The outlook for this fall and winter doesn’t look good. Not only are we battling a pandemic that is affecting the entire world, our ports are clogged with ships waiting to be unloaded and prices for groceries and goods are increasing at an alarming rate.

A lot of the transportation issues are being blamed on a lack of truckers, which is understandable based on how much they make and their ability to pay extraordinary gas prices.

More importantly, farmers and ranchers in a large area of central and western U.S. are trying to keep their livestock fed and crops growing while dealing with persistent drought conditions. Of course producers are also suffering with higher gas prices in the midst of harvest, and the lack of truck drivers to get livestock to market.

Being just a lowly journalist, I don’t know how to fix these issues, so I just pray that our lawmakers will get this all straightened out.

What I can do, and you can do this as well, is to vote for candidates who are concerned about these issues and have good ideas on how to fix them. That’s our right and it’s a huge responsibility. Even moreso when times are tough.

Although I worry about these issues, I do believe that people in the U.S. are tough enough to weather the storm.

Yes, we may not be able to get some of the groceries and other products that can’t be shipped into the country but I’m quite sure U.S. companies will find a way to fill that void. In the meantime, we’ll just have to make do with what we have.

Remember WWII when many household staples were rationed including meat, dairy, sugar, coffee, lard, shortening and other oils and also automobiles, gasoline, fuel oil, coal, nylon, silk and shoes? The U.S. people persisted and the economy thrived once the war was over.

So my message to The Fence Post readers is that this to shall pass but hang on we’re in for a bumpy ride.