Phone photo 2744

James Abbott mural, Elma Police Station, Elma, Washington

Hot Doggies! It's the Oscar Mayer Wienermobile!

During my lunch break yesterday I was honored to witness the Oscar Mayer Wienermobile in motion as it sped down Capitol Blvd. in Tumwater, Washington. Managed to get a couple quick phone photos of it. I will resist the too easy impulse to use a lot of condiment puns.

See? Every day in every way I am getting better and better.

Anyway.

One of my fantasies has always been to hijack the Oscar Mayer Wienermobile and then lead the police on a merry high speed chase. The thought of terrified pedestrians running and screaming from a giant hurtling hot dog somehow pleases my dark side. Of course I would bring a banjo player with me, who would play humorous high speed chase music during the episode. The event would end with me plowing into a hot dog stand (O the irony!).

In the 1960s there was a TV ad with a jingle for Oscar Mayer that was quite effective. I mean, here I am a half century after this bit of marketing came out and I can still recall the lyrics:

Oh I'd love to be an Oscar Mayer wiener
That is what I'd truly like to be
'Cause if I were an Oscar Mayer wiener
Everyone would be in love with me

A rather disturbing bunch of lyrics on many levels, eh? Even as a kid I wondered why would anyone want to be lower on the food chain? I couldn't figure out why people would be so desperate for a love that would only last a minute or so as they were mashed up by giant teeth, swallowed, and then forced to have their remains travel through their killer's digestive system. 

If Marmite ever hits the U.S. market with a Marmitemobile, I want to be the driver. Now that is product I can be evangelical about.

Phone photo 2743

James Abbott mural half-hidden in a hardware/lumber yard

Elma, Washington

Sammy Sings Bacharach

Not much middle ground with Sammy Davis Jr. When he was bad, he was reeeeally bad. But when he was good, he was amazing-- like in this 1968 clip:

This Guy's In Love With You

Phone photo 2742

Morty Comix # 2632

Morty Comix # 2632 was folded and camouflaged among the coffee additives as my daughter and I had a nice breakfast at the International House of Pancakes, Olympia, Washington. This time she didn't roll her eyes but she did shake her head quietly and sadly.

Phone photo 2741

Hettie

Postcard - San Francisco, California

"Cable car, Hyde Street, San Francisco. The cable cars which glide up and down San Francisco's famed hills were invented by Andrew Halidie in 1873. Regarded with affection by the City's residents they are a reminder of other times in a modern world."

1950s.

Phone photo 2740

Olympia, Washington

Favorite Movie Quotes: Reversal of Fortune

"Being a human being is very literal. You're trapped. Time moves in only one direction-- forward. Its stupid and boring and results in a lot of silliness. Example: the legal process."

Phone photo 2739

Olympia, Washington

Morty Comix # 2631

Morty Comix # 2631 was left in a strange sort of place. I discovered the booth seats in this excellent Olympia, Washington area restaurant had a slit that opened into a hollow space between booths. This particular restaurant looks out to Budd Inlet and I was afforded a view of the old St. Pete's Hospital on Oly's Westside where my brother was born.

Phone photo 2738

Thurston County, Washington

Postcard - Port Hueneme, California

"Naval Support Craft and Fishing boats share dockspace at Port Hueneme, California. A deep water port adjacent to extensive Channel Islands and Oxnard Marinas."

1970s.

Certain locals call the place "Port Who Needs Me?"

Phone photo 2737

McCleary, Washington

Favorite Movie Quotes: Quatermass and the Pit

 

"I never had a career. Only work."

Phone photo 2736

Warhol at the Pittsburgh Airport

Postcard - Pismo Beach, California

"Sun - Fun - Play or relax in a colorful flowering setting at Pismo Beach, California."

Late 60s-early 70s

Phone photo 2735

When you arrive or depart from the airport at Pittsburgh, you have the opportunity to gaze upon two figures: One, a player from the Pittsburgh Steelers (I learned locally I am supposed to pronounce it "Stillers") and Two, George Washington.

Yes, it is the Dynamic Duo. Occasionally these two supposedly inanimate things become alive and fight crime in the airport wherever it may be. What an unstoppable team!

Morty Comix # 2630

Morty Comix # 2630 was deposited inside a roll of paper towels in Olympia, Washington. This is the price you pay when you ask me to feed your cat while you are gone. Heh-heh. Yes, I can be a real stinker sometimes.

Phone photo 2734

Morty the Dog image (from the comic Flying) used as a birthday cake decoration!

Postcard - Pasadena, California

"Arroyo Seco, Colorado Street Bridge, Pasadena, California"

1920s?

Phone photo 2733

Maximum Traffic fly on guitar

Butler County, Pennsylvania

Morty Comix # 2629

Morty Comix # 2629 was folded and placed in a groady phone booth next the decaying Art Deco Greyhound Bus station in Olympia, Washington.

Phone photo 2732

Butler County, Pennsylvania

The Wonderful Cure "606"

The word this newspaper ad (Newport Miner, Apr. 13, 1911) is trying to avoid saying in public is "Syphilis."

The ad has a typo. It was Dr. Kelley's Museum. Apparently Morris DeWitt Kelley was born around 1878 and raised in the Covington, Kentucky area. When he came to Washington and applied for professional physicians license in 1906 he was denied, so he opened this "museum" in Spokane.

He left Spokane around 1914-1915 and returned to Kentucky. Eventually he made his way to Birmingham, Alabama, where he died as the result of a fall in 1942. At the time of his death he was recognized as a medical professional.

Phone photo 2731

Butler County, Pennsylvania

Postcard - Oxnard, California

"Oxnard, California. One of the newer additions to the downtown area is this modern Civic Center complex which fits in with the extensive re-building and modernization for the area."

1978.

Phone photo 2730

Butler County, Pennsylvania