The beach CAM tell a story

As today is Friday, 6 has a glass of Rex in one hand, a copy of MS word on one screen and the beach CAM on the other screen the only thing that could possibly be better is if the screens were gone and he had the glass of Rex in his hand sitting his lazy (you know what) on the beach with family.

Most things in life we need to vanquish reality and turn to a gift we all have, imagination!  How we have developed this gift, well, can be affected significantly by one’s environment as well as one’s stage in life. 6 would not expect all-you-all to remember, but as a result of his superior intelligence and wisdom he possesses may memories of years long past. As a young laddie relaxing on the sidewalk for hours watching the ants living in a world sheltered from all harm living in unity. Or as 6 has been told of his best friend that only 6 could see and communicate with… As one ages, many things happen, first people will start thinking you crazy if you have a protector that only you can relate to, then using one’s imagination becomes a waste of time as the world see’s you. Being transformed into a different reality “playing” was a great waste of time. A few more years pass, and what one has to develop is how to use your imagination without being detected, well this never works out well, for how many times 6 was told teachers… “Stop Day Dreaming” there may be some wisdom in that for today 6 cannot even spell his name. After all it is hard to be like the cool kids when they seem to “get it”. If one wants to jump into the fast lane and be like the cool kids something has to give, and that is you better start looking at the world thru a completely different eye. Push that down and let the cold hard world of humility and greed effect each move you make, after all in order to succeed in the eyes of this society the path you choose, may be different than that voice of a long-lost friend, long ago “pushed down”. If one actually, matures, the gifts of a life centered around the demands of society, being a “cool kid” somehow become cold, and the imagination one pushed down becomes the wisdom to carry forward in life.

Once again 6 has left everyone on the edge of their seats wondering what the heck this has to with Kiawah. I would not expect people without the superior intelligence that is embedded in 6’s imagination to get it so once again 6 will explain. Take a look at the beach cam on Sunday afternoon, and then again on Friday afternoon, and what differences do you see, come on now use that imagination!!! The first thing that you notice is that the grass is still blowing in the wind, then you see the sand and the waves crashing on the beach. The young kids are still playing making sand castles, running around aimlessly enjoying every last minute they have, before the “MAN” the cool kids, yes, their parents tell them it’s time to leave. The MAN just sits there yelling at the kids, putting them back in the box that society demands. The more mature people as just like the kids, yes, they are doing different activities (sometimes) than the kids, naps and digging a hole to china in the sand. For the MAN, the cool kids, they are back to the reality that society deems them successful. Sitting there mindlessly waiting for the day they can be guided by the old friend that never left, but has been forgotten.

6 got no inputs for the agenda, but we did get the dinning schedule:

Saturday: 0A and 7: at 8’s villa…. 6 sure hopes they are making spaghetti for how in the heck can we start a good old family vacation without that lump of starch in our bellies to keep us up all night. 6 thinks we should shoot for 8 bottles of REX that night, after all our record is only 7!!!!!

Sunday: 6A and 6: 6A’s Villa… All-you-all get a bonus this night, you not only will just be dazzled by the finest culinary experience (since last year), but this will be the official family picture night!!! Get ready… break out your best duds and slick back your hair, and will memorialize 2019 family vacation!!

Monday: 2A and 2: at 2A’s villa: Come hungry and ready to sample some REX! 2, 6 thinks you need to make a trip to total wine on Monday, for if we go thru 8 bottles on Saturday, that leaves only 4 bottles for both Sunday, that just will not cut it!!! We will need another case!

Tuesday: 1A and 1: 1A’s villa. By this time 6 thinks that our family will have realized that when we go to family members villa’s for dinner bring you own plates, forks, spoons and glasses for REX…… After all no plastic is allowed on the islands this year. KICA passed ordinate #2348790236.

Wednesday: BYOB: 8’s villa. Not really sure what Tapas is, so look it up. 6 is going to bring a gallon of onion dip, and a bag of chips. This night is sounds as if we can do what we want…. That actually is nice, because 6 can go back to his villa and take a nap!! After all we all know what Wednesday night is!!! For those uninformed, it is whisky on the beach night!!! 6 could use a nap before that.

Thursday: 61,62,62A,621,63: 61,62,62A,63’s villa… with all of those cooks, let’s

 hope that they don’t spoil the soup.  

