Even in a pandemic, and in the midst of an election process, there’s still no shortage of strange news and crazy people. Perhaps reading of someone else’s erratic behavior or wild stories helps us deal with our own problems a little bit easier. Of course, since we all have cameras in our hands, most of these odd situations are on someone’s cell phone and released to the world. See if the following stories lighten your own load.

The spookiest places in Kansas I hope you are remembering that Saturday is the night of the “Halloween-Global-Full-Blue Moon,” which is so rare, the last time it occurred was in 1944, during World War II. You should either get out and see it or bury your head under a pillow until the night is over, depending on just how superstitious you are.

We will soon bear witness to one of many spectacles of nature as large numbers of geese pass overhead, honking out their signals as they travel from one locale to another, in search of warmer, healthier climates. They are master meteorologists, knowing when to migrate and when to stay put; few decisions in any life are this clear. I love their calls, their communication amongst the formation, and the way they take care of each other. There are so many takeaways when learning about geese, such as the following excerpt from “Praying Our Goodbyes,” written by Joyce Rupp:

Several weeks ago, the Sentinel published the obituary of Mr. Cecil L. Overlease who lived in Truth or Consequences, New Mexico. I kind of remembered hearing a story about this town years ago, but curiosity prompted me check it out. Perhaps many of you did the same thing.

It’s quite likely that at some point in recent months during the COVID-19 pandemic, you have been included in a Zoom videoconference. Many people had never heard of it, let alone knew how to create a Zoom meeting, prior to March 2020. But since then, most of us have gained quite a bit of experience using this form of attending a meeting, hosting a virtual family gathering (sans the potluck!), singing in a choir, appearing in court, and so on. The possibilities are endless, as long as you are able to connect to the Internet. Zoom, of course, doesn’t mind one bit. The company enjoyed a 355% revenue growth in the second quarter over the same period a year ago. Third quarter figures should soon be available, and I would bet their growth will again be phenomenal. The happy CFO said subscriptions from new customers accounted for 81 percent of the second quarter revenue. At last check, they had 429 job openings, all around the world. Not bad for starting 2020 with 10 employees. Don’t you wish you had bought Zoom stock back in January?

In this bizarre year of 2020, another highly unusual event is coming our way. Can you handle anything more? This event will spookily coincide with Halloween, and the fact that there will be a full moon. But this time it’s not just ANY full moon — this one will be special. First, it will also be called a blue moon, but it doesn’t have anything to do with the color of the moon. Rather it’s all about the timing of full moons through out the year.

It’s never a good thing to be receiving email messages from strange places and people unknown to me, especially when they are billionaires wanting to share their wealth. And yes, I am concerned about the security of my email address, and I probably should do something about it. The thing is, I get these crazy emails on my personal email account as well as my office email account. Both are “ruraltel.net” accounts, so that could be a clue. I certainly don’t open up the messages!

I am using my space this week to pass along an important announcement that is being shared across the country to gain support of a very important piece of legislation that this newspaper would ask you to support. This opinion piece was written by Dean Ridings, CEO of America’s Newspapers, an organization which advocates for and defends freedom of the press and expression.

I really don’t remember when it started, but many years ago I began collecting hats. These couldn’t be just any hat; they had to have a personality all their own. They had to be special, weird, crazy, colorful... I really didn’t have a definite rule. They just had to speak to me, I guess. As I waded through antique shops or auctions, anytime a hat spoke to me, I bought it. I just wish I knew the story that should have been included with each hat... who wore this hat, when, and for what occasion.

If you work with computers at all, you know the frustration when things just don’t work as they should. When you work on a network of several computers connected, that frustration level compounds exponentially with issues that are difficult—no, impossible—to trace. That is, unless you are a network guru who really digs that kind of stuff. But for those of us who are not computer gurus, the general “quick fix” is to simply shut down, sometimes even unplug the computer, and then restart a few minutes later. In many cases, that’s what it takes to get things going again.