The temperatures were creeping towards 80 degrees today as six astute individuals gathered on the General Store Patio. Curt Larson has finally returned from his trip to the Southeast to visit the Villages and Marco Island in Florida. They had a great time and he made mention that one of the best parts of that visit was that beer, wine and mixed cocktails were very inexpensive....now there is a man with his priorities straight. After leaving Florida he headed towards Nashville through Atlanta with the intent of visiting the Trom’s. He said the traffic through Atlanta was horrendous even on a Saturday but they finally made it to find fairly cool temps. Brad and Sue were great hosts and showed them the town of music and southern food along with some great home cooking at their home. Arlyn and Patti are heading back to snowy Utah tomorrow after a wonderful stay in Scottsdale....plenty of golf, visitors and food. Now, I am sure, he is looking at doing some fishing. Jerry Ostermann is taking a short junket to Chicago and then heading back next week. I begged him to bring us some samples of his fine candy next week......we retailers are used to endless amounts of free samples. Dave Schoenbeck is preparing for his 30 day vacation to New Zealand leaving this Sunday. Unfortunately, Ellen experienced some extreme discomfort late Wednesday and upon visiting Honor Health emergency discovered the culprit was kidney stones. Dave is waiting for the outcome of her visit to a urologist this morning. Hopefully she will be fit to travel.......and most of all, enjoy this wonderful excursion. We did have a snowbird visitor today in the form of one Roger Carpenter. He arrived yesterday and is looking forward to a nice warm and sunny visit. He looked great, but is still battling some neuropathy that creates some minor (my term) mobility issues. He doesn’t let it slow him down. Of course we spent some time talking about the volatility of our stock markets. Frank Stock, the Jim Cramer of Arizona, was absent because of his commitment to getting this thing under control....I attempted to talk to him about it, but I couldn’t understand what he was saying because of his sobbing. How about the 2020 campaigning? Elizabeth has thanked her Cherokee family for keeping her on the truth straight and narrow. The nation followed with asking her to finally admit the whole truth about this apparent misleading proclamation. Joe Biden has accused Bernie of votes on weapons that were too misguided and dangerous. Bernie indicated that he did at one time support that people could carry a quiver with 12 arrows, but has since changed that amount to six. Other candidates were also looking into the past of Mr Bloomberg and said his birth certificate has him registered as a republican. Who do you believe? Although Mr. Trump continues dialog on all fronts, too many fronts, we don’t have to listen too much about Ms Pelosi....great news. The threatening pandemic is certainly concerning, especially for ole folks. Seems you can run but not hide...is it because we are so ineffective with our quarantine measures or that human beings just can’t adhere to the safe protocols. The coronovirus is definitely an attention getter, it is equally concerning that during this latest flu season, 20,000 americans have died as a result. Let’s hope this slows and becomes less gripping. Everyone, have a safe weekend. Gerry