Friday: After all it is Friday so what else would it be!! Pizza night at 8’s villa 

Words of wisdom: Let that friend guide you on your path, after all yes means yes and no means no! 

Vacation Ground rules!!

It has been about three weeks since, 7 sent out a text message that he needed to establish the agenda for the upcoming vacation. That could mean many things, but over the past three weeks 7 has been silent with regards to good old family fun at the beach. Never let it be said that 6 would allow our annual siesta in paradise go without a little adult guidance leading to our beach time agenda!!!

IF all-you-all have forgotten the basic ground rules (can’t say 6 remembers) here they are:

1)    Mandatory fun time, will be attended by all. The definition of mandatory will be determined by 6.

2)    Exceptions to any sanctioned activities, must be requested in writing 24 hours prior to the scheduled event. These exceptions will be approved by the grand poo baa of the board of MKICA, otherwise known as 6. 

3)    There will be no single use items (plastic bags, cups, bottles, straws etc),  glass items , permitted on the beach.  So all-you-all need to stand on the boardwalk to dink you water, eat you BPJ’s, apples, chip and or crackers. Nothing on the beach.. Since 6 is the grand poo baaaaa of MKICA, he will permit Rex on the beach, at the designated times.

4)    The first person on the beach each day (this excludes 6’s, 6A, and 0A) on their morning walk, MUST bring a minimum of 4 chairs to the beach. This is for the purpose of staking our territory. 6 would suggest that someone lifts a leg, to mark our spot, but that would be kind of unsanitary. The chairs are to be strategically place as to provide the maximum area as our beach front. In other words, don’t allow squatters!

5)    There will be no complaining about anything that is to include: Food, drink, scheduled mandatory fun, or people.

6)    At every occasion, one must say Hello, good morning, good afternoon, good evening to everyone they pass. There are to be no exceptions!

Did anyone notice that ground rule 6 is a new on that 6 added this year? Well it is!!! The reason behind this new one is that on the PVV, we got into the habit of being friendly to people. When we were on a bike ride, a walk on the beach, or even a happy shopping trip to Harris Teeter (which happens more than the other two combined) we would greet people. As 6 says when in “Rome do as the Romans do!” As we quickly found out we could draw a line at the Mason Dickson line, for the people from the North most of the time would not even look at you, while the people from the south 99.9% of the time would return your greeting.   Now it’s time to put on the philosophical hat. It is really the little things that people do that make the biggest difference! It really does matter when you give a little smile to a stranger, or pay for their cup of coffee,  or even greet someone. As the old golden rule “Do unto other as one would wont done unto you”. One cannot tell 6 that it lifts there spirits one someone says hello, of even “thank you honey” (6 knows if you say that today, you will be labeled a sexist) or holds the elevator for you, or god forbid opens a door for you. If one follows guideline 6 in there day to day life one will be happy. (And yes there is a reason that 6 numbered guideline 6, 6)

Words of wisdom: Never forget that you are not alone in this society

 Note: the agenda for the week will have to be out soon!!! need inputs

Happy 4th of July!!!

6 would like everyone to just take a few minutes during this day to be thankful that, 243 years ago, there we enough people who had the courage, foresight and bravery to establish this democratic republic we call the USA. For without them 6 will make this statement, the world would be a different place. 

The other night as 6 was doing his usual watching of the TV, for those who don’t know how he accomplishes this feat, the objective is to not stay on one channel for more than 5 minutes at a time, thus being able to watch 20 “shows” in the time it takes most people to watch 1, ½ hour sitcom. Not to invoke my superior intelligence, but if one cannot figure out the show one is watching in 5 minutes, 6 feels bad for you. My real point is 6 saw on the discovery channel, or was it the History channel (who knows and then again who cares), that they are going to have a special on the Moon landing, to celebrate 50 years. This sure make 6 fell old. This always leads to the same old question: Where were you when we landed on the moon, or where were you when the Beatles were on Ed Sullivan? or where were you when JFK was shot, or where were you when MLK was shot? Now most people miss the most important question: Where were you when John Lennon was shot?  Now most of you will answer each of those questions very simply, I was not even born yet! For the others 6 questions their response. For you can’t even remember where you were the last time the Pirates won a game.

