Monday, July 27, 2015

Stories, Stories, and More Stories!

I awoke to a cloudy, humid morning. It looked like it may have rained last night or early this morning (my porch was very wet), but by the time I was up and around, the precipitation was long gone. I had a quick breakfast while watching a couple of summer-themed shorts. Mickey and Minnie enjoy a summer of vaudeville acts, hand-cranked cars, and old-fashioned melodrama in one of my favorite later color Mickey shorts, "The Nifty Nineties."

Did some Max & Ruby while getting ready for work. "Max's Froggy Friend" wants to join Max and Ruby for tea. Ruby keeps trying to tell her brother froggies and tea parties don't mix. Froggy keeps following them anyway.

"Max's Music" is a bit different than his sister's. Ruby, Valerie, and Louise want to play as a trio, but it's Max who helps them harmonize.

"Max Gets Wet" when he tries to use the hose to fill his pool. Ruby would rather the hose be used to give her garden a drink. Ruby's the one who comes up with a solution that makes everyone - including her garden - happy.

Work was the same as it has been - off and on steady. During the down times, I worked on yet another Remember WENN fanfiction idea. This one has some real potential to become a big thing. It'll be my second, darker WENN fantasy story and possibly my second novel-length WENN story. During the mid-third season, Betty has to come up with a fantasy-based show for a new sponsor. As usual with Betty, her own problems keep intruding.

The show becomes the tale of a peasant woman (Betty) who has to save her home when it's on the verge of being devoured by the Shadow Realm and its King of Darkness (Pruitt). Its real king has vanished, and the warrior prince who had been defending the land in his place was proved to be a fraud. As the peasant explores the land, she encounters many creatures and strange beings who offer to help her. Her greatest ally is a mysterious black-haired stranger who only appears in the darkness and stays in the shadows, following her and protecting her from the evil King and his minions. Among those minions is another mysterious figure with a long face and thinning brown hair, one who can only stay in the light...

I definitely want to finish my current Scott "Snow White" story and do the Betty "Little Mermaid" story next. I've learned my lesson about not finishing things. I may start this one after the Betty mermaid story and wait on Hilary's "Beauty and the Beast" and the two Victor stories, Captain Victor, Man of Power and his King Arthur fairy tale, until the fall.

My relief was nearly late, which meant I was nearly late when I got out. It was a bit sunnier when I got out, not really that hot, but very humid. Thankfully, it looked like the rain had remained at bay. It was perfectly dry when I finally rode home.

Called Mom and Dad when I got in. I hadn't talked to anyone on their side of the family in a while. Dad's still recovering from his knee surgery, and it sounds like he and Mom are driving each other crazy being stuck at home together. And they are stuck. Mom revealed why we've been so dead lately. I was right - everyone did go to the Shore. The roads in Cape May County have apparently been a nearly impassable mess. They haven't been hit with nearly as much rain as we have. The rain that'll pour on us for a half-hour keeps rolling by them. Mom's been busying herself making pinafores and dresses for her new granddaughter Lilah. She was working on a pinafore as we talked. What she really wants to do is go back to the Ferry, but she used up all her hours for the year and might not get back until January.

Worked a little bit on Scott White and the Seven Actors after I let Mom go. Pruitt's incensed that Jeff and Mackie were able to chase his men off and save Scott. He decides to employ a more subtle method of disposing of his unwanted stepson. He recruits his secretary Miss Cosgrave to dress as a peddler selling combs...including one with poison on it...

Pan-fried some cod, onions, and tomatoes, then sliced the cod into strips for fish tacos for dinner. Watched an episode of Garfield and Friends while enjoying my meal. Garfield, Jon, and Odie hit the road for these two first-season tales. Cactus Jake, the old-fashioned cowboy, appears in his first of five episodes on the show, "Polecat Flats," in the first story. Jon and Garfield are visiting a dude ranch, mainly to impress women. The girls aren't impressed when the ranch's owner Cactus Jake keeps teasing Jon over his fancy outfits and city slicker ways. Garfield uses a wild horse to make Jake look even more foolish.

"Brain Boy" is the son of a very boring cousin of Jon's. Garfield would rather eat raisins than spend the afternoon with this bratty mad scientist. He makes his robots and machines attack the two pets, then whines that the animals ruined his machines. Garfield finally finds a way to turn the tables on him.

Orson the Pig also turns the tables on a bully in "Hogules." Orson is terrified when Roy reveals that his brothers are coming to visit. Orson's brothers are obnoxious bullies who pick on him and wreck havoc whenever they're around. Inspired by the Greek myths he was reading Booker and Sheldon, Orson finds a way to turn the tables on his brothers and scare them into thinking he's every bit as strong as the warrior in the stories.

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