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The Five F's of Growing into Adulthood: Component 1- Family

8/30/2018

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In yesterday's  blog I introduced this topic of the Five F's which covers things I hope readers of my book will glean from it.  It's a way for me to cope with life and hopefully be the best I can be in a broken world.  I have found in the course of my life that these five pillars have been of assistance to me, sinner that I am, and I hope they might be helpful to others as well.  The first component we will discuss is Family.  I want to emphasize that I am picking Family first since it is the first influence that a new-born notices, excepting the unusual situations that sometimes come up in life, particularly in modern times.

My definition of family for this purpose is the traditional model, a married man and woman who have a child or more, are morally sound and take the upbringing of their child or children seriously.  Now, some might see it in a different way and that's their choice, but remember, I am writing this from my own experience and what it has taught me.

For thousands of years the traditional family has existed and today it is under more threat than ever before despite its advantages if those involved take their commitments seriously.  For a child to be raised by a father and a mother who love each other and strive to develop their child into a good moral citizen is a tough task, but the two sexes play a critical role.  Fathers are looked up to by little children as their protector,  the mother fulfills a much more nurturing role. Together, they play the key formative year role of making the child feel safe and secure in a comfortable home setting while all the time learning more and more that helps shape what he or she becomes.  When something adversely impacts that situation, other things enter and if they are not positive and uplifting, it can alter the course.

In my own life example, my father died when I was nine.  Thankfully, I had him in my life to develop my masculine self in a positive way; dad always insisted on gentlemanly ways around women and respect for elders.  That has always served me well.  And when he died and Mom worked so hard to keep things safe and secure, she also knew I needed decent and God-fearing men in my life to be role models and to discuss those things that boys need to discuss with a man.  I was fortunate to have a number of such men who stepped up and were kind and gave me time when I needed it.

There was my minister, a man who always checked on me as I grew into a teenager.  I'll say more about him in a later post. There was the elderly neighbor who had been a pretty good semi-pro baseball player in his day who would encourage me and frequently come to my baseball games to cheer me on.  And there was the retired Coast Guard officer during those "Summers at Old Nags Head" who invited me to help with his fishing operation and always gave me the time to talk about manly things during the summer months.  There were others as well and I thank them all for their help. I was truly blessed to have these people in my life, and while they weren't my dad, they made growing up without a father so much easier.  But none of it would have been possible without a mother who dedicated her life to her children.

Now, I could go on but I think it should be clear what I mean by what I write.  My parents loved me, they encouraged me and yes, they even scolded me when it was deserved.  But they instilled in my heart the concept of the Golden Rule which I have tried to live by and they were the first of the five F's which determined my course as an adult.

I've made my mistakes from time to time, after all, I am a mere mortal as we all are.  But I know that this traditional formulation of family which started me on a positive and productive course was a good one for me and I can't speak for anyone but me.  I hope all of you have been so fortunate, for it truly made a big difference.  It was a difference that made my life one of light and not darkness.

The next topic will be Faith, a natural follow on for a boy brought up in a Christian household.  Once again, there are certainly other courses which can direct you in a good and positive way but I only have my own experience to guide my life  and I think anyone who reads my book, "Summers at Old Nags Head," will see the connection to my life.

Here's the link to the book in both Amazon Prime and Kindle Unlimited formats.  I hope you might give it a look:

https://www.amazon.com/default/e/B00HFCMOVO




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The Five F's of Growing into Adulthood

8/29/2018

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In writing my most recent book, "Summers at Old Nags Head," I wanted to use it to present a picture to my family, especially my children, and any others who truly love the beach and what a beautiful beach was truly like in the mid-twentieth century.  With today's traffic,  massive development and push for putting more and more on less and less land, the opportunity for many to see a wild and free beach is rapidly fading and I wanted those who know me to understand from where I came.  I believe this book presents that well in an easy reading and informative presentation.

