Today's The Day

I don't know if 10,000 people will show up in the rain for the handing over of the keys to the Okvath family, but I'll bet plenty of folks will be on hand. I'm looking forward to the family's reaction, and to watching the show on March 13. The Mister has been worrying about whether the family has to pay gift taxes (remember the Oprah debacle when people received new cars as hostess gifts for attending her opening show and then couldn't afford to keep them because of the required gift taxes?) (and who came up with the idea of gift taxes anyway? Why should we tax doing good? But that's a different topic), and I've seen no information on that question. However, the AZ Republic did ask some of the questions I've been wondering about:

"What is the family's financial responsibility? The Okvath family has to pay the property taxes.
How are the Okvaths being kept out of the loop? They're put to work by day and sequestered by night in a hotel in Tucson. Kassandra and family have been helping Disney animators paint cartoon characters and bold designs on the University Medical Center's walls."

Oh yeah, and you know those big coaches that I thought were carrying tourists? They are for the volunteers, of which there are about a thousand. Seriously. Back in the day, we used to have barn raisings, where the neighbors would all come together to get someone's barn built, and all they expected for their trouble was to be fed. I'm thankful that folks are still willing to volunteer their time to help a neighbor in need. In fact, I live next door to several folks just like that.