I had to check to see if that was still allowed to say, and it seems so. Reminiscent of when early settlers noticed the indigenous population would do their last hunt of the season, apparently.

We decided to go for a possibly last eat-out outside of the year. The pandemic isn't over, and low-traffic outdoor seating still seems mostly safe. We took an early out to hit dinner at a local place, Bunny's. They've set up a dozen tables in their parking lot. About half of them had occupants when we arrived. It shifted around, but still only half when we were done. Although we'd arrived earlier, the sunset happened while we waited for our food, which was a little thrill for the kids, too. It was nice to have too much food, good service, a beer, and not have to cook or clean after.

The election also happens to be today. A ton of anxiety and passion and concern swirling around the house and at the office, via Zoom. It's turning out to be a bit of a nail-biter. At our home, and in the office, we understand and expect the pandemic and general civic changes to have huge impact. There are an incredible number of early or mail-in or absentee ballots, whatever role or place or title. There is also still a huge number of people hitting polls around the country. It could take days or weeks to straighten out, especially if recounts or lawsuits happen.

As expected, the media stepped in and started making their projections. Sometimes with narrow to no votes cast. One state was called with 0% reporting, and another with only 250 votes. I get that there are undeniable trends and deep roots in places, but change could happen. Sigh. For the most part, a lot of time was spent discussing how they look not only at the percentages of districts reporting, but also of the number of registered voters in the remaining districts, to try to tell if there are enough votes to swing the tally. In one instance, the phrase "consider if all of the votes went the other way" was uttered, which gave me some relief. Still, falling back on those expectations is defeating and maddening to my sense of data.

I turned in early to avoid getting too stressed. The little little was extra tired, and the older little was on FaceTime with a friend, so he laid down with me to watch some election discussion. Two minutes later he fell asleep. A few minutes after, I turned off the rhetoric and started typing.

Everyone is healthy.