This post is brought to you by the animals in and around ABQ- the invasive, the endangered, the cute, the caged, and the extinct. You’ve got your filthy feral cats, your fertile feral pigs, your ravenous raccoons, and trashcan busting bears.
Politicians, bureaucrats, and environmentalists get their regulations and their reasoning all tangled up trying to save (or not) the endangered silvery minnow, the Mexican gray wolf, and the lesser prairie chicken. (Yeah, Arizona and Texas probably have the greater prairie chicken. They always get the good stuff.)
And to lighten up a bad news day, where better to turn for awwwww photos, than the zoo. Polar bears and giant bugs trump Al Qaida and ISIS as reasons to read the ABQ Journal any day.
By far the most appealing and least controversial animals in these parts are those that are extinct, gone forever, kaput, like the fossilized stegomastodon  discovered at NM’s Elephant Butte State Park. (Ok, it’s “Butte” not “butt.” Let’s get the giggles out.)
Fossils, dinosaurs, prehistoric pachyderms, have been favorites of mine ever since I worked at a museum as a…
Riiiiiing! Phone call. Be right back.
“Hi! Happy Fourth of July to you, too. What’s on? Are you serious?! Starting now?! Thanks. Bye.”
Hooray for the “Dead, White, and Blue!” It’s a July Fourth weekend marathon of “The Walking Dead.”
Yee hah! Now I can catch up on all the episodes I missed, learn the back stories. Relive every graphic, gloppy moment.
Of course, the best way to watch The Walking Dead (aka TWD) marathon is on the big flat screen in your parent’s great room with a bunch of buddies and pizza and beer-daring each other to stay awake for three days and nights and sharing the whole awesome, undead experience on Twitter, Facebook, You Tube, Instagram, whatever. (NB If you happen to live just over the NM border in CO, you can get a little Grateful Dead thing going, too.) Sounds like a plan. But not for me:
A. I’m a grown-up.
B. My buddies are more Fareed Zakaria fans, than flesh-eating zombie followers.
C. I’m allergic to pizza and beer and
D. My Desert Droppings post is due. Remember, ABQ animals living and otherwise?
Ok, deep breath. Multi-task. Multi-task. Watch and write.

So- I’ve had a thing for fossils ever since I taught Dino Intro sessions at the New York State Museum.
“Hi. Welcome to Dino Intro, ” I’d chirp.
“For the next thirty minutes, we’re going to go back in time millions of years. Did you know that dinosaurs and people were never…

In the barn! All this time Sophia was in the barn!

“Um…were never alive at the same time. Even though Fred Flintstone has a pet dinosaur. That’s just pretend.  Yabba Dabba …”

Do you know what’s in that room?  Ruuuuuuun!

Deep breath. Dinosaurs, fossils. Right.
As I mentioned, a front page story in the Journal described a fossilized stegomastodon find.
This prehistoric pachyderm was found by “campers celebrating a bachelor party.”
Picture this- a group of tipsy guys sitting around exchanging raunchy tales of married life while waiting for the arrival of the lap dancer hired to spice up the festivities. Suddenly, a van dives up, the lap dancer leaps out, strikes a suggestive pose, and the groom-to-be yells out,

Good God, it’s one-handed Merle!

Sorry. I mean he yells, “Look at the size of those two tusks!”
Lap Dancer (indignantly): “Hey, bud, what are you calling ‘tusks’?”
And so (possibly) went the discovery of the most complete set of stegomastodon remains to date. Not exactly the basis for a Merry Mastodon theme park or even a Bones in the Butte miniature golf course, but it’s a…
Way to go, Michonne! Slash and bash those walkers! Whoo!
Rick, Carl, Daryl, Beth, Carol, Maggie, Glenn, Sasha, Tyreese, you’re gonna make it!
Lizzie, don’t you even think about …nooooooo!

Where was I? Oh, yeah. Let’s see, feral pigs, check. Raccoons, check. Lesser prairie chicken…oh did I mention the swarms of grasshoppers that the ABQ Journal called…
A sanctuary? Terminus? I don’t think so. Maybe they’ll give some hints in tonight’s preview of season 5. But first I really need to finish…
This isn’t working, is it?
Ok, I tried.
Dear Masters of beenandgoing,
I’ve been hooked by TWD and I’m going to go sign up for TWD e- bulletins on amc.com.
Yup, the zombies ate my post.  So bite me!
Back next week.
R.