Hello, and welcome to your new Saturday paper.  If you are already reading this, you can see that my weekly column is still in the same place as it has been since the paper printed its first edition back in August of 1987.  You’ll be reading me here instead of in Wednesday’s paper from now on.

Because I’ve written a column for every Boone TODAY but one that means you’ve been subjected to roughly 200 of them.  Some of them have been fun to write and some of them have been agony.  I imagine that reading them has been a similar experience.

If you are a regular reader, thank you.  I hope that I’ve been able to make you think about some of the issues that we face here in Boone. And I hope I’ve been able to make you smile or brightened your day once in a while.

When I see you around town, many of you stop to comment on a column that I’ve written.  There has been praise and criticism.  I appreciate both, so don’t be shy.

If you’ll keep reading, I’ll keep writing.  And I’ll try to keep improving so that my Saturday columns are better than my Wednesday ones were.

A couple of weeks ago in my column, I related how I spent much time and effort during the last couple of months rounding up Bill Cosby albums for my dad.  I lost the records when I was in junior high and dad never let me forget.  I finally located the records, purchased them at a premium price and gave them to dad for Father’s Day.

Since that column appeared, at least a half dozen people have commented, “If I known you were looking for Cosby albums I would have let you look at mine.  I have a bunch of them in a box that I never listen to anymore.”  I never knew there were so many fans of Cosby’s old comedy routines.

Thanks for the sympathy.  And thanks for your concern.  But where were you a month ago?  After paying top dollar for those albums, I don’t want to know if you have Cosby albums to give away.  In fact, hang onto those old vinyl comedy disks, they may just help you put your kids through college some day.

My parents and my in-laws were both here for visits recently.  We took both sets of parents on trips to the Amana Colonies. My father-in-law, and engineer for the Minnesota Department of Transportation, gave us a running commentary on the road construction going on along the way.  We learned about re-bar, traffic control and paving methods.  It was a very educational trip.

My dad, a farmer, gave us a running commentary on the crops, livestock and farms along the road.  He told us about weed problems, water-stressed crops, overgrazed pastures and beef breeds.  That trip, too, was educational.

But what will happen when I have adult children and we go for a drive?  What will we talk about? What educated things can a writer say about what he sees along the roadside?

“Boy!  The grammar on the billboard is awful!”