Ever think people are crazy for living where they live, and putting up with the dangerous or uncomfortable, unpleasant situations they keep finding themselves in? (i.e., "Why don't they just move? Who in their right mind would want to live like that?").

We just had a sizeable dust-storm blow through the area yesterday. Yes, dust. A gritty, grind your teeth, dont-leave-the-car-window-open-or-your-face-will-get-sandblasted-hey-I-can't-see-the-horizon-anymore dust storm. And it made me stop and think for a moment about the conditions we encounter, tolerate, and eventually shrug off without another thought.

Another example from the sunny Southwest: My wife and I were at Home Depot, checking out the shrubs & perrenials in the garden department when we saw it. The spider. With the telltale red hourglass on her abdomen. A black widow. (Just as a sidebar: that hourglass, when the light hits it just right, is almost phosphorescent. I mean, it shines. If my life were a Warner Brothers cartoon, her belly would light up and flash the words "Eat at Joes".) Anyways, I thought it was my civic duty to inform one of the service drones in the orange smocks. I mean, God forbid someone should reach into those plants, get bitten, and die. And so, I flag one of the 'associates' down and tell them about my discovery. His response was almost impercievable; with a shrug, he keeps walking and without losing his pace says "Yeah, well, we keep spraying . . ."

But, is it all just a trade-off? Tornados, mudslides, africanized bees, muggings, floods, and, . . .

what was that thing I used to deal with back east? It was invisible, and you encountered it almost always without warning, and it would leave you spinning, disoriented and at serious risk for personal injury. Oh yeah . . . black ice.

But that was normal. I mean, the stuff people put up with living in other parts of the world . . . they're just crazy.