Sleestaks Under LA

I found at Newspaper Rock about a claim of the discovery of 5,000 year old remnants of a civilization of lizard people under Los Angeles, California. The article is found here. I like reading about such matters as Atlantis, Nessie, and Bigfoot, and odd ancient civilization claims. However, I am very skeptical. While I find them interesting, I can't think of any I really believe right now.

But perhaps, if you ride the subways in LA, it might be prudent to be safe. You never know when the lizard people of LA might return. And if they return, they might choose a future LA earthquake to do so. Especially if it is the greatest earthquake ever known.

A cold north wind on the bay

There was a strong and cold north wind this morning on West Grand Traverse Bay. It got as low as 48 degrees earlier in the morning. I saw the ship T/S State of Michigan slowly turning circles out on the water. As I wanted, a zodiac boat came from the ship and docked. Several Great Lakes Maritime Academy students left the zodiac, carring luggage and trashbags. I am guessing that they were on a training cruise overnight.The morning sun shown brightly on the maritime academy dock, lighting up the water from the waves that had crashed upon the sidewalk. I figured that this photo would look a little better in black-and-white I also saw a cormorant flying low over the water. I didn't think these lived in the area.

Loch Ness Monster (Postcard Friendship Friday)

I read on the news this morning that someone has sighted the Loch Ness Monster on Google Earth. Click here for the story. It looks more like a giant tadpole or squid to me. The likely explanation is that it is a boat with a wake.

Below is my "Postcard Friendship Friday" entry. It is a humorous postcard from 1960. I have seen many of this style of postcard for the United States also. The artwork is always quite similar. The ribald style of humor is, too. I would guess that most of the Scottish humourous postcards would involve under-kilt jokes.

Click here for my favcrite Loch Ness Monster-related music video. It is Synchronicity II from the Police. It has the memorable lyrics as "shout above the din our Rice Krispies" and "packed like lemmings into shiny metal boxes". The video was filmed in the brief trash era during the 1980s in which music videos were filmed on soundstages where the air was filled with blowing garbage.

Star Trek Horses

The recent county fair featured many horses shown at the horse barns. One group of kids had a Star Trek theme, with Star Trek decorations all around the horse stalls, and special Star Trek t-shirts.
I'm not sure if this fine horse, which poked its head over the gate to look at me, was one of the prize winners.

Don 't miss Cube's recent "Star Trek Dog" blog post at "Cube".

Duck!

I can't miss an opportunity to take a picture of a duck. This one was one of many in the duck pond at the Northwestern Michigan Fair.

Benzie County Mosquito Trap

I saw this mosquito trap at an area shop recently.

US News - 10 Best Places to Grow Up

US News has a new article on the 10 Best Places to Grow Up. I figured I would look at them, and see what I thought.

• Madison, Alabama - I've never been to Alabama, so I really can't say anything about this place.
• Virginia Beach, Virginia - I was there once, and it seemed to be way overcrowded.
• The same goes for Overland Park, Kansas. I've just barely been to Kansas.
• San Jose, California - Ther article says "San Jose is the country's safest big city", but buy-in is a house costing $449,000 on average.
• Boston - Not a good place if you want to drive around town. It is fun to explore, though.
• Rochester, Minn - I can vouch for this area of the country. And they have the best medical care in the world there.
• Cedar Rapids, Iowa. It's in a corner of Iowa I've not been to. I know it floods, though.
• Denver is pretty good. Everything but the airport, really.
• Plano, Texas. The home of J. R. Ewing. They also bottle Vernor's and the second-generation Dr Pepper there. A good place for Ewings and sodapop, probably. I've been near it, but not in it.
• Edison, New Jersey - I still have trouble thinking of NJ as a desirable place to live.

Does anyone have any thoughts on these places?

High on the hog in Chums's Corners

Today I drove by America's Carpet Barn in Chum's Corners, Michigan, where pigs fly. Yes, when you think of getting new carpet, shouldn't you think of airborn swine? The building, to the left, is decked out in patriotic and porcine finery.

