HOT HOT HOT. Everyone is suffering headaches, queasy stomachs and/or inertia. Please be careful and remember to water your plants . . . Our thanks to Eric Webb for cleaning up the festival litter in the 700 block of Green Street. Visitors are so inconsiderate . . . All JJ and I wanted was one lousy powdered mini donut but Daddy Eric first made us eat a big bowl of icky-sticky gruel that even Oliver Twist would have given back. By the time we were finished with that slop neither of us wanted the donut. Think we could make a case for abuse of children and the elderly . . .

My posts are apt to be brief or non-existent this week depending on the weather. Please note that we are closing daily at 3 p.m. during this heat wave. Everyone please take it easy and be safe . . .

I have not been to the river but my spies tell me that the heat and weak program are keeping the crowds away. Food vendors are not pleased . . . This event does give me the opportunity to vent about a long-held pet peeve. I simply am not in favor of giving live goldfish as prizes in a game of chance. I wonder how many of those poor devils make it through the next two days. I recall there was a time when pastel colored peeps were all the rage at Eastertide and that practice was soon outlawed as animal cruelty or something such. I don't know why these poor fishys don't deserve the same protection . . . Betty Immers has given us one set of Poetry magazine, December 2008 thru September 2009. If anyone is interested, please e-mail or call. First to respond gets the whole bundle for free . . .

Our thanks to Thomas, George, Benjamin, James and the rest . . . Have a safe holiday and stay cool . . .

Congratulations to Angela Lawson; she became a grandmother for the third time in the wee small hours of this morning . . . The neighborhood calm was disturbed for two or so hours beginning near midnight by the continuous pop of firecrackers. Some thought a few of the explosions might have been gunfire . . . In the midst of this a mugging was reported at Green and Briggs about 12:30 a.m. Unconfirmed reports say that the perps were five young men, one armed. No other details at this time . . . A little later police and an ambulance were dispatched to North Second near Sassafras Street. If anyone has knowledge of that incident please let me know; e-mail address is to the left . . . We are to be beset by another week of 90+ degree weather; trying to decide if we shouldn't close early when the temps get that high. No one wants to be out in the heat . . . I remind you again that we will be closed Monday whatever the weather. I'll have my nose in a book I am sure . . .

One of those rare days when not a single shred of gossip came our way . . . All the talk is about the state budget and the mess our (Republican) legislators have made of it . . . Fortunately I have my head buried in another mystery book and I haven't been a part of any of it . . .

Slow day as everyone gears up for the holiday weekend. Please note that we will be closed on Monday . . . Since Google has been dropping some of the blogs without warning, I am wondering if I shouldn't try to copy mine onto a thumb drive or something such without doing an actual print-out. If there is an easy way to do this I hope some computer wizard will let me know . . . We have 500 VCR tapes left in our collection (down from 5500 or so). Many are foreign language ones and most are selling for around $2.00 . . . Our July copies of TheBurg have arrived . . . Lots of people stop and try peeking through the fence at 711 Green to see what is growing there. Well, Bob and Jack lost their big tree this spring so what was once a shaded area can now be filled with sun-loving florals and, boy, they are blooming their little hearts out . . . (click for the full effect) . . .