Even more spa-ads in the Source, life-style coaches and wellness centers, the old Bend in me wants to break out the shit-kickers and cowboy hat and start taking up chewin' tobacco. Damn spads.

Marti, formerly of Designers has popped back up again in the same space with the 'new' store ICE. Interesting. Her third store with a different name. And here I thought it was important to have the same name for 28 years; branding and all. I guess her store name doesn't matter to her -- or changing it is to her advantage -- or the lure of 'going out of business' sales is just too strong. In a town like Bend, when everyone has been here for about five minutes, she might be right.

Out of curiosity, I counted retail ads in the Bulletin on Monday, and found only four local stores that sold merchandise actually advertising. 3 of them fell under the category of 'furniture' type. Obviously, their ad space is coming from other types of businesses. (Not counting flyers, but in the news part of the paper.)

And finally, once again I would encourage you to go to KTVZ.com and check out the daily mugshots. This is the part of Bend that the gated communities and downtown bistros and wellness spa's would like to ignore, but they're there on the edges.