A little bit of silliness

I scream, you scream, we all scream for ice cream. We were watching M.A.S.H. when an ad for Dairy Queen came on. Jeff Foxworthy's ditty about "you know you live in Michigan if..." came to mind as we looked at each other quizzically wondering if the Dairy Queen was open yet. Alas, not yet. We have to wait a little longer. But here is Jeff Foxworthy's take on Michigan. If you've already seen it, come back another time. What is really, really sad is that I've lived now long enough in Michigan to be able to attest to the veracity of each one of these statements.

1. If you consider it a sport to gather your food by drilling through 18 inches of ice and sitting there all day hoping that the food will swim by, you might live in Michigan.
2. If you're proud that your region makes the national news 96 nights each year because Pellston is the coldest spot in the nation, you might live in Michigan.
3. If your local Dairy Queen is closed from November through March, you might live in Michigan.
4. If you instinctively walk like a penguin for five months out of the year, you might live in Michigan.
5. If someone in a store offers you assistance, and they don't work there, you might live in Michigan.
6. If your dad's suntan stops at a line curving around the middle of his forehead, you might live in Michigan.
7. If you have worn shorts and a coat at the same time, you might live in Michigan.
8. If your town has an equal number of bars and churches, you might live in Michigan.
9. If you have had a lengthy telephone conversation with someone who dialed a wrong number, you might live in Michigan.
10. "Vacation" means going up north on I-75. (alternatively I-131)
11. You measure distance in hours.
12. You know several people who have hit a deer more than once.
13. You often switch from "heat" to "A/C" in the same day.
14. You can drive 65 mph through 2 feet of snow during a raging blizzard, without flinching. (Who me? Not, me.)
15. You see people wearing camouflage at social events (including weddings). (How gauche, but I haven't owned a pair of pantyhose in at least 10 years)
16. You install security lights on your house and garage and leave both unlocked.
17. You carry jumper cables in your car and your girlfriend knows how to use them.
18. You design your kid's Halloween costume to fit over a snowsuit. 20. Driving is better in the winter because the potholes are filled with snow.
19. You know all 4 seasons: almost winter, winter, still winter and road construction. (Jeff, there are only two seasons: construction and winter.)
20. You can identify a southern or eastern accent.
21. Your idea of creative landscaping is a statue of a deer next to your blue spruce.
22. You were unaware that there is a legal drinking age. 25. Down South to you means Ohio. (Well, actually "down South" begins with Grand Rapids.)
23. A brat is something you eat.
24. Your neighbor throws a party to celebrate his new pole barn.
25. You go out to a fish fry every Friday. (I am too frugal, I mean cheap, to go to those "eat all you can" events. I can't eat enough.)
26. Your 4th of July picnic was moved indoors due to frost.
27. You have more miles on your snow blower than your car. (Mine doesn't but the guy who does the snow plowing for me does.)
28. You find 0 degrees "a little chilly."
29. You drink pop and bake with soda.
30. Your doctor tells you to drink Vernor's and you know it's not medicine.
31. You can actually drink Vernor's without coughing
32. You know what a Yooper is. (The folks across the Bridge between the lower and upper Peninsula)
33. You think owning a Honda is un-American. (Not me. We drive a Nissan and a Toyota. Just can't trust those people that move to Michigan from another state.)
34. You know that UP is a place, not a direction. (UP = Upper Peninsula. Yoopers think that "down South" starts on the south end of The Bridge.)
35. You know it's possible to live in a thumb. (The other side--east side-- of the State where all the liberals live.)
36. You understand that when visiting Detroit, the best thing to wear is a Kevlar vest. (Since I don't own a Kevlar vest, I don't travel to Detroit.")
37. You actually understand these jokes, and you forward them to all your Michigan friends. (And a heartfelt Michigan, yep.)