I hope whatever you do for the 4th, you do it safely. Fireworks scare me and I know they scare my furfaces, so we won’t be going to anything that makes loud “kabooms”.

It certainly will be nice to see Matty. This bit about seeing one another every two months bites the big one. But we cope.

On the plus side, instead of devoting my time to Matt, I’ve invested all my spare time to fixing up the house and now that real estate agent, Robin Smith, is on-board with the sale, I’m glad I worked so hard.

For having as many indoor animals as I do, Robin said my home does not smell at all like animals and let me tell you, that’s saying something!

One has to work morning, noon and night to keep a house clean with this many animals and given the fact I work 10 hours a day at the radio ranch that’s like a 36 hour day. Given all the cleaning and the structural upgrades and the painting and the landscaping and the gardening, no wonder I’m beat! A day off will do me good. But first I’ve got to do some laundry, some food shopping and go to the dump, to the dump, to the dump, dump, dump!

Happy Independence Day!

I love giving presents but I hate getting them. I’m sure I’m not alone. My sister Joy’s birthday is this weekend and my gift to her brought back memories of how dad and I used to deal with Christmas.

Near the end of his life, he would write me a Christmas check and I would write him one for the same amount, then we’d do a little jig and rip them up at the same time and throw the confetti into the air and yell, “Merry Christmas, ho-ho-ho”! It was the sheer ridiculousness of the monetary cancellation that made it so funny.

And now, here I am mailing Joy her birthday present. You see, I got $100. worth of gift cards to my favorite hardware store for my birthday from Joy and Jim. So without even so much as considering that fact, I sent Joy a $100. gift card for her birthday.

Suddenly it dawned on me that it’s like deja vu with dad. Too bad Joy didn’t live closer, we could dance a jig and simultaneously cut up the gift cards and yell “happy birthday to us, whoop de doo”!

A local hotel called KPD Monday complaining about homeless people camping out nearby. Police checked and there were no outstanding warrants. My question is; if there are homeless people outside and there’s room at the inn, (as it were), why not take these people in and show them a little hospitality? Is that not what the Bible teaches us?

I cannot tell you how wonderfully it worked out Friday, at my house, having two Swamp Bats working to tidy up the landscape. The boys were very polite and hardworking and shared some wonderful stories about their families and how much they’re enjoying the Monadnock Region. There isn’t a better value on the market right now than hiring a Keene Swamp Bat!

Sunday morning at 7 o’clock and I’ve already worked 20 hours this weekend on the house. I’m not sure I know the definition of “weekend” any longer. Good news is; the place looks great.

Sure, he had money and fame. But his life seemed pretty sad when put into terms of medication and drugs. I feel sorry for his kids.

Never would I, in my wildest dreams, have thought I would be writing the names Michael Jackson and Farrah Fawcett in the same sentence, but such is life; and death.

Farrah’s battle with cancer was commendable. She showed the world she had the will to survive. Yes, the cancer won, but she gave us a glimpse into a side of her that no one knew. She was an American icon from the moment her poster hit the market in 1976. Twelve million people liked what she represented and bought that poster. For me, that is how I will remember her.

To put in perspective, the passing of Michael Jackson, one has to realize that the body can take only so much stress. Between the scandals and the lawsuits and the medical procedures and having to live in a “bubble”, his heart had enough. An injection of Demerol (a very heavy duty pain medication) slowed his breathing until it stopped altogether, apparently.

Their deaths remind us that as humans we only have “x” amount of energy or antibodies or second chances. We have much to learn from these deaths.

From Farrah we realize that within each of us lies “the good fight” and from MJ, we admit to ourselves that life is better lived on a simple plane devoid of chaos and commotion. For Michael Jackson, stardom was his ticket to life and death.

I cannot remember a single instance when Farrah Fawcett and Michael Jackson shared the stage, until today’s final curtain call.

Something just happened in the kitchen here at the radio ranch that reminded me of a story.

Years ago dad used to tell me things like “you can drown in a cup of tea” and “watch out, clothes and jewelry can kill you”. He was right.

My sleeve (like a choir robe sleeve) just got caught on the kitchen faucet. And while all I got was a wet sleeve, my bathrobe sleeve did the same thing a couple of nights ago on the railing coming down the stairs. That outcome wasn’t so good. I tripped but only for a couple of steps. So yes, dad was right, again.

I should know better. Years ago I was almost killed by my scarf that got caught in a fan belt. After that, I stopped wearing scarves when I inspected vehicles. But that was in another lifetime and fodder for another day….

Busy week. I’ve got someone coming up to the house today to take some furniture I offered up on the blog. It’s a win/win situation, I want it gone, she needs it. I like when that happens.

All the yard work is progressing, although the fella who started the job hasn’t been around in over a week, so I hired a couple of the Keene Swamp Bats to come up and help me with the back 40 and a few other projects.

Matty has the realtor coming up for an “agent’s tour” and that means plenty of indoor cleaning. She said to me on the phone to make sure to vacuum once a week. LOL. With all my indoor animals I vacuum twice a day and that’s without company coming over. Good thing John at the Vacuum Store in Keene sold me some excellent vacuums!

I guess unless you’ve done it, one has no idea how much work 9 indoor animals can be.

Let’s put it this way, I walked into the livingroom Monday to clean the big mirror and I emerged 3 hours later after finding several other items that needed my attention including a half eaten dead mouse. OMG. (And I had just fully cleaned the livingroom three days earlier.) You tell me. Seems to me that all you can do, is try your very best. Life takes care of the rest.

The FDA-tobacco legislation is a farce because: the FDA cannot ban nicotine from cigarettes. It cannot ban other tobacco products, including cigarettes, smokeless tobacco or cigars.

That means people can still get “hooked”.

The bill gives the federal government, through a new office in the FDA, authority to regulate the content, marketing and sale of cigarettes and other tobacco products.

That means litigation can be turned away from the tobacco giants and toward the government, now.

Despite the anti-smoking movement dating back to 1964, there are still more than 40 million smokers in the United States, or about one in five, including the President.

Want to know the scariest part of all?

The first public anti-smoking campaign was launched by the Nazis. Their scientists linked smoking with cancer. Hitler’s own mother suffered horrifically from cancer that had metastasized throughout much of her body, leaving Hitler to serve as her primary care-giver in the years leading up to her death.

The only REAL answer to the tobacco problem is ban it, 100%. But that will never happen given the huge money that controls tobacco and the government’s need to tax people at the state and federal levels, at least until they drop dead from lung cancer.

Sources: Associated Press/Askmen.com/Jean