Grand Avenue by Mike Thompson for July 11, 2015

And don’t forget bees buzzing about the dandilions.

Can’t get tetanus from sharp stones and pine cones, Gabby. A deep puncture wound from a rusty nail, on the other hand…

Agreed Gabby.

Or, in parts of New Mexico, goatheads—a seed of some low-lying plant with two SHARP POINTY thorns. Perhaps Moonbeam has thick calluses on her feet.

Parts of California have the wonderful goatheads also. Sadly we also have a governor called Moonbean.

Hey Wally Beaumont — I am a proud California native and lifelong resident. I proudly voted for Jerry Brown in 1974 and 1978 and then again in 2010 and 2014.Your reference to “Governor Moonbeam” is a cheap shot that demonstrates you don’t understand the full history of that term.The term “Governor Moonbeam” was coined by Chicago columnist Mike Royko in reference to the state communications satellite proposal (first in the nation, visionary at the time, and now in widespread use by all 50 states and most countries) before he had ever even met Jerry Brown. Later, he said he had badly misjudged Brown’s visionary foresight and apologized.Here are just a few of the early accomplishments that seemed far-fetched at the time but are now seen as full of vision and foresight:State communications satelliteAlternative energy sourcesCarpool lanesComputers in classroomsAnd in case you didn’t notice, in the 28 years between the first and second Brown eras, 22 out of those 28 years saw our state ruled by Republican governors (Deukmejian, Wilson and Schwarzenegger) who left our state in financial disaster that Brown, upon his return, quickly reversed, restoring us to the fiscal solvency he also brought us in his first era.