Well back to the main point the moon landing. Other than the obvious, this was a true world changing event. For what happened over night was all of the science fiction, astronomers, dreamers, and theologians, proclamations all of a sudden became plausible. All of a sudden our culture was being transformed before our eyes, JD Clampett, Charles Lane, Ben Cartwright, Andy Griffin, and Matt Dillon, were now being replaced by Will Robinson, Captain James T Kirk, H.A.L. and Oliver Wendell Douglas.  People also had a big impact our values as a nation, the Beatles, Max Yasgur, Neil Armstrong, Monty Python, Charlie Manson, Saddam Hussein, Albert DeSalvo, Grace Slick, Anton Szandor LaVey, Malcolm X, and Movements: the Student Movement, Woman’s movement Civil Right Movement, Hippies and the counterculture. What a change one man’s step had on our world? The result of all of this were not answers, but more questions and additional layers of complexity This just caused people to ask the question, what is out in space? Are we alone in this world? Can we live on other planets? Actually a renewed focus on who created the world. Atheism along with all the other ism’s, took off in the USA just like that rocket to the moon. Over my life time, the value of Family, has change to the value of an individual, the golden rule is now gone, and my favorite, the US is now a salad bowl, not a melting pot.  6 is not saying that is good or bad, change comes as the world progress in time. 6 will say this, one thing does not seem to change. 

This summer when you are sitting on the beach, take a few minutes and just look around. Everything you see was put here for a purpose, the sand the water, the trees, clouds, light, moisture laden air. Each of those things are the building blocks of life. Now that same day, go back down to the beach at night. What do you see, a whole new world. The moon, the planets the stars. Ask yourself this question, what make us think that is also not part of our world, or the building blocks of life? Way back 243 years ago, the USA extended what 500 miles to the west of the Atlantic Ocean? Beyond that we could see land “Stretching out far and wide, Keep Manhattan and give me that country side”, but it was many years later that we explored or as some would say exploited that land and its peoples.

Look at the world thru the eyes of a child

As it has been stated many times before 6 is the all-knowing and most knowable person in the world. Along with that awesome gift comes great responsibility.

Most mornings 6 walks on the beach drinking. Let me clarify, a nice cup of coffee with a plastic one use disposable lid, anticipating the brilliance of old man suns early morning arrival.  Old man sun rarely disappoints for just about every day his colors are just incredible! There are times when one gets a special treat, as old man sun rises, he has yet to burn off the lower level fog from the previous night this just intensifies the sense of wonderment. This last for about 15 minutes, at which time, old man sun wakes up, bearing his full brilliance on 6’s old bald head. 6’s eyes leave the sky and focus on nature, people and wondering how some many people can afford those shacks along the beach.  This year on Pre-vacation Vacation (PVV) just like in years past there is an elderly couple that 6 would see most every morning. For a number of years 6 would see them walking each morning, then they moved to riding bikes, and now the elderly man just sits on the bench at the bottom of the sanctuary boardwalk. The first day I was wondering where his wife was, but on my way to get my coffee, 6 found his answer. His elderly wife now has to go and get him his coffee, kind of tough seeing this couple age over the past 10 years. 6 does have to give them credit for they keep on trying! Hey did anyone notice how PC 6 has become in his blog? For if this were 10 years ago, that last sentence would have gone something like this.. This year on Pre-vacation Vacation (PVV) just like in years past there is a couple of old fXXXX  that  6 would see hobbling leisurely down the beach, blocking 6 view of the sun rise,   each and every DXXX morning! As the years passed, the strolling became too much. In an effort to keep 6 from enjoying his beach time with not another living soul on the beach, the old SXXXX went out and purchased two custom made beach cruisers. The old geezer could not keep the DXX thing out of the water. This would cause his old lady to yell at the top of her lungs for him to stay the HXXX out of the water, did he listen…He just told her to well you know what 6 means. This past year on PVV 6 would see the old FXXXX propped on the bench at the bottom of the sanctuary boardwalk, wondering why it is taking the old lady so long to get him his morning cup of Joe! 6 wonders if what is keeping them going the fact that they are trespassing on my beach time! Is that more like it!

I don’t want any comments, for when some young person.. 61, 62, 62A, 63, 21, 21A or 71 takes over the uncle gator adventures blog, 6 and 6A will be the elderly couple walking down the beach! So save any comments until then! What does all of this have to do with anything, as you all know 6 will tell you, and here it is! One should look at the world thru the eyes of a child! 6 knows you all think that he has gone off of his rocker, slipped a cog, or whatever, after all that statement is nothing but hog wash! After using his superior knowledge and wisdom, then pondering those thoughts, 6 now understands. 

