OK, shocking might not be the right word to use. Perhaps the headline should have read ‘Five things this week that surprised me.’ Maybe I used the word shocking just to lure you into reading this week’s bunch of random thoughts from ye olde editor.

After all, headlines are supposed to entice the reader to read the article which follows. It is their main function.

Did it work?

Hopefully you are not too shocked at how non-shocking this list is.

My first shocking item proves the point that these five items should be called surprises, not shocks.

1. Kirk Cousins and the Vikings.

I wasn’t really shocked that he might not be the Vikings quarterback this coming season because I figured odds were 50/50 at best that he would be. But it was a bit of a shock that the Atlanta Falcons were eager to pay him $185 million to go there. He is no spring chicken, after all.

And then it was sort of shocking that the Vikings went and picked up a backup quarterback from the San Francisco 49ers and I guess he could be the starting Vikings QB this season.

Add in all the other surprises – Mattison is gone as running back, and a Packer named Jones is in, defensive stars are gone and new ones are being added left and right. Same with some new tight ends – and the Vikings are giving their fans a big shock.

It will be a whole new team this year. Should be interesting, to say the least. And with the Vikings, nearly every season has its own series of shockers.

As usual, I will try to stay optimistic, because hope springs eternal.

2. It is going to be Biden versus Trump in the Nov. 5 election, as both have sewed up enough delegates at their respective conventions.

OK, that is definitely not a shock. I knew that was going to happen. So did you. But it still shocks me that after all these years, they are still what we will have for a choice for the next four years.

3. The big flap over a royal family photo having been manipulated and released to the press.

Actually, my shock is that people have not been more upset about this. Sure, it seems minor to some – Princess Kate just used PhotoShop to change a few things and try and make them look better, some folks say.

That might be OK for a photo for the family album, but most legitimate news organizations try to avoid any kind of faked photo or fake news story, as best as they can. Even here at the Register, we try not to run any manipulated photos in our news section. It is easy to make changes in PhotoShop that you think ‘improve’ the picture, but it is a slippery slope, going from making it look better by changing it, to making it not an accurate representation of what the picture originally showed.

If you think all the photos on social media are real and not altered, then I have some shocking news for you. But as far as newspapers go, we try and keep it all real, blemishes and all.

Like anyone with PhotoShop, we fool around with it and make some funny photos, but not for putting in the newspaper…

4. Minnesota has had the nicest weather of almost anywhere in the U.S.

What a shocking statement that is. But, storms have ravaged the West Coast, and stormy, cold weather has swept across the southern states, then gone up to the Midwest and continued to the East Coast.

I have lost track of the number of storm systems that have swept across the country. But not here in Minnesota. Here it has relatively balmy, and relatively snow-less.

These violent weather systems have pretty much missed us. I would say our winter has been pretty shocking, don’t you think?

Pretty soon we might have folks flocking to Minnesota to escape bad weather in the rest of the country.

5. This issue of the Register may not be shocking, but it is surprising in several ways.

First off, there is no sports coverage in this issue. That is a pretty rare occurrence, but it is between seasons, with winter sports over and spring sports just getting underway.

This issue also is 26 pages, which doesn’t always happen. The reason is the strong support of advertisers for the Register, which we greatly appreciate.

You might be surprised – maybe even shocked – by some of the stories in this issue. One of those could be about some college students from Pennsylvania visiting little Easton, Minnesota. I know I was quite surprised, even shocked, when I got a phone call from them early Monday morning last week.

What I at first thought could be a prank call or even a scam call turned into a great story.

So, there you go. Five things I found to be quite shocking, or at least surprising, this week.

I hope that all of your shocks and surprises this week are nice ones.