Do you ever wonder why people are so irrational? The air is a balmy 35 degrees Fahrenheit, the water is a nice, tepid 42 degrees, and you are one of the 21 folks in bathing suits standing on the pool deck at the Beach Club waiting for the local paparazzi to capture undeniable proof of your willingness to participate in one of the winter season’s strangest yet growing traditions.

Yep, last Friday they jumped in the pool for the second annual Beach Club Polar Plunge. Participants ranged from my 8-year-old grandson Alden (it must have been the peer pressure provided by his two cousins) to Barbara Jean Nobles (“Larry made me do it”). My wife, BJ, three of the grandsons, several friends and others looking to join the craziness created by Beach Club manager Brian Belmont did the jump into the pool followed by incredibly hasty exits.

In addition, there were another 30 or so onlookers in attendance waiting to giggle with no sympathy at the pain being suffered by the “plungers.”

I was particularly struck by Ramsay Smith’s pool exit as he scrambled up the ladder with a look of terror on his face.

The good news about all of this fun is that I had a particularly intense cold preventing my own involvement other than taking some pictures. The bad news is that I had this particularly intense cold.

T-shirts are still available at the Beach Club, should you wish to participate vicariously. Buying a T-shirt is far less irrational. Maybe.

The new year is upon us. We can now attack it with all the enthusiasm and good will we can muster in the hope that we, our neighbors, our country and our world will look back at 2017 with more fondness than we might be doing with 2016.

Last year we had the Port Ludlow logging controversy, which now appears to be behind us. The nastiest election most of us can remember is now past. So, let’s get our acts together and have a great year.

Remember what Barbara Bush told us: “Never lose sight of the fact that the most important yardstick of your success will be how you treat other people.”

OK, back to reality. Your tax return still will be due in April. Actually it won’t be due until April 18, since April 15 is a Saturday, and Monday, April 17 is a holiday in Washington, D.C. I know this because BJ is in the midst of her annual “boot camp” training for doing taxes through the AARP Tax Aide Program. They will be firing that up in early February at Chimacum’s Tri-Area Community Center and the Port Townsend Community Center.

Again this year I remind you of the opportunity to the celebrate the birthdays of Peggy Kulm, Don Whipple, Rae Watkins, Elvis Presley and this humble columnist, among other unnamed Capricorn luminaries. The parties are this Sunday.

Unfortunately, advancing age is when broadness of the mind and narrowness of the waist change places.

Love a curmudgeon and have a Happy New Year.

(Contact Port Ludlow resident Ned Luce at NedLuce@sbcglobal.net.)