But what is more interesting is the pig person dancing alongside the highway. Click on the video below to see the crazy hog dance. He or she is really getting into it.

I've never had a job where I've had to do that. But in this area, I've seen men in either an Uncle Sam outfit, or a green Statue of Liberty, dancing alongside the road in cold weather during tax time. Or the poor sap who was doing duty in a huge balloony Mongolian Barbecue mascot costume (similar to the one seen here), standing on the corner of a busy 6-lane intersection in a high wind, in danger of being buffeted into traffic.

Beyond bun-length in Antrim County

I was passing through Elk Rapids, in Antrim County, Michigan earlier this evening, and could not help but notice this car fueling at the Speedway station. Speedway is self-serve, so I am sure they did not get a helpful gas-station attendant asking to pop the hood so he could check the mustard.

This isn't the first time I've seen the Oscar Mayer Weinermobile in the area. According to Wikipedia, there are seven of them around now. One time a Weinermobile dropped by a local grocery store, and it was driven by an actual Munchkin, Meinhardt Raabe. After all, who wouldn't relish driving such a fun-looking car?

Oscar Mayer Weinermobile, front view.

Perhaps it is on the way to a car dealership to be turned in for the "Cash f0r Clunkers" program. Do you think this might a good trade-in for an environmentally-friendly tofu hybrid weinercar?

Oscar Mayer weinermobile, at Speedway Gas Station

Perhaps controversial talk-radio host Michael "Savage" Weiner could purchase one of these and take his show on the road. Or it could be modified as a "Children of the Corndogs" car to promote the latest film in the Stephen King-inspired cornfield horror movie series.

Finally, here is a Youtube video of Perry Como quite frankly hitting it out of the ballpark as he sings the classic "Dog Diggity" song:

MadMenYourSelf

A recent post at "What Fresh Hell Is This" features the "MadMenYourself.com" iconizer. Is iconizer even a word? It's the same sort of thing as the now defunct "Elf Yourself", and the Obamaicon engine. If there is a better word for this type of thing, let me know.

I've never seen the TV show "Mad Men". It looks like one of those things some people like, but I try to watch and end up disliking (like "Arrested Development" and "The Office"). The style of the MadMenYourself iconizer looks like something from the "Little Bill" TV show.

These things are popular, and we probably need more of them. Here are some suggestions:

• "Dex Yourself" (for "Dexter"). Gives your picture a slightly evil look and spatters blood around the edges of the frame.
• "Fangs A Lot" (for the "True Blood" vampire show). Gives your picture fangs.
• "Cullenizer" (for "Twilight" ). Takes the fangs off the "Fangs A Lot" photos to make them resemble the wimpier Twilight vampires.
• "Trekhead" - Adds bumps and ridges to your forehead in the photo to make you look like a typical Star Trek alien.
• "Share a Palin". Turns you into the former governor of Alaska.
• "M*A*S*H Up" - Choose to look like Klinger or Hawkeye
• "You're Hung" - Requires a full body photo, and you enter the desired inches.

Any more ideas?

Springs!

You never know what junk you will find at the flea market.

A great deal on some colro makrers

I saw this great deal on color Sharpies at the flea market, too. Sharpies? Oh.... yeah... look closer.

Here comes the sun

It's Sunday.

I could not help but take a couple of pictures of the sun art I saw at the flea market at the Buckley Old Engine Show. These were carved of metal. They reminded me of the CBS Morning Show. I have not seen that show for months, or years, but from what I remember, they always featured all kinds of different sun art during the show.

Homeland Security

I saw these two t-shirts at the Buckley Old Engine Show today. The first one, "Homeland Security - Fighting Terrorism Since 1492" was for sale in a couple of Indian-run shops that also sold Native American flute CDs. I have seen these over the years, usually worn by Indians. The leaders featured on the shirt are, from left to right, Crazy Horse, Sitting Bull, Chief Geronimo, Wolf Robe, and Red Cloud.

