Cursed with Obsessive Compulsive Disorder

Ever since I've started hero-watching Multo of the Zula Patrol (details here) I've wanted one, a Multo, of my very own that is.

And then I thought, "Hmmm, I could make a movie, starring me and Multo!"

But first I needed to make me a Multo. I looked around and assembled some supplies. Sorry Miss Texas - not only are you going to have a sex change operation, you are going to become a new species of alien, a Multo Cone, to be specific. Vegetarian Chili... Hmmph!



I just knew I would have my Multo singing in the new movie I was going to make - so I started humming to myself - loosening up the vocal cords. "Ahhh, ahhh, sooool, la, fahhhhhh, doe, ray, meeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!"

My Multo Cone came to life very quickly - and by that time - I was singing (if you can call it that) to the tune of Macho Man by the Village People.

Body...wanna feel my body?
Body...such a thrill my body
Body...wanna touch my body?
Body...it's too much my body
Check it out my body, body
Don't you doubt my body, body
Talkin' bout my body, body
Check it out my body!


I nearly positive Little Iggy was downright nauseated. The Pointy Hair Boss looked ready to hurl. I guess I better hold off singing in that movie until I get some lessons. But in the meantime, I decided to practice!

Every guy wants to be a Multo! Multo! Cone!
To have the kind of body, always onna phone!
Jogging in the mornings, go Cone go!
Works out in the health spa, muscles glow!
You can best believe that, he's a Multo Cone....
Ready to get down with, he be in the zone!


Hey! Hey! Hey, hey, hey!
Multo, Multo Cone! (Multo Cone)
I've got to be, a Multo Cone!
Multo, Multo Cone!
I've got to be a Multo! Ow....

By this point, I was standing on my desk with my air guitar and howling!

Multo, Multo Cone!
I've got to be, a Multo Cone!
Multo, Multo Cone! (yeah, yeah)
I've got to be a Multo!

You can tell a Multo, he has a funky walk
His western shirts and leather, always look so boss
Funky with his body, he's a king
Call him Mister Eagle, dig his chains
You can best believe that, he's a Multo Cone
Likes to be the leader, he never dresses grand

Hey! Hey! Hey, hey, hey!
Multo, Multo Cone!
I've got to be, a Multo Cone!
Multo, Multo Cone!
I've got to be a Multo! (all right)........

The boss came by and took my nice padded strait-jacket off it's well worn hook and gently placed me in it. He said, "Iggy, you will never be alright, but this way, we can be sure you won't hurt yourself."

What Happened Next - A Short Film

Since some of you insisted in knowing...








Credits:
Lame Screenwriting: Intense Guy
Splashing Noises: Bathroom Sink
Guy In The River: Intense Guy
Obiwan: Intense Guy (changing his voice slightly)
Extra Heavy Breathing Guy: Intense Guy (inspired by Yaya)
Key Grip (whatever that is): Intense Guy

Birds, Cars and Cardboard Boats, Oh My!

On Saturday, for reasons beyond my control, I got a late start on what I had planned for the weekend. I had planned to get up early and head for Oxford, Maryland to see the annual Cardboard Boat race on the Tred Avon River. Oxford is on the Eastern Shore about 35 miles miles or so south of Chestertown. So I figured, go see the race and spend the rest of the weekend on my parent's houseboat vegging out. Although the day started and ended on the wrong foot so to speak, I thoroughly enjoyed myself.


Given I was late, I decided a little later wasn't going to hurt, so I took the road to Bellevue which is linked to Oxford by a ferry boat. The day was bright and brilliant, and I arrived at the ferryboat ramp just in time to miss the boat. Oh well, the beach at Bellevue looked very inviting and it would be only a short wait for the next trip!


While I was patiently waiting the ferryboat's return, I looked at the sights at the Bellevue town dock. A long, graceful crab boat rested in the water - but I saw only the really useful orange round bucket alien (ORBA to those "in the know") busy keeping the elements out of the boat's exhaust pipe.

The watermen on the Chesapeake Bay are notoriously "cheap" - they work hard and work long hours - and certainly don't throw their money away on things like fancy chrome plated, spring-loaded stack-covers.


