolution to be kinder to all those people who disagree with us, no matter how misguided we may think they are.