Well, we’ve got the elections behind us and the holidays out of the way. Now is the time for us to pursue outdoor activities to ward off cabin fever or become couch hermits until mid-March with an occasional trip to a dance or movie just to be certain there’s still a world out there. That’s most of us. The people in the new Legislature, now they’re a different breed. They will go to Augusta every day, (well, most of them will) and work diligently to make our lives better here in Maine. And they have a monumental task to wade through all the proposed legislation to determine what deserves to become law. I couldn’t do it.

These folks will be changing the face of Maine and how we do things by the bills they pass. Here’s one they’ll probably go way into the night on. We don’t have a state dog. There’s a bill to name the Labrador retriever as the state dog. I can’t begin to count the times when I’ve been traveling and someone has asked me what the state dog was and I had to shamefully admit that we didn’t have one.

We also don’t have a state sweetener and there’s a bill proposing to make maple syrup the official state sweetener. I was down at L.L. Bean at Christmas and saw some very nicely packaged maple syrup. It really caught my eye so I picked up a bottle and it was from Vermont. I guess if this bill passes, maple syrup will the official state sweetener and we if we run short we can get it from Vermont.

There’s a proposed bill that will allow teachers to teach and students to learn. I feel so dumb. I thought that was how it had been working all along. Another one wants to make it a law that hunters can wear pink camo in October in honor of Breast Cancer Awareness month. I’m all in favor of breast cancer awareness month, but I don’t see how wearing pink camo is going to contribute much toward a cure. The same guy that proposed that one has a bill to split the state in half. That would be just great. Southern Maine is loaded with industry and retail and sorts of other things that bring in revenue to keep the state going and the rest of the state doesn’t have Jack. And where would we draw the line?

There’s a bill that would allow certain stores to be open on Easter, Thanksgiving and Christmas. Pay attention here. Those holidays come up every year. Plan ahead. Buy what you need before the holiday and let those folks in retail have the day off. There are more than enough people who have to work on holidays and are away from their families, we don’t need to have more retail open because it would be handy for someone to leave the comfort of their house and pick up their Easter ham on Easter morning.

There’s a bill to exempt purchases of the American flag from sales tax. I’d rather see a bill that we could only sell American flags that were made in America, but that’s just me.

There are more than 1,500 proposed bills and several are about fish and wildlife. Issues related to that topic come up every year. This year there’s a bill to allow a 20 minute break from tending ice fishing traps. I suppose that’s either to go pee or get more beer, or both, but who’s going to keep track of that clock?

Speaking of fish and wildlife and the future of the state in general, I didn’t see a bill to study the effect of moose tracks on mud in Monson.

Monson and Shirley are hotbeds for moose and they roam through the mud with no concern for the environmental damage they’re doing. Why isn’t that issue being addressed? There is nothing to keep out of state cars from bring foreign dirt into Maine. Why doesn’t someone propose a bill to control that? As it is now, cars and trucks can bring dirt in here from anywhere on their tires with absolutely no regulation.

I could go on and on. But I won’t. The one bright ray of hope I saw in the bills was An Act to Increase the Effectiveness of the Legislature.

It seems to me that one should be taken up first. Along about now, when cabin fever really sets in, it might be fun to take a field trip to Augusta and see this whole thing in action. Or not.