True story: Farmer's daughter brought her city boyfriend home. They pulled into the farmyard, and she dashed into the house while he parked. When he finally arrived she asked what had kept him. He said he'd had to beat his way in through a flock of chickens. "They were up on their hind legs and everything!"

Have your political representatives heard from you on a fairly regular basis with informed, thoughtful and responsible ideas about how the country is operating? Those who don't participate have little right to complain, haven't they? A number of countries with formerly fairly strong democratic traditions have recently become taken over by autocratic systems. Some of them are no friends of real democracy, especially Russia and China, and there have been a number of claims that they are actively seeking to undermine ours. Is it wise of us to participate? Would you like the current systems in some of them to come into operation here? If not, go to work to keep our democratic sytem alive and functioning well, and actively supported by large and increasing numbers of us. ole joyful

Some new definitions: BURGLARIZE What a crook sees through. AVOIDABLE What a bullfighter tries to do. HEROES What a man in a boat does. RELIEF What trees do in the spring. RUBBERNECK What you do to relax your wife.

^^^ LOL! I know, I noticed that, but have no idea how to correct a meme. Rusty