There is, however, something much more important that  I  want the book to do, but it's a little more subtle and its likely only after a reader finishes the book that it fully sinks in. It is about my belief structure and philosophy on growing up in preparation for adulthood. I call it the Five F's, which include faith, family, foundation (educational support and development including the 3 R's [reading, 'riting, and 'rithmetic], real history and the ability to reason), fun and freedom.  So many of us in America today and also in so much of the world are woefully lacking in the five F's and it is a severe hindrance in becoming well prepared adults in a crazy, mixed-up world.  I think it has a lot to do with why so many accept poor positions to guide them and often through no fault of their own.  Sometimes it was just lack of a good upbringing which would include the five F's if someone insisted upon using them.

Over the next few weeks, I will cover each of the five individually, starting with faith on my next post.  I put faith first because to be our best I believe we must realize that there is a much greater One than us who has total mastery of the world.  We humans, mortals that we are, are woefully inadequate to navigate our life on earth without the help of our Creator unless we want that life to be wrought with coping problems.  We'll always run into problems in an imperfect work, but if we can learn how to deal with them, we can overcome their impact.

When I have completed this discussion and all of its parts, and if read it and my book, I hope you will see how the five F's logically came from those wonderful, early life experiences in a setting designed to prepare a child for his or her future.  God bless you all.

You can find the links to both the Amazon Prime and Kindle Unlimited versions of  "Summers at Old Nags Head" here: https://www.amazon.com/default/e/B00HFCMOVO  It might be necessary to copy and paste to your browser to open it.


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Late August 1992: From Calm to Fury with Andrew in Less Than Two Days

8/28/2018

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A young boy searches through rubble in Homestead, looking for anything he recognizes.
The summer of 1992 had one thing in common in the Southeastern United States with our current summer.  Coming up on the last days of the month of August the East Coast was hurricane free.  It was, in fact, even calmer in 1992 since no named storms had yet to be named, but that would all change on August 22nd with the sudden development of Hurricane Andrew north of the Southeastern Bahamas.  The storm had crossed the Atlantic as a weak low pressure system barely reaching gale force and forecasters expected it to dissipate, but once reaching the warm Bahamian waters, it rapidly strengthened and graduated to a category 5 hurricane in rapid order.  Andrew became the first category 5 hurricane since Hurricane Camille came ashore in Louisiana in 1969.

The Bahamas were no match for the storm as it rapidly reached maximum intensity and only on Sunday morning, August 23rd, did South Floridians realize they were in the bullseye, particularly south of Miami.  There was very little time to prepare or to evacuate, yet thousands did so while others barricaded themselves in their homes in Homestead and all areas south and west of Miami proper awaiting the storm.  It hit like a freight train running into balsa wood, splintering houses, swirling debris like a tornado and leaving those in its wake unable to recognize the communities that had been home. Only foundations were left where there had been homes. The only saving grace was that it was a small and tightly wound storm, so if you were seventy miles or more away from the storm, you probably just received some rain and gusty winds.

The top winds recorded in the area were 177 mph, a clear category 5 storm and some fourteen inches of rain accompanied the wind.  Thankfully, however the storm began to pick up forward speed as it headed for its next and final victim, Louisiana.  They were spared some of the worst since it came ashore from the Gulf of Mexico as a low end category 3 storm, yet damage was still significant.  But back in South Florida, some 25,000 homes were completely destroyed, over 100.00 more received significant damage, the cost was estimated to be a record-shattering $25 billion and the death toll, including those from hurricane-related causes after the storm in Florida was over 40.  Those who fled had trouble even finding where they lived upon return with street signs destroyed and homes now in rubble and unrecognizable. It is remarkable, however, that the death toll wasn't higher, but the recovery took not months, but years and the impact lives on.  Building codes have been beefed up significantly raising the cost of housing  and only time will tell how effective that will be.

Andrew's record as the costliest national storm lived until Katrina struck Lousiana thirteen years later.  It was the most expensive Florida storm until Irma last year, a storm which covered nearly the entire state in its northward motion over the entire Peninsula.  Only the far Panhandle escaped the wrath of that one.

