MERRY CHRISTMAS, TORN SLATTERNS AND NUGGET RANCHERS

AND

A HAPPY NEW YEAR

Thanks for reading. All six of you. Now, as the late, great harmonica player and blues man Junior Wells put it ever so well: snaps it back and hold it, baby, one more time.

Let's have a great 2005. 2005? Are you kidding me? That looks more like an appliance name than a year.

"That's right, for a limited time, the Vacusuck Turbo 2005 is on sale at Sears."

Is it just me or does a Christmas tree after Christmas kind of look sad? It's trimmed and all done-up with nowhere to go, like a recently divorced Beverly Hills first wife, alone at the bar at closing time.

And with that I'll leave you with that cheery holiday thought.

Again, Merry Christmas