Under the dock are a large number of swallow's nest. Here a busy Tree Swallow parent pants in the hot sun waiting clearance to fly under the dock to the nest to feed their little ones.


Soon, the ferryboat chugged into view, its not a large boat, carrying about 10-12 cars at the most, and the ride isn't all that long, but the view from the boat always makes me want to take the ride.


Quickly docked and the ramp lowered, a yellow Rolls Royce rolls off! Ahh-rooooo-ga!


This is the view from the ferryboat I spoke of...here is where I learned how to sail a boat only slightly larger than a sunfish many years ago.


I see from the ferryboat I am in time to watch the last sinkings, errr, cardboard boat races! The water is warm and shallow at the beach. The boats usually sink within minutes and the folks just step out of them and walk back ashore dragging their soggy lumps of painted cardboard behind them.


No, YaYa, its not a slasher or snuff flick. I'm still working on that. It's just the Oxford-Bellevue Ferry coming into the town dock in Oxford, Maryland.


After watching the race and the winner get their first place trophy (made of cardboard, what else?) I wandered around town taking in the sights... such as the Swans preening in the river.


...and the Chevy BelAir for sale at the local garage, before I stopped for lunch at the Masthead at Pier Street before driving back to Chestertown for a swim in the pool and walk with the dogs and settling in for the night being rocked asleep in the boat.


When I got to the wharf, my boat-door neighbor had a little surprise waiting! She had in her hands a little peacock chick. This is the woman that has only one leg but goes boating and swimming and everything despite the challenges. She is also a delight to talk to.

She and her husband are retired and own a small chicken farm in nearby southern Delaware. They grow eggs for sale and have a pair of Peacocks. Mama Peacock had eight little babies last week and one of them had a hurt leg. The hurt leg meant that he wasn't able to keep up with his siblings and Mama Peacock was getting more and more upset as she couldn't keep her little flock together.

So the hurt little chick got to go to the wharf and enjoy rocking around in their boat. He may or may not have enjoyed some wine. I do think he looked a little sleepy. They soon set off on a sunset (dinner and wine?) cruise and I set off on my walk. I was walking back down the hill to the river and returning to the wharf when the sun settled on the horizon.


For me, the view was like imbibing a fine wine. A slow start or not, I had a most excellent day.


If only the day had just ended at this point it would have stayed a most excellent day!

Someday, I might explain if I can get over feeling really, really stupid about what happened shortly after this.

:)

Weekend Wordle!

It's that time of week again!

It's time for Shan's Weekend Wordles.

Here's what you do:

1) Go to Wordle.net to create your Wordle.

2) Post it on your blog with a link to Shan's Week~End Wordles or Last Shreds Of Sanity.

3) Once that's done, go back to Last Shreds Of Sanity and sign the Mr Linky that she'll have up - this will help direct those who play along to your blog.

From Rainy Day at the Wharf - The Sequel

One of Those Days...

Well, try as I might, I couldn't figure out how to "turn" a video I took upright.

Man, does that make me feel dumb. At any rate I wanted to share the video with someone that has been really busy lately in the Land Down Under. I'm going to post the video anyway. Since they are upside down, having the video on its side should actually make it easier for them to view because they only have to turn their head to one side (the right) instead of standing on their head as you can see from my picture.


Calvin's Dad has nothing on me. :)



To add to my distress this past Friday, the entire world seems to be in mourning.

No, I don't mean Michael Jackson, Farrah Fawcett, or Ed McMahon. While they are icons of our age, and will be missed, I mean someone else, very near and dear to me... SpongeBob SquarePants!


RIP SpongeBob... we hardly knew ye. Sobs.

With SpongeBob's passing, I've had some idle hours on my hands, so to fill the void in my life, and the big hole in my heart, I searched high and low for something (or someone) new. Imagine my relief when I stumbled into the Zula Patrol! They even have a pretty cool website (here)!


