Morty Comix # 2517

Morty Comix # 2517 was placed on top of a weird looking corner support in a stairway of a parking garage in Tumwater, Washington. It was placed only one floor above the hiding place of Morty Comix #2489, which is still there, by the way.

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Postcard - Aberdeen, Washington

"Aberdeen, Washington. Located at Zelaski Park are two wood carvings. Carved by Louis Benanto, Jr. musician-artist from Ansonia, Conn. using a chisel and chain-saw these figures greet the visitors as they enter and leave the city. The artist worked three months carving these two figures."

A view of Aberdeen looking west in the mid-1970s, I'd guess. Benanto is also the artist who carved the Charlie Choker statue around 1974-1975.

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Discarded portable dental floss thing. 

Part of a long running subseries, sad to say.

Tumwater, Washington

Favorite Movie Quotes: High Plains Drifter

"Well, it's what people know about themselves inside that makes them afraid."

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Postcard - Aberdeen, Washington

"Greetings From Aberdeen, Wash."

Some say, and for good reason, this postcard is a bit misleading. Looks like it dates back to the late 1950s-early 1960s. This is just a guess, but the top photo might be the view east from Ocean Shores, looking over the northern half of Grays Harbor, which is about a half hour from Aberdeen. At low tide that same body of water becomes a giant mud flat.

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A Gloria-us Pun Hit Me While I Have a Fever

Feel pretty lousy with some kind of bug today. Off and on I watched a great Cassavetes film on VHS from 1980 called Gloria starring Gena Rowlands. She was wonderful and tough as nails. This film is a keeper.

The premise is that a former Mob moll finds herself, by cruel circumstance, to be the protector of an annoying boy who is targeted for death by yes, the Mob.

By the end of the film you have the impression that as her thoughts and feeling evolve she could actually adopt the boy. If she did, do you know how the little feller would be like this contagious virus I have acquired?

Give up?

Because he would be a floozy's son.

Get it?

Floozy's son = Flu season.

You do? Then why aren't you laughing?

What's that you say? Because it isn't funny?

OK, OK, didn't I say I am having a fever?

Favorite Movie Quotes: Gloria (1980)

 

"Hey Jeri, you know I'd do anything for you but I don't like kids, I hate kids, especially yours."

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Brown's Mule tobacco plug cutter

Supposedly this device was used by my great grandfather, Jim Willis, back in Virginia

Postcard - Aberdeen, Washington

 

"Hoquiam and Aberdeen, Washington. Located on Grays Harbor, these twin cities are port of call for export of timber products to all corners of the earth. Rich in logger and sailor folklore, this area is also known as 'Gateway to the Olympics.'"

This has a 1979 date on  the reverse. Actually, Hoquiam is nowhere to be seen in this photo, although part of Cosmopolis is on the left, south of the Chehalis River.

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Chehalis River, Montesano, Washington

Morty Comix # 2516

Morty Comix # 2516 is being sent to my old comix comrade, Max Traffic in Butler, Pennsylvania. I'm sending a page of art for his consideration in the next White Buffalo Gazette and tossed in a Morty Comix as well. Just like the old days.

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Favorite Movie Quotes: Diamonds Are Forever

"I do so enjoy our little visits, Mr. Bond, however potentially painful they may be. But I'm afraid this one has come to an end."

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Postcard - Aberdeen, Washington

"Confluence of Wishkah and Chehalis River. Here is shown the bridge between Aberdeen and Cosmopolis with logs awaiting their voyage to nearby mills for processing into lumber, pulp or some other by-product. Aberdeen is the hub and shopping center for the Grays Harbor area and southern Gateway for the beautiful Olympic Peninsula."

I know this predates 1981, but probably is pre-1977 since the Wishkah Mall is not to be seen here. If you click on and enlarge the photo you can make out the Olympic Mountains on the horizon. 

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Morty Comix # 2515

 The fate of Morty Comix # 2515 is rather involved, so settle in and read this tale of wonder.

