Watch out for the squiggly things (July 19)
By Chuck Doud
The Madera Tribune
Just reading about the Obama family’s vacation over the weekend made me tired. Visiting in Bar Harbor, Maine, they went hiking and biking, played tennis, went boating and ate out. They also hung out at a pool, toured a lighthouse and stopped for ice cream.
That’s a lot of activity to pack into two days. Of course, the Obamas are young, and they need to show the nation they are full of energy.
Thank goodness Mrs. Doud and I don’t have to show the nation anything, except proof we have paid our income tax.
When we go on vacation, we don’t do squat. Our idea of a busy vacation is to sleep late, maybe go out to lunch, maybe take a little walk, take a nap, watch a little TV, maybe go to a movie.
If we are staying near a beach, we may go out on the beach for a while. If we can find any, we will stretch out on beach chairs and sweat for half an hour or so. We like to watch the other people on the beach. They run down to the water’s edge and let the waves wash over their feet. I tried that once, but soon went back to the chair. The water was cold and tried to pull the sand from under my feet.
Also, there were squiggly things, sort of pink with legs, swimming in the surf. Unlike the Obamas, we don’t have Secret Service people watching out for us, to keep squiggly things away from our feet.
Sometimes I will walk to a nearby bar and buy us a couple of bottles of pop. That sets us up for another half hour or so. Then, Mrs. Doud says we have to go back inside because the sun is beginning to make us look like two pink squiggly things that inadvertently have been beached.
This sets us up for another nice little nap. As you can see, we are not the Obamas.