Many families left the area never to return, Homestead Air Force Base was rebuilt but became a reserve facility in its new capacity, and the emotional scars left behind will always remain.  Once again, reconstruction was done, yet rather than learning the lesson of crowding thousands upon thousands of people together in areas of high risk, the growth has gone on, even at a higher level than before. 

So, what can we on the entire Eastern Seaboard learn from Hurricane Andrew.  First, we need to learn from her history, which we frequently ignore to our peril and we need to realize just because August is coming to a close, never let your guard down for the possibility of fall hurricanes.  There are even some long-term weather reports now saying that the conditions in the  Eastern Atlantic hurricane breeding grounds show signs of becoming more hurricane-friendly by mid-September.  Two plus weeks in hurricane predicting, however,  is an awfully long time, so don't get too worried about a statement like that. But do realize that being prepared for any weather situation is always a wise course, even if you never have to face it.   Hurricanes are a fact of life along the Atlantic coast and the sooner everyone realizes that, the better.

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A BELATED EDITION OF SUNDAY MORNING COMING DOWN ON MONDAY

8/27/2018

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Before the blog begins, I want to apologize to those who follow my Sunday Morning Coming Down weekly blog for it "being missing in action" this past weekend.  I was on overload and also had a few computer glitches impacting my work,  so I just couldn't get it out.  But I hope you will read it today for, like all of my special blogs, it has the same importance every day of the week.  God's words and guidance are important every day and I thank you for your understanding.

CAN A RICH MAN GET TO HEAVEN?

“No servant can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon.”       Luke 16:13  (KJV)


First off, the scripture cited does not answer the question, but it does refer to Jesus' repeated references in the Bible which discuss how much more difficult it is for a rich man (or woman) to get to heaven than a poor one.  So, the answer is that a rich man certainly CAN get to heaven but it is exceedingly difficult.  Why is that?

Well, just picture the two extreme categories of mankind and I think it becomes rather obvious.  Let's look at the poor man first.  The poor man is wanting and needing help and it is much more likely that if he becomes acquainted with the Holy Triumvirate that He will take the message God offers to heart.  He is down and out and is looking for something to place his hope in and what could be better than the Living God, a most gracious and generous God who wants to welcome all of us at the appointed time to heaven if only we believe by faith.  A man who is desperate for help is much more likely to listen and take God up on His offer.

When you contrast that with the rich man, however, he is often so self-absorbed and self-indulgent, those traits being acquired by his lifestyle and his thinking that he can focus on unlimited wealth which precludes time for God.  That's what Jesus meant in Luke by mentioning "mammon."  He has to make a choice of one Master for "mammon" in this case means wealth, be it money, material things or both. He has been conditioned to believe he has it all or can acquire what he doesn't have and it becomes the thing he worships, just another false god that God warns against.  His trouble is made worse by the influence of the Evil One who strives to take each of us down by our weakness wherever it is found.  It's easy for him to find the weapon to destroy the rich man by bringing him down to his pit of hell in his heart.

Now, this doesn't preclude a rich man from going to heaven and certainly many have done so and will continue to do so.  But in a society which is becoming more and more secularized by design, the influence of God wanes and this serves much more to the detriment of the rich man.  It's easy to succumb to your wants and desires and harden you heart when godly influence is removed.

I think, however, it's also very important to realize the influences today of secularism and how they are used to separate the goodness of God from what we might call a brotherhood of man concept.  Today, many will argue that you should have no objection to the government raising taxes for huge social welfare programs which become burdensome and top heavy on overhead, thereby precluding good works and also eliminating the credit for goodness going to God instead of man.  Many follow this approach and it has a deep flaw and it's this.  Every dollar spent by government is, in its truest sense, confiscation of resources from individuals. To get to heaven requires believing in God and, furthermore, the good deeds done and money spent has to be a voluntary contribution. Taking money from people under the force of government is not love, it may result in some good coming of it, but it is not from love. Real love comes from people giving of themselves because they want to in their hearts.

