Hi there, my name is legs and I am a crab hanging out at the beach. Most folks just call me Crabby. Please, won't you too?
I must say that life here sure is a beach.
Nights are great, just me and the sea, the sand, and stuff to eat. The daytime is another story altogether.
Day in and day out, like a yoyo, I pop in and out of my hole in the sand on the odd chance that I can swipe some food.
As far as I can see, there are people pulling coolers on wheels or using two people to carry them, and talking about how much they wish they could have hot food at the beach. Cold sandwiches and salty snacks seemed to be getting old to them. They really missed the burgers, ribs,hot dogs, and steaks that they couldn't cook at the beach.
No such luck Crabby mumbled! No fires are allowed on the beach! Of course, the sound of the water blotted out his words and no one could hear him.
Like a girl scout that didn't sell any cookies, Crabby crawled down his hole in the sand to take a nap and wait until the sun goes down and the people all go home. CHOW TIME!!
Along about 7 in the evening, Crabby poked his head up, and was jolted awake by a person that almost stepped on him as he was walking by. Crabby looked up and noticed that this person was without a cooler. All he was carrying was a piece of folded up cardboard and a towel.
Well, Crabby was tired of seeing people do the same ole things day in and day out that he was really up for something different. This guy was definitely different.
Crabby stayed out of sight until the new guy, Johnnie, picked a spot to park his towel and piece of cardboard. Then Crabby decided to sneak up as close as he could to see and hear better, all while mumbling to himself about the long crawl and how it was probably for no good reason at all.
Like he was opening a kids meal, the man, we'll call him Johnnie, started to unfold the top of the cardboard and remove things from it.
Old Crabby never imagined that there was anything inside the cardboard, and he was really interested to see what the whole thing was about.
Well, Johnnie opened his towel and commenced to unfold the cardboard into a shape that Crabby had never seen before and then removed some food and cold drinks to place on his blanket.
Like a kid trying to sneak up on the cookie jar, in case mom is looking, ole Crabby dashed from sand pile to sand pile trying to get closer for a better look and maybe even a taste.
Next Johnnie took the cardboard that his raw food and cold stuff came from and folded the cardboard into another shape. Then he pointed it towards the sun.
Then, Johnnie sipped on a cold soda for a while before he thought that the time was right for him to put some food inside the box.
Before you could say the preamble from the constitution, the smell of cooking food reached our friend Crabby and the other nearby people.
Just at that moment, the people sitting next to Johnnie said they smelled burgers, hot dogs, sausages, and peppers cooking but there was no fire going. How can it be?
Johnnie smiled like his girlfriend just said yes and he said, "I'm using the sun to cook with and the cooler is just a side benefit.". You see, said Johnny, the folded cardboard keeps things cool until I open it to take them out.
A cooker and a cooler that is made from cardboard and uses the sun for power?
Where can I buy one of these timely appliances, you ask.
You cannot buy one because they are not being made at this time.
You can, however, make your own by using the plans, drawings, descriptions, and explanations of this marvel, and thousands of others, that you will find in the Encyclopedia of Solar Inventions.
I learned that old John C. Golder got the patent for his wonderful solar cooker and cooler on October the 6th, 1981.
