Trail Gnomes and Associated Phenomena

I have come to realize over the last few weeks that the desert has many oddities and secrets.  None more perplexing than the newly found trail gnomes of the Big Bend Region.  While their legend is only recently being circulated I feel like it’s time to make peace with this bizarre desert netherworlder.   Is it an apparition gone bad?  Perhaps it’s a guardian sent to watch over the hikers....Maybe it’s the manifestation of your alter ego....or simply a piece of mud and clay.  Mysterious? Yes, Threatening? somewhat.  Charming? Absolutely.  So give me your own take on the trail gnomes and I will continue the search for others and their origin.    On other associated Phenomena I would like to name a couple that continue to defy my ability to explain.

1. What happens to socks?  I mean really.  How is it possible to go to the washer with two of same socks and leave the dryer with three completely different ones?   And usually one of those was the most expensive pair of socks you ever bought.  What makes this entire strange exercise even worse is you know you are going to keep the single socks with the hope that one day the other will show up where the first one did.  The laundry gods are cruel and evil I think. 

1. How is it possible to write a password down and put it in plain view on your computer screen and not have it work?  Then you go through the crazy mess of resetting it which requires you to remember the birthdate of your first pet, or the name of the first girlfriend? Really?  Gina? or was it Kelley?  What do they mean when they say girlfriend anyway?  Then you get that done and you decide to use the same password because it’s obviously not correct so you use it and it tells you you can’t use the last password you had.  WAIT, that is the one they said was Not your password?  How can that be?...

1. The mystery of packaging.  You finally pony up and get the deluxe drone so you can hover over the neighbors yard at night and see what those strange noises really are.  It’s expensive and comes with the dreaded, “some assembly required” sticker on the box.  As a guy, I am usually excited to get a package so I don’t pay much attention to how things come out of it.  I mean I have some schooling ...granted no organizational management sciences courses on the books but still.....I would have thought that I could at least put something back in a simple box.    So you assemble this beast hoping to get out there and do some voyuering ( new word), and the gyronnanowackerometer is broken.  No worries right, Just return it in the current packaging.  There is no question in my mind that this freakin cardboard is not the same package this thing came in.  It is impossible to get it back in the way it came and absolutely no way it’s going to fit back in the outside box even if it were still in tact.  I need answers folks...

It’s a strange world out there so tread lightly and watch for those trail gnomes.  

Viva Terlingua