I’m offering my first stint as Sallie’s guest columnist! I’m David, the guy mentioned in Sallie’s profile.

Today is Sallie’s birthday, as she alluded to in her posting from yesterday. And for her birthday, I pay tribute to her in the:

Ten Things You Need To Know About Sallie

1. Sallie believes that potatoes are one of the basic food groups, whether it’s potato soup (and she makes a good one) or mashed potatoes, or baked potatoes, or fries.

2. Pansies are her favorite flower. Yep, those flower pots are itching to get filled by me in a couple Saturdays.

3. She owns a baseball bat that was used as a prop in one her favorite episodes of the Christy TV series. (We verified the authenticity by watching that episode.)

4. Do not, I repeat, DO NOT get into a battle of wits with Sallie. You will lose. She has a quick wit that rarely gets beaten. (Or, is it that I’m an easy target.)

5. Proper care and feeding of Sallie requires an occasional road trip to Loafer’s Glory, a little restaurant/country gift store in the dinky little burg of Blanchard, Michigan.

6. She really likes it when the vacuuming gets done by others (Read: me).

7. Squirrels tremble at the sight of her. Really. I’m not making this up. One leaped up on our window bird shelf and Sallie stared him down for several seconds. The little weasel started shaking violently and dove off!

8. Quite often during TV college basketball games, Sallie will comment about some aspect of the game. Moments later, the color commentator will say the same thing. Amazing. I still haven’t found the microphone in our living room with a feed to CBS Sports.

9. One of her favorite pick-me-ups is to play the “cold hands game”. I subject my warm tummy to her cold hands. It makes her laugh so much. Once again, I must be an easy target.

10. She was created especially for me, and it’s a special privilege to know that there’s no doubt about who I was to marry. And I’m so glad that she gets to share her thoughts with you who read her blog. I hope that you all get a glimpse of the wonderful woman that I get to share my life with.

Happy Birthday, Kitten!

– Your David