damn, just saw the story break national news. He was at La Selva. Thought he was at the beach at Luquillo. That's gonna be tough to trace, it's a usually mud, dirt road leading in. Figured ppl camped out there but got caught off guard when they said families did. Not sure if that's so accurate

So, this rather sleepy town had another wild weekend. On Friday, at the Sam's Club on the mainland, someone called the cops are reported that some teens were in the store and appeared to have fire arms on them. Police show up, detain 3 suspect. All under 18 years old. Two had hand guns, and one had a fucking AR. Not sure how the fuck one conceals a weapon like that. They also had weed on them. One of the hand guns had a "swtich" on it, which carried a felony "machine gun" charge with it....

So, nothing happened. I am not sure what was planned or what. But why they kids were walking through Sam's with illegal fire arms is just crazy. I mean, the one kid was concealing a fucking rifle. Which I assume is what people saw and called the cops. So, no incident, but what were the intentions?

Then Saturday night, someone got shot on the island. Now, I will have to say this. "Affordable Housing" here has always been an issue and has only gotten worse. Hospitality workers, landscapers and blue collar folks live over an hour away, because you just can't afford anything on the island or in Bluffton anymore. It's nuts. There are two neighborhoods on the North End, right behind the Dinkin Donuts. These apartments are section 8, "housing authority" spots. I first learned this when I was looking to buy my first house of condo. I saw this 3 bedroom condo listed for like $50k. So I drive over and check it out. As soon as I pull in, I am like, yeah. Okay. I get it....

So anyway, the shooting happened in these neighborhoods. There was another attempted shooting in the same neighborhood a couple of weeks ago. No one was hit, but some woman walked out into the parking lot and opened fire at her neighbor.....

I mean, for fucks sake... It's been a rough summer around here with shit like this. 

And the details from the "mass shooting" here on July 4th have kind of come together now. 7 people got shot. It initially sounded like a bunch of thugs got into some chatter with some frat boy types and shots rang out... What really happened was, two different groups of people from ladies island, which is about an hour north of here, and known for criminal activity, anyway, they bumped into each other on the beach, and both sides exchanged fire. So everyone that got shot was from one group of the other...

Now, not to bring race into this.... But just to point out the demographics here, it's is not diverse. At all. My buddies and one of their dads came down for a golf trip a few months ago. They are hanging out in my restaurant on the second day, and my buddies Dad, who is black just flat out asked me: "Do any black people live around here? I haven't seen one yet"... I kind of laughed it off and didn't know what to say, but I was like yeah, there are....

So anyway, not trying to say anything one way or the other here, but when I saw the photos of all the shooters and victims from the 4th of July, it looked like a gang of crips from LA. Just saying... So, I was like, well, that is a strange thing to see around here....

Anyway, the immediate speculation about the Sam's club thing was not really overtly racist or anything, but there were certainly "assumptions" being made. And since these kids were all under 18, the names and info wasn't released, but people from the parking lot took pictures and posted them on facebook of the kids in handcuffs. And from the looks of it, they were young hispanic males. But they didn't look "gangster" or anything like that. Nice trendy haircuts, expensive looking clothes. They looked like half the kids around here. They didn't stand out in any way. Not the group of kids you would pass by and think you need to size them up, or walk on the other side of the street kind of thing. 

So, I don't know anymore. I hope this is all just bad coincidences and stuff, but the vibes around here are getting really weird....

My buddy from Belgium came back into town from a surf trip to Ireland of all places, but he was telling me how his wife and kids went somewhere out of town over the 4th of July, so he went to the beach to see fireworks. He went to a lesser known beach all the way up on the North end, no where near where the shooting happened, but he said when he walked on the beach at like 9:00, it looked like complete chaos. Young people everywhere. Loud music. Screaming. He said a group of young guys were saying crazy shit to him on the walking trail and that they were trying to provocate him. This is a big dude too and he has told me many stories about fighting his whole life where he grew up, but he took one look at the scene on the beach and just went home. He was like, man, it was fucking crazy. Like everyone there was just waiting for some shit to pop off. Drunk, sunburned, just waiting for trouble....