The bottom line to all of this is God wants us to love and praise Him and He desires that when our life is done that we will have made a free will choice to join Him in His Kingdom, thereby becoming part of that Kingdom.  Rich and poor alike can certainly reach that goal, but it requires their buy-in to the concept of putting God first in our lives.  Anything short of that will keep us from accomplishing that task and that makes it impossible to achieve.  Do we all fall short? Of course we do, for we are all mortal sinners. The point, however, is for us to get back up when that happens, brush ourselves off and get back to work through our devotion to Him.   But for the rich, living in opulence and able to buy and go where they want with plenty to spare makes it a much more difficult choice until they realize that they can't take it with them. If they don't, they will fail.  And if they fail, they will lose all their wealth and possessions as they lose their soul. Then they have lost everything, including a place in the Kingdom.

 Dear Lord,  We thank you for the many blessings that you give us each and every day and we ask that you open our hearts, rich and poor alike, to belief in You by faith. For if we do and we live our lives in a way which You find pleasing, we can all join you in the Kingdom when this life is done.  Then we will all be rich, spending eternity in a place so wonderful and beautiful that we can't even imagine it.  In Jesus' name we pray,  Amen.

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Atlantic Weather:  Will it Stay Quiet?

8/24/2018

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Huge waves heading toward a battered shore
We who live in the Atlantic Basin find ourselves in the midst of prime hurricane season while the seas remain quiet. Meanwhile, our friends in Hawaii are in the process of being battered, not so much from tidal flooding and wind but by torrential rains from Hurricane Lane which is moving slowly.  Hawaii's biggest strength from hurricanes is a deep ocean surrounding the islands, unlike the East Coast's continental shelf, so with storm surge of no more than four feet at the most threatened point, Pearl Harbor, that's not a killer.  But the rains, now forecast in some areas to be as much as forty inches in the inland mountains, are nearly certain to cause major flooding and runoff cascading down to the valleys below.  Think of the rains in Houston last year from Hurricane Harvey and picture that huge city with large mountains nearby.  It would have been an inland tidal wave rushing down on top of them. And also remember, we never really know how bad it will be until assessing storm damage after the fact. Hurricanes are always subject to change.

But why is the East Coast so quiet while the Pacific is so active and what does the future hold? The answer lies in wind patterns, ocean temperature, air pressure and moisture levels in the air, or at least those are four big factors and they play directly into the answer for this summer to date for the  East Coast.  But, first, there is a surprising feature that on the surface really makes it odd.

The average number of named storms that form each year by this time of the season is four, yet this year there have already been five named storms, two of which were hurricanes.  No one realizes it, however, since they stayed well out to sea or fizzled quickly.  And the main reasons for their lack of strengthening or holding their strength were the conditions which were not conducive to storm development. Even the hurricane meteorologists at Colorado State University, considered the premier group to study the storms, had to lower their estimated number of storms as the season got underway.  Not only that, but they found evidence of  a likely developing El Nino which would likely impact the latter part of the season.

So, here's where we are today.  The seedbed for hurricane development and strengthening, the stretch of open Atlantic from the Cape Verde Islands off the coast of Africa to the approach to the Windward Islands, finds the air full of dry, dusty air.  Low humidity and those dry dust particles from the Sahara is a killer of hurricanes, as is cooler ocean water which is the case in that part of the Atlantic as well.  Add to that the wind flowing toward any burgeoning low pressure system, sheering the tops off developing storms and it means the ocean stays quiet.  Will that situation remain the same? Well, with nature, no one knows for sure, but there are indications that it is likely to do so for the foreseeable future and with prime hurricane season ending around mid-September that is indeed good news.

