Back in business. A while back.

I was in the Hallmark store looking for something for Mrs. Pic who had a present coming for doing something special.

One of the women working there came in and asked the two other women behind the counter a question.

"What does 'Front towards enemy' mean?" she asked.That got my attention for a second until I figured it out.

The woman had seen a trailer hitch plug on the back of a pickup. There are a few of those going around these days. They're made of inert Claymore mine training devices and are harmless.

"It means that you were looking at the business end of a Claymore mine," I said.

"What is a Claymore mine?" she asked. "Why would he have it on the back bumper of his truck?"

"A Claymore is and anti-personel explosive device that shoots out a mess of ball bearings," I answered. "Maybe the guy just doesn't like tailgaters."

"That could kill someone!" she said.

"I'm not too worried about it," I replied. "I don't tailgate. Then again maybe he's a terrorist." The bored tone of voice made it quite clear I was being very sarcastic.

I paid for my card and wandered a couple doors down to the Radio Shack. I saw a pickup parked outside the store and lo and behold! It had a resin Claymore as a trailer hitch plug. I was entering Radio shack when I caught a flash out of the corner of my eye. It was a police car.

I looked around and saw a place where I could get a ringside seat. The front seat of my pickup looked pretty good so I ran over to it and hopped in and made myself small and watched the police car pull up.

The Hallmark woman came charging out to meet the police officer and went to the offending truck and pointed. The policeman got out of his car and looked at the trailer hitch plug and surpressed a smirk.

He was a kind officer and didn't get too upset. He simply talked to her and from the look on the woman's face the officer thanked her for being observant and told her what a good citizen she was for reporting what she saw.

He then drove off and the woman went back into the store.

I sat there for a minute asking myself if people really were that stupid and then realized that a lot of them are.

To find out why the blog is pink just cut and paste this: http://piccoloshash.blogspot.com/2009/12/my-feminine-side-blog-stays-pink.html