Emory Schley: Good riddance to the old one, hello to the new one
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Well, here we are! Welcome to a brand, spanking new year. It’s hard to believe the 21st century is already 20 percent behind us! When I was a young lad, the 21st century always seemed so far in the future to me. It was a time I envisioned as filled with flying cars and death rays and vacations on the moon and lots of other cool stuff! We haven’t quite attained that level of technology yet, but we’re rapidly closing in on it. Small children of today will more than likely see all those dreams and more come to fruition before the century is even half-gone.
Emory Schley: Another holiday down, one more to go!
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Christmas was “interesting” this year, but at least most of us survived it. I’m always reminded that
Dearly Beloved’s mother passed away the day after Christmas back in 1991. That always puts a bit of a damper on our celebration but at least we got to spend a good part of Christmas Day with her that year.
So, now it’s on to New Year’s Eve tonight and the dawn of a brand new year tomorrow morning. I don’t think too many people will regret the passing of 2020 and hopefully 2021 will be much brighter for all of us. So, Happy New Year, everyone!
Emory Schley: Better hurry– today is last shopping day!
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It sure has not seemed much like the Christmas season this year, but the Big Day is rolling around tomorrow, whether we’re ready or not.
I’m not at liberty to reveal my sources on this, but let’s just say I have it on pretty good authority that Santa, Dasher, Dancer, Prancer, Vixen, Comet, Cupid, Donner, Blitzen and of course that playful, bright-nosed Rudolph WILL be visiting Beautiful Marion County early tomorrow morning, long before the sun comes up. And in his wake, lots of sleepy-eyed kids are going to be all aglow early tomorrow morning!
Emory Schley: A few bright spots during a depressing season
As others have mentioned before me, this upcoming Christmas will be one like none other. However, there are a few bright spots here and there. This year we can avoid the crowds and not feel guilty about it.
The U.S. Postal Service, UPS and FedEx are doing an amazing job of getting our purchases delivered to us. I had ordered a few items from Amazon that aren’t conveniently available here from local retailers. An email informed me they would arrive by Dec. 23 but they all showed up a good 10 days before their scheduled delivery date. Now that’s pretty fantastic service!
“Your readers might like to know that Ocala has several low-power FM stations. We are all nonprofit and community run. I run Christian radio station WRGE, 97.9 on the FM dial, an LPFM station which serves East Ocala and the Silver Springs area. We are currently featuring Christmas music from many of the artists Gene used to showcase on his program: Folks like Mitch Miller, Jo Stafford, Perry Como, Bing Crosby, Johnny Mathis, Andy Williams, Doris Day and Percy Faith. Christmas carols are so comforting this time of year and this year we need them more than ever.”
PHONE PATCHES: We were also talking a bit about Amateur Radio, more popularly called ham radio.