If you'd like to read my Tickle story, I posted it below...

To my family...the Pickard Video of 2008 is about to be released! They are ready to be mailed, we just need money to do it. Just kidding. It's my goal for the week, but it's gonna be a big week so I may fail at my goal which is why I don't believe in goals. The whole New Year's Resolution hooplah is a bunch a crock. Failure and guilt are not my things so that's why I take great measures to ensure I never fall into their pits. So forget it. I'll have the video to you...eventually.

WireTap from Canada is my new found favorite entertainment. Go google it and listen to a couple episodes...if you'd like recommendations as to which are the best, let me know. It airs on NPR-look up your local listings. Also, the BBC production of "Cranford" is fabulous and BBC's version of "Bleak House" by Charles Dickens is wonderfully dark with mouth-gaping twists. And of course, Rush Limbaugh is a favorite as I wash my dishes, in case you were wondering, which you probably weren't.

Lots o' Changes....

We're living in Arizona now and becoming quite aquainted with rabbits, cact-I, beetles, spiders, snakes and more. Madelyn Kate was born on December 16th. All went well and we're now waiting for her to get the idea of nighttime versus daytime. Actually she's been doing pretty well. I can't complain although I do, but it's just because I love the English language.

I gave a talk in church a couple weeks ago and a request was made for my Tickle story...


When I was 6 or 7 there was a deoderant advertised on TV called Tickle. The commercial showed women overjoyed about putting on this TICKLE deoderant and having a marvelous time doing so. An every day task became a transcendent experience filled with laughter and more laughter. For weeks, I pined for such an experience. Lucky for me, Easter was approaching...and my mother conveniently knew of my "secret" desire. I remember looking for my basket with a concentrated swiftness known only to children who love candy. From room to room and I quickly went until, at last, behind the brown paneled television, which in fact, was the perpetuator of all this hooplah, was my Easter basket and there, laying on a bed of green grass was my very own bottle of Tickle. I put it aside and finished my obligatory Easter morning rituals. And then once I had a private moment alone I took out my Tickle deoderant, raised my arm and in great anticipation for that joy, that burst of laughter, I let that ball roll all over my little armpit. I can't describe how stunned I felt when the formula of what was supposed to be deoderant left a cold, wet, sticky and even stinky film in my armpit. So there I stood fanning myself hoping maybe the joy came after a few minutes of drying. Not so. I twisted the lid back on and figured it needed to set up a moment and I'd try again later. When I came back I had all the hope my expectations could hold, but to no avail, I stood again, fanning my armpit, crest fallen. Since that very sad experience I have never trusted those dumb commercials again. Fun Dip is sour, Honeycombs are small and when the dolly pees, it's just a big mess.

Woodworking Father-In-Law

Now, I know that in-law relationships are supposed to be tense and contraversial. But I love my in-laws. My father-in-law provides me with lots of material to make fun of him, but recently I've become down right pride of him. He created a unique tool rack (he's a woodworker) which was published in American Woodworker. He has also opened up a router bit store. He created the website himself - kind of makes me want to buy a router bit. He also has a woodworking shop site, as well. What a man!

We're proud of you, Pappy!