Today is Sunday, May 1 and there are only 238 days until Christmas.  Remember it is never to early to order those Swiss Colony beef logs.  Today we remember the birthdays of Magnus VI Lagabuter, Benjamin Henry Latrobe and Joseph Heller.  On this day in 305 Emperor Gaius Aurelius Valerius Diocletianus Jovius of Rome resigned (he was tired of having to sign his name all the time), in 1844 Samuel Morse sent the first telegraphic message and in 1931 the Empire State Building opened.  In Finland it is Vappu Day, in Hawaii it is Lei Day and in the US it is Child Health Day.  It is also National Chocolate Parfait Day and National Lemonade Day.

I may have discussed this before and if I have I apologize, but I am going to talk about it again.  If you remember reading it before, feel free to skip ahead to the next topic.  The issue is why some large dump trucks have a sign on the back that says, “Construction Vehicle Do Not Follow.”  Are there really drivers out there who follow large dump trucks on a highway?  Why?  What is it that they hope to accomplish by following a dump truck?  I will be honest, I have seen a number of dump trucks in my driving experience and have never been tempted to follow one, even without the sign.  In fact, I try to avoid being behind them because they tend to slow down going up hills and they are always dropping dirt and stones and other debris that could damage my car.  One of these days I may follow one with a sign and one without a sign just to see what they do that is different.  If I do I will let you know the story.

(If you have skipped ahead, start here.)  I have to admit that I am in despair.  Lately, it seems that people are becoming more ignorant, stupider, less concerned with everyone, more arrogant, I could go on, but I am sure you get the picture.  Why do I say this?  Let me give you some examples.  Recently, I was out driving.  I had stopped at a red light and was the second car in line.  Just as the light turned green a car came up on my left and used the left turn lane to go straight so that it wouldn’t have to wait for two cars to go.  The safety issues aside, what was the rush?  Once he or she got through the light they did not take off down the road.  They did the speed limit.  Was it just because they did not want to be behind other cars or were they doing something on their phone, did not see the light was red and swerved to avoid hitting us.  Hmmm.

Speaking of being on the phone, did they rescind that law about using the phone while driving?  I see people riding along talking on the phone all the time.  Some people are holding the phone with one hand and steering with the other.  Some are driving with both hands while trying to hold the phone with their shoulder.  Some are doing that pretentious holding the phone out in front of them and talking, as if they are they only people with a cell phone.  Really?  It is more unique to not have one … but I digress.  I even saw one (I am at a loss as to what to call her, but I will go with)horse’s patoot who was driving with one hand, had the phone held up by her shoulder and was applying lip gloss.  I think multi-tasking is a good thing, but that is going a bit too far.

Apparently people have become incapable of reading or understanding signs.  It seems that the No Turn On Red signs are only for people who follow rules.  And, God forbid you are trying to cross the street when one of those people decides to ignore the sign.  The rule is that you should come to a complete stop before making the turn.  Pedestrians are lucky if drivers slow down to 25 mph when making the turn.  I will admit that I don’t always come to a complete stop, but I do slow down almost to a stop and actually look before I turn in case there is someone in the crosswalk.  Let’s be honest.  Do you really want to run into someone with your car?  Can you afford the time you will need to explain to the police how you managed to come to a full stop and then make the turn and still send the person flying 15 feet across the pavement?  Not to mention explaining why you turned when the sign said you couldn’t.

Recently, I was stuck in traffic, inching along at about five feet per minute due to an accident.  When I got to the area where the accident had occurred, the three left lanes had been shut down.  An 18 wheeler was smashed into the divider.  Workers were picking up chunks of the divider and throwing them on a truck.  A car was upside down in the roadway.  I mention all of this because of what came next.  As soon as we got passed the scene and the road opened up, cars took off down the highway at speeds much higher than the posted limit.  I guess they felt they had to go faster to make up for the time they lost.  I would have thought that an upside down car on the road would have made them cautious, but what do I know?

This week our fact tells us that in 2011 Forbes estimated that Scrooge McDuck was worth $44.1 billion dollars.  I am not sure what they used to determine that, nor am I sure of why they felt it was necessary.  My questions are if he had that much money why couldn’t he get a speech therapist for Donald and some pants for Donald’s nephews?  And if you will allow me one more digression, where are the parents of those nephews?  Just wondering.

Thanks for coming by.  Now go get some lemonade and try to get a lei.