HAPPY NEW YEAR!

It's 2007. This can be your greatest year ever - and for you, I hope it is!

You can tell we're back in the south. Yesterday, New Year's Eve, we were at the grocery store -- the place was swarming. The checker said it was far busier than their busiest day prior to Christmas. And nearly everyone was carrying out their black-eyed peas, preparing for their New Year's Day meal. In the south everyone buys the dried black-eyed peas so they can fix it the way they want.

At least a couple of years when we went looking for black-eyed peas in Minnesota, those few places that had them pointed us to the canned shelves. I remember one lady asking why we would want dried ones and what we would do with them. When the Wal-Mart Super Center opened in Elk River, they brought in the dried ones. Sure they would -- Wal-Mart is a southern business. More than that, it's an Arkansas business.

At the Wal-Mart in Roanoke TX yesterday, the checker said he hadn't seen anyone checking out without them.

That's the southern way of celebrating New Year's Day and preparing for a prosperous new year. Of course there are other ways -- I'll write about that in another blog. For today...

HAPPY NEW YEAR!