Cock A Doodle Do

During my prior, exciting life as a lobbyist, I experienced and witnessed many strange things. And you'd think that with all of the booze-fueled conventions, private meetings with candidates/elected officials, not to mention numerous public hearings I testified at, that I'd seen it all (and perhaps I did, hee-hee!) But I learned over and over that the strangest things of all occur in small towns. And the smaller the town, the more seriously it takes itself. (I also learned that the smaller a town, the longer the council meeting would run -- you could bet big money on that fact!)

San Juan Batista just so happens to be one of these tiny towns. I had the opportunity to work with their staff on many occasions, due to some serious wastewater issues that affected San Benito County (SJB had 2 seats on the local water boards, yadda, yadda . . . long & smelly story). San Juan Batista is right next to the town that became my own personal version of Hell, a.k.a. Hollister, both being located in God-forsaken San Benito County. SJB has a town population of 1,500 (yes, that's 1,500!) It is home to a historic Mission, which is mainly how it survives -- via tourism dollars that come from visitors who stay for lunch or make purchases in the semi-funky downtown. I can attest to the fact that they have a couple of good restaurants in their downtown, as well as a kick-ass ice cream parlor.

Well, now it appears that the world is getting to know San Juan Batista.

I swear, the roosters and chickens are EVERYWHERE!!! Seriously, the SJB downtown is all of 4 or 5 blocks, and those roosters & chickens are like moving speedbumps, slowing everything down. You know how a rooster STRUTS? Well, these roosters seemed to have an added bravado about them -- like they KNEW they were in charge of the town!

Loved the name "Grace Nutter," by the way -- how right-on is that?! Definitely Small Town, U.S.A. -- you can't make up stuff this zany!