I have a trio of decade-old annual state park pass stickers on the windshield of my aging, but practical family sedan. They’re stacked on top of each other, going up the left edge of the window. I stopped adding them after I was told by the Division of Motor Vehicles they were beginning to block my view and my car wouldn’t pass inspection if I added more. The stickers have now baked in the summer heat for over a decade and don't show any signs of coming off any time soon.

I mention this because it was recently pointed out to me that a lot of this year’s annual park pass stickers, which celebrate the 75th anniversary of the state’s award-winning state park system, are peeling off. Mine began to peel off within weeks, but I figured it was just applicator error. In fact, now that it's been pointed out to me, I haven’t seen one sticker from this year that’s not peeling at this point.

The person who made the observation – I swear it's not me – was a little disappointed. They were hoping to keep the sticker on their car because it was the anniversary one. There's a big difference in the application of the older stickers and this year's – the older ones are on the inside of the windshield, while this year's is on the outside. I'm sure that's part of the reason for the peeling, but it still seemed to be happening a little too easily.

I was curious if the Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control has received any complaints about the peelers. The answer is yes, and they are willing to replace them free of charge.

Matt Ritter, director of Delaware Parks and Recreation, said there has been some trouble with the batch of stickers they got this year. As a result, they reached out to the vendor and have been provided with some replacement stickers that are higher quality, he said.

“If people peel off what they can and bring them to a nearby office, we will swap it out at no cost,” said Ritter. “We will also ensure the field staff are aware, [because] typically a replacement sticker due to new windshields, or other reasons, has a $5 replacement charge.”

So much rain I couldn’t get a picture

I was driving on Route 1 last Friday at the exact moment Mother Nature decided to turn the showerhead on high. Maybe I’ve seen more rain fall in such a short period at some point in my life, but I can’t think of it offhand.

I had an interview in Dewey at 1:30 p.m. Summer’s end is drawing near, but it was still a Friday in August, so I left the office with plenty of time to spare. As it happened, there wasn’t much traffic, so I ended up in town well before I needed to be. I decided to drive south to the inlet. It was already raining pretty hard at that point and I thought there could've been something happening that would make an interesting photo. I don't know what that something could've been, but that's the fun of finding out.

In the end, there wasn’t much. I stopped quickly to get a photo of a seagull perched on the Delaware Seashore State Park South Inlet sign. Darker storm clouds had turned the sky behind the sign black.

Now heading north, I got to the Savages Ditch dune crossing when the skies opened up. I’m not the only one who thought that – I must have passed two dozen cars on Route 1 that were pulled over in the breakdown lane waiting out the rain with their hazard lights blinking.

In Dewey, the water was inches deep on both northbound lanes. I’m assuming it was the same for the southbound lanes. My practical family sedan wasn’t a fan, which is why I drive my wife’s SUV when out getting storm photos. I so badly wanted to get a photo, but it was just raining too hard. There was no way my car wasn’t going to get soaked. And since I had an interview shortly and, primarily, I didn't want to get my car stuck in the middle of Route 1, I decided to get out at a red light for a photo. In the end, the best I could do was the photo of a seagull.

Joke of the Week

Labor Day is this weekend, which means school is resuming and summer’s beach days are basically numbered. There will be a few more for sure, but they can be counted on one hand. Soon enough, fall will hit, then winter will follow and all we’ll be left with are memories of lounging on the beach with the sound of waves in the background. As always, send jokes to cflood@capegazette.com.

Q: What do you call a crustacean that just lies on the beach all day?

A: A slobster.