They are still tossing around the idea of a juvenile curfew here. 

Yikes. 

Zach, you will appreciate this:

Teen attempts massive cliff jump...then this happens

Damn. That is crazy. I heard that it happened, but I had not seen the video. I have jumped those cliffs many times. Not THAT spot though. Terrible call. I saw another video over the weekend with San Diego PD patrolling cliffs trying to prevent jumpers, but it looked like it was cliffs up in North County. It's "illegal" to jump from anything over 5 feet in San Diego.... Kid is lucky. 

see if you can spot the democrat running for congress in maui

Hell yes! I saw this. Classic. First of all, that dude deserved to get knocked out just because of his shorts... And after the local knocked him out, slapped him awake, he says "Watch your mouth haole".... Fucking hilarious. 

So, we have a shit load of otters around here, and they are fucking nasty. I have seen full scale wars among them. Trashing and clawing and biting, rolling around. They are fucking wild and I stay away from them....

So, my buddy texted me from Maryland. I primarily grew up in Frederick, MD. There is a state park up in the Cotoctin Mountains in the county, called Cunningham Falls state park. Side hiking. Giant waterfall and then a lake for fishing and canoeing and what not. We grew up going there as kids all the time. It's where Camp David is located also....

Anyway, my buddy tells me that people are being attacked by rabid beavers along the water ways. Second one in two weeks. The first one was so bad that they air lifted the kid to Baltimore, and they killed the beaver, tested it. Yes, rabies. They killed the second one that attacked someone yesterday, and are testing it now. You can guarantee that fucker has rabies too...

That is fucking wild. Being attacked by a rabid beaver. I was going to take my kids up there to hike and check out the waterfall when we were in DC a couple of months back, but we just didn't have the time to drive that far our of the city. 

https://www.wusa9.com/article/tech/science/environment/possible-rabies-outbreak-investigated-after-second-beaver-attack-maryland-park-frederick-county-cunningham-falls-state-park/65-fe19eb14-34c1-4f15-b274-42ddd3a0e2c2

I was attacked by a rabid beaver one time, before I was married, good times good times. Oh wait, not the same.

For real though, I have had a squirrel fall 150 feet from a palm tree on hunting island, land on my shoulder, dig it's claws in then jumped to the ground, stared up at me, scared as shit and ran off. I was walking my black lab and the family was like 10 feet behind me. As a kid, I was bitten by rainbow trout on the great lakes. I have been bitten by a zebra, multiple dogs, cats, a deer and attacked by a horse. I have had a couple snaked attempt a bite, but I was faster with those. Oh, and that fucking blue cab in Florida =)

I love wildlife and animals, but you never know. 

But yeah, I also encountered some of the "wild beavers" back in the day DP, haha. 

🤣 🤣 🤣 

Big man was actually very kind and didn't give this guy 100% power and destruction when he could have absolutely killed him, quite literally.

That Maui dude is in jail with a million dollar bail. Wild. He apparently pulled a knife on the guy that knocked him out and was threatening to shoot some older women. The idiot threw the knife in the ocean after the fact. The guy that knocked him out went and retrieved it and gave it to the cops. 

And in this case, I guess the local guy was "acting in self defense" but initially, he walked up on the guy to have an altercation. Regardless of what was being said. That is a weird one. 

But this is the second time this year that someone got the fuck beat out of them by a local in Maui, and Maui celebrates them. No charges. Nada. "Thanks Brudduh. Shaka" 

Gotta be the only place in the "USA" where you can just knock people out on the beach. Regardless of the situation, if I knock someone out on the beach for whatever reason, I am leaving in cuffs until things get sorted out... 

