In the blistering summer heat, everyone enjoys watermelon. It was a staple during my childhood and it is one of the most fun fruits for kids to eat. Watermelon is huge, drips everywhere and you can have seed spitting contests. What's more fun for a kid than making a mess? However, if watermelon was expensive, I would have certainly grown up making a mess with other fruits.

Recently a Densuke watermelon fetched $6,100 at an auction in Japan. This is one of the most expensive melons ever sold in Japan, and I would have to imagine the rest of the world as well. At 17 pounds the cost of the fruit was about $359 per pound. I think that's more than I would fetch at an auction. For comparison, it's equivalent to 122 pounds of Godiva Dark Chocolate Truffles. This price isn't even much of a shocker for Japan where a pair of cantaloupe melons sold for $23,500 last month.

Papa's gotta brand new bag....

Or maybe you're interested in something else? The pickings promise to be funky when the singer James Brown's estate goes on the block in July.

Court-appointed estate representatives have selected 394 lots to be sold by New York auction house Christie's International by Aug. 1.

Working as a foreclosure auctioneer might seem like a lonely business -- After all, your job is to sell homes that people have been forced to vacate after failing to make mortgage payments.

But in western Virginia, auctioneer Rick Crossley knows just how lonely it can be. With the market meltdown in full swing, even the foreclosure auction regulars have given up, and Crossley often finds himself standing on the steps of the courthouse auctioning off homes with literally no audience: just confused/amused passersby.

Generally, the banks that own the properties will set the minimum bid and, if no one bids higher, they will take the house and attempt to sell it by hiring a Realtor. Banks generally set the minimum at the amount that they are owed and, in an era of declining home values and short sales, that's often substantially higher than the current market rate.

If you're one of the few people who is looking to buy a home right now, foreclosures may be interesting, even if the foreclosure auctions are not.

To take a look at homes for sale in various stages of foreclosure, check out Trulia's new search feature that includes foreclosures.

I read an interesting article recently over at TheStreet.com which outlined five business ventures which can be undertaken with little or no cash investment. These are proven ideas which may work for just about anyone. I'd like to give you a brief synopsis of that article by Jeffrey Strain and I'd also like to interject a couple ideas of my own.

Jeffrey's opportunity list starts out by suggesting a venture which is near and dear to my heart (and wallet). That suggestion is blogging. Yes my friends, there is money to be made in blogging. In fact, I'm padding my own bottom line right now. Blogs are easy to start and if you're a natural writer, blogging is easy to do. Jeffrey gives you a couple directions you can go for getting started as an independent, or you could take your shot at blogging right here with us! There are two basic kinds of blogging you may wish to consider. You can blog as a strict independent or you can blog as a freelance / contract writer. I prefer the contract gigs for myself, because they offer a good measure of security and you often have seasoned writers zipping around who can help you out of an occasional tough spot. (Thanks team!)