No matter how good the outlook looks for us, however, remember that late September and October storms can be very severe indeed and sometimes they pop up in unusual places to start.  If they come from somewhere other than the now dry zone and can build on the warm waters of the Gulf of Mexico or the Gulf Stream, anything is possible and development can happen almost overnight.  That's just something that we need to never forget, even more so if we live near or on the coast. 

For now, though, I would recommend that we say a prayer for the people of Hawaii and particularly those on the "Big Island."  Those poor residents, many of whom suffered severely from the Kilauea volcano, including the total loss of their homes, are being hammered again.  Now they face up to forty inches of rain in a short two day time frame which, of course, will cause disastrous flooding.  May God be with them.  For the rest of us, just say thanks for a thus far very calm hurricane season.

SPECIAL ADDED NOTE: The below picture shows the wrath of a late season storm, Hurricane Hazel in mid-October 1954. I remember that one very well as a boy.

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THE MOUNTAINS: THEY'RE NOT THE SEA, BUT THEY'RE STILL BEAUTIFUL

8/23/2018

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"Oh, what a beautiful morning"
If you are familiar with my writing you know how fond I am of the sea.  I put a lot of posts up here and on my Facebook author page about the sea with beautiful pictures and a huge majority of my followers love them.  But recently one of my regular followers asked why I didn't also post occasionally about the mountains and it opened my memory bank.  I've had many wonderful experiences in the mountains over my long life and perhaps it's way past time that I mention some of them.  This commentary will just be a tip of the iceberg, so I'll try to follow up either here or on the other page, maybe both, as time goes on.

My first real experience with the mountains was as a boy on vacation with my family.  My dad, rest his soul, loved to take a nice family vacation to a new and different place sometime during the year and the rest of our family time off was devoted to Nags Head.  That first trip was to New Hampshire and we stayed at a beautiful old fashioned hotel named the Crawford House at Crawford Notch.  While there I learned what real cold water swimming was all about in a mountain fed lake, rode the cog railway up Mount Washington and enjoyed some of the most beautiful sunsets on earth.  It was a wonderful time and I believe the old hotel is still around today.  It must have been something back in it's hay day back in the early portion of the twentieth century.

My next experience, still very young but a few years later was in the Smoky Mountains. We spent a week between  Boone to the north and then Asheville, Waynesville and Gatlinburg.  We saw three of the great outdoor dramas of the day, Horn in the West in Boone and Unto These Hills in Cherokee, then Chucky Jack in Gatlinburg.   While I liked them all, I still liked The Lost Colony better, but that was probably as much my Outer Banks bias as anything.  But I must admit that on a day when we took a tour that made the circle from Gatlinburg to Fontana Dam and then back up the north Carolina side and across to Tennessee again at Clingman's Dome, the sunset before us as we came across that large mountain was absolutely breathtaking.

A few years later I began attending Camp Massanetta at Massanetta Springs near Harrisonburg, Virginia.  I spent a week at a time there in Presbyterian Church camp and in addition to learning more about my faith and spirituality, I witnessed gorgeous sunsets over the Shenandoah Valley during evening vespers.  The Blue Ridge and that gorgeous valley is second to none in luscious green and blue scenery looking down on farms and towns like they were in a table puzzle.

Later experiences would include the Rockies both in snow country and in the desert, the German and Swiss Alps and even the Spanish Pyrenees.  All were special in their own way and all beautiful.  So, you see, despite my deep and unending love for the sea, near which I've spent most of my life, those beautiful mountains also put an impression on me of God's glory wherever we look.  And, yes, I'll try to throw in a few of my mountain experiences as time goes on.

Wherever you are and wherever you roam, make the most of it.  Enjoy the beautiful scenery and what it contains regularly.  When you think of the pains that He went through to make it for us,  it will humble you.  Humility is good for the soul.

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Southern Ariona's Santa Catalina Mountains
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THE PRINCIPAL AGENT FOR OUR SUCCESS IS OUR OWN HARD WORK

8/22/2018

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Beach birds, working hard from dawn to dusk to keep themselves alive.
You are probably looking at the picture above and saying to yourself, "What does this have to do with success as a writer or as any kind of business person or entrepreneur?" Well, just give me a moment and I hope you'll make the connection.

