This is not a sign I really want to see this time of year. Miraculously, the next town over from mine actually repaired a bunch of nasty deep potholes on the bridge over the train tracks in the middle of town. The southbound lane wasn't too bad, but the only way to dodge them in the northbound lane was to wait until there was no southbound traffic and use half of that lane. Both lanes are very narrow.

Since using half of each lane is seldom an option during evening rush hour, the trick is to take them slowly enough that it barely registers on the speedometer. Let the hotshot jerk behind you bust a trans-axle on the bridge bombing through them as if he was on the Paris to Dakar rally; that's his problem. Or hers. I often find the soccer moms to be the most aggressive drivers. They think they're intimidating tailgating you in their Suburbans and Lexus SUVs, but I digress...

What in reality happens after pothole repairs this time of year, is that the asphalt doesn't set properly, and within a week, the repair job has been obliterated, and the original pothole was only half the size of the new one. Or, if we have a few days above freezing that allow the asphalt to set and stay put, new potholes pop up elsewhere.

The result looks something like the picture to the right. Maybe we can catch a catfish or a bullhead in that one. Maybe a few crawdads, too.

I'm quite convinced that those ubiquitous road repair signs this time of year simply mean that the town's busy moving the potholes from one location to another, so that motorists no longer know where they are until they hit them.

I hope this March is better than last March. The old saying "March comes in like a lion and leaves like a lamb" should have been revised to "March comes in like a lion and leaves sometime in mid-May," for 2005.