I meant to apologize to the citizens of Hays two weeks ago, but inadvertently omitted it from my column. So, please accept my belated apology for planting my backyard with buffalo grass. Please forgive me as all I'm trying to do is get rid of the sticker patch that was my back yard into a place my granddaughter can play when she visits.

Why the apology, you ask? Anyone who has planted the aforementioned buffalo grass knows it must be applied when the weather is hot. Thus, the July seeding. Here's the kicker. It must be kept wet. And I don't have a water well, so I will be helping the city coffers out quite a bit with my next water bill.

The only relief I will get from watching my water meter spin faster than a roulette wheel is when it rains. If my luck holds true, I assume Hays will suffer a drought for the next month or two (as it did when I planted buffalo grass in my front yard).

So, I'm sorry for the drought, but I'm sure any grandparent would admit it is for an honorable reason.

* * *

Speaking of buffalo grass seed, it is expensive. With my limited math skills, I deduced I would need 25 pounds. Imagine my surprise when the cash register rang up $350! If I spend that kind of money, I think it is all wrong that I am able to carry the purchase with one arm.

You would think for that price, you could seed your yard on Monday and be mowing on Tuesday. Trust me, not even close.

* * *

Sen. Janis Lee was in Hays this past weekend and gave a local candidate some campaign advice. Lee told her when going door-to-door to wear a pin that says, "I love dogs."

* * *

Sen. carPATbagger Roberts is blowing through the cash on television advertising in a primary where he has no opponent. If there is any question whether he considers Jim Slattery a worthy adversary, Roberts' actions answer it quite assuredly.

And I think he should be worried. Roberts was asleep at the wheel as head of the Senate Intelligence Committee on the ill-conceived notion that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction. He was also caught napping as Boeing lost the tanker bid; and now has to beg for do-overs.

* * *

I don't know where this originated, but a friend sent me this. There isn't anything funny about paying four bucks a gallon for gas, but this comes close.

A guy walks up to convenience store counter, slaps down a $10 bill, and says, "I need ten bucks worth of gas."

The counter person passes gas and hands him a receipt.

* * *

In the personal growth category (another grandfather thing), I'm trying to decrease my vocabulary. Words that I wouldn't want repeated; if you know what I mean.

That being said, the watering of the yard, with the moving and turning on and turning off of five different sprinklers, the crimping of hoses, the muddy dress shoes and khakis and shirts, the gas usage running back and forth from office to home; well it's given my personal growth thing a bit of a setback. But I'm not giving up.

* * *

One of the great things about politics is you meet a lot of people. And every once in a while, you meet someone very special. Such was the case when I met Jana Mackey at a reception for our local party a couple of years ago.

After a few moments visiting, I was very impressed. She was truly a Democrat's Democrat. We corresponded via e-mail after that reception and she told me she enjoyed reading my column as it was one of the ways it helped keep her in touch with Hays.

As you have read and heard, she was murdered two weeks ago in Lawrence at the age of 25. More than 1,100 people attended her service. My deepest sympathies to her mom, Christie Brungardt and stepfather, Curt Brungardt, and her father, Mike Mackey, and stepmother, Anita Mackey, along with the rest of her family and her many, many friends.

* * *

It seems there are a lot of charitable causes and with the current Bush administration, we need them. Let me add one more. The older I get, the worse my memory gets. But, I remember quite well my water bills of the last buffalo grass plant a few years ago. Please be generous to the "Glenn Staab City of Hays July/August Water Bill Fund."

After all, I'm sure there won't be any rain on my parade.

Glenn Staab, a lifelong Hays resident and former city commissioner, sells insurance and real estate and is the Democratic Party chairman for Ellis County. elcodemo@odsys.net