 I set a thin plank above the living room floor

 On this plank I precariously set puzzle pieces for all 50 states

 Then I took out some potent catnip in order to gain assistance from my little friends

 The catnip was sprinkled along the plank

 All set to go

And within minutes Charlie was on the job. I wanted to choose among the very last states left on the plank. Washington was one of the very first ones he sent to the floor.

Seeing that he had started the process, he decided to take a break.

Since it almost time to hit the hay anyway, I made a choice to just leave it for the night. By the next morning I noticed more pieces had been knocked to the floor in the course of the evening.

That morning Dreamer and Buster decided to check out this scene and add to the carnage. Dreamer's tail really did a number on many of the states remaining on the plank.

In fact, one end of the plank was knocked to the floor and the other barely held up by a tiny bit of the corner.

 Buster inspects Dreamer's handiwork.

It was at this point I left for the day.

 When I returned home from work, here's what the plank looked like.

 

Three states were left touching the top of the plank: Florida, Oregon, and Alaska

  

Oh, wait, I found Arizona under Alaska. Make that four states!

As it turned out after examining the earlier photos, I was in error. 

Arizona was merely where part of Alaska landed on the floor.

Then it was time to haul out the old Washington State House of Representatives Cafeteria tray and some wooden pegs.

The tray was placed on the kitchen floor and the four states were balanced on top of the pegs. I was going to let a cat narrow down the contenders, but this time I would pick the states that were knocked to the floor.

Charlie obliged within a minute, by knocking Florida to the floor.

He was enjoying batting around The Sunshine State so much on the linoleum I was afraid he was going to  knock the puzzle piece under my dead dishwasher, so I had to rescue it.

 So for good measure, he reacted by returning to the tray and punching down Arizona.

 Tired out by this activity, he returned to his duties as the sentinel of the kitchen window.

Meanwhile, Hettie, who is the smartest creature under this roof, observed all this foolishness with a bit a haughty disdain.

So it came to Arizona and Florida. I decided to enlist the help of my cartoonist comrade who also dates back to the Newave Comix days, Richard Krauss. As an Oregon resident, he knows we Pacific Northwesterners have to do something to keep occupied in these dark and rainy winter days.

Actually, all I did was ask him to choose either Arizona or Florida and explain why, but he went all out in the spirit of this random art distribution, which demonstrates how contagious it can be. When he was done I had a name and address. Here is Richard's response:

Of course, I'm honored to play "Where is the Morty Comix going to be sent?" The rules of this particular edition are somewhere in Arizona or Florida.

First thought was to flip through Delaine Derry Green's Not My Small Diary #17 to select a city. Her contributors span the country and she lists their addresses at the bottom of each page. There would likely be cities in the two states to narrow the selection. 

Another thought was to take a character name from my novelette in progress, Walt Hutchison, and see if the interwebs point to anyone. Bezango! There's a real estate agent in Fort Myers. And Linked-In lists a full 19 candidates. The Route Salesman at Bimbo Bakeries sounded like a winner, but unfortunately his location in the greater New York area was an instant disqualifier. I wonder if he'd consider moving?

I discussed the game with my family. Ideas of using Pinterest and six degrees of separation were discussed, without conclusion.

I searched "How to make a random selection" using Duck Duck Go. Too scientific.

Drawn to Florida, I downloaded a spreadsheet of population data from the Office of Economic & Demographic Research, scrambled the counties, closed my eyes, held my breath and blindly placed a cursor on Pasco County, population 464,697 by way of 2010 count. Now, we're getting somewhere.

A new search provided Pasco County, Florida results. The official site, leading the results nearly sucked me in, but no, Morty wouldn't go there. 

Pasco County was created in 1887. It was named after Samuel Pasco, who served in the Confederate Army and the U.S. Senate from 1887 to 1899. Towns include Anclote, Blanton, Dade City, Earnestville, Fort Dade, Macon and San Antonio.

The name Dade City is appealing and it's the county seat to boot. Population 6,449 in 2011.

Scrolling results for Dade City, Florida, the entry listing Bee Removal looked interesting. Turns out the resident beekeeper there is the lucky candidate. He is not actually located in Dade City, but he serves the area's bee removal needs and his company is located in Pasco County, in Lakeland.

 

Thanks Richard! Now, off to Florida!