The Soundings Resort is "Charged Up"

The atmosphere is electric at the Soundings Resort (Bluegreen managed oceanfront resort in Dennisport, Cape Cod) with the new installation yesterday of a car charger for electric cars. Exciting news for sure!  Electric car owners should be ecstatic.

Also, in another shocking development, the indoor pool opened up this Thursday at the Soundings as well and I'm sure our guests will get a charge out of this news.

Cranberry Harvest

Up the street from where I live here on Cape Cod I noticed that they have flooded this cranberry bog to harvest the cranberry crop for this year. Right next to the Cape Rail Trail (a bike path) on Depot street in Dennisport; this crop will be just in time for Thanksgiving.

Snicker Time

I just celebrated another birthday recently and like many of us I suspect birthdays are a time to reflect over the past year and recent trip around the Sun and reminisce about past years and how things were back then compared to the present day.  For example, believe it or not back in 1969 I put the top pictured "Snicker bar " into a vacuum sealed air-tight bag and left it at the bottom of my parent's freezer that we keep down in the basement. Being from a family of 5 kids, my parents would stock up on meat specials to stretch their "grocery dollars". Lo and behold this freezer finally "conked out" and I found this Snicker bar at the bottom of the freezer in amazingly good shape.

I brought this Snickers bar back to my home on the Cape and have stored it recently in my refrigerator. I believe back in 1969 this Snickers bar cost twenty-five cents and would sure last me a long time. By comparison, I just bought the other Snickers bar today at the local "7-Eleven for $1.39. "What an example of how prices and size of the same product have changed over the years! " The current Snickers bar is way smaller and costs way more!

I remember back in 1969 as well working for Culbro Tobacco which grows shade tobacco for cigar wrappers at $1.25 per hour during the Summer in Simsbury, Connecticut,  Bill DeMallie and I as a picking team back then would average about $160.00 per week though as we were the only two local pickers and we earned extra money for our picking production (Piece work).  Now the minimum wage is $10.00 per hour and scheduled to increase to $11.00 per hour on January 1st, 2017. Although the wages are higher now; it is not how much you are paid that is most important but rather what the "purchasing power" of your income you can attain. These two Snickers bars do show how price and size of the same product have changed over the years.

Pumpkin and Pumpkin Seeds (Roasted) with Czech Pilsner-Urquell Beer

Amelia and Theresa of the Soundings guest services  (Dennisport, Cape Cod) carved this pumpkin with custom pumpkin carving tools that I came across this Summer from the "Treasure Chest". I told them, "Hey, make sure you save the seeds!

I roasted the seeds in my oven with virgin olive oil and sea salt that I make,  AND, as pictured above I drank a bottle of Pilsner Urquell beer brewed in Plzen, Czech Republic  (The original Pilsner). (Hi Denisa!) .My Mom always roasts the pumpkin seeds from pumpkins as well as some varieties of squash.

The carved pumpkin represents the 4 guest service Agents (Moi, Amelia, Theresa, and Tamara) at the Soundings (A Bluegreen managed Resort).   I heard recently that the record size for a pumpkin is now over 2,000 pounds. Imagine a pumpkin weighing over a ton! Maybe that is why in the Cinderella tale if I remember correctly her coach  to the ball was made from a pumpkin.

SO there you have it. Don't waste the pumpkin seeds when you carve up your pumpkin and please remember to only drink only Pilsner Urquell beer with the hot roasted pumpkin seeds if you do in fact like to drink beer.

Cape Rail Trail 134 Overpass

While driving on Rt. 134 in South Dennis on Cape Cod I noticed that they are in the process of building a bike trail overpass as part of the extension of the Cape Rail Trail bike/walking path which currently starts on Rt. 134 in South Dennis and ends in Eastham. The new extension of the Cape Rail trail I believe is scheduled to go along the former railroad line as far as Hyannis. This will be a great alternative to the existing roads for bikers as well as further boosting the tourism appeal for the recreational bikers to get some exercise and get around the Cape without using their car as it does get quite busy on the Cape roads particularly in the Summer. In fact this may even be a faster way to get to Hyannis versus the "bumper to bumper " traffic often found on Rt. 28. I look forward to trying out this bridge as well as the new bike path extension.

