Jurassic perk

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  We finish with a unique monument to the Rolling Stones

In these supremely troubled times, it’s nice to come upon something that shines a little warm light on things. I speak of dinosaurs.

We’ve been taking our elderly dog to a nearby trail that just touches the American River here in the California foothills. It’s short enough that he can still manage it, and just long enough that we can call it our walk for the day. But what really distinguishes it these days are the little plastic dinosaurs people are hiding in the brush.

At first there were just a handful. Then they started showing up in numbers. Then they started disappearing almost as fast as they were put out because of the bands of marauding kids who seem to like this better than any dang Easter egg hunt. Now it can be something of a challenge to find more than a few, but on this day our dino-safari yielded a pretty good haul.

Yes, we’ve snatched a few, but each time we go we bring some back to hide. It’s kind of like a penny dish at the store: take one leave one.

I have no idea who started this, or why, but it was a stroke of covid-era genius, and I hope the tradition lasts as long as bags of plastic dinosaurs run $8.97 for 72 of ‘em.