I didn't take a vacation this summer, and I was regretting it. But just twenty-four hours with my cousins and their children and grandchild in a beach house last weekend almost made up for it. There were eight of us plus Ruby, their mixed breed some-kind-of-terrier dog who was constantly at my side once she discovered how tasty the moisturizer on my legs was. Licking my cream-laden legs became her raison d'être.

Over lunch we got to talking about how we would make our fortunes. Our most entrepreneurial family member suggested that fast fortunes could be made with TV infomercials. So we began to think up product ideas, and came up with some zany possibilities. One of my personal favorites was the solar-powered flashlight. This was my chance, however to propose something I've longed dreamed about-- a slanted cereal bowl that keeps my Corn Chex from getting soggy. It could also double as a soup bowl to get to the last drop.

After lunch we did some normal weekend things like swim and walk along the beach. We returned to our infomercial idea fest on and off after dinner. It must have been about 10 p.m. when we were talking about an encounter Ruby had recently had with a skunk. And, of course, that led to the potential invention of a skunk-o-lator, a detector of skunks in the neighborhood.

Within moments of this discussion, Ruby needed to go outside. It had begun to rain. She was gone two minutes, just enough time for her to scare a skunk. This was apparent the second she trotted into the house and plopped down next to me.

Before the kids could grab her and get her outside to wash her with a peroxide and baking powder mix and hose her down, she had deposited some skunk liquid on two rugs. Getting the smell out of her and the house was quite an adventure.

We really need to get to work on the skunk-a-lator. We know we have at least one customer.

Laughing 'til your belly aches is almost like taking a vacation.