DAILY DIRT: January: The Monday of months

January? Bah, humbug! … Welcome to today’s three thoughts that make up Vol. 496 of The Daily Dirt.

1. Is there a more less popular month than January?

It has the problem of following the most joyous time of the year (Thanksgiving and Christmas) and often does so in unspectacular fashion with its cold temperatures, winds and snow.

• Yesterday in this space, we talked about how Monday was the least popular day of the week. Well, January is the Monday of months. I think the following words of wisdom back up that concept: 
• “January is the calendar’s ingrown hair.” — author Stewart Stafford.
• “January? The month is dumb. It is fraudulent. It does not cleanse itself.” — poet Anne Sexton.
• “If I had my way, I’d remove January from the calendar altogether and have an extra July instead.” — novelist Roald Dahl.
• “January, month of empty pockets!” — author Sidonie Gabrielle Colette.
• “Through the chill of December the early winter moans … but it’s that January wind that rattles old bones.” — John Facenda, the former “voice of the NFL.”

2. Here’s the best we’ve Found on Facebook over the past seven days:

• “There’s an unwritten rule that if you need something and it’s available at your mom’s house, it’s yours.”
• “People born in the ’50s have lived in eight decades, two centuries and two millenniums. We had the best music, fastest cars, drive-in theaters, soda fountains and happy days. And we are not even that old et. We’re just that cool.” 
• “If you tell the truth, you don’t have to remember anything.”
• “There should be a calorie refund for things that didn’t taste as good as you expected.”
• “Rutgers has more bowl wins (6) in the last 20 years than Michigan (4).”

3. It’s time to start the The Great Plate Debate for 2023, finding the most entertaining license plates in West-Central Illinois and Northeast Missouri.

Last week we paid a final tribute for our 2022 winner: IMDUMB. What will the new year hold in our plate pursuit. For starters, these are your early leaders in the clubhouse:

Gold medal:

Silver medal: BAKE 19

Bronze medal: WRKOUT 5.

Honorable mention: FON 1, SHEF 94 

Steve Thought O’ The Day — That idea about removing January from the calendar is actually not that bad of an idea.

Steve Eighinger writes daily for Muddy River News. He has yet to acknowledge #KingSEC.