The Hartley Sentinel-The Everly/Royal News - Serving O'Brien & Clay Counties

Thanksgiving presents us with time to ruminate on the things that matter most. Friends, family, a roof over our heads and food on the table often top the list.

I’m no different. I lead a rather uneventful life, and those four things pretty much cover the bases.

However, I can think of plenty of things I’m not thankful for. Though I’m not going to share this list through gritted teeth at the Thanksgiving table, these things have really stuck in my craw over the past year.

Refrigerators. We’ve had some horrendous luck with our fridges during the past three months. The first instance occurred in August as we were getting set to move from Ocheyedan to Hartley. The refrigerator crapped out, and since it was a GE, hardly anyone in the area was willing to work on it. Confounding matters was the impending closing date on the sale of our house. With options limited and the fridge included in the sale, we had to instead give $1,000 to the buyers of our house to offset the discrepancy.

Our luck didn’t change when we moved to Hartley. The fridge in our new place was original to the house, so it had more than two decades of use on it. The appliance decided to go kaput a little over a month after we moved in. It was begrudgingly replaced and our fingers are crossed that our third fridge in three months will be the charm.

Iowa’s offense. You don’t need to be a fan of the Black and Gold to know that when the Hawkeyes have the ball, it’s going to be ugly.

Minus a few games this season, Iowa’s offense has been unbearable to watch. This reality is made even more maddening when you look at the defense, which is one of the top units in the entire country. It’s extremely frustrating when you need the defense to score at least once – and in some cases, twice – to win a football game.

Despite all this, Iowa has a chance to go to the Big 10 Championship Game if it can knock off a reeling Nebraska team on Friday. Though Iowa’s offense may be hot garbage, I will say this – I am entirely thankful that I’m not a Huskers fan.

Politics writ large. The never-ending stupidity of American politics came full circle last week when former president Donald Trump, who lost the 2020 election by a lot, announced a third bid for the White House. I had tentatively hoped the man who incited the Jan. 6 debacle and is under federal investigation for multiple alleged wrongdoings would ride the bench in 2024, but I lost that bet.

The state of American politics wouldn’t have changed whether Trump ran or not. We are wholly divided here in the United States, and I’m not sure how we ever step back from this ledge.

The holidays. Now that the turkey has been cooked, we are entering my least favorite season of the year – Christmastime.

I’m not ashamed to say that I’m a Scrooge. There’s just too much going on and too much money being spent out of my bank account for me to enjoy the holidays. Coupled with the fact that I’ll most likely end up on a ladder hanging lights in 20-degree weather, my general dislike turns into abject disdain.

I’ll push through it like I always do, though, because it’s not like I have a choice in the matter anyway. Bah humbug!

Nick Pedley is the news editor and ad manager of The Hartley Sentinel-The Everly/Royal News.