Buttons - Misc. - 2002

Whale Done!

On reverse: China

A button designed to promote a book about management by Ken Blanchard. I have no idea why it turned up in my box of buttons.

Phone photo 2164

A portrait of that one-eyed genocidal pirate, Robert Gray, "discovering" the harbor that now bears his name. Found in the Grays Harbor County Courthouse, Montesano, Washington. Personally, I would like us to rename this chunk of land "Sasquatch County." The so-called Sasquatch myth is more credible than the bunk we have been fed about Robert Gray.

Favorite Movie Quotes: Giant

"You ain't even worth hittin'. Jett, you wanna know somethin' true? You're all through."

Phone photo 2163

Isaac Stevens, Washington's first territorial governor, is pictured stealing land from the Natives of Grays Harbor in the 1850s at a site that is now the city of Cosmopolis. Yes, we actually have a city called Cosmopolis here. Locals call it "Causy." This scene is in the Grays Harbor County Courthouse, Montesano, Washington, which the locals call "Monte." Monte is a most pleasant city.

Stevens has a controversial place in Washington history generated in part by his shabby treatment of the Indian population. After he left our corner of the world, he was killed in action at the first Battle of Bull Run in the Civil War while serving in the Union Army.

Morty Comix # 2490

Morty Comix # 2490 was tucked behind a sign at the recently closed Hostess bakery in Tumwater, Washington. The Twinkie Weiner Sandwich is now a thing of the past.

Morty Comix # 2357 had been left in the yellow real estate box on the corner last May.

Phone photo 2162

Superior Courtroom, Grays Harbor County Courthouse, Montesano, Washington

It seems like I get a summons for jury selection once a year. But this time I was actually selected to sit on the jury. It was a criminal case and the trial lasted only a day. A fascinating experience.

Mysterious Activity

Bezango WA Interview with Ron Austin

The TESC blog, The Evergreen Mind recently posted a nice interview with filmmaker Ron Austin about the Bezango WA documentary.

Also included in the post is the entire panel discussion (apparently) starring Matt Groening, Craig Bartlett, Drew Christie, Tommy Thompson, Megan Kelso, Ruth Hayes and yours truly from last May!

Thanks to Louise Amandes for directing me to this great blog.

Buttons - Commercial - 1980s?

Deluxe Bars & Grills

Another mystery button. I am guessing this was made for the De Luxe Bar & Grill on Seattle's Capitol Hill, a place I have never visited. The image on the button is very small and I'm wondering if the cartoonist here is someone I know. The style reminds me of Ed DeVore or Flicky Ford.

Phone photo 2161

Grays Harbor County Courthouse

Montesano, Washington

Morty Comix # 2489

Morty Comix # 2489 was left on a metal beam supporting a landing in a stairwell for a parking garage in Tumwater, Washington.

Phone photo 2160

Montesano, Washington

Buttons - Commercial - 2005

Swantown Marina & Boatworks

[Olympia, Washington]

Phone photo 2159

Buttons - Public Service - 1990s?

Special Bus to Shuttle Just Us

IT

Capitol Shuttle

[Olympia, Washington. Notice how the Legislative Building is part of the design. The IT is an acronym for Intercity Transit]

Phone photo 2158

McCleary, Washington

Morty Comix # 2488

We had our family holiday gift exchange a couple days before Christmas. Susan gave me a potato gun with two spuds to use as ammo.

It does NOT shoot up to 50 feet, as we shall see. However, I am looking forward to years of service. We'll get back to this gift in a bit, but let's move on to ...

... a somewhat revolting present from Bryan and Zach. These dismembered plastic monkey parts are in a bag. And as if that wasn't creepy enough, the monkey's eyes on the severed monkey head BLINK!
 

Stay with me now. All will be be revealed by the end. I made a grid with 50 little squares on a sheet of cardboard.

Then I arranged the disgusting monkey parts on a TV tray. 

The grid was placed under and behind the tray.

I shot several potato pellets at the monkey parts, which were precariously balanced at the edge of the tray. Although the little spud bullets hit the targets, they lack the required velocity to knock them to the floor. So when the label declared "Shoots Harmless Potato Pellets," they meant it.

So it was time to haul out a more advanced technology to achieve my goal. I went to the toybox and extracted the gyroscope.

 You can tell the monkey's expression is politely apprehensive at this juncture.

 I let the gyroscope rip

It did not fail me as it knocked over two revolting monkey parts. A foot landed on numbers 27, 28, and 32.

 

Now it was time for the next phase, but I knew the potato gun would not be able to do the job. Mr. Spud himself told me this was all a half-baked idea anyway, and he took his leave. But I thanked him for helping me with the initial parts of this project.

  

So I made a much simpler grid, narrowing the field to three.

And this time I brought out the heavy artillery,  foam darts!

 

It took a few tries, but in less than 3 minutes I knocked a repulsive monkey hand into the grid. It landed on number 32.
 

32. That means Minnesota, the 32nd state, admitted to the Union in 1858. I've been over Minnesota in a passenger airline but have never set foot there, but hopefully someday I'll be able to pay a visit.

None of my ancestors parked there on their way West in the pioneer era (but a few were next door in Wisconsin in the 1850s-1860s).

Minnesota has a great tradition of creative comic art, was one of the hotspots in the Newave era, and today remains a prominent place for our brand of comix. Meeting Matt Feazell at SPACE 2011 was a real honor and even though he now lives in Michigan, I nominate him for Minnesota's Cartoonist Laureate for his amazing past contributions.

 Anyway, I rolled the dice the for the next step. As you can see, the number was 7. That's lucky!

And the 7th largest city in Minnesota is Plymouth. I consulted a map of that city and decided to just pick a street name I liked, and Cheshire was my choice. A co-worker calls me the Cheshire Cat and I admire that character.

So I randomly selected an address on that street, which turns out to be home to a business enterprise. I'm mailing it tomorrow morning. This issue of Morty Comix will probably be tossed in the trash or recycling, but I hope you readers enjoyed the narrative. Actually, in many ways, these blogposts are the real Morty Comix, the hardcopy product is residue.

Obscuro comix in action!

Phone photo 2157

Fremont neighborhood, Seattle, Washington

Favorite Movie Quotes: True Grit (1969)

Rooster Cogburn turns out to be a cat lover:

"Oh, General Price don't belong to me. Cats don't belong to nobody. He just rooms with me. 'Course I depend on him."