From the Publisher: One Man’s Opinion By Ryan T. Sauers
@RyanSauers
@RyanTSauers
I hope everyone is off to a great February and second month of the new decade. Our community continues to grow. Why? We are blessed with amazing people who choose to live, work, and play right here in Our Town. We should be proud of our community. Most communities are not as close as the ones we have. With that said, our attention span is short (or some might argue non-existent), so here are three points I want us to think about. 1. People love to smile and laugh. How many times have you heard a funny story that made your day? How often have you seen something so silly that it just makes you laugh? You know – when you just keep laughing and can’t stop? How much fun do we have with long term friends who we can truly be ourselves with? A lot of fun. And what do we do? We laugh. Make someone’s day and make them smile and laugh. 2. People love to have fun. Why do you see so many people playing fantasy football, going to costume/theme parties, and/or playing mindless games on their mobile devices? Many use these things as breaks from their everyday routine and to relieve stress from our constantly connected and noisy world. They are fun, simple, and mindless. Have you ever seen adults dress up in full gear for football games? People really get into it. Why? We all love to have fun. This “feeling like a kid again” is the magic that most experience when they visit Disneyworld. And, it is what Disney is selling. We are supposed to act like kids and smile there. And in case you missed the memo, it is okay to have fun each day of your life. It is contagious. 3. People love technology yet miss the personal touch. How many of us just want someone to handle our requests in a timely manner, get things right the first time, and save us time/stress when we are dealing with a problem that we’ve had with a good, service, etc.? I know I do. But instead we hear, “For faster service, visit us online.” Note: this is CODE for, “Don’t call us. We are busy, and if you go online, we don’t have to talk to you, or staff as many people.” Thus, be sure technology works for us and that we do not work for it. The Continued on page 9
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FEBRUARY Apply crabgrass preventer to stay ahead of weeds. Fertilize your fescue to keep it dark green and healthy.
Travel Tales: Dunes and Lagoons By Pam Walker It takes effort to travel to Lençóis Maranhenses National Park in the far northeast corner of Brazil. This is a desert that is not a desert. The vistas are spectacular. Sand dunes reach 150 feet in height, and the annual rainfall of 30 inches qualifies this place as an oddity on the world map. As large as it is, it does not technically qualify as a desert. I had always wanted to see these magnificent white sand dunes that lie about 50 miles inland from the coast. The park itself – all 380,000 acres of white dunes – are dappled with over 800 freshwater lakes formed by rainwater during the rainy season. Many of the lakes disappear during the dry season from August to November, but because of the bedrock that this amazing desert sits on, there are still many to enjoy all year round. The entire trip is an adventure from a four hour car ride from Sao Luis to the dock in Barreirinhas where you board a small taxi boat that takes six hours on the Preguiças River to reach the small town of Atins. There are no cars in town – only 4 x 4’s and flatbed trucks with blown up tires to get through the deep sand that lines the streets. There is a great kite sailing school as winds are constantly blowing. Those winds too are how the dunes have formed over the years. There are minimal places to stay, and hammocks are de rigueur if you plan on staying. The only air conditioning in this constantly hot climate is in the cabs of the trucks. Continued on page 22
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