Soundings Resort Indoor Pool Update

Here are some recent photos taken of the Soundings Resort Indoor pool interior  (as of 9/27/16). As shown, when completed this Bluegreen managed resort in Dennisport on Cape Cod will have a shower, Men's and Ladies restroom and a drinking fountain. Gone will be the days that guests will have to use the lobby bathrooms.Not sure the exact day of completion so far but progress is being made.

"Scratch Ticket Fever"

Last Wednesday at the Brewster Inn one of the patrons bought a couple $30 "Supreme Millions " Massachusetts scratch tickets in partnership with a friend. Lo and behold they scratched off a $500.00 winner!  Then with the winning ticket 16 more $30.00 Supreme Millions tickets were purchased along with $20 worth of other tickets. We all watched as they scratched away at the tickets and most of the tickets were non-winners or small amount winners; however, on the 16th and final ticket they had a $300.00 winner so they ended up with a total of $380.00 worth of winning tickets. A couple friends (Denisa and Randy) wanted to get into a picture with the lucky "Scratcher" as seen in the background in case some of the good luck would rub off on them!

Don't know if the partnership ticket scratchers went back for more tickets or if they settled for a profit of $320.00 to split.

Spider Catcher

Here is a photo of my home made "spider catcher". As shown, there is a plastic glass and a magazine. I chose a magazine with a picture of a nice home interior just in case the spider senses it is being "hunted" by me  and starts to move. What I do is surround the spider with the plastic glass, the spider then moves into the cup and I insert the magazine under the cup and the spider is then captured.

I then bring the captured to the "great outdoors"  and let the indoor spider see if it can survive. After all this spider wasn't invited by me into my house in the first place and doesn't pay me any rent. Plus these spiders tend to leave a mess of spider webs and bugs to clean up which I can do without.

I don't bother "killing" the spiders as after all they too are one of God's creatures. So, that is how I catch spiders. It probably doesn't matter what kind of glass you use and even what kind of magazine you use as well but I can't be sure as I only have used these items, they work well, so I haven't experimented with any alternatives.


I

Coffee with Almond Milk

This Saturday I had a coffee at a Starbucks in Glastonbury, Connecticut prior to the UCONN versus Virginia football game. I think it was a
"Grande Mochiato Iced Latte with Almond Milk".

Quite tasty, quite reasonable too as the cost was well under ten dollars!

What I don't understand is how they produce the "Almond Milk".  Don't almonds grow on trees?  How do they milk these almonds anyway?  Do the almond milk farmers train some little fleas or ants to attach little suction cups to the almonds to extract the milk? If so, what about the baby almonds?Is there enough milk produced so that these little almonds can grow up to be big almonds?  I hope that by producing the almond milk the almonds aren't harmed in any way as that would be so cruel! And, the poor baby almonds would be crushed to learn that producing almond milk would be painful.Yes, hurting the almonds just to produce almond milk would be inhumane and I'm sure the almonds would never recover.

Well, however they do this, it sure makes for a tasty drink. They also have cow milk at the Starbucks for people who are almond intolerant.

Beer for Breakfast

Today I had a little bit of "America " beer for breakfast.  While visiting my parents in Connecticut my Mom went down to the basement refrigerator to get some orange juice; when she opened the refrigerator door this beer can fell out and landed on the basement floor and developed a "pin hole' leak on the side of the can thus squirting beer on her leg.  She brought up the can for my Dad and I to have a little taste of beer. Surprisingly, beer I find is more carbonated than orange juice and more bitter than the tart taste of orange juice. Although I didn't get the benefit of Vitamin C  that orange would have provided; beer does taste good with the scrambled eggs, bacon and English muffins that we had. Plus, we were celebrating the UCONN football win from yesterday where they defeated the University of Virginia 13-10 when the field goal kicker missed a 20 yard field goal with game time expiring that would have tied the game.

Also, of course we try to follow the philosophy of "waste not want not" as we didn't want to waste a perfectly good beer as who wants to drink a warm flat beer later or have this beer completely empty itself on the basement floor. Yes, beer is better consumed and not so good as a floor cleaner.

