Cold Comfort. 08/22/25

Well the fall is coming like an express train. 61 degrees in late August? NFL preseason games?? You’ve got to make the most of summer while you can. So, I suggested to my family, let’s all go to the beach! Except it’s 61 degrees outside, dark, windy (sand in your face windy) and the ocean temperature is also in the 60’s. As George Costanza once famously exclaimed, “Shrinkage!” I’m actually less worried about shrinkage than I am about getting a heart attack from the shock of cold water. Oh, and did I mention that 20-foot waves are expected today? Something to do with a hurricane way out in the Atlantic. Think I’ll stay in and write a blog. And maybe go to the beach in sweats later to look at the waves. All along the Long Island beaches they have warning signs about what to do if you get caught in a “riptide.” In event of a riptide, swim away from the shore and then turn right or left until you get out of the grip of the riptide, at which point you are now safe to swim back to shore. Yeah right. I’m not going further out to sea when the shore is right there. My brother, who doesn’t get to go in the ocean much since he lives in Minneapolis, visited us here at the beach and almost drowned not 3 yards from the shore after being caught in a riptide last week. So while Al and Joanne don’t go into the ocean because it’s too cold, I blame the riptide, and if truth be known, I’m a wimp around cold water.

Our next comic dealt with the joys of back to school days. I used to dread them both as a high school student and then later as a parent. When it came to college, I couldn’t wait to go back, but that’s a different story. As an ad guy it meant the end of summer Friday hours which officially meant working until 1 pm but in reality meant not coming in on Fridays, period. As a parent it meant buying new clothes, new school supplies (sorry high school kids, weed gummies do not count as school supplies) and these days, possibly a new iPad and a bullet-proof backpack. That was quite an expense and now that we don’t have to pay it anymore, yippee! We can afford Marcona almonds. I just picked some up near my house for the low, low price of $27.00 per pound. There’s even enough money left over to buy those weed gummies you refused to buy for the kids. Which in turn lead you to overeat the aforementioned Marcona almonds.

So I guess there’s no real bargain out there. Despite the hurricane conditions, as long as there’s a next week, we’ll be back with two new comics. One last week of summer and then back to school…err; back to work…err…we mean back to retirement. Have a great weekend,

Andy and John