It's an electric toothbrush. It doesn't have a Mickey Mouse face or a clown face on it either. It is the real McCoy.

My dental hygienist told me I should be using an electric toothbrush and suggested a few brands she said were good and would last.

I searched them on the Internet and then e-mailed the local pharmacy to see if it had one. It didn't have one in stock, but would order two different models and I could choose which one I wanted or neither.

Sounded fair enough.

The next day I went in to look at them and picked one out. The price was very competitive with what I could buy elsewhere.

And, if the replacement brushes that need to be changed every six months were too expensive, as I may have said, the pharmacist said I could use hers when she was done with them.

We have been running a poll question about the destination casino for Marion County on our hillsborofreepress.com Web site since the referendum election was announced.

At the beginning it was running 3-1 against. After several weeks it is running 4-1 against.

It will be interesting to us to find out how close to the actual vote our poll will be when all is said and done.

If anyone thinks they can vote multiple times, it won't work. The site recognizes your IP address.

It still escapes me why there's so much interest in something-for-nothing that gambling supposedly offers.

What is so alluring about losing money? I've never played the Kansas Lottery but I played slot machines in Las Vegas in 1984 when we were there on vacation. I won a little at first, but soon was back to even.

A little hard work never hurt anyone.

If anyone is looking for a few unique gifts this Christmas, I can recommend a few new local books just off the press this year.

"Another Day in the Country" by Pat Wick of Ramona does a nice job of capturing life in rural America in color photos and stories.

Or pick up a copy of Jerry Engler's earthy tales from the prairie called "Just Folks," which is a compilation of short, almost-true stories that are easily read as you have time.

The story of Father Emil J. Kapaun published by the Father Kapaun Guild, "A Saint Among Us," remembers the life of this dedicated priest and soldier from Pilsen who gave his life for his men during the Korean War.

Internet radio can be really fun. I found a station from Evergreen State University that was playing sounds of crickets chirping and frogs croaking.