NEWS

thank you so much for hosting the wildflower challenge Miranda

I was never taught to weave dandelions, someone else created this and placed it here

News! 
No, not the horrible stuff you read in the newspapers that makes you want to cry and yell and curse.
News that tells you the next phase has begun! 
That is the news I got this morning. 

Hopefully over the next two weeks I will hear of people being called and confirming that I am terribly dull, of absolutely no interest, and should be considered utterly secure. It is so hard to behave and not make jokes now. 

Roads:
$115B of the infrastructure bill would go to fixing roads and bridges. The roads I drive on seem pretty good to me. Roads are the responsibility of municipalities and states generally. The fact that roads seem pretty good to me is apparently a reflection of where I live and where I go. We've all heard for decades that our roads and bridges are in terrible shape. Some of the bridges we use are "structurally deficient" which is enough to give you a phobia (5% in my state). 22% of roads in the country are in poor shape (https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/2020/11/11/states-that-are-falling-apart/114708118/).  We pay for road upkeep with a tax on gasoline so we'll have to change that if we succeed in getting people to go electric.

A million years ago (not intended as a statement of fact) I was in the Philippines and there was a sign at the roundabout thanking people for paying their taxes so they could have this roundabout. I was shocked. I have never been thanked for paying my taxes and certainly no one has said, see this pretty bit of infrastructure here? Thank you for funding it. 

When I was in Uganda I decided to ask our driver what he thought about the government and taxes. He didn't think they should have to pay taxes because they didn't get anything for it. What about the roads? Those were given to them by the British. FWIW we had just passed large trucks doing maintenance on the road. 

Thank you for paying your taxes so we can have pretty roads.