Irony

I'm pretty far behind in my photo challenge, but I'm still plugging along.  I may end up combining some days into one post, just so I can catch up.
The 8th photo on the list was for one that makes me laugh.  Yes, I have all kinds of pictures of Boo that make me smile and giggle and outright laugh.  But there was one, lurking in the back of my photos on Flickr that really makes me grin.  Maybe not laugh so much, but I really appreciate it.
This is from a trip out to Arizona in 2007.  I was in Phoenix and I had a little free time, so I went exploring.  Just outside of Phoenix I saw this sign:

There wasn't really a tree in sight.  There was lots and lots of scrub and some cacti, but nothing I, as an Easterner, could really call a forest.  Therefore, to me, this sign is pure irony.
That's not to say that there weren't any trees.  Just that they were few and far between.  Like this cottonwood.

Anyhow, the whole situation seemed a little surreal to me.
But I love that kind of thing.  Thanks to my dad, I've got a fairly unique perspective on the world and sense of humor.  Dad loves word play, finding the absurd in the literal and the literal in the absurd.  You're never quite sure exactly how he's going to twist something around on it's head and make you laugh.  Or, at least I laugh because I can see the humor in it.  Unfortunately for me, too many people just don't get the humor in it.
This caused me some real problems in school, especially in college where half my professors were stuffy old men.  (Not Big Wolf though, he was an old man and a Marine, but there was a big heart and a small sense of humor lurking underneath the gruff exterior...)  And most of the ones that weren't stuffy old men, were young professors or adjuncts who were trying to prove themselves serious to these stuffy old men.  That left someone like me, who has taken Dad's advice that life is to serious to be taken seriously to heart, a little bit baffled and misunderstood at times.  I can't tell you how many times something that I thought was quite witty and funny fell flat because my audience just didn't see the humor.  But, that's OK.  Some people get it, and I get it, so that's why I keep trying.
For example, I pointed out the irony of the National Forest sign to some people at work saying how it amused me (fully understanding the designation, but still finding it funny) and I start to get a lecture on National Forests and blah, blah, blah (I tuned out about here since they totally missed my point...).  But, I still enjoy it.  I still try and find the humor in the every day.

Peace to you all and may you find humor in your life.