We�ve been celebrating the joys of summer. We�ve been ambulating, ambling, and strolling. We�ve been power walking and just walking. We�ve gone over the creek and �round the bend. We�ve been hither and yon. It�s good exercise and, with the weather in the sixties and seventies, it�s glorious.

Only one thing mars these excursions. It�s little but it�s not. It�s something that I should have remembered but I had blocked out of my mind. (Oh, the horror! Oh, the trauma!) It�s not enough to cause me to divorce the man but it sure is enough to make me want to get a t-shirt with an arrow and wording above it that reads, �I�m not with him.� I am married to an Iowa man so I suppose allowances must be made. But still..

Greeting neighbors is nice. Waving at other walkers is neighborly. Making remarks about the wonderful weather is ordinary. Watching the handsome love of my life makes me happy and proud. And then he goes and does it again�and I cringe.

Yes, folks, there is no getting around it. I�m married to a man who says �Howdy.� His father rails that he himself would never sink so low as to become the Howdy-Doody guy at Walmart (although an ordinary job at Walmart is just fine.) My guy is not at Walmart (and he dislikes the place so he�s rarely at Walmart) but he is a Howdy-Doody guy. He�s even stood up and said �Howdy� to jurors when the judge introduces him. So much for any slick lawyer image. The man�s a hick at heart.

He knows how to say, �Hi.� He knows how to say, �Hello.� He knows how to say, �Good evening.� I�m heard him say all of those words on the telephone. He shouldn�t need practice with them. No, it�s not lack of ability. It�s pure orneriness. It�s pure Mr. Philately.

So, if you see a woman walking up your street with a tall, slender, handsome guy a foot and a quarter taller than her, and he has blue eyes, a beard and needs a haircut, and she is small with dark hair and eyes and wears her wedding ring on a chain around her neck, you can suspect it�s us. And if the guy opens his mouth and says �Howdy� to you, you�ll know for sure.

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