With inflation and everything else going on, we knew this number would be higher.  Now we know how MUCH higher . . . According to the American Farm Bureau Federation, the average Fourth of July cookout will cost just under 70 BUCKS this year . . . a full $10 more than it cost in 2021. The average is $69.68, up from $59.50 last year.  That's still only $7 per person, but an increase of 17%.  (It was $59.66 in 2020, and $54.88 in 2019.) They base it on 12 different things you might serve at a backyard barbecue for 10 people WITHOUT including [...]

We've got a new "World's Ugliest Dog" for the first time in three years.  The annual event near San Francisco got canceled the last two years thanks to covid.  But it was back on again this weekend, and a VERY ugly mutt named MR. HAPPY FACE won. He's a 17-year-old hairless Chinese crested-Chihuahua mix.  Chinese crested are the ones that look like big rats with a weird tuft of hair on their head.  He's got that, plus his head leans to one side, and he can't keep his tongue in his mouth.  (Here's a photo.) The woman who owns him got him from [...]

It's officially summer, and the Fourth of July is less than two weeks out.  So an annual study on PATRIOTISM just hit. WalletHub.com does an annual ranking of the most patriotic states in America based on two factors:  Military engagement and civic engagement. That includes things like how many people enlist in the armed forces . . . how many veterans there are . . . how many people vote . . . and how many of us volunteers. For the third year in a row, there's been a reshuffling at the top:  ALASKA is the most patriotic state in America [...]