Gary Johnson "Aleppo"

Recently Gary Johnson, the Libertarian candidate for President of the United States and former Governor of New Mexico, was interviewed by Mike Barnicle. Mr. Barnicle of  the "Morning Joe" show on MSNBC asked Mr. Johnson what he thought of Aleppo. "Aleppo, What is that?" replied Mr. Johnson.

Now, I don't blame Mr. Johnson for not being familiar with Aleppo as they say in the famous Led Zeppelin song "Stairway To Heaven", "Sometimes words have two meanings". In the case of Aleppo I can think of three meanings to "Aleppo" as I'm quite sure most of you can as well. Just  to review, Aleppo is a  city in Syria that was in the news that was allegedly gassed by either the Syrian government forces or forces of the "rebels" that gassed the people but tried to represent that the Syrian government did the "gassing".

HOWEVER, there are other definitions for the word Aleppo. Aleppo pepper is a spice used in Mid-East and Mediterranean cuisine. Perhaps, Mr. Johnson was thinking to himself "Am I on a left leaning cable news channel or did I by mistake walk on to the set of a "Food Channel" show and this Mr. Barnicle character is some sort of celebrity chef asking about spices?

Another definition of the word Aleppo has to do with the "Shriner organization"  with  their "Aleppo  Shriner Circus and  Aleppo auditorium  in Wilmington,, Massachusetts.

So, if I were Mr. Johnson in the "Aleppo situation" I would consider replying "What is the origin of the word Aleppo?; can you please use it in a sentence? Which definition of the word Aleppo are you talking about?" You know, like they do in the exciting "Spelling Bee" competitions.

Maybe as well, Gary Johnson was thinking about the mysterious "Marx Brother Aleppo" (aka Gummo) you know, the brother that never appeared in any of the movies but was off camera getting coffee and cigars for his other movie star brothers. I don't know. As Hillary Clinton would probably say, "Aleppo, Schmeppo, what difference does it make?

Woods Hole Golf Course.

ll 

I was riding through Woods Hole, Massachusetts on Cape Cod today while doing some exterior insurance inspections when I decided to take this photograph of a scene at the golf course. This scene reminds me of one of the opening Microsoft "screen shots" somewhat and the exact scene from Microsoft features more of a left to right downward slope which this particular hole has but there were a group of golfers just to the right of this photo and I didn't feel like waiting for them to leave. Maybe next time I 'm in the area I'll photo this scene again with more of the slope. Or when the leaves start turning. We shall see.

Master Brew Kombucha

I usually shop at "Shaw's" supermarket in West  Harwich  as that is is my last name and I like to support my namesake. I came across a sale of Kevita brand Master Brew KOMBUCHA  with live probiotic naturally energizing GINGER at .99 cents off the normal price for a ridiculously low price of 2 for 5 dollars if you can believe it. How could anyone pass up such a bargain! This hand crafted Kambucha Culture with higher levels of gluconic acid  embodies vitality from the inside of your body out. Lord knows you want to keep your good bacteria happy at least that is what my gut reaction to this product embodies. As they say on the bottle "Kevita, Energizing to the Core". I can honestly say that this is the BEST MASTER BREW KOMBUCHA I have ever tasted. I brought this bottle to work at the Soundings Resort on Cape Cod and AMELIA  at the Soundings also confirmed that this is the best KOMBUCHA  she has ever tasted as well and she also confirmed that she thought that the PRICE was right for such a quality low calorie
gluten free non-dairy vegan product  as she marveled at the  levels of  probiotic cultures B. coagulans MTCC 5856 and L. rhamnosus which are (4 billion CFU at time of manufacture). Not only as we all pretty much know how important these ingredients are for everyone's general health but on top of it all this lightly carbonated organic drink really tastes GREAT! 

So, the next time you are shopping for a really great Kombucha brew, (and we all know about the many many many choices that are available for your drinking and probiotic pleasure) you just might want to consider this KEVITA brand Ginger elixer. Trust your gut and make the right decision.

