It's a Pueblo thing

I hadn't realised how many differences I would notice between Denver and Pueblo, but every day there's something that I think "THAT'S different! It wasn't like that in Denver..."  So rather than keeping that mental list running (it's just more mental clutter, which is the LAST thing a forgetful person needs) I thought I'd write it down to get it outta there.

1. Jaywalkers.  Maybe every now and again someone would be crossing 120th Ave outside a crosswalk, but in Pueblo it is practically on every street.  Terrible jaywalkers, too!  They don't hurry across and wait for a nice break in traffic, these people seem determined to be hit by cars because they plod across as cars are heading straight for them.  It's crazy.

2. Slow speed limits.  Maybe this is why jaywalkers are so unhurried, but around town the limit is 25 mph, 35 on a "fast" street.  WHAAAT? I constantly find myself on the speeding side of things simply because "25 mph" is not in my driving vocabulary.

3. Red lights are a suggestion.  I've heard Utah drivers are bad because they all think Heavenly Father will protect them and they can run that red light anyway. I imagine this (Pueblo) is what Utah is like.  There have been at least 3 times when I was sitting at a light and looked up to see that MY light was fully green but SOMEONE was full-on blowing through the red right in front of me.  I'll need to keep an eye out!  Maybe they should employ more stop-light cameras to issue tickets to get people to knock it off.

4. Bugs - WEIRD here.  There were some miller moths in Denver, maybe I'd get 3 in one room on a bad night, but our first night here I killed 32 moths in our laundry room. Yipes! Flies here are BRAZEN (or unbelievably slow) and don't take to shooing, they stay put thank-you-very-much.  They hardly flinch until you actually touch them. It makes them easy to kill, but do I WANT to be able to kill you with my bare hands? No!  Make it a challenge, at least make me get the flyswatter to chase you.  And then the ants... there are anthills here and there but the ants seem to find no need to stick close to home and EVERYWHERE you sit/stand there are ants just wandering around.  WHY?! Go HOME! And stop crawling on my feet.

5. Yard fountains.  I understand they make for some landscape architecture, but there's an inexplicably high proportion of houses that we looked at that have a 3-tiered water fountain smack in the middle of a typical yard.  SO WEIRD!

6. Drive-through "Loaf N Jugs." It's a fantastic idea, but I've never seen one before in my life; now I live in decent proximity to not one but THREE of them. Everyone else seems to think they're a fantastic idea, too, since they are ceaselessly busy, so I haven't tried one yet because I hate drive-through lines more than I hate actually walking into a store.  You never know WHY that person in front of you is taking so dang long because you can't listen in!

7. My LEAST favorite "Pueblo thing" - cancelling without notice.  Joe had a one-on-one meeting with a guy from church, who never showed.  I hauled the kids to a mom-and-tots group which had been postponed a week without notice. Joe had 2 meetings scheduled prior to his regular work shift so he went in an hour early for them; BOTH had been cancelled! We met Kari for her ward's park day but she and I were the only ones who went to the park!  Basically I am unimpressed at how often people show up for the things THEY plan, and then even less impressed at how good they are about giving a warning that they might not make it to said plans.  Pueblo, it's time to SHOW UP.

That's about it, now my bed's ordering me to do the same thing: show up.  Nighty night.