Long day, short post

So is it a Rabbit or a Beetle?

Our friend Cheryle has a rental property north of town in a subdivision that is mostly horse property. The tenant wasn't paying the rent when due. Also on this 1 acre lot (+/-) was a small trailer with a separate tenant. The guy living in the house was evicted the end of last week and on Monday the woman in the trailer died. Needless to say, the place needed work. Tenants who aren't paying the rent typically aren't taking care of the house either, and tenants who die...well...they leave pretty much everything behind.
I told Cheryle I'd help her out any way I could, so mid-morning I went out there, knowing there was some painting to be done. When I got there I found six others already hard at work cleaning out a large shed and the trailer. Some were neighbors, some were friends, but all came together to help however they could.
I got the easy part - inside painting. The others worked out in the HEAT sorting, tossing, organizing, etc. By the end of the day they'd made tremendous progress! It's pretty much ready for new tenants. I'll go back tomorrow to second-coat and do some misc. things like replace missing smoke detectors, fix a microwave handle, trim an overgrown tree and the like.
But what struck me was the sense of community as people pitched in to help out. You don't find that in most neighborhoods around here. People barely say hi to the family living next door. But out there, where everybody has horses...it's more like the midwest. People pitch in and help out when they can.

I listened to NPR on the way home and learned that in China dwarfs are called "pocket people." A graphic if not especially dignified term.

I didn't come straight home. I think the dust of the dirt driveway at Cheryle's rental, which coated the tires, drew my attention to them. Especially the back two, which were pretty much bald. So I stopped at Discount Tire and paid $300 for two tires. Ouch! But this time of year the freeways have a surface temp not far below that of the sun's, and I spend enough time driving them that I don't want the experience of a blow-out. We see lots of them during the summer months. They say it's not if, but when it happens to you. Well, I want to postpone it for as long as possible.

You think you've got it bad, Hillary Clinton owes $22 million in campaign debt. That works out to three speeches by her husband.

Never take financial advice from a preacher. I told you to take Federer and Sharapova to the bank, but dear Maria is on an early flight home. So I'm throwing the rest of my money behind Ana Ivanovic. Aside from everything else, she has a fascinating backstory that includes practicing as a kid in empty swimming pools while bombs were falling less than 10 miles away in her native Serbia.

Security camera caught this waitress in action:
Now unemployed

Did you have older siblings? As a kid, what did you learn from watching them?