"Bern Notice"

Interesting to see the "Wiki leaks" with about 20,000 hacked e-mails released today on the first day of the Democrat National Convention (7/25/16) from the DNC . Now, I haven't really had a chance to investigate any of these e-mails; but, from what I understand the National Committee appears to have coordinated with the Hillary Rotten Clinton campaign ( I mean Hillary Rodham Clinton) along with the main stream media such as CNN ( Clinton News Network) and other news outlets. Some of the e-mails I understand deal with questioning Bernie Sanders regarding his religion and "floating stories " that Mr. Sanders is an atheist before some of the Southern primaries as they calculated it may have been worth a "few points". Other e-mails deal with infiltrating the Sanders campaign by Clinton operatives and spreading stories of how the Sanders campaign is chaotic and not coordinated. Other e-mails detailed how the nomination for Clinton was "in the bag" right from the start with the "super delegates " almost all pledged to Clinton before the primaries even started. Yes, the Democrat party appears not to be too democratic as far as allowing the primary voters select their nominee.


The Sanders supporters received proof today of their "Bern notice" that Bernie never had a chance for the nomination. Similar in a way to when the "Washington Generals" play the "Harlem Globetrotters", the "Globetrotters" win over 99.99999999 percent of the time.


Now, what should the Bernie Sanders supporters do for this election?  Obviously, they should vote for whomever they choose or choose not to vote this time. Jill Stein of the "Green party" seems to have many similar positions and views as the Sanders campaign. Maybe, some Sanders supporters should write in "Bernie Sanders" as a show of support for their man. Donald Trump has some positions on trade that are similar to Sanders. Time will tell, I just know I personally wouldn't support a candidate (Clinton) or party  that basically disregarded their primary voters especially as Clinton has such vast ties to the " 1 percent Wall Street crowd" as she finances her campaign with a lot of "foreign money" from Arab countries that treat women as property  and kill gay people for being gay.


This election should be a November to remember. God knows what will happen. Time will tell.

"Lightning McQueen AKA Edward Scissorlips"

Yesterday (7/17/16) we had a birthday party for my Dad at brother Steve's house in Connecticut. They recently obtained 7 new chickens. All of which have names. The chicken above is named "Lightning McQueen/  AKA   "Edward Scissorlips". This chicken has a "criss crossed" beak so my brother and his wife are debating on whether to have "beak surgery" to straighten "Lightning's" beak but are somewhat hesitant to proceed with the surgery as this chicken is so young, maybe too young for the anesthesia required for the surgery. Plus, they were told that there is a long wait list for this kind of surgical specialty AND this surgery is NOT covered under Obamacare. Nephew Axel (pictured above) did promise to help feed "Lightning"  so for now they have decided to wait and see how things progress and maybe consider "chicken braces" instead of the surgery.

"Band Aid"

 This week I was awarded a
Safety commendation from The Soundings Resort on Cape Cod for my participation on the "Safety Committee". Among the items I received were some "chocolate band aids" as pictured above. Now,, I have never seen chocolate band aids before and I'm not sure if they are an improvement over the regular band aids BUT I'm willing to give them a try. I'm not sure how to apply the chocolate band aids as I did recently "skin my knee" while playing outdoor volleyball on a sand court at "The Woodshed" up in Brewster. I guess I'll need some sort of adhesive tape to keep the chocolate band aid in place. Plus, with the hot Summer weather upon us won't the chocolate band aids melt?  Maybe  I will need to put some ice over the chocolate band aid and then wrap gauze or something to keep the chocolate band aid in place. I don't know. So far I'm not sure if the chocolate band aids are better. I'm also worried about flies maybe attracted to the chocolate although maybe that is the point as I remember in the movie "Gladiator" with Russell Crowe" that they put maggots on a wound he received so the maggots could eat the damaged area of his arm and keep the wound clean. I didn't see any instructions on the chocolate band aid box so I'm not sure if this is the main attraction for the chocolate band aids. Maybe I'm supposed to eat the chocolate band aid after my skinned knee heals but I'm not too sure that would be so appetizing as probably some of the scab from the healing knee might get embedded into this chocolate band aid. I suppose as well a chocolate band aid will come in handy if I suddenly get extremely hungry for example and became lost in the woods or something but other than that I just don't see how these chocolate band aids do a better job that the traditional band aids. Well, I guess I'll just have to try out the chocolate band aid and see how they work. Sometimes just because a product is new doesn't necessarily mean the new product is better than the original.   I don't want to "pre-judge"  too much this product but I do have some doubts.

