* Sometimes the perfect excuse just falls into your lap. Such is the case with the recent E. Coli breakout involving spinach and the advice not to eat the fresh produce, not that most people need a reason to avoid spinach.

Now I can blame my lack of weight loss after the recent arrival of child No. 6 on the absence of fresh spinach in my diet. If only I could have a bowl overflowing with fresh leaves of spinach, I know the pounds would be melting away.

I'm positive the non-movement on my scale has nothing to do with baking (and nibbling) at chocolate chip cookies. It's can't be the removal (and picking) of my children's plates after dinner. And it's can't be lack of exercise on my part as I hit the snooze button for the fifth time in the morning.

I'm just trying to protect my health by avoiding fresh spinach and in the meantime, the scale will just have to stay the same.

* If you're not willing to let your weight loss stall just because of a bad batch of spinach, then maybe you are up for a quick 5K run this weekend.

The annual Heritage Days 5K Walk/Run is Saturday morning in McCook. If that sounds like too much work, the 1-mile fun run/walk is another option and is fairly quick and painless. And just to eliminate all excuses, you can still sign up the morning of the race.

If you are worried that you will be the slowest person on the course, let me assure you that I'll be right there at the back of the pack, hoping they don't pull me from the course for taking too long.

* Perhaps you are at the end of the spectrum and think a half-hour jog through the streets of McCook is not enough.

Then maybe you are up for the Nebraska Sports Council Racing Adventure Race on Oct. 22 at the National Guard's training facility between Omaha and Lincoln.

The course is designed to "test the mental and physical limits of all racers, and estimates a winning time between 4-6 hours."  The course includes mountain-biking, running, map-reading and plenty of mystery. But here's the kicker and the part that would be my downfall: The course is swept after eight hours. That is, if you haven't finished after eight hours, you're not going to finish at all.

Hmmm ... If I can avoid being swept at the Heritage Days race, maybe this is my next race.

* Am I the only person who thinks November's general election cannot get here soon enough? It doesn't matter who you favor or who you can't stand, most people are fed up with the political ads which litter the airwaves.

I literally switch the TV channel or turn the radio dial if any type of political commercial comes on the air. It doesn't matter if I like the candidate or not; I tune out.

Part of the problem is that these political ads have been airing for something close to six years or that's what it feels like.

The candidates would have been better off giving the money spent on ads to a good charity and waiting until after Labor Day to start campaigning. Perhaps then we wouldn't be sick and tired of the ads and would actually listen to what they are saying, what they stand for and what they are against.

Instead, when we enter the voting booth in less than two months, we may very well check the box for the candidate who we saw the fewest commercials for and can tolerate just a little.

* A true sign that you live in the country: I was following a tractor traveling down the highway, at a pretty fast pace I might add, when the tractor in front of me went to make a pass ... another tractor.

-- With six children in her house, Ronda Graff is trying to get back into a daily routine, which includes attempting to sit at the computer to write and, on a good day, taking a shower.