TBW Daily Diary

Best of luck to Chris Zeigler who undergoes surgery for his broken nose tomorrow at Harrisburg Hospital . . . We celebrated Christmas in July tonight. As many of my regular readers know, Bob and his neighbor Betty Holmboe several years ago were distressed because they could not celebrate the season befitting their friendship because both were too busy with other events at the time. So they agreed to postpone the holiday until the middle of the summer when they could spend some extra hours together. So tonight was the time for a wonderful meal and an exchange of presents. Jane, Jason, Sabrina and Felix came by to wish all a Merry Christmas. The porch was appropriately decorated with candy canes, garland, snowflakes, sleigh bells and a miniature tree . . . I know that the consumer is supposed to lead us out of the Bush recession, but I really have to wonder. When I walk into Boscov's, for instance, I see an acre of dresses and I know that throughout the area there are other stores with a similar collection. Who is going to buy all these, I wonder. The same might be said for a visit to Karns or Giant. Shelves stocked floor to ceiling; will it all get eaten? My sister works at Walmart and I once posed the question to her. She told me that the store offered unsold merchandise to charities in the area, but none wanted to be bothered, so when a new shipment arrived the old merchandise was simple tossed into the dumpster. The only non-profit that accepted the leftovers was the Animal Humane Society . . .