Those little birds flitting about at the water's edge in the early morning are working. They are working to find food, food to give them the calories they need to run about and fly as they do at almost all times other than sleep. Even then, it's hard for them to do so soundly due to the threat of predators, usually bigger birds who find them an easy mark. So, their success is determined by how long they live and they work hard to live just as long as they can.

Translate that same situation over to humankind and we find a much different scenario. Humans were put on earth with a brain and individual talents to use to support themselves and their loved ones. But somehow in our attempts to be compassionate, we made it far to easy for some of us who choose not to work. In such cases, we create food stamps, free housing and welfare among other "goodies" which, over a generational span, creates a large group who decide to judge their success by receiving the dole from others and perpetuating it in later generations.

I see success as understanding that it is our individual responsibility to take care of ourselves and our loved ones in a way that is both pleasing to us and to God. Sure, there are times when help is needed for people in pain and suffering. Major health issues beyond reasonable means, loss of a primary breadwinner, major disaster, these types of issues are certainly worthy of compassion and help. But they aren't meant to be for a lifetime, they are meant to serve as a "hand up" not a "hand out."

Even in our current situation, we have many who are truly successful, but our society will never be fully successful if the weight of so many who choose not to produce is carried by those who do produce. It's contrary to the laws of nature as we see by the actions of those little birds in the picture, who know nothing except how to keep themselves alive. Nature offers many pictures of what honest and independent life requires.

I hope this gives all of us something to think about as we continue down our own road to success in the "Game of Life." Each of us have our own goals and dreams, but it's important to remember that the hard lifting is our responsibility, not a collective effort.
Have a blessed day.


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The Mighty Atlantic: It Wasn't Designed to Be a Septic Tank!

8/21/2018

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The Atlantic Ocean: One Great Big and Beautiful Body of Water.
I have loved the Atlantic Ocean since being a wee tike of a boy since I spent much of my time as a youngster enjoying life on her shores.  And I have been amazed for my entire life at the lack of respect that so many of us give to her regarding her power and force.  It's as if we think we are so smart, that we can do anything we want and always have the wherewithal to make the necessary corrections for our failures.  And yet, time and time again we fail and the blue ocean just frowns in her own way and gasps to retain her beauty in spite of what we do.

I have two cases in point I want to mention here. One is South Florida, but probably better put as all of Florida for that matter.  The second is North Carolina and particularly the upper beaches of the Outer Banks, although like Florida, the problem is one facing the entire coast of the state and other states beyond as well.  And there is also another issue about what dredging does to the sea water vis-a-vis fishing but it is more of a problem in Florida since the Labrador Current dissipates the silt much more quickly than in Florida with her normally much calmer waters.

In South Florida, heavy rains are something never unusual in the warm tropical like environs, but sadly, the Atlantic as well as the Gulf of Mexico are used as the emergency sewer for Lake Okeechobee.  When all of the sugar industry waste which is pumped into Lake Okeechobee is met with massive rainfall, the lake is opened to dump the overage into rivers which flow east and west.  Sugar waste is sweet and bacteria grows rapidly from it in warm water, so the nasty result ends up in both the ocean and the gulf and leaves a disgusting slime and smell which ruins pristine beaches which then can't be enjoyed.  And since Florida is a major tourist state, as the word gets out, the tourists look for other options and the natural beauty of Florida for vacations is captured by man made amusement parks.  At some point, as the parks get so overcrowded that it's no longer fun to come there, people will look for other destinations in other states and Florida will lose its luster.  In some cases, it already has.

