Took the cupcake to son's place. His lady had forgotten about it, or would have made a cake ... but when she heard of it ... made one. So ... the cupcake came home - intact. Ham, pineapple and mango for dinner ... yummm! And ... it appears that I may be getting my computer back, fairly soon. Had a discussion with a nearby guy who does a lot of investing the other day - he uses satellite for internet. Maybe I'll have to spring for that. As we used to kid old uncle ..." you can't take it with you". Surprising result of my birthday commentary here ... scarcely any mention of the failing elastic in the nice pants! Maybe they just don't want to encourage me. ole joyful

We visited The Villages last December & had an absolute blast. As impressive as it looked in all of the literature, their website, in the YouTube videos, etc....you really HAVE to see it in person to get a true grasp of what it's really like. Wow, is all I need to say. The wife had found On Top of the World's website online & wanted to go see it, too...so on the way home thru Ocala we decided to check it out. Not Impressed at all. First of all, it's kind of isolated down a long road from the highway. There's a small shopping area outside of the gate, but at 10:30am on a wednesday morning it was virtually deserted, and I believe that way more than half of the storefronts were vacant. The only way to get inside the front gate is to schedule a tour with a sales rep......which we decided not to do after seeing the ghost town retail area. What we were able to see of the golf course & homes looked very nice & well maintained......but after just coming from the vibrant & alive atmosphere of The Villages, it just didn't appeal to us.

Hi Jannie, If one of your daughters, at age 15, invests One Whole Dollar ... ... and manages to have it earn 5% rate of return throughout ... ... through 50 years of time ... ... when she hits the ripe old age of 65 ... that dollar will have multiplied 2-1/2 times - it'll be worth $11.00 and change. If she can manage a 10% return, it'll grow to $117.00 and change. No allowance in either case for the erosion of annual income by income tax, and of the value of one's dollar-denominated assets due to inflation. And when she buys a pack of cigarettes - she pays a lot more than a Buck for each one of them. Most of which goes up in smoke - though some stays in her lungs. And the residue can cause a lot of trouble. Can she imagine what people would think of her were she to stand on a main street corner in town and set on fire as many dollars as she spent on smokes that week? And do that at that street corner - every week? People would say that she was nuts. But - that would do her a lot less harm than using those dollars to buy smokes. Trouble is, though - in the U.S., I think that she'd go to jail: it's a Federal offence to destroy money, as it is Federal property. I do hope that your daughters decide that it is a destructive habit - and one of the worst addictions. I don't want to be a slave to a person - much less to a white paper tube filled with dead leaves!! That sounds some stupid, to me. As Dad used to say, "Looks like that person drove their pigs to a darned poor market"!! Good wishes to you - and especially them - for a New Year filled with common sense. ole joyful

I used to have a terrible amount of allergies and moved to Calgary for 5 years. While there, I had very, very little allergy problems. Since coming back, more than 20 years ago, I have had little problem until the last couple of years but have been taking antihistamine the last 2 years as well, and it has kept them mainly under control. I took shots for many, many years before going to Calgary. My mothers family had a history of weak lungs, too. Last winter was the first year that I can remember since a very young child of not having bronchitis or pneumonia. A nice change. Ole joyful, when do you have your ultra sound, or have you had it. Please, please ask your Dr. how active you can be. I've seen you running to the car, too. How do you do that at our age? You don't want a piece of this clot breaking off and moving to your heart or brain. Believe me, it can happen. I told you about my father. I'd terribly hate to see that happen to you. All the best and please keep us informed. Ivamae