Lego Crimefighters

Tonight's limerick is brought to you courtesy of this news story I just read. Is there nothing these things can't do?

In '91 someone was killed

And today the police are all thrilled

They found new evidence

On some Legos were prints

A conviction's the new thing to build!

Desert Clouds

More cloud practice, this time pen and ink in the old sketchbook.

Clouds

Just practicing clouds

Cliff Ruins

Going old school tonight - just me, a blank piece of cardstock and a fine-tip pen.

The Beast Returns

The crickets are back in our room

All night long, chirp away in the gloom

I was nicer before

Threw them out the front door

Now I flush them away to their doom

(They keep showing up! Our room is on the second floor - we have no idea how they're getting up there, especially since we aren't finding them anywhere else in the house!)

Toad

Why? Because I felt like drawing a toad.

Squiggle Creature

Today was my first day back to actual teaching, and then I chose to stick around for another 4 hours trying to whip an unruly Powerpoint into shape. Apparently my brain figured that was enough thinking for the day because it was giving me no ideas of what to post tonight. In the end I reverted to the old "draw a squiggle and see what you can make from it" idea. I have no clue what this thing I ended up with is, but at least he seems happy...

Waffles!

Today we went to Target
We had to buy a thing
A thing to make some waffles
Cause waffles are the king!

The king of breakfast everywhere
The king of dinner, too
I've heard they're good with chicken
Is there nothing they can't do?

So, anyway, we got the thing
And then we headed back
We whipped up some for dinner
And it made a giant stack

Afterwards I fell into
A happy waffle haze
I wondered what to post tonight
And checked the holidays

To my surprise one stood out
In the list there on display
It seems by sheer coincidence
Today is Waffle Day!

So go and get a waffle
Whether Belgian or a cone
But keep your grubby hands off mine
Be sure to get your own!

Volcano

So apparently there's another volcano erupting in Iceland. I'm assuming no one reading this is going to get to see it in person, so here's my attempt at providing the next best thing.

First Game of the Season

We went to watch a game tonight

The first one of the year

We thought we’d have a lot of fun

We thought we’d scream and cheer

But then we got down to the field

About ten minutes late

The other team had zero, but

Our guys had twenty-eight!

We stayed to see the rest of it

Despite the humid air

And by the end they got six points

And our team didn’t care

They earned a whopping fifty-two

It wasn’t even close

And though we didn’t cheer that much

At least we’re not morose

Poet's Day

Come, my readers, come and hear

The story of a day held dear

By countless people round the world

Whose flag of rhythm flies unfurled

Their feet have meter, verse and rhyme

Their odes are young, their stress sublime

So on this August twenty-first

We’re celebrating those well-versed

In writing sonnets or haiku

A limerick or a trope or two

But now it’s your turn, don’t delay

Just write a poem for Poet’s Day

And if you ask me, sir or ma’am

Am I a poet? Yes, iamb!!

Back To School Night

Tonight we went back to school! While there, we got to hear the principal and various other administrators and group leaders present their programs and give us all sorts of useful information (that we've already heard for the last few years of attending these things). So I used the time to do what any good and diligent student would do in the same situation and started doodling. These are cellphone photos, so they're probably not as sharp as the scanned images I typically post, but the originals might have ended up in a couple of girls' lockers.

One daughter requested a red panda (hard to do when you only have a black pen)

The other requested a mushroom. The dragonfly was my idea.

National Aviation Day

As you might have guessed from the post title, it's National Aviation Day. However, I'm worn out after a long day of work (I love weeding in 95% humidity with no breeze!!) so all you get tonight is this very rough speed sketch.

Hey, I just realized something after adding the picture. Although it's not a foregone conclusion, there's a strong implication that he's about to hit the barn!

Purple Porpoise Poetry

Pertaining to the previous post...

I’ll paint a pretty picture of a playful purple porpoise

Then I’ll pen a piece of poetry precisely for the purpose

Of pointing out his parabolic pirouettes prolific

As he plunges his proboscis in the placid blue Pacific

(phew!)

Purple Porpoise

Today I received a request for a purple porpoise. If there are any other ideas you'd like me to try, add it to the comments or send me an email.

DC

Quick question - What do Batman, the nation's capital city and this post have in common?

Answer - Batman is a creation of DC comics, the capital is Washington, D.C., and DC is the Roman numeral for 600!

Happy 600th blog post!

Logic Fail

Today is both National Relaxation Day and National Failures Day.  Both of those holidays combined perfectly with actual events today, successfully resulting in this little poem. Drat.

Today is the day we’re supposed to relax

But I didn’t know that and that’s why my back’s

All achy and sore cause I strained it while mowing

I failed at relaxing but now that I’m knowing

Today there’s another obscure holiday

A day just for failures, which leads me to say

If I failed at relaxing by working outside

Should my failure be viewed as a small source of pride

Or should I be angry or feeling this tense

I succeeded at failing, which doesn’t make sense

Cause when I succeed it negates the day’s failing

I’ve then failed to fail - oh, it sets the mind wailing

Regardless, a winner or failure instead

My back’s still in pain, so I’m going to bed

Zen Brush

Today I got to take my mother-in-law to the eye doctor. While sitting in the waiting room, I started playing with a different drawing app than the one I normally use. This one is called Zen Brush and while it's not as full-featured as Sketchbook Pro, it does have some interesting pressure and brush effects. Here's my first zen doodle - everything except the signature was drawn with the same settings, so you can see the range of line thickness and darkness you can get from adjusting how hard you push with the stylus.