As some of you know very well even the drive from the airport to Kiawah with 6 , can be rather challenging for the uninitiated, or even 6’s morning coffee on the beach. Let’s skip his superior driving pralleis, and focus on the morning walk and cup of Joe. Many many years ago 6 would take his morning walk, with two objectives in mind, see the sun raise, and most important get myself a cup of coffee. Schedule was most important, for 6 allowed himself 1 hour for the morning walk. 6 then would head up the beach seeing nothing but a couple people the old couple and young parent (not parents) with small children. On days that the tide was in, within a few hundred yards 6 blood pressure would be boiling because all these people did was just stand in my way…Gotta make schedule..  6’s arrival at the Sanctuary had to be as close to 6:00 AM as possible for that is when the coffee came, and that would give me about 10-15 minutes to get back to the beach to see the sun raise. 6 would walk until the coffee was gone, then turn around and get another, then head back to the Villa. Now’s the important part, 6 would walk, drink his coffee, and think about work, or bills or something stupid like that and complain about the hot sun, or the wind or even the lack of wind, for if there is no wind that just means tons of bugs! I could just do the same thing at home, what was the point of going to the beach, 6 would not even notice a turtle laying its eggs 10 feet away from him. Remember the parent and the child? Well they are very important to all of this gibberish. They would actually be in the same place that I passed them on my way to get coffee as there were when I came back, they probably did not move 20 yards. While 6 has been conditioned over the years to look at the bad in everything, a young child looks at the good in everything. To 6 a sea shell is to be avoided, because it will do nothing but cause pain when you step on it, to the child they are just fascinated by it. They will pick it up look at it ask their parent a ton of questions and see nothing but beauty. Take lake Bundy, to 6 that is just one more thing that he has to go around, another obstacle in getting his coffee, to a child it is a whole eco-system that they can explore. 

We may have seen that place or even situation 1000 times before, or just can’t be bothered, a child’s world if full of amazing things, An adults world is full of complex issues, that are no different than what a child see every day, we just don’t take the time to stop and look at the world around us, and separate all that is good. What a gift they have, and how adults just squander that gift. 6 is going to bet that the elderly couple figured that out years ago, and walk the beach every day to appreciate the gift they have and not to irritate 6.

Words of wisdom: We only remain an innocent child, until we realize that the world is all about me.

At what point does one say “I give up”

As we all know Pre-Vacation Vacation, was a great time had by all. 6 can only speak for himself, but it was very restful, relaxing and full of fun events that will generate many topics for the blog!

6 was nosing around, out there on the inter web, looking to see what is new on the island for this year. There are a couple of interesting changes that are going to happen. The most important change that  KICA  passed was a law that forbids single use plastic. Yes that means no straws for beer drinking, and most of all 4 can no longer bring any food to the beach!! That is a very noble position, and 6 supports it 100%.The history of the island and how they deal with the environment, is a little bit lacking. For example, even in southern Maryland we have to recycle, trash in one can, recyclables in another! Think about the effort 6 has every stinking day to properly discharge our waste. Every day 6 has to take the trash out to the can, as well as taking the recyclable junk to another can. That is two trips to the can every day and that is a regular habit!! (Talk about waste) Then once a week 6 has to take both of those heavy trash cans out to the street for the pick-up, do you think that they would make it easy and have pick up on the same day…. No it is two different days, I think that they should make it one day use the same truck since both trucks dump their loads in the same place.. Just think about that , 6 makes 14 trips to the can every week and two trips to the street!! On Kiawah they have two dumpsters that are tucked on a dead end road behind the firehouse, and believe it or not there was some 40 something in his two seat BMW dropping a lone plastic grocery bag full of bottles into the dumpster!  That was a first sighting for me!! I think that is almost as rare as seeing one of those elusive highians. First of all everyone knows that you never put a plastic grocery bag into the recycling, because it jams up the sorter, or as 6 says  that is if they even make the attempt to sort the recyclables. For as much as he put in the recycle bin, he made more carbon emission from his car than if he would have just set fire to the bag and watched it burn. Another example is the raise in the ocean, Kiawah Island is actually growing, NOAA is predicting a 1 foot raise in the ocean levels in the next 50 years. Not a huge effect the island so there is no a great concern, but the real issue is how the marsh land is actually reducing, guess what the cause of that is??? Gators taking over the island? ...... Building mega mansions??? You are correct all the building on the marshes, not being able to drain correctly thus salt water from the ocean fills the void . Great planning from KICA, passing out building permits like candy! Now there is on adverse effect of the new plastic ban… you can no longer bring single use bags and cups to the beach! Think about that for a second, this year at wine time, each of us get our own bottle, for the bottle may be against the law, but the plastic cup, is even worse!! There is one good thing in the law, when 6 goes and gets his morning coffee, they will allow single use plastic cup lids!!! Now 6 loves that execption to the law, but just think about how stupid that is, 6 never remembers a plastic sandwich bag laying around, but you see those Kiawah cups everywhere, it makes you wonder who is making those laws, does one think that Kiawah may have a little influence on the KICA board? “I give up”.

