Here or there?

This morning, I was heading out the door the same time as the neighbor across the street. Referring to the hot and humid day ahead of us, he greeted me saying, "On days like these, don't you miss being in California?"

"Not really" I said. "This morning, there was a story on the news about a tiny flower on the endangered species list raising concerns about construction of the new Mississippi River Bridge."

We both laughed and the neighbor said, "Well, I guess we are in California!".

Getting things done is some states is harder than others. I remember many years working in the housing industry in California. The battle was always
on between home builders and environmentalists. And both sides agreed: there was a severe shortage of affordable housing. No matter. Rare plants and animals often stood in the way of producing affordable housing.

That doesn't happen very often here. Not that we don't have lots of wildlife. Really we have more. In abundance. Our year round moisture and hospitable growing environment support great habitats for plant and animal life. What we do have a lot of are native american artifacts, especially along our waterways, and indeed, some artifacts have been found in the path of the new bridge project.

My hunch only, but I'm betting the new bridge project stays pretty much on schedule, with mitigation plans for any rare plants and historic sites in place to allow the project to proceed as planned.