It's great to have them all here, but I believe there are reasons they all have their own places to live-one being we wouldn't survive long term with all of the activity.

We are already planning when we can get together again.

--

I know our fair booth was impersonal this year, but we thank everyone for stopping by to register their thoughts in one of our five buckets labeled "Complaints," "Suggestions," "Story Ideas," "Other" and our "Sales Tax Poll."

We will definitely consider the input we received. We intended for the complaints to be directed toward us, but many found it the place to say things like it was too hot and "Where's the carnival?"

--

Does the younger generation try to fix things like my generation learned to do, or throw stuff away and get a new one? It may be a function of training, or possibly being tight about money.

When one of our scanners at the office quit working recently I went about trying to fix it. No light was on, indicating to me it was getting no power. I checked the power source and found a rattle in it, so I deduced it was probably the culprit.

Where do you get a power supply for an 8-year-old scanner? Radio Shack, of course. All I had to do was go across the street and pick up a generic unit that matched the specs and plug it in.

Magic. The scanner works again.

--

When was the last time it didn't rain at least once during the Marion County Fair?

--

Grandson Alex picked a great night to try the calf scramble. The arena was a slop bucket on Thursday after the rain, but he went out there anyway and ran around trying to pull a ribbon off of a calf's tail.

Louie went out there, too, but took two steps and turned around and crawled back out of the arena. Alex didn't catch a calf, but there were kids who literally were stuck in the muck and had to be lifted out when it was over.

--

Our sales tax poll at the fair and the one on our Web site are running remarkably similarly. Our polls show those who stopped by our booth at the fair and those who voted on www.hillsborofreepress.com are against a sales tax for a new jail.

Here are the responses to the question: "Do you want the Marion County commissioners to pursue building a new jail in the county with an additional sales tax?"

Web site poll: Yes, 16.7 percent; Yes, but with other funding, 10 percent; No, 40 percent; No, come up with another option, 33.3 percent.

Marion County Fair poll: Yes, 9.5 percent; Yes, but with other funding, 19 percent; No, 40.5 percent; No, come up with another option, 31 percent.

Our polls are not scientific, but I feel they do reflect the sentiment of our readers. If you have thoughts about the issue, I would recommend that you make your feelings known to your commissioner. This issue will have long-term ramifications for our county and is not to be taken lightly.

--

Alex likes hot wings, so when we had some chicken the other night he used hot sauce on it. When the chicken was gone he went to eating straight hot sauce.