Pomegranate

I never bought or ate a pomegranate fruit before but I figured every 60 years or so I should buy one and give it a try. I have purchased pomegranate drinks before but never the fruit itself. Here's what a pomegranate fruit looks like when you slice it open. I will have to investigate further on the proper way to eat this "antioxidant" rich fruit but so far I have "squeezed the fruit, ate the seeds, and even the "whitish part" but I'm not so sure one is supposed to eat the white part. I haven't attempted to eat the outer skin and for all I know maybe that is the best part for you...or maybe not.  Although I am "pro-breathing oxygen I am anti-oxidant so this pomegranate will help me I guess keep my "oxidant levels down."

Take A Gander at the Geese

A few days ago I woke up to see these Canada Geese walking across the street from my yard after drinking from I guess a delicious muddy puddle in front of my home. Ah! what a life!  Eating tasty green grass, going swimming and using the great outdoors as your bathroom; it doesn't get much better than that!  The Canada geese seem to return each year for the Spring, Summer and Fall on the Cape. Similar to a lot of Cape "Snow birds" they usually fly away for the Winter. Sometimes I think these birds think they are cars though as I only seem to hear them "HONK,HONK,HONK, whether they are in the road, flying, or just filling their belly with grass.


Oh, and similar to chickens, I do believe they crossed the road.... to get to the other side.

By Definition

Having been born on election day may have had an influence on me being interested in politics. When entering Marietta College in Ohio in 1972 during the time of the Nixon/McGovern election cycle; I was going to major in "political science". I ended up transferring to the University of Connecticut  and majoring in economics.


I do find it interesting to see how campaigns evolve over each presidential cycle and delving into how the campaigns are run as well as what makes a voter decide which candidate to vote for versus the other candidate.


Some people grow up in families that "always vote Republican or Democrat." Probably one of the determinants on voter choice hinges on the central questions of "What is the role of government in society"; "Is more government expansion into the lives of people a good thing or something that should be curtailed? (big government versus limited government).


Over time certain voting trends have evolved. Up until about the time of President Johnson, black American voters had strong support for the Republican party with notable black Americans such as Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Jackie Robinson for example being registered Republicans. The Republican party under President Lincoln fought during the "Civil War" to abolish slavery. The Southern Democrats were the "slave holders" and founders of the "Ku Klux Klan" as they briefly tried to secede from the Union and form "The Confederate States of America".  Today however, the Democrat party seems to garner the majority of black American support while many southern states vote for the Republican candidates.


Some people are swayed by the television and news media and their "biases" toward one candidate or the other. Some election campaigns are based on the candidates position on the "issues" while at the same time trying to "define" their political opponent with a negative image. In other words, you as a candidate either try to run on your record, qualifications, and stand on the issues of the day; Or you try to run on painting a negative picture of the opposing candidate as far as their personality, their qualifications, and their stand on the issues.


By definition, each candidate will try to burnish their qualifications and appeal while trying to define  their political opponent. In the battles for the hearts and minds of the voting electorate it will be interesting to see which candidate makes the best case.   Which labels will "stick" will be interesting to see and may define the outcome.

This is PARADISE!

Yes, This is Paradise (Pizza). Located in West Dennis on School Street (Cape Cod) "Joey " the owner has been making Pizza on the Cape since 1976 which is the same year that I "washed ashore".  Amelia and I shared this pizza (along with Charles and Lily) last night at the Soundings Resort. Part of our job is to make sure that the pizza restaurants that we recommend are "good" so we order pizza from time to time just to make sure. "Joey" offers us a large pizza for every 7 referrals with these "pizza cards" which is appreciated and "Joey" said last night "I hope I can bring over a pizza each night!".