May I introduce to you, from left to right, Whizzy (or Wiggy, they are twins), Gorga, Zeeter, and Commander Bula? As cool as a flying flash light, a robot dog, a purple chick that can pilot spacecraft and an dude that looks like a grasshopper with a red flower pot on his head are... they aren't my reason to watch the Zula Patrol!

No! My hero is Multo!!


I'm sure many of you that have been reading my mental noise and nonsense for some time now instantly understand why this guy is my hero. He's an inventor, a scientist and best of all, has three eyes! (or rather, six of them in this picture!) With those sexy goggles on, I'm sure he(?) looks fabulous on a bike or just plain sticking his head out the spacecraft's window.


Ooooooh... I just like this picture. As you can see, the TV captioning is how I manage to understand Zula-nese. Put one check mark in the plus column for technology.

And now, with great pleasure, I wish to bestow upon some readers an award. I won't cite the specific comments they made that inspired me to give them this award. Why? because I've got some new ideas I'm working on in the "fun factory" because of them - and I wouldn't want to spoil the surprise.


Dorkys Ramos of Dry as Toast!

Celtic Spirit!

JunYah of Creation Corner!

and a repeat winner

LadyStyx!


Thanks for inspiring me with a comment you left recently!

Air Show Videos

I didn't realize I was so close to the sound system speakers. I'm not sure how much of the Sound of Freedom you are going to be able to hear over the music.


The Beechcraft 18/C45 Expeditor, affectionately called the Bug Smasher.


An F16 Fighting Falcon flies low and slow!


A fast pass of four F16s in formation.


Look closely. Only one of these planes is right side up!
"Oh I so want to do that!" not.


I love how the guy in front of me cringes - a high speed crossing of two F16s coming at each other in opposite directions. Wicked fast. The plane coming the other way is nearly just a flash of white paint.

The Sound of Freedom (LBE)

Last Sunday, I went to the Dover Air Force Base in Delaware to see the annual Open House and Air Show!

The weather was gloomy and not so promising early in the morning but it cleared in time for the main event, the Air Force precision flying team, the Thunderbirds! Sometimes good fortune smiles upon me and an officially estimated 75,000 others.


The air show featured about 20 performances - ranging from precision formation flying to acrobatic dare-deviltry to head-rattling fly-bys. By mid-day the gloom was starting to break up and there were occassional glimses of sunshine.


The US Navy was represented by two performances - one by a WWII vintage Chance Vought F4U Corsair of impressive agility and one by the McDonnell Douglas (now Boeing) F/A Super Hornet. I was told F/A stood for Fighter-Ground Attack.

If you have seen the movie Topgun and looked at the airplanes instead of Tom Cruise, Val Kilmer, Anthony Edwards, and Tom Skerrit or Kelly McGillis and Meg Ryan (in my case) you know our jets can really fly!

Here the Super Hornet does a high-g turn in front of the crowd and lights up its afterburners in a head-crushing roar.


I dont know this pretty young woman's name...I do know she had a Nikon Coolpix P80 camera with 8 Gig of memory. :) It was kind of funny how things go sometimes. Firstly, in this picture she was holding her friend's camera while the friend tended a fussy baby in a stroller and secondly, she turned away just as I took her picture. Errrrgh!

Anyway, I was looking at her camera with what must of been obvious envy when the Super Hornet screamed past, I instinctively and with reflexes honed by hours of Charlie hunting - took a picture with my point and shoot. Looking at the picture I had just gotten I said outloud, "Oh yes! I nailed that shot!" and she overheard me and asked, "Can I see?" hitting me with this big smile...so I showed her and she said "OMG!! You nailed it!!!"


The shot I nailed. The Super Hornet just about to break the sound barrier at around 760 miles per hour as it zooms by creating a shock wave bubble around it - the humid air after the rain made this bubble have a spectacular prismatic glow.

I turned to the young woman and said, "Someday I'd like a camera with a real lens like yours!" ... and after that I just admired how her hair looked in the sun in total mental obliviousness.


Just for the female readers of this blog (and a certain one in particular) I took a couple of pictures of some sharp looking aviators. Meh, he doesn't do anything for me.


