Forty is the old age of youth; 50 is the youth of old age.

-- Victor Hugo

I visited with the Burke County Exchange Club this week, and I probably don't need to tell you that they're all getting ready for this month's fair.

That's good. I like fairs. They remind me of my youth -- a series of scary adventures interrupted with food you usually never get at home.

After all, if it weren't for fairs, the cotton candy/funnel cake industry would not exist.

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HAIR HUMOR: I was getting my hair cut at a neighborhood shop, and I asked the barber when would be the best time to bring in a 2-year-old neighbor for his first haircut.

Without hesitation, the barber answered, "When he's 4."

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MORE MAIL: Suddenly, everyone is sending postcards from Canada.

Kathryn McKie and Genie Spears are enjoying the "beautiful country and wonderful people" of New Brunswick.

Gayle Tyson and June Hathaway are also having a grand time in Nova Scotia.

Pat and Wayne Fuller , of North Augusta, say they had a chance to visit the largest mall in the world outside Edmonton, which they say is hard to describe.

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MR. FIX-IT: Sign seen in repair shop (directed at customers):

Hourly rate: $10.50

Hourly rate if you sit and watch: $12.50

Hourly rate if you sit, watch and comment: $15.50

Hourly rate if you sit, watch, comment and "help": $20.

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TODAY'S JOKE: Here's one shared by Brian Lake .

An old couple was traveling the back roads of east Georgia when they stopped at a convenience store to get gas and something to drink. As the octogenarian duo approached the counter to pay, the man behind the register said, "I know most folks around here. Where are y'all from?"

The old man said, "Loganville."

The old woman, who was hard of hearing, yelled, "What did he say?

Her husband replied loudly, "He wanted to know where we were from!"

Then the store owner inquired, "Have you lived there a long time?"

The man responded, "All our lives."

The wife shrieked again, "What?"

Her increasingly agitated spouse snapped back, "He wanted to know how long we've lived there!"

That's when the proprietor started telling the old man that many years ago he once dated a girl from Loganville but had to break it off because she was always complaining and nothing was ever good enough for her.

Again, the old woman whined, "What'd he say?"

Whereupon the husband threw up his hands and bellowed, "He says he thinks he knows you!"