One of the greatest gifts I can give my friend Ed Gulley is to ask him about milk prices, Ed has a speech about milk prices – very true – that he loves to give and will always give and that I’ve heard 1,000 times. He gives it at our Open Houses, he gives it at dinner, he gives it anywhere. It’s pretty good.

And I know it by heart, I can say it along with him. Gayle from San Francisco sent me a Gorilla T-shirt to give to Ed, he was delighted to see it. He’ll wear it shortly.

I tell him I’m happy to give him my Publishing Speech, but he isn’t very interested. Yesterday, we had a fascinating talk about farming, and the “Small Life,” and about his ideas about how dairy farmers like him can survive these very difficult times.

He is an artist, but also a farmer, it is deep in his blood.

Then, I led him right into the Milk Speech. He lit up, his eyes brightened, his mind raced. It is, in a way, his story.

I see that talking this way revives up, focuses him, he becomes more animated and articulated. It is very hard for him to be bed bound and helpless in this way, he told me he sometimes feels like a caged rat. In the up and down path of cancer, he was better Saturday than Friday, but still so weary, and his body is betraying him, more and more each day.

It is still possible to draw out his smile, I think his sense of humor will be the last thing to go.

He is more forgetful and in need of sleep. He had a slew of visitors yesterday, and he loves visitors, but it also takes a toll on him. Carol was hoping to get him outside for a ride or walk, but I do not believe that is possible any longer. He continues to sketch and do acrylic painting on glass (we sold his newest vase this morning.)