I didn't intentionally take this picture with the thought in mind, but knowing some of you like your tushes, I cropped out some of the interesting supporting equipment used by the Thunderbird flight team for your, umm, enhanced enjoyment.


Being an open house for the base personnel, they were out in force to enjoy the show. I decided this guy didn't really have a case of the sour grapes - he was just telling it like it is!


The sky has finally turned blue when I heard this stirring announcement on the PA system, "Ladies and Gentlemen! The US Air Force Aerial Demonstration Squadron! The one and only, Thunderbirds!"


Zooom! F16 Fighting Falcons, so close together they could ask their neighbor if they had any Grey Poupon and reach out to get it if they did!


I think sometimes they just like showing off. Like, by flying upside down. I said to the young camera toting woman, "I don't think anyone would ever catch me doing that!"

She replied, again with the big smile, "Oh I so want to do that!"


Then the F16 pilot turns the plane around while still upside down and flies the other way. Gulp.


The show over, the F16s landed one after another in perfectly spaced and perfectly timed order.


Dover Air Force Base is the home of the Air Mobility Command, tasked with flying supplies and equipment to our fighting forces anywhere in the world with only a moments notice. Doing so requires some mighty big airplanes, such as this C5 Galaxy coming in for a landing.


This aircraft is huge!! They had one on display with both forward and stern loading ramps open so people could walk through it. You could easily get 6 school buses in there!


The show over, the sun starts to set over the big transport planes on the flight line.

For pictures that other people took - go to the Offical Dover Air Force Base web site (here)

Tomorrow I'll try to post some movies so you can experience the Sound of Freedom for yourselves. I hope I captured some good videos.

Rainy Day at the Wharf - The Sequel

As I wrote a couple days ago, it rained Saturday morning. I don't know what, if anything, you can hear in this very short video.



After the rain eased up, I took a walk. The route included the Thomas J.



And the aptly named Money Pit.



And the unnamed rotting hulk in the woods. A little love would make this a boat Hank Jr. would enjoy.



The dampness has made the mushrooms sprout and grow like ...weeds. This one was about 8 inches across and there were bigger ones nearby.



I've never seen my "Hugging Tree" so green. It looks so different under a blue sky and August heat.



Continuing down the road - the mist twirled and a light fog came up. I didn't mind, it made everything glow and shine softly, like these Tiger Lilies that grow in bunches every twenty yards or so for miles down the road.



Normally, the Tiger Lilies don't bloom until the summer heat comes along. Perhaps these shivering flowers are thinking they jumped the gun.



The seemingly endless rain has made every thing green - even the tree trunks are getting mildew-ey.



I had to smile at the sight of this irrigation system standing idle. I wonder if it will rust together before it is needed once more.



The young trees growing in the tree farm seem to like the rain. They stand in long straight rows. As I walk past, different speices of trees catch the corner of my eye.



Suddenly I felt someone watching me.



He didn't move and said nary a thing. I looked at him and thought, "I do hope the electric fence is working today". I hadn't taken but a couple steps when another dog popped out of the row of trees.



Feeling bold, I walked over to the edge of the road nearest to them and said, "Hello guys. How are you doing with all this rain? Are you good boys?" No sooner had the words left my mouth, another dog appeared from the mist. This one I knew. "Heya Huckleberry! How you doin'?" I called to him and he answered with a hound dogs, "Aaaahhh wooooooooo wooooooooooooooooooooooooo!" Apparently this convinced his buddies I was "ok".



Feeling like the Pied Piper of Dogdom, I resumed my walk with all three dogs following along on their side of the invisible fence. Not a hundred yards down the road, still more dogs made their appearance! I also knew these dogs and gave them a warm greeting, "Hey Arnold and Goldie! How are you? You doing your job?" For I know its not people guarding these dogs perform - they are there to keep the deer from eating the young trees.



"Well now, that should do it with the dogs", I thought, but that very thought was interupted by a "Ruff! Ruff! Ruff!" as yet another dog came to greet me. I gave him a bright and cheery, "Hello! How's life?" to which he replied, "Ruff!" Maybe it's because he was tired of being wet, or maybe it was just a case of a very limited vocabulary. I'll never know.



:)