This has been a year that defies explanations. I spoke with my parents a week or so ago.

Donna Jenkins enters the clerk’s office Tuesday night with a visible smile, despite that mask she is wearing, and is greeted by Election Officer Lisa Johnson. Donna and her son Dale Jenkins deliver the ballot boxes and reports after a full day of overseeing one of the precinct polling places. She has been on the job every November for over 40 years, Johnson said, and showed no signs this week of wanting to retire. PHOTO BY LAURIE EZZELL BROWN

Dear Mr. President, Congratulations on being elected president for the next four years.

This 5:15 am Tuesday morning fire call to Mesa View Assisted Living proved to be a false alarm, but the Canadian Volunteer Fire Department emptied out the fire station to make sure they were ready to handle whatever awaited them. Another call on Sunday afternoon brought out the department to a report of smoke at the Edward Abraham Nursing Home, for what also turned out to be a false alarm. After a long nearly 12-hour call to the scene of a loaded, overturned cattle truck that started early Friday morning and ended Saturday afternoon, one might say our volunteer firefighters had more than earned their paychecks, but they’d be wrong. These guys do this job for nothing except our gratitude, which we do not show them nearly often enough. PHOTO BY LAURIE EZZELL BROWN