The Minnesota State Bird Has Arrived

Here it is only the first week of April and already I have seen the Minnesota State Bird here in North Texas. It seems like they come earlier and earlier each spring. And---they seem to be staying longer and longer each year. While the folks in the Carrollton area are fighting off the egrets choosing their trees as nesting sights the rush is on to scare them off and get them out of the neighborhood before they build a nest. Once, they do, they are protected as an endangered species. I sure wish they would put that Minnesota State Bird on the extinct list and just bypass the endangered species.

Some of you know what I'm walking about. Are you still thinking or wondering about the Minnesota State Bird? Well, for anyone living up in the Great Lakes as long as I did, you will soon find out that the blasted bird is a mosquito. Why? because Minnesota is the land of 10,000 lakes and that is home to where a lot of mosquito's grow up. So, when you see one or fell one from its bite, you slap it as hard as you can and then make sure it's dead. The people of Minnesota will thank you. They need all the help that they can get with this pest of an insect that they call the state bird. LOL

()--()--()

Last week I heard someone make a joke on TV about toilet paper. "Toilet paper companies are on a roll as they ramp up production'', they said. Well, little did that person know that after making that remark, a couple of days later, a truck load (45,000 pounds +/-) crashed on I-20 here in Dallas and spilled the entire load across the expressway. People were stopping on the other side of the road and grabbing rolls and rolls of the stuff [tp]. The expressway was a mess in that the load caught fire afterwards and the expressway was shut down for most of the day. Big excavating type front loaders were scooping the stuff up and dumping it in the long bed dump trucks. Lucky, those travelers to the east could hop on LBJ 635 and drive up to I-30 10-miles up the road and come back down on I-35E to I-20 on the west side of the accident. Or, they could elect to just stay on I-30 if they were going through Texas to the west and be just fine, as they both merge in west Texas.

0--()-()-()--0

You know with the shelter-in-place orders across the land, these are the apex days that took wing and were gone after this ordeal is over and you find yourself  pondering, 'where did all the spring and summer days go'? You might want to consider charging it off as a soul massage. 

Another way to look at this experience is that this time we are in now, will forever adorn the hallways of our minds. Or the virus that screwed up our planned annual bacchanal that went on in New Orleans without us. Better yet, I choose to think that this will all be over by autumn and will be a second chance when every leaf is a flower! Hopefully we can go for a drive in the hinterlands and enjoy it as a calm respite for the soul that is as precious as a gem.

In ending, I recall listening to one of the press conferences where the stage was lined with people that just filled in spaces, I think. Some, I'm sure, were security for the President and that is to be expected, but of those that spoke, in one segment each of the speakers were given a chance for them to comment briefly on the corona virus-19 situation. I noted adjectives used by each of the speakers: great;excellent;lovely;fabulous;astonishing;spectacular;beautiful.

 It came to mind afterwards that this is what social media has produced---a new bunch of followers and career personnel that are asleep at the wheel just as the TXDOT chief explained to me during the LBJ remake between the Hi-5 and I-35E when I ask him what is wrong with people today? Now, the next time I see him, I can say, it's not just Dallas where they are asleep at the wheel, it's all across America. When the crown jewel of the city park system has to be shut down with park rangers and code enforcement officers, blocking every entry because people can't use common sense; when they hear government officials making declaration that are punishable by fine and/or jail time or both, reality has mutated in the human gene. One runner " I can't control where people run". Well, sweetie, go home and google where another park might be that isn't on the news like the Katy Trail or the White Rock Trail. I can think of about 8 right now. In fact, White Rock has posted on their information boards at Boy Scout Hill that if you are experiencing problems with other park goes, you might consider going elsewhere where you can continue your training for your sport. Good advise if I might say so, myself. At least, I have read the board posting with the park rules listed.

Then, I see a national news report yesterday where its not just White Rock, its Central Park in the city (NY) the Pacific Crest Tail, The Rocky Mountain Trail or the oldest and premier of all three, the Appalachian Trial. It's society in general. That's what we have become as a Nation. So, in closing, those "woke" people that can't live without their Facebook page are the same ones that gave me this warning. Just remember that summer nights in mid-July is mating season for the Kardashians. (Lord, forgive me for that one!).

Ya'll stay safe, healthy.

Not the front gate!

Not the back gate. My house keeper says that the garage door keeps going up and down!

Sure helps with the blood pressure!