On a lighter note, one afternoon 6,7 and 8 had the pleasure of watching a nice family go out and spend great sums of money on a new paddle board. The went all out, for each of them had life jackets, nothing like safety first! For about the first hour or so one of them, 6 will guess that he was about 13/14 years old learned rather quickly and before you know it was having a blast paddle boarding in the ocean. He soon missed his phone and video games then it was his sisters turn. She  did the same thing, and before you know it, Rex Time fell upon the beach! So most of the beach emptied out expect for the Rex drinkers. The next day the same family came back, the teenage boy and girl just went out like seasoned pros and rode the paddle board. It was about this time where the fun begins… Not to be out done by his kids their old man, decided that it was his turn to ride the paddle board. He was a young man probably in his late 30’s or early 40’s, 6 feet tall 240 pounds, and no 6 will say the last time he was involved in any physical activity other than his domestic chores, was playing high school football for Polk high. He spent the next several hours doing his best to get on top of the paddle board, and no 6 did not say standing on it, he could not even lay on it!! He would jump on the board and fall off the other side, then he would try from the back of the board and it would just flip over. Seriously this went on for at least 2 to 3 hours! Finally after 1001 attempts, his wife and kids had enough of the beach for the day and they all went home… Paddle board never seen again for the rest of the week. This man never gave up, yes it was very entertaining to watch but come the end of the day this man demonstrated a lesson to his family and all those wonderful spectators on the beach. 6 remembers a saying from Winston Churchill (6 did have to look up the exact words) “Never, ever ever ever ever give up.” “Success consists of going from failure to failure without loss of enthusiasm.” no truer words were ever spoken, when one watched the man trying to ride a paddle board!  Yes no smart comments 6 knows that Churchill said that about the Big one, but it still applies to everyday life.

Words of wisdom: One may never be the best at something, nor one should never give up, one should accept their limitations, and Never, ever, ever, ever give up on the things that you love. For if you do, you will Never Ever,Ever fell joy!

Bikes open a new adventure

Do you ever sit down and contemplate life? I heard it once described like a box of chocolates, 6 fully appreciates that concept that was the 60’s version of life. Today we are much more sophisticated thus old outdated concepts no longer hold any water. If you are interested in the correct way at looking at life read on, if not open that box of chocolates and eat on.

Think back about two years ago, on a bright sunny, windy, humid, and hot Tuesday morning.  1, 6 and 8 decided to brave the elements and experience the beauty of paradise while sitting comfortably on the rented bikes from our old standby “Gator Bikes”. As we all know, when a group gathers for a bike ride, for the first 10 minutes we do nothing but ride circles in the parking lot determining which direction we are going to ride that day. Now under normal circumstances, that sounds reasonable, but on Kiawah Island you can only ride east or west, so in reality there is not much of a choice.  Per tradition,  we rode around the parking lot for several minutes contemplating where to ride, eventually a final agreement was reached to ride on the beach, which directions was going to be determined by the direction of the wind. ( Now tell me that is not decisive) As we all know riding on the beach with the wind in your face is really not a smart thing to do, unless you are in training for some professional sport. We finally arrived at the beach and the wind was blowing from west to east, which is normal for that time of the day, so off we went up the beach passing the sanctuary on our way to the ocean course. It was an awesome ride, the wind at your back made it effortless as we passed several people who had completed their journey up the beach and were making their way back down the beach. It was at that point that 6 was really getting concerned because, it sure looked like they were working really hard to ride, but were not making very much progress. 6 chocked it up as they were having the normal struggles of life. After about 15 minutes we completed our ride and if we wanted to continue we were going to have to ride on the Kiawah River because we had reached the end of paradise. As we made our turn we quickly noticed that the wind was blowing right in our faces at about 30 knots, even 6’s hair was blowing in the wind! After riding about 20 feet, 6 knew that this situation had to change, because he was never going to make it back to the condo. It was at that point we all decided to get off the beach and back on the road ASAP. The first place we could have made that exit was at the ocean Couse, which was only about a ¼ mile that was good no problems 6 could do that. Off we went, and rode right past that exit point. By this time 8 was about 50 yards ahead of 6 and 1, so we just keep following, and after which seemed to be about an hour we reach the next exit. This exit was the one for the pool that all of the rich people hang out! We did get off there and made our way back to the condo on the shelter of the roads. It was a long winding road, being sheltered from the wind actually made it a pleasant ride.

