Postcards from all over, but none from Nebraska

"Anywhere is walking distance, if you've got the time."

- Steven Wright

There are three things I can tell you about Nebraska that you probably don't know.

1. It's named after the Indian word for the Platte River.

2. Before its university football team was called the Cornhuskers, it was called the Bugeaters.

3. And, so far this summer no one has sent me a Nebraska postcard.

They have sent me a bunch from Florida, including Joy Southern, Broxton and Kayleigh, all of Augusta, who "found a restaurant serving none other than lizard legs. Could hardly wait ..."

Beck and Pam send a card from San Francisco and "wish we could bring the cool weather home with us!" Cecil and Margie McCollum are having a great time in Vermont.

Wren Peterson wanted to make sure I got a card from Idaho, where "it was 100 degrees the past three days. But very dry, so it is tolerable not like a humid 100 in Georgia."

Peter Crawford sends a post card from Bolivia, where 13 members of a mission team led by Bobby Lovier and members of the Grace United Methodist Church of North Augusta are building a Methodist Church in Bolivia. "We are having a great time, but living hard. no electricity, no heat (20 degrees at night)."

Mary Dykes, of North Augusta, is visiting Rhode Island and Connecticut. Mal and Sally McKibben, of North Augusta, are visiting family in Boise, Idaho, "where they could use some of our rain showers."

I got an unsigned card from Idaho, where someone was "rafting all summer." Joe, Gwenn, Jordan and John D'Amelio, of Martinez, are in Providence, R.I., enjoying "cool weather and great seafood."

The Rev. and Mrs. Ray S. Dixon are attending the 25th general conference of the IPHC in Oklahoma City, and also visiting their children nearby.

The Bruckers - Mark, Gaby, Nick, Ella and Susana - write from Minnesota, where they "thought we could escape Augusta's heat by going to Minneapolis for the American Veterinary Medical Association's annual convention. Unfortunately, it's in the mid-90s. They do have a fantastic air-conditioned skyway, which connects all the major downtown buildings. Perhaps we could get one of those put on the SPLOST ballot."

Betty Powell sends a card from Boston, where she is visiting her daughter. Jim Blount, of North Augusta, sends a card from Iowa. Glenn and Letha Peters, of Stapleton, Ga., are visiting Kansas, where it was 104 degrees.

"Kansas," she writes, "is a good place to be from."

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TODAY'S JOKE: Billy Cooper shares this one.

It seems a Sunday school teacher described how Lot's wife looked back at Sodom and was turned into a pillar of salt.

Suddenly one child interrupted. "My mom looked back once while she was driving," the youngster announced, "and she turned into a telephone pole."