A little bit about a lot of things:

•  California is home to a good many transplanted Midwesterners, Kathy and I included, and we are among those who enjoy an occasional trip back to the heartland to catch up with family and visit some of our childhood haunts.

We made a quick visit back to Iowa last week.....probably not the best of timing given the stifling, sauna-like weather and thunderstorms that occasionally rumbled around us - but that’s Iowa in August!

A little bit about a lot of things:

• So is anybody else not so sure about Comcast’s new “Xfinity,” which supposedly offers more (and better) everything, from sports programming to on-demand movies?

Maybe it’s just the “old dog, new trick” thing, but I’m not exactly comfortable yet with the new system.

A little bit about a lot of things:

•  Discussion of putting a ballot measure before Newman voters asking if the current two-year mayoral term of office should be extended to four years surfaced briefly before the Newman City Council recently, but the idea has since been put on a back burner.

I hope it stays there.

A number of cities have reportedly gone to four-year mayoral terms or are putting such measures before their voters. While such a ballot measure would typically be billed as “letting the people decide,” the reality is that such measures would never see the light of day if people in authority didn’t think such a change was a good idea.

Our neighborhood is for the birds.....in a good sort of way.

A diverse avian community seems to reside along Stephens Avenue, and we have come to realize that our feathered friends have their own pecking orders (so to speak), individual quirks and definitely their own personalities.

We seem to see more birds, and more types of birds, living on the edge of town than we did just a few blocks to the south - although we were only a stone’s throw from a farm field there as well.