What does this have to do with life??? Well it is simple, the ride up the beach represents the times that all is going well for you, but at some point in time you will run into disappointment. It seems as if your life has reached a real crossroads or put another way the beach has ended. You then have to face the facts that coasting is no longer an option. At this point there is head winds that make every day more difficult than the last. It is time to choose a different path and use the gifts that were given to you. Life will never be as easy as the time the wind was at your back, but never as difficult as the time you achieved that turning point. 

Do they really mean KEEP OFF ISLAND

Well don’t know if you all noticed, but……. Kiawah island has dropped one spot on the 2019 Island beach destinations!!! I wonder why, as you all know 6 just has to give the explanation from the expert that he is. Here are the top 10 reasons.

1)   Tents on the beach! 

2)   Fewer celebrity sightings. Where’s Reese, or Paula.. the last person (other than me) that has been sighted on the island and arguably the most important was the Bundy’s and that was a couple years ago.

3)   Kathy Lee’s retirement, how are people supposed to drink Rex at 9:00 AM without Hodda and Kathy Lee?

4)   Total Wine of Charleston only having limited quantities of REX!

5)   The “lines” are no longer perfect since the master’s ball and chain has forced him to get a real job.

6)   Beach walker has sold out to the MAN!

7)   Strawberry Fields being replaced with private domains.

8)   The invasion of the “Want to be’s”.

9)   Commercial endeavors forcing the regular man out.  It is now a place just for the ‘haves”

10)Last but not least, the big attraction ‘’6” is yet again a year older!

One more thing that caused the ranking to drop, that no one will ever say is “the gators are now attaching us” . The other night 6 was being entertained by the “swamp people”, and to a person they are getting very concerned that the gator population is growing and the gators are no longer staying away from people. The population is going unchecked and they are coming on land looking for dinner! Just think about that on land we have to watch out for gator attacks (6 guesses that you all should stay with him when venturing outside of the condo), in the water we have the attacks of the jellies and never forget the sharks! On the beach, we have the ever pesky UV rays from the sun burning us to a crisp. 6 guess the only “Safe Place”  left is the free coffee at 6AM in the sanctuary. Did anyone ever notice that the name of that place is very fitting… Gators can’t get you, no jellies, no UV rays, sharks ¼ mile away, it’s just a place to drink a nice couple (several) cups of hot coffee and watch the shrimp boats make a living, by taking the last few fresh shrimps from the vast obis that we call the Atlantic Ocean.

BTW if you are really interested Kiawah Island in now ranked #2 of best island beaches in the world. If Kiawah has all of the issues 6 just listed could you only imagine how bad number 3 is?????

Words of wisdom: We hear often that truth is determined by a person’s view, how can that be true, when by definition truth is truth. Or as 6 likes to say… it is what it is!

Snow, what would the world be with out it.

