50+ Lifestyles

Just Saying…

By Q.C. Jones

June 2021 -The QCA June Survey Results

For the past several months I have been totally emersed in creating surveys. Looking back, I have sorted data from hundreds of people; slicing, dicing, and analyzing their responses to help my clients better understand customer behavior. This is deemed especially important for the coming months as America emerges from the COVID Pandemic.

While I do not know, or at least, cannot totally explain how my twisted brain works, I know this: I am stuck in the survey mode. As I launched into the research phase of this article, I found myself- you guessed it – surveying. I cornered friends and acquaintances to pose a one question survey: When you think of June, what comes to mind?

Recording each answer and tabulating the results was easy. Analyzing the answers difficult. While I managed to collect many responses, we only have time to properly analyze a few, less than a dozen. For our younger readers, who may or may not have learned this in school, but a dozen is 12. Don’t believe me? Count the eggs in the carton labeled “one dozen eggs.”   

June Bugs showed up as numero uno in our survey. Perhaps the natural advantage of having June in your name causes this critter to be big on everyone’s bug list. Before we go on, let me shine a light on the whole June Bug thing. According to the trained killers at Terminix, what we commonly refer to as a “June Bug” is really a family of over 100 species of beetles – and we are not talking about the John, Paul, George, and Ringo variety.

These little creepers hatch with the first summer days and soon go to work eating our yards and gardens by night. Speaking of nights, June Bugs are attracted to light. Chances are, even your fancy yellow porchlight will still attract them by the gazillions. One survey respondent went into massive details on the way one crawled into her ear as a kid. Thankfully, they do not crave the flesh of human brains like zombies.

Keeping with the rich bug motif of June, Mosquitoes and the bite bearing their name made the list. So too, Mayflies – according to one quite vocal QCA resident, the June skies are buzzing with these little buggers. Pushing the story further, she related a strange tale from her childhood. Apparently, the Mayflies were so bad one year, the street crews had to use a snowplow type of device to remove their slippery insect parts from Centennial Bridge. Can anyone corroborate this story? I thought not.

School closing came in a close second in our survey. One person we spoke to decided to answer the question by laying down an “a cappella” rendition of Alice Cooper’s 1972 teenage anthem, “Schools out for Summer.” Sadly, they managed to get through two verses and the chorus before I could find a reason to exit stage left. Entertainment in the closing months of a Global Pandemic comes in a wide variety forms. Wonder if the aging Vincent Furnier agrees with me.

Brides, weddings, and all that merriment finished in third place. I thought this was romantic and sweet. On a personal note, QC’s daughter is officially ordained to conduct marriages. She had the honor of tying the knot for a couple of dear friends in early May. I guess they will forever remember May with the same joy as these people apply to June.

Vacations and weekends at the Lake House made a strong showing at number four. Imagine that. For the past year, we have all been living life in a human ant farm. First, the Pandemic was supposed to be over by mid-summer, then late summer, certainly by Christmas, but the sad truth is for most of us the closest thing we had to a vacation was a trip to Aldi’s. Life’s been boring. Is it any wonder so many people’s minds are swirling with visions of beaches and trees not found in the neighbor’s front yard?

Juneteenth made a surprise showing on the list. For most, this is a new holiday. Your pal QC spent some of his formative years in Texas where Juneteenth originated. I can still recall the sweet smell of smoke waffling through the neighborhood as some of the local dads tended to their homemade backyard cookers. Back in the 1950s Texas, the day was mostly celebrated in African-American homes, but our family never missed an opportunity to enjoy a holiday or juicy smoked hot-links.

Now that I have shared the popular answers, allow me to share a couple of the off-the-wall associations shared by at least a couple of your friends and neighbors.

“June is bustin’ out all over” kind of caught me off guard. I had to do a bit or research on this one. This was a hit song from the musical “Carousel” which I am sure I was forced to watch at least once – somehow it did not stick.

June Cleaver? You’ve got to be kidding me. June Cleaver was married to Ward and the mother of Wally and Theodore (aka Beaver) in the TV Series “Leave it to Beaver.” I have watched every episode a dozen times (there’s that word again) and still want to be just like Eddy Haskel… Just Saying