Prior to the Friday, July 29, drawing, the national Mega Millions jackpot recently expanded to $1.28 billion.

Now all someone has to do is match all the numbers and take home the cash.

Whomever wins it will take in the nation’s fourth-largest lottery prize ever.

There are a whole string daunting numbers with this particular story. $1.28 billion? Really?

I’d like to say if I won I wouldn’t know what to do with all that money. And that is true to a point. Yet I bet you I could find plenty to do with at least some of that cash.

Trip to the Bahamas anyone? How about Tahiti? Or Hawaii?

Massive jackpots always seem to carry that peculiar aura of hitting the big time and I admit there was a time or two in my younger days when I’d shell out a few bucks to get a lottery ticket.

I never won anything.

Which should be a pretty clear sign I’m not one of those lucky souls who will walk away with huge amounts of cash and, by extension, should probably save my money.

But $1 billion?

That’s a lot of money.

It’s probably also pretty clear that the dog days of summer also deliver interesting news tidbits like the Mega Millions jackpot. Let’s face it, though. A $1 billion potential jackpot could raise just about anyone’s eyebrows.

It sure caught my attention.

I will probably not partake, simply because I somehow can’t seem to connect spending a few dollars and having any possibility of winning the big jackpot.

But it sure would be nice, wouldn’t it?

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If you missed one or more issues of The Observer this week, here are a couple of stories you might have missed.

This past week, reporter Shannon Golden did a story on the 100-year anniversary of M.J. Goss Motor Co., which was founded in February 1923 when Milo Jasper Goss III bought out Inland Motor Co.

Reporter Dick Mason reported on Union’s Mark Girard and the feral cat problem he has on his property. Girard said people are stopping outside his farm and letting cats out. The cats put him in a bind because there is nowhere he can take the felines — he said the La Grande animal shelter operated by the Blue Mountain Humane Association does not accept feral cats.

New week, look for a story on the expansion project at Legacy Ford.

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As always, I want to take this opportunity to thank our subscribers for their support of The Observer. We can’t do this work without you.