I’m hoping I can get through this column today. I’ve had my grand kids (whose pictures you’ve seen here many times) and the virus all week. I can’t decide which is worse. Thank God for my daughter Sherry and granddaughter Kathryn. I don’t even have to tell those of you who have grandchildren that you’ve kept for a week--your brain turns to mush.

Carter is 5 and Jack is 3. I think it is the best age (cutest), but I’m sure that when they are 6 and 4, I will think that is the cutest age.

Their parents promise that next year they will take them on this week-long dive trip to Mexico since the boys can now swim and love to snorkel. They can’t see anything at the bottom of the swimming pool, but they still like to look. I can’t imagine how excited they will be to snorkel where they can see fish and interesting shells.

Jack is so funny as he swims along with his face down in the water. Every 30 seconds or so, his little hand reaches up to check to make sure his snorkel is still out of the water. (Like he couldn’t tell.)

Okay, already I’m starting to regret they won’t be back here next year, but will be frolicking in Cozumel.

Campaign reports, part 2.....Don’t think I have abandoned looking at the campaign and expense reports of our Commissioners. Looking at some of them makes me sick and I was already sick enough this week. I promise to take it up again next week.

I can see both sides....We’ve had several letters to the editor about Missouri City’s sudden tendency to cite homeowners if their property is not up to code. In the past, the city has issued warning tickets and given the homeowners a certain amount of time to remedy the problem. I don’t know what happened, unless the city is tired of issuing warnings with no results from the property owner. Or perhaps the city hired a whole bunch more code enforcers, because lately we’ve been getting letters from residents saying that trash cans they thought were hidden behind a bush have been cited, and they’ve been fined immediately. Sounds to me like the city has found a new cash cow, much like Sugar Land and its new cameras at red lights.

FYI, the tickets aren’t cheap either. They are for $209 plus court cost of $64. That’s a little steep for people who may have recently lost their job or had their hours cut back.

And here’s the rub. Responsible people are the type to write letters to the editor. Responsible people are the type who generally keep their property in pretty good shape. So I can’t help but believe those letter writers have a point.

One excuse I heard the city was giving was that everybody had been warned by a couple of stories in the newspapers. That is right. We’ve printed stories about that on at least two different occasions.

But, still, I can see how the city gets tired of continually issuing warning tickets and getting no results. It hurt the property values if houses are allowed to deteriorate. But it seems to me that the city has better things to do than spy for improperly stored trash cans.

And Stafford again...Evidently I wasn’t the only person thinking that Stafford had done a good job of negotiating with TX-Dot. On the week I talked about how nice the new streets are in this column, U.S. Representative Ron Paul entered into the Congressional Record equally complimentary comments.