The Beast Revealed

I think I might still be suffering the aftereffects of last night's encounter with the cricket. I keep seeing visions of the monster every time I close my eyes. As a strategy for dealing with the horror, I have decided to try drawing the foul creature, hoping to free my mind from his evil grasp. Be warned, the following image may not be suitable for the very young or those of a sensitive demeanor. Behold, the Beast!!

Facing The Beast

I am the hero of the house

A mighty lion, not a mouse

Because I saved my girls and wife

From a fate that’s fraught with strife

Specifically, an evil thing

That lived to screech and wail and sing

This vile creature got inside

Our home, upstairs, it tried to hide

So I went up to face the beast

Nervous? Yes, to say the least

I heard it screaming out its call

All the way from down the hall

I trailed it by its song of wrath

Right into the Master Bath

I closed the door, we’re both locked in

One must lose while one will win

I yanked aside the shower door

And faced the thing I’d come there for

It stared at me, a fearsome sight

Too many legs and black as night

I grappled it, quick as a wink

Before it had a chance to think

And then I wrestled it downstairs

Protecting home and wife and heirs

Out of the house, into the night

In all, a truly epic fight

I left it there, my task completed

I, the victor, him, defeated

And that’s how I became the hero

Daddy - one, the cricket - zero

Back To School

Another quick sketch, this time for everyone who is going back to school (or sending someone else there!)

Hungry Like The Wolf

Another quick sketch tonight, this time to celebrate both National S'mores Day AND National Duran Duran Appreciation Day!

Challenge Accepted

Today I was perusing my mom's blog when I came across an entry from about a week ago. In it, she was writing about taking her car in for repairs after a hit and run left a big black streak on her driver side door (you can read the original post by clicking this link!) Anyway, what really attracted my attention was her desire to write an ode to her old car (a Buick Rendezvous) and her new, temporary rental (a Nissan Versa). She was not able to come up with anything (probably because she wanted to write something good). I, however, have no problem writing complete rubbish, so here's my attempt:

Well, the hit and run coulda been worse-a

Though it mighta caused my mom to curse-a

When her old Rendezvous

Got a new dent or two

She ended up driving a Versa

The Brothers Wong

When you want paint that’s bright and strong

Go buy it from the Brothers Wong

Their paint shop is the best, it’s true

With every color, every hue

So since I had to paint my door

I headed over to their store

When I arrived, to my surprise

A million colors met my eyes

I looked around and up ahead

I saw a thousand shades of red

Yellow paints stretched out of sight

When I looked over to my right

And to the left it seemed to me

The blue paints spread out like the sea

Then through a pair of double doors

A lift to all the other floors

A floor devoted just to green

A hundred types of tangerine

And teals and lavenders and tans

Just like a giant box of crayons

So I thought, “Great! This has to be

The place that has the paint for me!”

Then off I went, searched high and low,

Front to back, and to and fro,

I looked until I thought I’d faint

But still I couldn’t find my paint

So after searching all day long

I went and told the elder Wong

“I’d like to make my door much brighter

Like eggshell, but a little lighter.”

He paused, then sadly told me “No”

And so I asked his younger bro

“Do you have ivory, maybe cream,

Or something like a cloudy dream?’

The younger brother shook his head

And then the older brother said,

“There is one color, sad, but true,

Impossible for us to do

Although we’ve tried with all our might
Two Wongs can never make a white!”

Lighthouse

Happy National Lighthouse Day!

The Window Saga, Part 1 - The Order

This morning we hosted a guest

He said that his windows were best

So we ordered a set

In a month we will get

All new glass, and I hope we’re impressed

We’re getting a new sliding door

Plus double hung windows - ten more

But the one that’s most fun

Is the kitchen sink one

It’s a garden type that we adore

(Here are some pictures of garden windows like we'll get in the kitchen. These are from this website - http://windowworldtx.com/products/category/garden - although we're getting ours from a different company.)

Good Luck Rosetta

In March, 2004, the European Space Agency launched a probe called Rosetta to rendezvous with a comet. Tomorrow, after more than 10 years, it will arrive. What's really exciting about this mission is that it's designed to fly right alongside the comet as it approaches the sun and becomes increasingly active, instead of just doing a quick flyby. Additionally, in November of this year it will release a small lander to actually touch down on the surface of the comet. Here's wishing them the best of luck.

Chocolate Chip Day

Hey everybody, it's National Chocolate Chip Day! Here to help celebrate is Chocolate Chip himself! So go, celebrate, make cookies (not while he's watching!) and if you have any extra, feel free to send them my way!

Cleaning the Garage

Petrified paint and some not-so-cool coolers

A pile of leaves like some horrid corsage

Spiders and crickets and yardsticks and rulers

That’s what you find when you clean the garage

Clearing out cobwebs and sweeping the edges

Working so hard that I need a massage

A thing that whacks weeds and a thing that trims hedges

That’s what you find when you clean the garage

Electrical cables and too many jump ropes

All tangled up like a rainbow collage

Frisbees and sleds and a sack full of Dove soaps

That’s what you find when you clean the garage

Now that it’s done and the dust and the trouble

Has faded away like a desert mirage

Order and peace has emerged from the rubble

That’s what you find when you clean the garage

(can you guess what we did this afternoon?)

Robo Parrot

While looking through websites today, a pop up window blocked part of the background window. In the background was an ad with a guy wearing a hard hat, but when blocked the top of the hat looked like a weird robot bird head to me. Of course, once I finished sketching the head, I had to add the rest of it....

Rocket Science Ice Cream

Today while in old Nappanee

Found a place that you really must see

They take sweet, flavored goo

Liquid Nitrogen, too

And made ice cream as good as can be

(It's called Rocket Science Ice Cream - click here for more info)