skipped the beach.. and a 'draft'

headed over to the island before 6am once again.. NO beach today--Saturday-- so I figured with the public parking restrictions lifted yesterday and the beach open I'd bypass going today.. glad I did.. and from what I saw later on with the Pier-Cams the beach was packed.. not good.. 63* early then up to 78* this afternoon and sunny..

a quiet Calabash River well before sunrise

quiet with no one around on the Island causeway at sunrise

atop the Sunset Beach Bridge over the Intracoastal Waterway

Veteran's Park along the ICW

boat fishing under the Sunset Beach Bridge

a Grackle at the Lake

I got too close-- he is not happy

a watchful eye at the Lake

 well.. 54 years ago today in 1966 I was Drafted.. you know the Draft.. that I talk about a lot these days.. well it was off for a 2 year hitch with Uncle Sam's Army.. got sworn in at a very familiar place to me-- Ft Hamilton, Brooklyn Induction Center-- right along the Belt Parkway a stones throw away and under the Verrazano Bridge-- back home so to speak and not far from where I grew up as a kid in Coney Island... was looking around for 'you know who' but he NEVER showed.. anyway.. my friend Jim Henderer and I left Ft Hamilton that day along with 30+ other new Draftees and after we were given one subway token hopped a subway train into NYC then it was a day's train ride -- another free ticket--on the Atlantic Coastal Railroad down to our first duty assignment Ft Jackson, SC-- the end of our world for us at least.. it was immediately off the train into formation-- the beginning of 8 weeks in 'boot camp'.. then first things first-- a buzzcut.. that's the way it began and was my life for the next 2 years-- even got a FREE cruise--my first cruise-- across the Pacific a year later with two longtime NY Army buddies Joe 'Lap' Laperuta (from the Bronx) and Freddy 'the Feet' Gerrain (from Queens) in April 1967 from Oakland Army Terminal docks across San Francisco Bay to Southeast Asia-Vietnam on the troop ship General John Pope.. will never forget those powdered eggs ..heckuva way to lose weight.. here's my Army ID pic.. what a noggin'-- but ya' know what -- wish I had some of that hair on my head these days-- even that lil' bit left from that buzzcut  :)  
p.s. are you laughing yet, Margaret and Peter .... hahahaha  :)

what a noggin'

behind the fence--Ft Hamilton Brooklyn NY