And I know we already discussed the guy who threw the rock at the seal. Bad move, for sure. But that local went WAY after the fact and beat the living shit out of him. Regardless of the stupid shit that people do, you can't just go beating the shit out of people. Unless of course, it's Maui.... I have no problem with either of the situations, but that is quite the double standard. 

And furthermore, the dude that knocked out the wanna-be congressman said in an interview that he is a mixed martial artist. And typically, in a street fight, if you are a trained fighter, you are getting locked up for shit like that. If you remember back in the day, Mike Tyson's hands were legally considered deadly weapons. Not sure the level of the guys training, but he was obviously easily capable of throwing hands, and with professional training and shit, that is no bueno in the court's eyes, typically. 

Yeah I feel you, I always am afraid to crack someone because I KNOW I am not going to be let off easy, even if they started it, even if I was provoked, I just know I'm goin to jail, just how it is for people like me, and you lol. But hey, if it comes down to it, if I have to do it, I will. I really don't want to. I can barely remember the last time I really let someone have it, not my M.O., but all it takes is a clown like that, and it would probably end the same way, I can't guarantee I stop hitting him right away, but I might, guess it depends on if I think he's a real threat or not, if he gets back up and pulls a knife, like he did, then you want to keep hitting so he can't do that, but hindsight is 20/20. You never want to be accused of "going too far". It's a fine line.

Yeah, in this guys case, he did the right thing. He went to make sure he was breathing, and lightly shook him awake. I assume that if the guy wasn't breathing or whatever, the guy would have rendered aid. He did the right thing afterwards, and the "very racist" haole comment was the icing on the cake....

But this day in age, I guess what I am saying is: It seems that this guy was carrying on and making a scene for some time. This went on for what looks like 5 minutes or so, the guy finally got fed up and went over looking for a fight....

The "2026" thing to do would have been grab a lifeguard, have them get to the authorities and have them sort it out. It was all on video. Had that happened, the guy would have been arrested anyway for threats and drunken disorderly. 

Guys have done that same thing and ended up doing 25 years in prison because the hit was fatal, or the guy hit is head and died after the fact. Happens all the time. 

If you or your family are not in a direct threat situation, just walk away.... 

Not sure exactly what I would have done if I was in that guys shoes, but if I was on the beach with my wife and kids, I would like to think I would gather them up and walk as far away as possible and find the first LE officer I could find and have them handle it. 

This is like 15 years ago, but we were visiting Ocean City MD from San Diego. My wife's whole family was in a condo out there, so I borrowed boards from Malibus and we stayed the week. Anyway, one day, we are walking out around 47th street if I recall, and we are setting up our beach chairs and umbrellas and shit. We had a 2 year old with us.... This fat redneck dude walks up to us and tells us we can't setup there. Mind you, there are like 5 of us grown men, including my wife's brothers who are both like 6'4 monsters.... I am like, why can we not be here? He tells us that he and his wife rent chairs and umbrellas on the "block of beach" and that if we don't rent from them, we can't be there. I literally laugh in his face, like, no... Why don't you just go back to your hut and enjoy your day. He walks back, then his wife comes back over, and they both start yelling at us. Like, you can't be here. You gotta leave. Then my crew starts getting aggressive. Like "Oh yeah, what are you going to do about it?" Kind of thing. Then both of them start dropping F-Bombs and cussing at us. We all freak out on them, "We have children here. Stop it"... They keep talking shit. I am literally holding my brother in-laws back, trying to calm them down before they just destroy the guy.....

So I tell my father in law to watch the boys and make sure they don't do anything stupid. I run up on the street and as soon as I get there, I see two cops on foot. These are "kids". Had to be like 22 years old. I run up on them and explain that this dude is trying to tell us that he owns the beach and we can't be there. He is threatening us and cussing us out. I am like, you boys need to come down here with me and figure this out, because if they continue their behavior, it is going to get violent. 

