Right now is the time to sow grass seed. Seemingly, everything you sow now will come up and flourish. Sod can be transplanted and it takes hold quickly. The late Bill Hutchman told this same thing on the garden shows we did together. I always try to remember his helpful tips. Someday I must go through the tapes we made for broadcast and take a good listen.

Not long ago our electric dryer started making squealing noises. I checked the Internet and found that it was probably the tension pulley that keeps the belt tight on the drum. Sure enough that was the culprit. Instead of having a sealed bearing on the pulley shaft it was metal against metal. It is less costly to build that way of course. The lubrication if any had long gone and the shaft had worn so much the pulley was wobbling.

I proceeded to drive to a large mail order house to buy a new assembly. I was given a toll free number to call for parts. Going home, I proceeded to make the call and an actual human answered after several push this number and that number to order parts. This made me feel good since the lady seemed to be very familiar with the parts I needed.

The model number was given to the lady and she said the parts would arrive on a certain date. They did arrive on time, too bad it was the wrong assembly. We had to mail the wrong parts back to the home office in Texas and now are waiting for the new assembly to arrive. I never had such bad luck ordering on the Internet. So it really is better not to speak to someone, just order the correct part number and that's it.

Another important item to be concerned with is the accumulation of lint in a dryer. I could not believe how much was inside the dryer itself and stuck to the corrugated aluminum exhaust. There must be a great number of fires across the country due to lint in dryers. I will install a smooth aluminum exhaust now and vacuum the dryer yearly.

I think one of the greatest historical moments in our history was the pulling down of the Saddam statue in downtown Baghdad. To see the Iraqis cheering and waving American flags left most of us with tears. What about the protestors now? What do they really feel knowing that we are liberating millions of people suffering from years of fear, torture and death. Oh how similar to Russia during the Stalin years and the dreaded KGB.

The months ahead will have plenty of frustrations as we get the Iraqis to form a new Democratic form of government. There will obviously be neighboring countries that will try to derail the procedure.

I have been fishing like crazy as well as getting in hundreds of miles bicycling. It is unbelievable, being retired. Undoubtedly, I will have to get part time work just to pay for repairs and insurances. In the meantime, life is great, whoopee.