In general, when January yields a bumper crop, the pickings in February are sparse, but when January’s haul is relatively meager, February makes up for it. 2021 proves the latter point. Ten new sightings in February: Louisiana, Wisconsin, Ohio, Alabama, Colorado, Illinois, Oregon, Michigan, South Carolina, and Minnesota.
Oops — just realized I wrote “27” on Minnesota. Should be 28. Will correct next month, but for now the tally stands at 28.
Oh, and you may notice that Mississippi is colored in, but there’s no number on it. That’s another oops. I colored in Mississippi instead of Alabama. When I spot Mississippi for real, it’ll get a number.
Alabama and Mississippi make up one of the three pairs of states that I sometimes flip if I’m not careful. The other two are Arizona and New Mexico, and Colorado and Wyoming. The farther I get from New England, the sketchier my geography gets, which is why you’ll never catch me flipping Vermont and New Hampshire. I can, however, see how people from other parts of the country might get them confused.
From the Seasonally Occupied Territories . . . 
When I was in 6th grade we were given a blank map of the US and had to fill in all the states and their capitals, then were tested on that info a week later. I memorized it so well I still remember it 60 years later (ok not all the capitals but definitely all the states!). Funny how the mind works. We also had to learn the maps of South American countries and Europe and Africa and Asia but since about half the countries in Africa have changed their names since then I can’t remember them all. But I do like maps, and usually know where things are in the world. Anyway, I have been sidelined by a recall on the drive train of my 2010 Honda FIT. When I get it fixed (next week) I will take up driving again and resume license plate cruising. Stay well, Ellen **************************************It’s time to put the “civil” back in civilization…
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In fourth grade I learned, among other things, the names of all the states around the periphery of the Arabian peninsula. (Before I was a teenage Arabist, I was a pre-teen Arabist. 🙂 ) Quite a few of them have changed names and/or borders, like who talks about the Trucial States anymore? OTOH, I just proved to myself that I could still name all seven of the United Arab Emirates, which is what the Trucial States became.
I think I can still name all the U.S. state capitals. Will have to test myself on that. I distinctly remember in college sitting in a Hot Shoppes with friends and doodling on the menu till the food came. Among the 3 or 4 of us we managed to list something like 96 of the current 100 U.S. senators. There is no way I could do that now.
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