Oh, Dysprosium!

Dysprosium is a chemical element with Atomic number 66. It has a metallic, bright silver luster and can be cut with a bolt cutters but not with a knife. The name dysprodium comes from the Greek language and means "Hard to obtain." Dysprosium was discovered in Paris in 1886 by a French chemist. Currently most dysprosium is mined in the clay ores of southern China. Dysprosium melts at a high temperature and is used in cooling rods in nuclear reactors, MRI contrast imaging, powerful magnets, actuators and sensors, and the manufacture of compact disks. Dysprosium is the name of the street that runs along the east side of my property. Oh, remember the good old days when streets were named after trees or presidents? Can you imagine being in kindergarten and having to learn how to write your address and you lived on Dysprosium? Here in Ramsey, most of the streets have number names. Going east to west, the streets are named for minerals. Sodium and Radium aren't so bad. One of Offspring #1's friends lived on Kryptonite which I thought was very cool. But Dysprosium just doesn't float my boat. Neither does Potassium, Tungstun or Zeolite, Yttrium or Zirconium, Barium or Hermatite, Iodine or Germanium. Closer to Elk River, the town started naming streets after animals. There is a Kangaroo street, Nutria, Ferret, Wolfram, Jackal, Gibbon, Ocelot, Marmoset, and Ermine. My street is off St. Francis Boulevard - a nice name for a street. North of here is Green Valley Road. Also a nice name but both those streets have too much traffic for my taste. I wouldn't want to live on Waco Street. Andover names their streets after Native American tribes - interesting but some are hard to spell and pronounce. Coon Rapids names streets after flowers and birds. I like those names but I'm glad I don't live on Narcissus Avenue or Grouse Lane. Anoka uses the names of presidents and I like that. Let me see how many streets names I have had: Transit, Portland, Arcade, St. Germain Boulevard, Pleasant Lake, Fifth Avenue, Minnehaha Avenue, Bates, 41st, Knox, 116th and 164th. Funny, I can't remember two street names and they were both mobile homes.