Panic At Nabisco

At the start of each new school year, my mind is not my own.  The kids have begun a (hopefully) auspicious new year, and much more of my time is taken up being "the dad taxi;" making arrangements for social gatherings, helping them with their studies, and doing my best in molding them into respectable human beings who eschew the tantalizing temptations of peer-pressure for loftier goals than I had when I was their age.

Autumn is just...hands down...my favorite season.  For me, it's extraordinary.  Something happens to my perceptions of just about everything this time of year.  I seem to have a hyper-vigilance and a keen appreciation for my many blessings and what's left of the beauty of nature in the world--even more than I do during the rest of the year.

I hasten to all things earthy most all year long, but there's just something so profound about a season that--in essence--is "the eleventh hour" before the dead calm of winter.  Winter brings its own extraordinary beauty with a sun that hangs low and sets sooner; blankets of white crystals which provide a deliciously cold feast for the eyes and myriad recreations for all who choose to indulge; and--by contrast to May through August--a 'dead' landscape that lays gorgeously dormant until the next phase of our four-season cycle.

It's really tragic to me that I feel as though I'm in a very inappreciable minority in my love of nature.  I hate the new dichotomy--of which I'm not a part--that is divided into extremes.  On one side, you've got the liberal wannabes-- the Al Gore crew; well intentioned, but not always well informed.  They seem to be more interested in hoisting themselves above "those foolish conservatives" by tossing a bottle into a recycling bin (with a subsequent pat on their own back) than they do in actually giving an endangered species tucchus about the fragile balance of our ecosystem.  They will yell at you until they're blue in the face about the impending doom of global warming whether they've actually researched it or not.  The important thing to them is maintaining their feelings of self-righteousness and bull-plop.

On the other side, you've got the completely empty-headed, selfish, don't give a rat's 'double-bump-with-crack-in-middle' whether or not the kids of today even know what a possum crossing the road looks like or what a truly fresh breath of air feels like, (so-called) "conservatives" who want to pave the entire planet...but (so spuriously) stick a little line of those baby trees here & there on every frickin' development...as if that is some kind of "I love the environment" statement.

At the Planning Board meetings, I see both types.  But unfortunately proponents of avarice are always louder, so the (what I call) "devel-o-pigs" usually get their way.

Buffer-zones are a huge bunch of hooey.  It's as if everything is just "a-OK" so long as the devel-o-pigs "work with the natural landscape as much as possible..."  Nature doesn't respond to your supposedly good intentions.  Bees are still dying because they can't get the sugar they need to make it--as in, the sugar from wild flowers.  Populations of wild flowers are dwindling so that disgustingly rich devel-o-pigs can get richer by mowing down the natural to put up the very unnatural.

I know that if members of (what I call) "the mass of stupid" haven't been distracted by something shiny and have made it this far into this post, many of the ignorant aforementioned are going, "So what!  Who needs a bunch of stupid bees?  A few less kids will get stung...big deal!"

Bees pollinate your food.  If the bees stop pollinating your food...there won't be any.  ...Even that bag of Cheetos you treasure...whatever it is you eat is made from some ingredients that came from a farm where bees pollinated the plants.

They're dropping like--pun intended--flies.  We need bees.  We need a lot of things found in nature, and it's really too bad that people cling to superficial, meretricious eyewash and shlock rather than the more substantive things freely provided by God.  We're sure to reap what we sow.

Tuesday, July 15th was forecast to be a wonderful day, and it most certainly was.

We packed up the kids, the towels, the map from Google, and the sunblock; and headed for Horseneck Beach in Westport, MA. With only a stop for jalapeño-covered hot dogs, cold lemonades, and sixty-bucks worth of petrol; we went.

Our Google directions were a bit flawed, but because of my gut-instincts and a wife's trust in them, our trip was nearly seamless.
On the way, we passed the ice cream place that we always hit on the way back from our annual Horseneck-trek.

The forecast called for a kicked-up surf; compliments of hurricane Bertha.  We scoffed at the warnings of rip-currents, and knew we'd be in for a treat with those gi-normous waves for which Horseneck is well-known.

I stayed in the water the longest time - about three hours, with only one bathroom break - and was the only one to get the admonitory whistle from one of the irritated lifeguards after swimming out a bit too far.

The kids enjoyed the water & waves as well, but needed a few lengthy breaks to get warm before getting back in.  Their mother was mostly interested in taking care of our seven-year-old, who was a little intimidated by waves which - from his perspective - probably appeared like the Hawaiian surf would to the rest of us.  But he couldn't resist going in just deep enough to accommodate his smaller stature.

Every summer we have one perfect beach day.  It's always the defining moment of the season for me.  The most precious things in life really are free; provided by God.

Before the day we went to Horseneck, and many days since, we've enjoyed Long Pond in Lakeville.  Despite the irritating cacophony of ski-jet engines and inebriates/"Cro-Mags" screaming moronically, it's a beautiful place.  ...Just hanging out in the water, swimming alongside the ducks, and enjoying the natural splendor of our surroundings...we know we're blessed to be able to enjoy it.

It's funny, because - overall - summer is my least favorite season.  I especially love autumn & winter.  But there is a lot to enjoy in the summer, if you make sure you "carpe diem."

A word of advice; make sure you don't sit in front of your computer too much before the summer vanishes.  I know that many days are filled with oppressive heat & humidity (hence the fact that it's my least favorite season), but warmer weather provides some unique opportunities to connect with nature that winter certainly cannot.  So get outside...today!

So this morning some very bored individual in a futile attempt to self-aggrandize sent a fatuous email to Fox 25.
He said something to the effect of that the Boston meteorologists have all been saying that "there's a blizzard coming" and have "hyped everyone out."  Poppycock.
Why is it that even when the media is spot-on someone has to manufacture an unflattering untruth about them?

We got precisely the snow-to-rain mix that had been predicted.  I heard nothing about a "blizzard", nor any predictions that could be misconstrued that way.

I just want to say to AJ Burnett (who got the lame-o's email) that while that foolishness was being read on the air, there were scores of us out here who were all scratching our heads going, "BLEEP?  What is this moron talking about?"  There were plenty of people who paid attention to what was actually said on the forecasts, and recognized the fact that we got exactly what you all said we would.

While it may be true that some people overreact to the slightest bit of upcoming stormy weather by "panic-shopping" and whatnot, there are just as many who don't take slippery conditions seriously enough.  For example; this morning while me and my two boys were waiting at the bus stop, a woman in an SUV was going too damn fast for the conditions and went sliding off the side of the road to avoid hitting the car in front of her.  Then she honked angrily at the person driving the car in front of her as if she (the one in front) shouldn't have stopped for the stop sign!  I was...um..."a bit upset" let's just say.  If we hadn't gone out early for a change, we would have been undoubtedly been hit by this careless driver.

So to you miserable folks out there tossing your crap at the weather people, I say, find yourselves a better target.  The weather forecasting in Boston is among the best in the country.  Be thankful and grateful that they're so adroit at what they do.  I'm sorry you feel the need to project your anger and misery in such a thoughtless way, but you're really just making big a**es of yourselves.