In the past 6 has talked about this in his blogs, so don’t think he has run out of ideas, just that this one drives him nuts! A few days ago, our version of Josh, was forecasting a snow storm for the weekend. When that happens panic begins to take hold and rationale goes out the window. The masses all need to hit the stores to stock up on bread, milk, toilet paper, snow shovels, and finally salt. People often talk about those type of purchases prior to a snow storm, as if it were urban legend, the sad thing is that it is true! Let’s take a deeper look at each one of those items…. Bread walk down the bread isle on any normal day, and what you will see are hundreds of loafs stacked neatly on their shelves. White bread, wheat bread, rye bread, pumpernickel bread, flat bread, round bread, English muffins,  hot dog buns, hamburger buns, sub buns…… Sam I am…. Then go to the same store the same day that Josh forecasts a snow storm, and what do you find……the shelves are empty! What are people thinking! Milk: the same scenario white milk, chocolate milk, red milk (strawberry) 1%, 2%, 3%, 4% 5%,  whole milk, coffee creamers in every flavor one could dream up…..Sam I am… Toilet paper:  soft kind, hard kind, supper absorbent, …..Sam I am… Snow shovels: ergonomic handles, straight handles, yellow, black, silver, red, white, plastic, steel, aluminum, and finally for the rich people composite. …Sam I am…. Salt: I guess with salt there are only a few choices, but there are pallets stacked one on top of each other as far as one can see….. Sam I am..  Let’s apply some logic to this forecasted snow fall. This is not the 1800’s today we have equipment that can remove the snow from the roads, and for the most part they do an excellent job. For example you wake up tomorrow morning and there is 20 inches of snow, you roll over in your bed, sleep for an extra hour, go outside clean the car and the driveway, turn on the TV, have some lunch, watch some more TV, get bored, go back outside, clean any snow that the wind may have blown over you handy work, eat some dinner, watch some more TV, go to bed, wake-up the next day and go to work. Now that is what really happens to 90% of the people. So if that is true, and the majority of people at the most are unable to go to the store for 24 hours, how much bread, milk and toilet paper can they use in one day! 6’s other favorite is show shovels, the big box stores have hundreds of shovels in stock for a snow day, well if we only got snow once every 3-4 years 6 could see how they would sell out of snow shovels. The reality is unless you live in Charleston and south, you get snow every year! What do people do with the shovels they just purchased? Do they throw them away every spring? Or even better do they wear them out? Who know the answer to this puzzle, 6 guess if you are looking for a stock to invest in choose a company that make snow shovels, and then you will be rich enough to have the Plow Man (Homer Simpson) come dig you out!  

Well the only thing that 6 can figure out is our obsession with those pesky devices are causing this mass hysteria. Back in the day, and no we did not get any more or less snow than we get today, we would hear from one of the 4 or 5 TV stations that we were going to get snow, and we dealt with it. Today between the 100’s of TV stations, and social media, we cannot go for even one minute without, hearing about how bad the storm is going to be.  6 thinks the reality of what happened is this: you wake up about lunch time, see the 20 inches of snow, open your laptop or IPad, grab your phone, turn on the TV, take the loaf of bread and gallon of milk out of the fridge, then sit down on the couch eat the loaf of bread, drink the gallon of milk. Telling all of your social media friends how bad it is.  You then realize that the snow shovel you purchased yesterday was still in your car, and you don’t feel like dealing with the snow and cold, so you decide to get back on social media and explain how bad you have it, and leave it in the car. Well it is time to call it a day, so you go to bed, and the first thing you do when you wake-up the next day is to text your boss and tell them that you are snowed in, and you are not coming in or that you are going to work from home! This time the only thing that is different is you have to include your work computer, and add that to the other devices that you are using. BTW 6 just figured out reason for the purchase of the toilet paper, you need that to clean up all of the crap, that you have been shoveling the past 2 day.

Time to start a new year

Christmas is over, the tree is down, the boxes jammed in spaces that 6 will never be able to find next year, leaving nothing but an empty feeling that one more year has slipped away. You have to admit, that is a very depressing way to look at Christmas, for if that were truly the way one feels then Christmas should be treated on the same level as the other “stupid” holidays we celebrate every year. For example Labor Day, how many Americans under the age of 60, even know why we celebrate Labor Day. Oh Oh 6 knows, it is day off that 6 is entitled to since he works! In other words another bottle of Rex! Well back in the 1800’s when America was in the throes of the industrial revolution, it was nothing for the average worker to work 12 hours a day to eke out a meager living. Imagine the working conditions today, going to a factory or farm and working 7 days a week for 12 hours a day! Age did not matter one could be working alongside an old (seasoned) mill hunk, when they were 5 years old!   Then later in the 1800’s things started to change and to reward the worker the national government gave them a day off, it was called Labor Day and it was to recognize the great achievements of the American worker. Fast forward 100 years and today we all complain about having to work 8 hours a day 5 days a week, and because that is too much 6 will estimate that with-in a few years we will be working 4 days a week as the norm. Back in the 1800 family was the central unit of life, today the family has gone the way of postmodern liberal activist, and the way of live is now all about one’s individual needs and not those of the whole. I was going to use 4^thof July as my example but 6 knows no one wants to hear my opinion on that holiday! (How much beer and hotdogs can one consume before driving to see the fireworks). So back to the emptiness of Christmas… If one marks Christmas by the norms of society, and not the 2000 year tradition then one’s life will be as truly empty as the plate of Christmas cookies that lies empty after the annual Christmas cookie battle. (BTW did 8 ever pay 7 for the Christmas cookie bet? It is my understanding that the cookie broke). 

