"The stimulous is obviously for the dogs"

We've been working in a very small town about an hour west of here and then south off from Inter-state 70. I will not mention the name of the town, just in case anybody might actually know of the people I intend to write this story about. The town itself has a population of seventy people, though even the "locals" admit to not knowing where they came up with such a large number. This town proudly boasts being the "county seat" of it's particular county, and comes complete with a brick courthouse about the size of a small college dorm room at a college with a very long name in some place like North Dakota. Other than the courthouse, there are approximately seven other buildings on main street, and only three of them are occupied by businesses. This town is a stunning three blocks long, and still has "both" sides of the street, which in itself, would probably be a good selling point if you owned real-estate here, and were trying to get rid of it. THIS town, believe it or not, received 2.5 million dollars from O'Bama's "stimulous", package, and chose to use it by re-paving the three block main street, plus put in all new curb and gutters and sidewalks, which would no doubt bring huge amounts of business to the town, had they had any actual businesses with which to do business. My company is tearing out all the old sidewalks and curbs and such, and doing the dirt work for the new ones going in, which means that I get plenty of time to visit with the locals, or maybe I mean "Locos", who really knows? I DO know that every morning at about 10:30, a young, scant, woman with a very colorful "gift" bag actually "sneaks up" on main street (Which is also a highway), and will stand in the shadows of the community light pole, for sometimes several minutes before attempting to cross the street to go to the Post office. She looks north and south, making sure that there is no traffic coming for at least a couple days before she crosses, then she'll take off on a dead run, but only for about 3 or 4 steps, then she will walk briskly for just as many, then run again, and so on. If, (God forbid), there happens to be the slightest chance of any human contact on her journey, such as running into one of the workers or fellow citizens, she will put her head down and walk extremely fast, or cut through to the alley, as she does in my case, (which is perfectly normal behavour for women who somehow run the risk of encountering me on the street, at least judging from my High school days)! This woman, by no means wears the crown of the "strangest" person in town, and I'm totally serious on this! There's also a guy, maybe five years my senior by my guessing, who never seems to have to go to work, and chooses to ride his bicycle up and down the 3 blocks all day, which is perfectly normal, and a great job if you can get it, except that this guy always carries his small dog with him, whether riding his bike or walking. Still not enough? The dog sits on his HEAD! I'm plum serious! This guy always has his dog with him, and it's always either on his shoulders or on top of his head. Yes, it's a real live dog. Lucky for me, this guy thinks I'm friendly, and stops every day in order to have a conversation with me on such important topics as what "used to be here", and how much the town has changed since he was a little boy, all the while with a dog on his head. I so much want to ask him if he even knows that he's got a dog on his head, but somehow, I don't know how, when I have unwilling conversations with him, I tend to get the impression that maybe he's "not all there". Or maybe it's just me, as I have done several "tours" at the nut house, where highly skilled college graduates have spent countless hours trying to "change" my way of thinking to a point where it could become more "compatible" with the thinking of regular people, who may or may not have a dog on their head. Even as you're sitting at your computer reading this and thinking how lucky I am that this guy took a liking to me, it get's even better! Lucky for me, the newspaper lady, (from another town in the same county), showed up to take pictures of all the progress going on in town, and without my knowledge of it at the time, snapped a picture of myself having a conversation with this guy. This should certainly be good for business, and I believe it says alot about the citizens of this small Kansas town, such as the fact that even a busy man riding a bike with a dog on his head still takes the time to visit with a "lowly" construction worker! I truly can't tell you how proud I am, at least not on here, because of extremely strict rules and regulations, but I can tell you that when I'm talking to a guy with a dog on his head, I'm thinking about what I'd be doing if I still worked for "Alfs" well-drilling in Shickley, Nebraska, where people tend to take a somewhat dim view of having a live dog on their head. Also, I would like for you to know that at least O'Bama's stimulous money wasn't just pissed away for no good reason.