The second t-shirt has a different take on homeland security.

The Time Traveler's Wife

Jon Stewart just had actress Rachel McAdams on his television program "The Daily Show" tonight. I thought he was supposed to be a great interviewer, but he kept asking dumb questions. He ended up both spoiling and mocking the story. I listened to half of the book once (as an audiobook), but stopped when that road trip ended. I hoped to to either finish it some time during another long trip, or see the movie to find out the rest. But Stewart has gone and spoiled it for me. Oh well.

But he did make a mildly amusing observation. The story involves a guy who quantum-leaps all over time. Stewart asked if this could be a good excuse for guys now. "A guy could vanish for 3 weeks, and come back, and say, whoa dude, I was in 1985!"

The Mountains of Grawn

I snapped this picture yesterday of the sun rising behind distant mountains at Grawn, Michigan.

Actually, Grawn has no mountains. This was one of those distant cloud banks on the horizon that looked like mountains. This reminds me of a scene I viewed in eastern Idaho. just west of the Grand Tetons. The eastern sky looked like this, but the mountains were taller and sharper. The real mountains looked like cloud mountains, a lot like this photo.

The Pharaoh of Grawn

Grawn, Michigan is known for its many trailer houses. There's more too it, of course, such as cherries and minor-league baseball but there are many mobile homes.

If an Egyptian pharaoh lived in Grawn, he might live in a mobile home, right? Well, I could not help but take this photo yesterday morning when I drove by this yard in Grawn. This homeowner actually has built a large Egyptian pyramid out of plywood, and it is in their front yard. It is surrounded by a wooden fence, probably to keep out tomb raiders.

This gives hope to those of us who have dreamed of building a Pylon in their back yard.

Houghton Lake, Michigan

I recently found this postcard (postmarked 1937) of Houghton Lake, Michigan. I pass through Houghton Lake every several years, as it is out-of-the-way for any place I go to or from. Houghton Lake is located in the center of the Lower Peninsula of Michigan.

Houghton Lake is not very populous, but it stretches for many miles. This old postcard shows the Houghton Lake Tavern (under new management) and a section of street lined with fences and arches made of tiny stones fixed in concrete. If the tavern still exists, it has another name now. Other things I recall seeing in Houghton Lake over the years include a miniature Aztec pyramid, a sculpture garden of Indian-theme things, and a hair salon known as "Curl Up and Dye"

Craigslist

I recently decided I needed to get a new computer, but did not want to pay the high Best Buy prices. So I did what I had done in years past: I checked the newspaper classified ads. But lo and behold, there were hardly any ads there anymore, and the print was larger than it used to be. Not the same as it used to be, and no ads for any computers at all.

So I checked Craigslist, and found lots of computers. Good deal. No need to bother with newspaper classifieds anymore, is there?

I also decided I needed to ask for some merchandise, so I put in a "Wanted" ad on Craigslist. Within a day or two, I got 3 responses. Two of them were offers of the merchandise I was looking for. The third was from someone offering me money. Yes, offering me money. I think loan sharks are circling in the Craigslist waters. What experiences has anyone had with Craigslist?

Sidwalk Closed

I snapped this picture earlier this afternoon. I think the City Dpartment of Public Works is reacting to the ongoing budget crisis by cutting back on the number of E's used.

Saturday Scavenger Hunt Word - Winter

Today's "Saturday Scavenger Hunt" word is Winter.

The first photo is one I took a couple of years ago, in January I think, of cars driving on the highway around the bay. I've doctored it only a little bit.The Dairy Lodge on Division Street is closed during the winter, but it was open yesterday, of course. The Santa Claus Barbie-type character looks like she is having fun riding that ice-cream cone, doesn't she? And yes, there is an igloo behind her.Leone's Frosty Treat has been near Thirlby Field stadium for decades. I took a picture of it yesterday, and then found I had an older one of it with snow on the ground. More wintery that way. One thing they have now that they did ont have decades ago is "Free Wifi".