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God it’s hot on the High Plains right now. 103 degrees here in Dodge City the past two days, but it was even worse than that in Hays, where the mercury topped out at 108 and 106 the past two days. It’s late July in western Kansas, it’s something I have to deal with 
Whew, lot went on the past week. I drove down to Table Rock Lake last friday (15th) and met up with my brother who also drove down from Overland Park… to enjoy a wonderful weekend with family. It was a very enjoyable time from just sitting back relaxing… to getting sun burned on the lake… to going to my first “Branson Show”. No, no, no.. not an Andy Williams show.. but Russian-American comedian Yakov Smirnoff. My Aunt and Uncle, who are residents of the area, are able to get into these shows at a very discounted price. The Yakov comic show was very well done. It is a more family-oriented comedy show, but the sketches certainly made us all laugh. Yakov has an incredible talent where he is able to interject a certain seriousness at times, to capture the hearts of his audience through some of phenominal stories of how he became an American.
9/11/01. Certainly a day that changed this country in many facets of life; a day that really hit Yakov at heart. Yakov started his American life in New York, then becoming citizen several years later. Without going into the details of when he and his family moved to America (go see his show!), their first impressions of this country was one of big heart and outpouring support. So, when the two planes hit World Trade Center, it most certainly affected this Russian-American artist and comedian. I say artist. One year after that fateful day in world history, 9/11/02, an incredible rememberance was observed on the grounds of what was once the twin towers. Standing tall above these grounds, and everyone below, was a several-story tall painted mural. A mural painted by an anonymous donor. Yakov painted “America’s Heart” the night of the tragedy, which would ultimately become the vision that would stand tall above Ground Zero with the message: “The human spirit is not measured by the size of the act, but by the size of the heart”. Read more here.