Well, I've gotten a flood of mail about my previous column concerning my utterly incompetent lawn care. I'm gratified to report that I am not alone.

A sample: "If it weren't for neighbors, I wouldn't cut my grass at all." This is the observation of an honest man.

Another: "We bulldoze the land, already teeming with native life. We impose the landscape of Back East. Then we dump toxic chemicals onto the transposed, mismatched flora to kill all the things that grow here naturally. For God's sake, why?"

For many people, reading is a solitary activity. It's time exempt from the pressures of society.

On the other hand, over the past several years, I've noticed the remarkable growth of book clubs, particularly in Douglas County. What's behind that?

I'd like some advice from the community. As readers of this paper know, the Douglas Public Library District recently purchased the old Safeway building at 100 Wilcox in Castle Rock. We are now in the process of soliciting proposals from a few choice architects. By the end of next year, we intend to move all library operations currently run out of the Philip S. Miller Library and its annex into the new location.

I once wandered into a big gathering of people in the Southwest -- a sort of outdoor philosophy conference. At one point, a man with a flowing beard proclaimed, "In groups, people are stupid. Those of you who would like to discuss this further, meet me by the pool in an hour."

That struck me as pretty funny. If being in groups made you stupid, why get together to talk about it?