Sorry I'm late to this one, but I couldn't let it pass. As a proud son of a man who landed on Iwo Jima and who heard from someone who learned first hand of how war really is hell, I too salute all those who have fought to keep us the land of the free. As long as we remember to hold dear the phrase "In God We Trust", then God will indeed bless America. tj

There were 23 FEMA lots in New Hartford after the flood of 2008 ... people in these homes could either not afford to rebuild or have enough insurance to rebuild or just gave up on another flooded home...it means they took a 'buy-out' from FEMA ...so those lots can never be built on again...this was a 500-yr flood & affected many homes that never ever have flooded...but many of those that took the buy-out had flooded before ...but not on the main levels like this 2008 flood! So, when FEMA buys you out ...say like $25,000 or something I think may have been an avg (I don't know for sure)...then it becomes property of the city but cannot be built on to live in or have a business. The lots we are restoring have been this Vets Memorial, 4 Season Perennial Garden, Town Square Gazebo lot & a Community Gardens lot. We have written grants, raised money ...many of it donations & that's how we are doing it...we are wearing down as it is many retired people working long & hard...but we promised our community that we would have the 3 lots done by 1st week of June for the local yearly 'Beaver Creek Days.' It's all very worthwhile to all of us & brings a sense of pride back into the community. Thanks for asking, luvs & I appreciate all the comments from you 'Holiday-ers!' Jeanne S.

In addition to all that have served, I would like to thank bcskye and her husband for their service in the US Military. For those of you that don't know, Madonna and her husband are retired veterans. It makes me wonder how many other veterans are members here? Teresa

Sweet corn here is from Florida and it was not bad at 20 cents an ear. I put an ear in the microwave. It was 95f here yesterday, 91F the day before and we had a three day yard sale thursday, Friday and Saturday, so no cooking then either. I didn't cook one darned thing this weekend except pancakes for Bud and Makayla, who spent the weekend. Other than that we ate ice cream and cold sandwiches and the kids ran through the sprinkler while I planted artichokes and tomatoes and took a break every five minutes to stand in the sprinkler! I have two flats of tomatoes at the farm, that's 96 plants, a mix of Rutgers and Bonny Best. Here in my raised beds at the house I've limited myself to two of each variety I planted except the white tomatoes. I planted two Cherokee Purple, although they never do particularly well. Also two Pineapple, two Big Rainbow, two Golden Jubilee, two SunGold, two Mortgage lifter and a dozen of the as yet unidentified "white" tomato. Mother saved seeds from last year, I bought a container of tomato plants from the 4H kids last year that were simply labelled "white". They were one of the best tomatoes I've ever eaten, so this year I have a dozen plants, LOL. I think they may be White Queen or something similar, a beefsteak type tomato. I started two dozen artichokes inside about March, no one I know in Michigan has ever grown artichokes successfully so of course I have to try. I don't have air conditioning and the pool isn't quite clean yet, so it was way too hot to cook, even outside. Too hot to eat too. Annie