This particular pizza is a large chicken,bacon and pineapple pizza with a "Drizzle of barbecue sauce."

We had this pizza at night as we learned from Anita Bryant in her commercial from a long time ago that "Pizza!, It's not just for breakfast anymore!" (I think that is what the commercial said; or come to think of it it might have said "Orange Juice! It's not just for dinner anymore!"  I may have confused the slogan as I repeat it was a loooong time ago and when you get to my age some memories do get "scrambled" so you can't eggs actly remember them word for word. I do know for a fact that pizza does indeed taste good at night and I'm even considering trying some Orange juice for breakfast; as strange as that may sound!

"Willards"

  Two Willards: One is an ungrateful "rat" loser who thinks that he can insert himself into the GOP presidential nomination process through denying the will of the voters and "Trump" the primary process through a "back room brokered nominating convention.

The other Willard is from a 2003 movie named "Willard" starring Crispin Glover, a rat lover who befriends a bunch of rats, one whom he names "Socrates".

Which Willard do you think is more of a rat?

Willard Romney today apparently doesn't mind the 2012 endorsement of Donald Trump when it was his turn to "Step up to the plate" as the Republican presidential nominee. Now, in 2016 after failing to aggressively make his case against Obama, Willard thinks he can try to stop Trump from the Republican nomination. Romney's father, George had a history of constantly running for president time after time and apparently Willard feels that two tries, once as a candidate for the nomination and once as the  Republican nominee may not be enough; or maybe just to make sure that Mr. Trump is not the nominee. You don't have to be "Socrates" or any other philosopher I think to understand that the Trump supporters will NOT roll over and support some "brokered candidate" thus 100% ensuring a loss in the 2016 election.

What is somewhat "ironic, don't you think?" that Willard's attack on Trump will only probably further strengthen Trump's support as "the times they are a changing" and I think the mood of the electorate is one of "throw out the establishment bums" who failed in recent years to fulfill their election agendas in Congress. Trump's appeal as a political outsider with name recognition, business executive experience, not in the "pocket" of special interests, who is not afraid to "mix it up" with the other Republican candidates and will aggressively engage the Democratic nominee (whether it ends up being Joe Biden or "feel the Bern" Sanders, or maybe even Hillary Clinton if she can escape the rule of law and an indictment).

I remember in the 2012 campaign there was some talk of Willard Romney in prep school beating up somebody. More recently for charity Willard Romney had a charity boxing match with Evander "the real deal' Holyfield. Maybe Romney has now developed a "fighting attitude" that he lacked back in 2012. I would never suggest that Willard Romney is suffering from "roid rage" and I didn't care that he may have fought someone as a youngster.

At the end of the "Willard movie" according to Wikopedia Willard says to some rats "It's not over yet, no! Our time is going to come."  Maybe Willard is still holding on to his presidential dreams or maybe he just would rather make sure that someone else (Trump) will not succeed where he failed.

Que Sera, Sera

 " Que Sera, Sera"  as sung by Doris Day. (Whatever will be will be). 2016 is unfolding so far as a "downer" as far at least for the stock market. 2016 is of course a presidential election year and if the election occurs as scheduled, there will be a new president selected and elected. "Baba Vanga" a deceased  blind Bulgarian psychic predicted that the 44th president would be an African American president and also the last American born president. "Que Sera, Sera." 




What will be interesting see is how this year unfolds. Will Trump "trump" the Republican field and win the republican nomination?  Will Cruz carry "the cross of Constitutional rule" as the republican nominee?




On the Democratic side, can the senior citizen  "Hillary" stay out of jail and win the democratic nomination and overcome her Benghazi problem, her e-mail and corruption influence peddling while Secretary of State, and can she be perceived as a "champion of the middle class and a champion of women's issues" while being married to a husband with many woman's abuse issues? "Whatever will be, will be". If not Hillary, if she can't successfully dodge the rule of law, then whom shall the democrats turn to?  Que Sera, Sera.




Will America prefer a Bernie Sanders or a Joe Biden if the election occurs over the republican nominee? Time will tell. Que Sera, Sera. Decision day (D. Day) is coming.