May the joy of Christmas fill your hearts, as we reflect on the love that entered our world oh so many years ago.6 has the best wishes and hopes for each and every one of you for the next year! 

At dinner a few Sunday nights ago at 4’s house, one of my readers asked why the blog was no longer being published, well it has been but not as frequently as it was in the past, 6 will do his best to post more blogs.

The interesting thing about the dinner was we got on the topic of drones, you ask why that is important, Well, let me tell you a little story, that no one seems to remember. WE had a drone flying over our heads taking pictures on the beach at Kiawah!6 knows that some of my companero’s, refer to 6 as that empty Christmas cookie plate but at least there are still some crumbs of sanity left, where the ones who do not remember that drone, well their plates have been wiped clean! 6 will dig deep in the remaining crumbs of his minds and recall the events of that day!

Some people change with the times, while others continue to do things the old tried and true way. For example back in the “day” Andy had to climb to the top of a tree to check out what his friend and Andy’s “want to be” girlfriend was doing at the high school dance. After some time Andy fell out of that there tree and tore his britches! Or when the double knot spy, stole Granny spectacles, to conduct surveillance of the help at the Commerce bank of Beverly Hills. It sure was a good thing that that famous double knot spy had is iron WW I surplus helmet on, because 6 would assume getting hit over the head with an iron skillet might just empty that Christmas cookie plate of the crumbs!  Back in Andy’s and the double knot spy days that was called being a peeping Tom. Fast forward 50 years…. One day at the beach this 30 something young man can down to the beach with a drone, it was a Phantom 4 equipped with a camera that had the capability to shoot stills as well as video, buy the way to add a little more detail it was white. He began flying the drone up and down the beach while he was standing up on the board walk. At first it was kind of unique to see, while all the conversations of the squatters sitting around us changed from “I wonder why they are flying a drone on the beach, to, “What is that idiot doing!” It was at this point where people began to get violent, by starting to throw anything at that flying beast, in hopes of bringing it out of the sky and causing it to crash endlessly into the warm waters of the Atlantic Ocean, never to be found again. It kind of worked, for he did get the message, and he landed it safely and was never seen again. Progress can be a good thing, take things at the beach. Some people come to the beach with nothing more than a towel to lay on, while others bring every comfort of home including the kitchen sink: chairs, coolers, umbrella’s, tents, cell phones, speakers to play music, bikes, dogs, games, food, drinks, need 6 continue . 6 can remember the good old days when they completed interstate 79 from Pittsburgh to Erie. This great technological achievement allowed for one to take a day trip to enjoy the while sandy beaches of Presque Isle, on good old Lake Erie. What wonderful memories, where a beach towel and a thermos of water, was all that was required to have an enjoyable day at the beach!  Or could it be that the experiences, rooted deep down in our sub-conscious    mold us into the avid beach goes we are today! Like…People actually used sun screen to get a tan, not to block those dastardly UV rays from turning us into French fries. Or umbrellas were used to keep one dry in a rain storm, not to keep those UV rays from frying you, or shovels were used to clean-up all the dead fish from your beach area, and not to dig turtle graves. or going into the water at your own risk, did not mean that there was no life guard, but having the possibility of getting some kind of crud for the bacteria in the water. Or you did not have to worry about getting stung by jelly fish only getting hit by those pesky dead fish.  The real question is with all of those hazards to one’s health and wellbeing, why are the memories all pleasant? The answer is simple… it is not about where you are it is all about who you are with. No it is not because 6 was young and unaware of the dangers after all 6 did not get this superior intelligence over the past few years, 6 was born with it!