These are some very funny letters, folks, and I enjoyed them immensely. I especially like suggestions that the mower and his wife keep the stick upright year round in their yard to support holiday lights, perhaps a scarecrow, or a flag.

Dropping off a tupper of cookies also has appeal, especially if the cookies are nor really very good, but look like they are delicious.

Now for a quick visit into the mind of the neighbor four doors down: She looks out and thinks - that guy always mows other people's bit of median strip and what does he do for me? Zip! Just puts this stick on my curb as if to say - take care of your own stick lady and what have you ever done for me anyway? Did you ever mow anyone's median strip, no you did not, so here take care of your stick.

Why I feel incensed just thinking of it. And who asked the mower to fuss so with other people's property anyway. So there mower's wife. Keep your perfectly formed but tasteless cookies made with Crisco instead of butter. And don't burden me ever again with your passive aggressive lawn care and overscrubbed tupperware!

"In this telling of the tragedy, our hero's tragic flaw is a mixture of incurable optimism and stubbornness."

If this is satire, it's not working. No, I won't miss Oprah on network TV. I don't watch her show and haven't for years. In the 1980's, yes I watched and admired her. But come on. It's been the same thing year after year. How could that not get boring? My own mother grew older and wiser and more loving, then died. My friends got sick or chubby or crazy or finally wised-up; and some had children, some divorced, some married, they lost loved ones to disease and they got sweeter and better in spite and because of the wear and tear of life. But not so Oprah, who is too much the same person she was in 1986. So, though I don't begrudge her a good living and I wish her well (not that she needs my good wishes or yours), I am hoping she uses some of her time and money to get smarter, wiser, and happier. That would be a compelling next chapter for Oprah and make me a fan again.