Winding up 2020

I am sitting in my living room watching Hallmark Christmas movies on Christmas Eve of 2020. This has really been a different kind of a year. I normally start out the year slowly working up to my annual squirrel shooting which usually begins between February 15th and my birthday, March 1. This year, We began to hear the Covid-19 was coming our way in early February. I went to Alturas the last week in February, but it was a bit early for the varmints. I shot a couple of days and decided to come home on March 1. I spent the next couple of weeks dealing with a bad cold and cough. I wondered if maybe I did have the virus early on. My heart doctor said probably not because he said it almost always comes with shortness of breath and although I coughed a lot, I never felt "short of breath". I contemplated when my next trip to Modoc would be, and decided to hold off. There was virus in our area by April and things were being locked down. Alturas did not have any cases at that time. I decided not to take a chance of taking the virus up there and stayed at home. The next trip was in May. An RV space opened up for 2 months at Sully's RV park and we pulled the Airstream up to the park and set it up. I had some pretty good shooting for a few days and came home. I went back up on July 4 for the last time. I shot a couple of days, watched an abbreviated version of the annual Independence Day Parade in Alturas before coming home with the Airstream. All up, I probably shot a total of about 7 days the entire season.

I last saw my Mother on February 19, 2020 on her 90th birthday. Shortly after that, she had to leave her independent living situation and spend some time in the hospital. She was not able to return to her apartment and was forced to go into a skilled nursing section of the same facility. When Covid hit, it really hit elderly facilities fast and hard. Her facility was completely closed down to any visitation. Early on it was very hard to get to talk to her because she did not have a phone in her room, and phone technicians were not allowed into the facility to install a phone. Later on, she did get a phone in her room and we were able to call her. We are hoping we can get a call to her tomorrow so we can all wish her a Merry Christmas.

Once the season was over, I got back to work. Argo owners started bringing their Argos in earlier than normal and I had a fairly steady stream of jobs all the way up until Duck season started in late October. Several Argos showed up late and I got most of them done by Thanksgiving. A few more showed up late and we got them finished up last week, just before Christmas. I had a golf cart re-built to do and a re-furbish job to do on a Suzuki Quad. I got the golf cart finished this week and the Quad is started and will get finished up in the new year.

Points West Argo, Inc. also threw me some curveballs. Covid-19 related restrictions literally eliminated all of my golf cart rental business for the year. All shows and festivals were cancelled. We responded to the loss of revenue by selling off the 10 car rental fleet over the summer. We also saw a reduction in revenue from service and repair operations in our shop. Covid restrictions said that Gun stores were "essential business", so I felt comfortable continuing work at the shop by myself. Although the gun dealership could function under the guidelines, I decided not to see customers and basically shut gun sales down for the year. Although I felt like I worked on Argos and golf carts all year, the numbers are down. The bright spot was the website. Revenue for EZGolfCart.com finished up the year over 50% up from last year. It seems like maybe owners were working on their carts when there was not a lot of other stuff to do because of Covid. We also made some changes early in the year with our Google Adwords campaign, that may also have contributed to the increase. After everything shakes out, we had a really good year.

I continue to be able to work 5 to 6 hours a day doing the website and the mechanical work in the shop. I am still working by myself, so I have to be careful to not overload myself. I don't handle stress as well as I once did. My heart bypass is now a little over 3 years old and showing no sign of plugging up again. Fingers crossed, this old ticker will get me through many more years.

No one imagined when this virus started that we would be going into 2021 with it still causing havoc all over the country. I am looking at my normal squirrel shooting season this year not knowing if or when I might be able to go. Modoc county now has cases and I am not sure how welcoming they will be to outsiders. I will probably wait a bit longer this year to go up. I am thinking maybe April 1 or so.

Tomorrow we will be joining our son Blair and his family for Christmas in Lincoln, CA. All through this virus, our pod has been limited to us and Blair's family. We see Brooke at Home Depot once in a while, but unfortunately we do not spend time together. In the early days of the pandemic, we did not see Blair at all. His wife had a bout with cancer and had a compromised immune system and we did not dare go anywhere near them. We did a drive-by parade for her birthday. Once she completed her treatment and was feeling better, we eventually got to spend some time with them. We spent Thanksgiving with them and we will be spending Christmas with them as well.

I am not sure what is in store for us in 2021. The Covid vaccine has come online in the last two weeks and we should be able to get an immunization in the next couple of months. Maybe then life will get back to some sort of normal. I don't think we will get back to the old normal for quite some time. Old habits change slowly, but then it take time for them to change back again. It is gonna take some time. We will continue to try to make the best of whatever "normal" we have at the time. Here we Go!