Regarding the Outer Banks, principally the towns of Nags Head, Kill Devil Hills, Kitty Hawk and Southern Shores, population has grown many times over. Back in the 1950s, those towns had a full time population of around one thousand.  Today, the full time population is in the tens of thousands, some recent estimates claim it to be over sixty-five thousand.  This, however, is just the tip of the iceberg since during the same period visitors have grown from less than one hundred thousand annually to what some sources estimate seven million in a year.  This could only be accomplished with massive building, not just on the oceanfront but in the lowlands between the beach dunes on the east and the larger sand dunes back near the piney woods by Roanoke Sound. So, what does this mean?

Well, picture an above water level sand bar that is long and rather narrow. The lay of the land from the ocean to the sound on a topographical map would resemble a shallow cake pan with a lower center area and higher on front and back.  This land in the middle that was previously undeveloped served as a filter of the water, allowing water from excess rain and even ocean overflow to percolate out through the sand below.  With the massive construction in those areas of homes and inland cottages, motels, hotels, restaurants and shopping centers and so much more there is no open scrub land left to percolate out the water.  Concrete and macadam don't allow for that.  So, when water rushes in to the previous safety valve land, it has nowhere to go and it floods, both roads and properties including buildings. Evaporation won't solve it, the developed drainage systems are woefully incapable, so the only thing else to do is pump the water out into the ocean.  Hot, stagnant rain water, coupled with sewage leaks and other waste water issues, means that algae blooms and associated waste set a pattern of bacteria growth and it all ultimately gets pumped into the ocean, the lifeblood of tourism for those former small beach towns which are now big tourist destinations.

Like Florida, when the bacteria-created blooms and slime gets too heavy, the smell is strong and the local authorities finally admit their answers to the problem aren't solutions at all, pushing for more development where what they have is already problematic. Bad things happen when problems are ignored.  This writer is not trying to be a pessimist, just a realist talking about the truth, a subject which no developer or politician really wants to face head on. Power and money have a way of doing that. So, in the end, something has to give and if man doesn't, it will be the barrier island to the whims of the sea.  The beautiful inhabited sand bar will either disappear in a horrific natural disaster or become uninhabitable.  Just like poorly run big cities fall into disrepair and decay, the same can happen on the beach as well. Sadly, God's requirement to maintain proper dominion over the beaches has been violated by the lack of application of common sense and a substitution of man's false dreams of grandeur and glory.  Florida and the Outer Banks are just two obvious examples of where that is happening on a continuing rapid scale.  They won't be the last.



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OPERATION CATNIP: A GREAT SOLUTION TO THE FERAL CAT PROBLEM

8/20/2018

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Down here in North Central Florida we have a big cat problem.  It's a problem that can be found nearly anywhere we go in the United States and beyond, for that matter.  People own cats that have not been neutered or spayed and they turn them loose when they grow tired of them or can no longer care for them.  The result here in Alachua County is that some 36,000 feral cats roam free, many which were previously pets.  How someone can be seen sitting on their porch petting their pet cat one day and dump them off at the side of the road when they move out the next is almost beyond my comprehension.  But, then again, my wife and I are animal people and we take God's dominion over all living things seriously.

Living on  a rural homestead for the last fourteen years we have seen our share of animals needing care and we've adopted quite a number, including a Shetland pony running loose on the interstate and a goat needing a home when his master was moving to a city apartment.  But nothing matches the volume of stray cats running loose, cats that appear to be very healthy and obviously many came from a home from which they must have been "dumped off."  When you have a barn and horses, people looking to be rid of their cats just drop them on the road out front and I think the animals must see an invisible sign that says "A Cat Lover Lives Here."

So, where am I going with this post?  Well, I want to quickly sing the praises of "Operation Catnip," a local organization managed by the Humane Society and operated in conjunction with the University of Florida School of Veterinary Medicine to spay and neuter feral and stray cats as a service to the community. Some funding is provided by the county but the workload is done by volunteers, including advanced veterinary students who with proper oversight examine the animals for good health, give them basic shots for rabies and perform the medical procedures in a set-up reminiscent of a military hospital under heavy use.  The animals are sedated, run through a series of stations to complete the process and are released back to the person who brought them in. Within a day they are back to normal and ready to continue life as they know it, but without a threat to health or continued creation of more unwanted kittens.

