Can we know life?s meaning?

I?ve been trying to figure out the meaning of life for a long, long time. And I still haven?t figured it out. It is a futile exercise.

One of the best things about life is that you never really know what is going to happen.

You may have an idea, but it is really best not to know in advance.

One question I pondered often when our children were little was what they would be when they grew up. Now I ponder the same question in regard to our grandchildren. All I can hope for is that I will be around to find out.

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It was always a pleasure meeting with Jim Clemmer, the ?Other Tampa?s? mayor, who passed away last week. He was a champion for our Tampa, and his leadership will be missed.

I saw him in action at many county economic development meetings through the years. His friendly style and passion for his town made a difference with all who worked with him.

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I can?t remember where I heard it, but someone told me a wire leaf rake is a terrific gift for the outdoors grill man.

You just cut off the end of each tine, which makes it possible to roast about 15 weiners at one time.

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Deodorant can predict the weather. At least my deodorant can. When I pull the cap off and the stuff is oozing out, I know the weather is probably changing for the worse. It has something to do with low pressure, I think.

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Now that the weather is turning more like winter and the possibility of sleet and ice looms ahead, I heard of a solution for preventing ice from building up on a satellite dish.

Brother Mark recommends using hair spray or WD-40 on it to keep the ice from sticking as much.

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Recently we put in our first flat-screen TV to take advantage of the high-definition programming available via satellite. For me, that translates mostly into sports programming, but the other channels are nice, too.

But I can?t just quit there. Since the local stations aren?t available on our satellite in HD, and many of the KU games are on network channels, we require an over-the-air antenna to bring those in, too.

We used to have the perfect antenna for this purpose, but I loaned out some of the parts several years ago and never got them back.

The antenna we use now was downstairs at The Shack. I was amazed that its lowest-cost antenna brought in all eight channels in our viewing area, plus any additional local channels the local networks are now broadcasting, including Channel 12?s 24-hour weather channel.

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I attended two out of three of the educational seminars presented by Marion County Department for Elderly about retirement. Social Security, Medicare and Part D Pre?scription plans were the topics. The reason it was two out of three is because I forgot the last one.

Gayla Ratzlaff, department coordinator, did a terrific job of taking a complex subject and making it less hazy for me. I wasn?t so much interested in the retirement part, but in the Medicare part.

Considering what?s happening in Washington these days, I?m not so sure what Medicare might be like in a little more than a year from now.

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