A pithy comic strip about life, love, lust and puthy cats.

Est. 1985

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Beach Erosion II

By Jimmy Johnson



This little series hits close to home. I like to believe that when I was a young man the only reason I didn’t relax in air-conditioned comfort, strolling outside only to watch the world go by from my own balcony, was that I couldn’t afford it then, but I know that really wasn’t the case. True, I couldn’t afford it, but I wouldn’t have chosen it anyway. Sedate comfort was for old folks!

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55 responses to “Beach Erosion II”

  1. Steve From Royal Oak, MI Avatar

    Sometimes the view out the window lying is a nice bed is the best of both worlds.

    My MIL’s church is on Lake Huron and the back wall is glass. So as we are listening to the Pastor, we are taking in a magnificent view…not that we are lying in bed or anything.

  2. domaucan1 Avatar
    domaucan1

    Arlo’s thoughts in panels 2 & 3 are my exact reasons for preferring a cruise. My wife can have all the sun she wants and I can do other things in air conditioned comfort. Cruises have activities almost around the clock that don’t involve sun or pools or beaches.

    God bless us every one.

  3. Mark in TTown Avatar
    Mark in TTown

    And some have topless sunbathing areas on board! Although the one cruise I took, it was too windy to stay up there.

  4. Ghost Rider 6 Avatar
    Ghost Rider 6

    Just how windy does it have to be to prevent one from staying in a topless sunbathing area? 🙂

  5.  Avatar
    Anonymous

    There are also cruises for nudists where entire cruise ship is nude except for staff. I prefer my nude cruises to be more restrictive however, like two passengers and no staff.

  6. Ghost Rider 6 Avatar
    Ghost Rider 6

    Speaking of bedly brushes with fame (which I believe Jackie and Jerry were), when my brother-in-law was inducted into the Army at Fort Chaffee AR, his sergeant made much of the fact that the previous occupant of the bunk to which he was assigned was Elvis Presley. As luck would have it, BIL was not a fan of Elvis and couldn’t have cared less.

  7.  Avatar
    Anonymous

    Ghost, be sure to go back and read some of my convertible memories. Good memories.

  8.  Avatar
    Anonymous

    Well, I could have slept in the Officer and a Gentleman suite but it wasn’t as plush as my top floor oceanfront one. Mine had a ghost but he never bothered me. My doors did keep unlocking and opening.

    I loved my suite in South Louisiana and the mansion has been in many things including movies I understand but usually I just stumble onto brushes with movies. Like staying in Tippi Hedrens suite from the Birds. That was me convincing hotel owner to let me stay in it with a dog. I had no idea she came back annually to stay there. Didn’t even know about history of hotel and movie.

  9. Jerry in Fl Avatar
    Jerry in Fl

    “Reality leaves a lot to the imagination.”-John Lennon

  10. Jerry in Fl Avatar
    Jerry in Fl

    Gable’s reported height varies from 6 ft to 6 ft 1 inch with various fractions in between.

  11. Jerry in Fl Avatar
    Jerry in Fl

    Carole Lombard was only 5 ft 4 inches, so I’m sure that she fit nicely in that bed.

  12. Steve From Royal Oak, MI Avatar

    Clark Gable would agree…Carole Lombard was born in Fort Wayne. I grew up around there, many years after her death.

  13. Bonnie from Gloucester MA Avatar
    Bonnie from Gloucester MA

    Vacations. I think when you’re young, inexperienced and broke, you think that everything will be perfect – until you discover that it’s not. Bugs, heat, wind, humidity, whatever. “Irritations” could be anywhere you travel, not just the beach. Then you come to appreciate that AC, hot showers, good food, comfy beds, etc. are really kinda nice. The trick as you age is not to lose your enthusiasm for adventure and exploration but to still find some balance of comfort and convenience. Does that make me a typical “American tourist” (spoken with disdain)? Probably. But I’d rather go home with great memories and fervent recommendations for other travelers than a lot of complaints and bad memories. So my message for Arlo in the retro strip is: Savor the moment, count your blessings, take a brief nap and then get out there and do stuff!

  14. Old Bear Avatar
    Old Bear

    On an X-Y graph
    While young the adventure line is high and the comfort line is low
    as we age they tend to converge. In my case I think they crossed a while back.
    Mostly I have gone to see people not things or places (mostly)
    One of our college group is much worse – “Yeah that’s nice – lets play card or fish”

  15. Mike From Hartland Avatar
    Mike From Hartland

    Steve is that church in Oscoda? I’ve been there many times and wonder why people would sit on the side that didn’t face the lake.

  16. Steve From Royal Oak, MI Avatar

    Mike:

    Yes it is. In the winter, they used to block off the view to conserve heat, but that might have been 10 years ago.

    Here is a link.

    https://www.cardcow.com/269855/sacred-heart-catholic-church-oscoda-michigan/

  17.  Avatar
    Anonymous

    There should be places of worship directly on the water. My friends say they are called boats.

  18. Ghost Rider 6 Avatar
    Ghost Rider 6

    Jackie, all my forays into naturalism have involved only two people, and I was one of them.

    And is there a collection of your Convertible Memories? I remember seeing a few of them posted here in the past.

  19. TruckerRon Avatar

    GR, you’re confusing two words there… I think you meant naturism, not naturalism… unless you’re talking about a philosophy or a religion “wherein all phenomena or hypotheses commonly labeled as supernatural are either false or not inherently different from natural phenomena or hypotheses”?

  20. Ghost Rider 6 Avatar
    Ghost Rider 6

    True that. I blame a long week and typing when I should have been napping. Although there have been a couple of experiences that bordered on the supernatural. 🙂

  21. Mark in TTown Avatar
    Mark in TTown

    Ghost, it was very windy and not especially warm up on the higher deck with the designated spot. Ship spent a day at St. Maarten’s, which is split between the French and the Dutch. French side has nude beaches, but at the time we passed through, all the users fit the people you don’t want to see there category.

    Jackie, is the comment on boats akin to that about no atheists in foxholes? I imagine there was a lot of praying on the Oklahoma City when we passed between those two typhoons in 1976. I thought the whole darned thing was going to go belly up.

  22.  Avatar
    Anonymous

    Ghost if I had a message or email for you I might regale you with some of them that are too risqué for here. I owned it from 1961 to 1966 so lots of memories. I was just laughing about convertible and sports car memories this afternoon.

    Good thing I never took NASA up on their offers of dates with astronauts or I might have stories better than sports cars and air planes. There are rumors of that still told.

    I did date a lot of guys with convertibles and sports cars of their own, as well as owning boats and airplanes. Goes with the pretty Southern girl ticket.

  23.  Avatar
    Anonymous

    Mark my boating friends probably do engage in prayer in certain bad conditions such as storms but they are as a whole very spiritual people who find a connection to a higher power in nature. To them the water, wind, fog. Stars, darkness, all the elements celebrate an almighty and the connect to it with paddles and sails, not motors. It is the human touching the creation and the creator.

  24.  Avatar
    Anonymous

    Music about convertibles and cars.

    https://youtu.be/tMT72lXLv-g

  25. Bob in Orland Park Avatar
    Bob in Orland Park

    Never too old for convertibles. Wife and I have a Sebring ragtop since ’04 and we’re in our 70’s. She calls me her silver fox and I call her ………. oh, I can’ say that here.