It’s already August and my July isn’t quite done yet. Most of my newspaper work is done by Monday morning but this week has really started off with a fizzle, not a bang.

First thing was I couldn’t connect to the server, but I was watching the lightning and gigantic clouds with glee only a few hours before sitting at the computer and pushing the buttons I take for granted will always work.

Not this week. I guess it was all that extra electricity in the air. Thank goodness for computer gurus and the magic they perform, I am back on track or “hooked up” as a former boss used to say.

Maybe we’re going to have a bang-up August with lots of no-humidity days and just sunshine to spare. We’re all apprehensive about the winter and its associated costs and challenges but with so many high government experts working on the nation’s problems, I expect big solutions. Or at least enough hot air to make the fuel needs lessen.

You’re reading a newspaper. That’s good news in these days of gloom and doom in the print world. I wonder how many of those glossy slick magazines with the full color, stuck together and perfumed pages will manage to make it through the next few years?

I looked at one in the store the other day, about 3/4 inch thick, and had to turn about 30 pages before I could find the index to see what, if anything, of substance was included. I can’t believe that there are hordes of people wearing the clothing advertised. But there must be, because those full color full page ads are not inexpensive. One would pay for oil for a whole winter, up here in Maine.

And the models – they all look like they’re about 12 and malnourished, males and females and those in between. Then there are the folded pages, stuck together, which unfolded, emit an aroma like a perfume counter at Saks. Again, is there a huge conglomeration of people in the market for these scents? Give me the smell of a freshly cut hayfield or clothes dried outdoors in the sun. You can’t capture those odors in a bottle.

When all is said and done, nothing beats a newspaper. Just think of how many times you’ve searched through the trash because you forgot to clip out Aunt Mary’s recipe or Uncle John’s obituary. Newspapers last. You may carry your laptop around for convenience but most thoughtful folks need to hold a newspaper in their hands and read it at their leisure.

People who have been in the business of newspapers know that it’s the advertising that powers a paper and newspaper owners treasure their advertisers. In times like these, from my experience as an editor, it’s always advertising expenses that are scrutinized and sometimes, mistakenly, questioned.

I used to remind people that if your name isn’t out there, no one knows you’re there. And that is truer today, when so many in our society are mobile and change residences more frequently. New people pick up a local paper to find out what’s going on and where the hardware store is. They’re looking for babysitters and markets. Nothing fills this need like a local newspaper.

Read a newspaper online? Only if I had no other choice.

See you next week.