Happy Valentine’s Day to you and yours. THE HOTEL BILL An elderly lady decided to give herself a big treat for her significant 70th birthday by staying overnight in one of London’s most expensive hotels.

Dear Next Generation. It’s important to look at the deeper meaning behind Valentine’s Day because there’s a lot more going on besides heart-shaped boxes of chocolate, flowers, and teddy bears.

The Iceman Back in 1943 while the big war (WWII) raged around our world, me and my big brother Gerald were in the ice business. Gerald is pictured here standing in front of one of our icehouses on a beautiful Sunday morning when we were all on our way to the First Baptist Church which was just across State Highway 3.

Once again, tip of the hat (it covers the hole in my hair) to Al Wilburn, my fellow pundit who knows interesting things and interesting people. I know some of you will not understand this message, but I bet you know someone who might.

POINTS OF ENLIGHTMENT from some of the greatest minds of our times. Al Mc-Guire: “The only mystery in life is why the kamikaze pilots wore helmets.” Albert Einstein: “The difference between stupidity and genius is that genius has its limits.” Ambrose Bierce: “War is God’s way of teaching Americans geography.” Andy Borowitz: “It would be nice to spend billions on schools and roads, but right now that money is desperately needed for political ads.” Ann Landers: “At every party there are two kinds of people: those who want to go home and those who don’t.

The holiday fun and games were over, and we were ready to fly home. But a middle of the night message informed us our flight was cancelled and we had to rebook. And we suddenly became birds without wings. I now have a pretty good idea how a Christmas turkey feels, in those left-over days after Christmas. The juicy meat is already picked off, and all that is left is a carcass of dried-up bones. Except I felt more useless than turkey bones, which a cook will simmer into broth. Oh, yeah, I did simmer… being stranded when I just want to be back in my house tends to bring out the fed up and frustrated side of me.

Recently I was reading in the Old Testament about a patriarch named Jacob whose name, not surprisingly, meant “deceiver”; Jacob was an “if-then” kind of guy. In Genesis 28:20 Jacob makes a conditional vow saying “IF God does certain things for me THEN the Lord will be my God” I was a little surprised to see God didn’t smack him in the back of the head.

One of the more popular expressions knocked around by people in my age group (OLD!!) is “used to be.” That is certainly true of our mothers, past and present. This little jewel was forwarded to me by the lovely and talented Starla Dawn Smith, who is sailing through retirement from her duties as a music teacher for Harrah Schools and has never looked back.

If you ever feel a little bit stupid, just read the following actual quotes and you’ll begin to think you’re a genius. *(On September 17, 1994, Alabama’s Heather Whitestone was selected as Miss America 1995.) Question: If you could live forever, would you and why? Answer: “I would not live forever, because we should not live forever, because if we were supposed to live forever, then we would live forever, but we cannot live forever, which is why I would not live forever.” --Miss Alabama in the 1994 Miss USA contest.

My birthday was last week and while it will not be cause for the celebration that Preston Dunlap will have in a couple of weeks when he turns 17, it is still significant, to me, anyway. Some little known, and possibly not very interesting facts: I was born at home (3½ miles west and half mile south of Holdenville) in a oneroom house on January 12, 1936.