On the trip back to the East Coast, I had developed a powerful thirst. It was just about time to stop and refuel, so when the next available exit came up, we took it. Much to my delight, the gas station-convenience store also had a McDonalds inside. I try not to plug any particular business, but MickyD's has some really great ice tea. While my husband fueled the car, I took Runtly, the ever so entertaining Jack Russell Terrier, out so he could stretch and do his business. When he was done, I handed him over to my husband and went inside to get a super sized ice tea to quench my thirst. As I made my way back to the car, giant sized tea in hand, it was my job to put the ever so entertaining JRT back into his crate. This can be like trying to stuff a squirming toddler into a snowsuit. Yes. Yes I did. I set my super duper sized ice tea on the roof of the car and proceed to wrestle fifteen pounds of shedding white fur back into his carrier. By the time I had finished, my husband was back in the drivers' seat, we had our seat belts on and were beginning to exit.....when I said, "Stop the car." It would have been much better if I had uttered those words with a whole lot more space between them.....even though I did get the chance to repeat them. He hit the brake as the words, "my tea is on top of the car" spilled from my mouth and I heard the giant glass of tea fall over. With lightening speed, I took off the seat belt, opened the door and was just getting ready to do my best Daisy Duke exit when my ice tea landed right on top of my head. From there it hit the pavement and the ice tea gods must have been with me because the lid stayed on! I scooped it up, assumed the driving-riding position and away we went. I'm sure the golden arches employees enjoyed the show.
I considered using this next topic as part of my "Down the Rabbit Hole" series, but it is just too much for even my great love of a conspiracy theory. There is a group of people who live on this planet that belong to the Flat Earth Society. I kid you not. They number into the thousands and are thoroughly convinced the Earth is flat. They believe that Antarctica is not a continent but rather forms a giant ice wall around a square earth that keeps the water from falling off the sides......because water always seeks its own level and there is no way water can be in the shape of a globe. The sun is not millions of miles away, the moon is only about 75 miles across and they are kept in our atmosphere by a large dome, aka the firmament. There is no such thing as gravity because we are moving upward through an empty space and that is what keeps us from flying off the ground. The list goes on and on for what and why they believe the earth is flat. As I leave this subject, I would like to ask why raindrops are round....shouldn't they be flat little discs?
As unfortunate as this is, perhaps common core should stand for common sense , plus a few ethics and be a required course. Take for instance, the family who failed to pay their utility bill and had their electric service turned off. They solved the problem of not being able to cook on their electric range by taking the heating coils out and filling the drip pans full of charcoal. Or the person who complained that their air conditioner was not working......even though they had the thermostat set at 51. One young lady commented about the squirrels jumping off of our deck and scaring the daylights out of her. I explained that they were eating sunflower seeds that fall out of my bird feeders and when they hear anyone or something approaching, they jump to the ground. Her eyes grew big and she told me it was no wonder they were jumping, being all jacked up on that salt.......um, no. I do not buy salted sunflower seeds from the snack isle and put them in the feeders.
Then, there's the cowbird. A lowly drab brown bird that obviously has not a care in the world. It is believed the cowbird followed the massive herds of buffalo across the prairies since cowbirds eat insects that follow livestock. They obviously figured out that in order to maintain their own kind, along with the fact their food source kept moving, there was only one thing to do. The female cowbird lays her eggs in whatever nest she can find and goes about her merry way to follow the pack. This leaves the unsuspecting bird, which is usually much smaller than the cowbird, to raise the young cowbird as her own, and she does, and life goes on. It might be said, that since there are few massive herds of bison or cattle that roam the grasslands anymore, the cowbird has a pretty good gig going.
No comments:
Post a Comment