So long, farewell, auf weidersehen, goodnight!

"The globalists in the United Nation continue to tie everything up in knots, while allowing areas of the world burn with terror and genocide. All in all, the world is a real mess." 

One of my favorite songs from the 1960's movie Sound of Music was the So long, farewell song. In that song, the Von Trapp children said good bye to an audience, saying it in the form of a song. When they would exit the stage one by one, they would sing, "so long, farewell, auf weidersehen, goodnight.

So it goes for 2016. Those lyrics popped into my mind. So yesterday, I was thinking about how to sum up this most unusual year. Here are some random thoughts:

• Weather - Al Gore get out of town! If what we had this year was global warming, more next year please! We set a record for the wettest year since records were kept. Also the growing season was awesome with farmers producing bumper (and record) crops, and back yard gardeners (like myself) having a very good year indeed! To top things off, there were very few tornado and hurricanes nationwide.
• Sports - How bout them Twins? Okay, they sucked once again. Only this time they sucked so bad they set a record for losses. And the Vikings? Good flipping grief! We spend a billion or so on a new house and they soiled it. Over and over and over again. The Gopher football team once again showed they have the class and talent to be a Division Two at best. At least we have an improving Wolves team and a kick butt Wild team to watch.
• Celebrity Deaths - This year it was not who died, but who did not die. It was a horrible year for losing people. Some old Hollywood stars we lost because it was just their time. As much as we would like everyone to live forever, we don't. However, we also lost people like Prince way before their time. Sad, sad year indeed.
• World -  We were able to see up close and personal what having a bystanding President could do to our world standing. We have screwed our friends and emboldened our adversaries. ISIS (or ISIL) continues to be a big problem and the resulting waves of refugees have become almost unmanageable. The globalists in the United Nation continue to tie everything up in knots, while allowing areas of the world burn with terror and genocide. All in all, the world is a real mess. 
• Politics - Saved the best for last. This was a year like no other in my lifetime. I will never forget the Presidential race. Never. It all started with caucus night where my wife and I had 104 people show up for precinct caucus. It was wild! Then the BPOU convention where Cal Bahr upset an entrenched incumbent. Then the primaries, where Donald Trump picked off the best of the best, one by one. Then the state convention followed by the national. Finally when the dust settled in November, Donald Trump carried 3,084 of the country's 3,141 counties. The Republicans held on to the House and also the Senate. In Minnesota, the Republicans held on to the House and gained the Senate. All across the nation, many more Republicans won than lost. 

So tonight, I along with many others, will say goodbye to 2016. You were quite a year. No offense 2016, but we expect much more out of 2017. With a new President offering a new vision, this next year could be quite a ride. Happy New Year all!