How many of you love the “auto-correct” feature on Facebook and other places on the Internet? Anyone?

I recently made a comment on a site, and the word “find” was replaced with another word that at least started with the letter “F.” Let me say here that I’m very sorry if I offended anyone. I have left that site and shall not return.

I know I’ve learned a lot from that experience and am sure I shall again suffer the fate of the auto-correct syndrome. It is easy to do. I am sure, had I read the post before I posted it, I would have seen it right away. Well, maybe not. I’ll work on being perfect next week or maybe the week after. I am making progress. It is the direction of that progress that concerns many others and me.

The city of Santa Clarita wants your input regarding the Cowboy Festival. Go ahead and submit your comments. Please. And please indicate how much you LOVE Heritage Junction and all it had to offer.

Sometimes the people of the SCV just overwhelm me with how they can rally to stop something. Monday night was a case in point. More than 1,500 folks showed up to voice how much they dislike the high-speed rail routes. Actually, I think many of them would be happy if any construction on that boondoggle stopped today.

Now through May 15, fourteen billboards across Los Angeles are being used as a canvas for artists. It’s the inaugural show from The Billboard Creative, a nonprofit that strives to give artists access to a mass audience.

Thinking of groups that started something and got it done, I think our anti-billboard ordinance people should be proud. You see, maybe we can do something with our billboards that is working well in the city of Los Angeles. Their artists are getting a chance to use the billboards for some form of art to be displayed. Maybe we can do that here. Since we still have around 100 of those things, when we could have seen most of them removed … never mind … that horse died a long time ago. I’ll just let it rest in peace. But original art being posted on those boards might be kind of cool. Don’t you think so?

Has summer arrived already? Just a little comment here: “But it’s a dry heat.”

Would anyone be interested in attending or participating in a storytelling contest? You know, folks are given five to seven minutes to spin a tale, veracity not required, in front of an audience. First night, maybe 20 or 25 folks get to tell their tales, and the next night maybe the top 10, then the last night there would be three folks standing for the final. Folks who write commentaries, columns or blogs need not apply. Don’t know if politicians should be allowed, either.

The stories wouldn’t have to be true or even plausible, but they should be fun. Stand by for more information on this.

Another event coming up that all y’all should plan on attending is the 40th anniversary of the Santa Clarita Valley Historical Society. Thinking that a really cool black-tie affair is in order. This won’t happen until cool weather returns. But just to let you know.

Hearing rumblings of something happening with the proposed expansion of the dump, aka Chiquita Canyon Landfill. Don’t even know if anything is true, but it would be great if they just shut down, covered the stuff and went away … far, far away.

And we’re all waiting on the final outcome concerning that huge mega-mine called Cemex. I just hope the dust and stuff we would get from that operation isn’t replaced with the tunneling work that would be required to have the high-speed rail project go through the SCV. Just thinking – in math, two negatives can equal a positive. We can only hope.

I’m fresh out of coffee and need to sleep. Getting ready for yet another fantastic day in the beautiful SCV. I now know why I moved back home: “But it’s a dry heat.”

Darryl Manzer grew up in the Pico Canyon oil town of Mentryville in the 1960s and attended Hart High School. After a career in the U.S. Navy he returned to live in the Santa Clarita Valley, where he serves as executive director of the SCV Historical Society. He can be reached at dmanzer@scvhistory.com. His older commentaries are archived at DManzer.com; his newer commentaries can be accessed [here]. Watch his walking tour of Mentryville [here].