These kids looked scared as shit, like WTF? But hey, you are cops. Wearing a badge.... So anyway, the cops tell the morons that they don't own the sand and they need to stop lying to people and trying to force them to rent their shit. They also said if they said a word to us, or approached us in any way, they will come back and arrest them both and take their business license.... Cop gave me his number and said "If they do anything, call me. We will be here in 2 minutes"....

So, we chuckled and laughed at these fat hicks for the rest of the day. They sat in the distance talking shit to each other... Staring at us. But they stayed there....

Anyway, point is. That was a similar scenario that could have easily landed some of us, if not all of us in jail that day. For giving someone a beat down for threatening, cussing in front of our kids... Same kinda deal as what happened in Maui. And I have been in plenty of scraps and my brother in-laws throw down over nothing. So I was very glad that I handled it the way that I did, and didn't just sit back while this fat hick got beaten to a pulp in front of everyone.....

I just remembered that one... But it was similar. Could have ended up with a knocked out redneck and a lot of explaining to do. But I handled it, mostly, like an adult. 

The kids are officially back in school today. WTF? "Back in my day", it was always after Labor day. Shortest summer on record. The Rat Race is officially back on. 

Yup, for us, since we home school, it means our daughter is at home during the work week 3 of 5 days instead of being at Summer camp all week. She's doing great so far with home school, this is her 2nd year doing it, wife gets stressed sometimes, but we feel it's our best option at the moment with our daughter. Not for everybody but I think it's been good so far. We'll do it for as long as it works and makes sense for everybody.

Yeah man, I know we have discussed this topic in the past, and that's great to hear that it's working well for you guys. We have had to re-organize our whole lives around the kiddos and school. My wife took a substantial pay check from working at a dental practice and now she is the nurse/admin at my son's Catholic school. We literally only did this so that she can be there to get the kids home and have the same days off and all of that... It's a struggle.... 

The biggest change for us, is that my daughter is a sophomore in high school this year, and this is her first time in public school. Ever. The curriculum is better for her and she is going to start getting college credits. But the logistics work out WAY better for us as well, so I was okay with it.... Our Catholic school on the island is only pre-k through 8th grade, and the sister high school is basically half way between here and Charleston. So since 7th grade (middle schoolers can move up to the other school or wait until high school), we have to drop my daughter off at the school on the island at 6:45am everyday, then a bus picks here up and it's a 45 minute ride onto the mainland, when there is no traffic. Then another 45 minutes to an hour on the ride back. Huge part of the day. 

Anyway, the high school is literally right behind my house. There are woods that are about 400 yards deep off of my back yard and then you are on the football field at the high school. I can hear the game's calls if I sit out back at night. It's that close. There is a trail that cuts through so she can walk to the school in about 2 minutes....

Anyway, yeah, school and extracurriculars have taken over our lives... It's a struggle. And now we are right back into it.... 

As I have bitched and moaned about for years now, my daughter is a competitive dancer, and she has gotten incredibly good at it, but it's 6-7 days per week, and he studio is a 30 minute drive onto the mainland. So on any given night, my wife has to drive her directly from the school parking lot out to her dance studio and most nights, she is done around 9pm... So I usually get the fun task of driving the fuck out there to pick her up. She has a bunch of friends now that all have their licenses and cars and what not, so she actually gets rides quite often now, and that is helpful.... She got her learners permit a few weeks ago. As soon as she turned 15. And in SC, you can get your actual licenese at 15 1/2, So in January, technically, my daughter will have her license. Which is great, but a scary ass thought. And that means I have to buy her a car.... Ugh... 

Saw a bit of a debate going down in South California of a surf school bitchin bout the city council's debate of capping surf schools. Sounded like the surf school won. Is it tyranny? I'm kinda surprised the surf school did win. Do some beaches just let those yoga/surf schools run wild at the beach or are they all capped off? Figured it was the latter but if you start talking monopolizing and infringing on ppl's god-given american rights...maybe they got a reason to bitch aka bring a lawsuit