The sponsor bringing home the cat has the responsibility to either return it where it was found, adopt it or find someone who wants the animal.  In most cases, they stay nearby, particularly in a situation like my family has with a barn and horses.  The good news is we won't have to worry about any unwanted kittens and they make great pest control agents.  In case you don't know, if you have a barn and horses, you will attract rodents and nothing is better than barn cats to get the job done.

Just like the little kitten says in the caption at the top of this article, Operation Catnip in Alachua County deserves a big "Thank You" shout out for what they do.  They take donations to help defray the cost and they also need volunteers.  My wife volunteers one weekend day each month in support of their spay and neuter operation. She always comes home with a smile on her face, knowing that up to three hundred cats on a single day will not become a kitten creator in the wild.  We are fortunate to have this operation in our community.  If there is no such program in your community, you might want to make a suggestion to your local officials. For as sure as the sun comes up each day, you have  a feral cat problem wherever you live.

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SUNDAY MORNING COMING DOWN: Deeper Pilings, Extra Nails And More Love

8/19/2018

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Picture
The beach cottage: Still standing, pretty much as she was built, 71 years later.
A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another.   - John 13:34 (ESV)

The summer that I was born, my father commissioned my uncle by marriage, husband of my mom's closest sister, to build a cottage for us at beautiful Nags Head.  I don't remember its construction, of course, for I was an infant but my mom and dad told me the story years later when I was old enough to take it in.  My uncle had been deathly ill, but somehow recovered miraculously and needed an opportunity to get back to work. He was a self-taught builder of both cottages and boats and Dad who knew he would appreciate the new start and would do an excellent job. Besides, he was a native Outer Banker and knew better than anyone the perils of a cottage not built to withstand the might of the Atlantic which spoke with fury at least every few years.

The opportunity got his life back on track and, of course, my aunt was grateful, but my uncle promised it would be as well constructed as humanly possible would weather the Outer Banks elements come what may without failure.  Dad knew him to be a man of his word and gave him the go ahead to construct it the way he knew would be best.

It cost a few extra dollars, for the pilings were of better grade than code and an extra nail was put in each shingle.  It made the process take a little longer but when our family came for the summer for the first time to stay there both Mom and Dad were more than pleased.

You see, my uncle didn't just build it to meet the government standard, he built it with gratefulness and love in his heart for the chance to get on his feet again.  And the cottage was a jumping off point for his construction work as word spread to others about the quality of his work.  It proved itself over and over again through many hurricanes as well as the Great Ash Wednesday Storm of 1962. It lost nary a shingle and the high water ran under and through, never challenging the strength of the pilings on which the cottage sat.

Uncle Hal, a smart but modest and man of few words built the cottage with love in his heart for Mom and Dad and his loving wife who was counting on him and he was repaid for it many fold over the years.  And with his cottage construction, his mastery of building work boats and his other interests in crabbing and shrimping, he supported my aunt despite the earlier years of little hope, sickness and despair.  And it all came together through love, respect and hard work with the grace of God.

So, when Jesus told his Disciples to love others, including everyone, friend and foe alike in His new commandment to his followers, He was telling us to live our lives with love.  For love conquers all and it's what is expected of us by Our Creator, who made us, after all, in His own image.  Think about that as you ponder what is expected of you during the rest of your life, for whatever may have been your earlier approach, it's never too late to change. It's never too late to love your fellow man.

Dear Lord, We thank you for the teachings of Jesus and we ask that you help us to take them to heart and apply them to all that we do in our lives.  And above all, help us to love our fellow man. In His name we pray, Amen.

Picture
A glorious Nags Head sunrise
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    Hi, I'm James, a writer who studies nature,  animals and all things created by God. I also write from time to time about what I think God expects of us.  I would love to hear your thoughts on these subjects. I hope you enjoy my comments.

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