Cheeriness rankings amusing

A couple of our kids live in the Phoenix area, so my husband and I decided to cheat January this year and spend some time in the sunshine.

Snow is pretty to look at and terrific if you ski, but the atmospheric inversions can be miserable.

Already I am happier, or so says the Associated Press, which did a study on the cheeriest states.

Arizona ranks fifth, Utah 20th.

I don't remember feeling too down in the dumps for 35 years, but it listed my former home state of Connecticut as 50th. New York State dead last.

Some of the best days of my life were spent in New York City watching a play or eating dinner in Little Italy or looking at the Rockefeller Christmas tree.

Maybe the rest of New York state has residents who are pretty miserable, to make up for those who live in New York City.

Utah seems like a pretty happy state to me, too. Actually, except for extended inversions, I don't feel less happy here than I would be in Louisiana, which ranked first.

Hawaii came in second, and that one likely speaks for itself. People are generally pretty happy in Hawaii because they live in a paradise.

My husband's sister, Carol, moved to Laie 50 years ago and told her mother repeatedly she would be back in a couple of years.

She still lives there, and she is pretty happy, what with her kids marrying into the diverse Hawaiian culture.

We have our own United Nations within the Hammond family, and they all know how to surf and hula. Fun people to visit.

California ranked 46th. That ranking was well below No. 25, North Dakota, which makes no sense.

The Beach Boys didn't write a song about anything in North Dakota. They wrote about Surfin' Safaris and California Girls. They made us all want to live in the sun in California and have fun, fun, fun till our daddy takes the T-bird away.

Here in Arizona we run into many people from Minnesota and Michigan. They drive their RVs down and are part of the miles and miles of trailer parks we noticed once as we flew over the Phoenix area.

Phoenix truly is the land of snowbirds. Flocks and flocks of them shop at a fresh produce store we discovered in Mesa.