Monday, July 4, 2016

The Tomaso Files: Sum-Sum-Summertime means Jets, Doggies and lots of Noise...




No Fenders scribe Tomaso with one of his favourite FURR-Rocious lap Hoonds, Thy Mad Molly somewheres' upon the Oregon coast. (The Tomaso Collection)
Kurr-razy Kat Tomaso's been away, whilst thee upstairs Mice have definitely been super busy playin here in Nofendersville...'

As this is a story 'bout Sum-Sum-Summertime... When we collectively pile Shrimp on thou Barbie, after pouring Gynormous amounts 'O lighter fluid upon mountainous creations 'O black charcoal briquettes; Yada-yada-yada...

Ah, Thy life of a semi-reclusive 'Vurd Botcherer, eh? As it's my favourite time 'O year. When I fortunately get Thy chance to step far, far away from Thy A-L-L consuming Confuzer's keyboard and sniff some fresh air!

alas, I've been Out 'N Aboat, albeit I definitely prefer Out 'N Aboot; Hya! But thanxs to Hoser Marky Mark for the correction this past Memorial Day weekend, which like always, is another story Ah-waitin' being lit...

Having traipsed near & far, as "I've gone Everywhere!" From Thy City of Destiny, to  Marrowstone Island, Hood Canal & Seabeck. To Indy and lastly thee Other Florence 'N back again...

As that type 'O chatter, or should I-T be Chaff? As how ironic that this year's Flyover at Thy Magnanimous 100th running of thee Indy 500 was 50% comprised by our very own (Naval Air Station's) NAS Whidbey Island obnoxiously L-O-U-D Electronic Warfare EA-18G "Growler" Super Hornets; GRRR-GROWL!

Whilst this type 'O talk of travelin' contextually makes me always think of RUSh lyricist Neil Peart's travelin' song from Vapor Trails...

VIDEO: RUSh - Ghost Rider, live

But it's been a wondrous; Err hectic 'N busy  past few months now! Hence the recent reduction somewhat of No Fenders BLOB' Posts lately. Which probably will continue awhile longer now that we're into Thy Heart 'O Summertime...

Locales
  • Fort Flagler
  • Mother Speedway
  • Thy Other Florence

And Y'all know the Drill, that I'm a really S-L-O-W typer, hence I'll just focus solely upon the first summer outing, which feels like an eternity now, having occurred back upon the week of May 9-14, when Mary Ellen & Co. went camping at Washington's Fort Flagler State Park situated upon Marrowstone Island as part of the past Triangle 'O Fire conceived to protect Admiralty Inlet's passage to the then just completed Bremerton Naval Shipyard.

As Fort Flagler, along with Fort Worden and Fort Casey made up the three Forts used to triangulate would-be surface invasion of said body of water with Fort Flagler coming online in 1897! Staying in service until being decommissioned in 1953 and fortunately sold as surplus for a nominal fee to the Washington State Parks system.


Trippin' Down Memory Lane, as a 'Wee lad some four decades ago, I'd spent multiple summers frolicking about Fort Flagler's grounds, especially exploring the Off limits underground bunkers, which naturally A-L-L young teenager boys do, right?

Having camped outdoors for two nights in our newly purchased Pop-up tent did little to rekindle my lost memories, although back then I think we were confined to primitive Bunk beds, which surely weren't nearly as comfortable as my "Super Cot!"

Electing this time to not allow Mad Molly and Thy Pixolator to try impelling themselves upon the Industrial strength Cot's sidebars - which are just a Schosh too HIGH for those FURR-Rocious lap Hoonds to clear, as I can still hear Molly going THUNK from last time!

THUNK!


We walked upon the beach, for which Fort Flagler's is fairly flat and mostly devoid of any objects for your visually impaired Word Butcher to encounter. And then I did the unusual the following day upon our Walkabout down the middle of the island, as Mary Ellen had chosen the State Park purposely due to it having acres of slowly rolling hard packed dirt access roads for Mwah to Walkabout upon...

Having volunteered to carry thee 'Ol Hoond Molly (whose approximately 16yrs old) in Tacoma Bureau Chief Mary Ellen's "special" Doggy Backpack, which I wouldn't do for just any 'Ol Canine! After the prior day's comedy of Mary Ellen trying to lead two dogs wishing to go opposite directions along with me trailing behind.

As the constant stop-start-stop-start commotion of the Doggies wishing to sample every bush made me think of the Concertina effect for which 'Ol Hobbo' (David Hobbs) enjoys mentioning during various F1 races.

As I seem to always work in either a Formula 1, IndyCar or better yet both comments into some random snippet 'O conversation whenever's' Out 'N Aboot...

As I'd only done this once before, albeit briefly when we rode Mount Rainier's gondola during another summer outing, which is probably buried somewheres' here on these sprawling No Fenders pages, since after all it's totally racing related, right?

Ya Sure Yuhs Betcha!

Yet Molly seemed to enjoy the ride after initially doing a few 180's to turn around which really caused the load to shift unstably due to her extremely high CG! (Center of Gravity) Before I found myself smiling as the 'Ol Maid settled down and soon it felt like I was carrying a perfectly horizontal Presto-log! Although I had NO idea that such a slight weight totaling 15lbs approx. upon my backside would feel so heavy after just over an hour's carrying; Aye Karumba!

As I made the mistake of pointing out hearing those FREAKIN' Growler War-jets presumably practicing touch 'N goes on nearby Whidbey Island as we began our Walkabout. After which  Mary Ellen stopped above a plateau on the Hillside that led to an ancient & decrepit gun battery below, which is probably where some of those Verboten underground tunnels reside?

Yet this Grassy Noll afforded a nice view of the Northwest end of Whidbey Island and Puget Sound.


Packing up we drove over to another Childhood haunt for Mwah, towards Hood Canal and the adjoining town of Seabeck where Mary Ellen spotted a host of bird watchers checking out a Gaggle of Eagles which were looking for Dinner swimming upstream!

As we first simply checked out another unknown State Park before deciding to spend a third night Out 'N Aboot' Mark; Hooah! Before catching the Bremerton to Seattle State Ferry in order for Tomaso to return back to his frumpy 'lil Abode Justin-time to listen to the Angie's List Grand Prix via the always troublesome to navigate Indycar.com race control webpage - since I'm simply Boycotting ABC, in order to NOT hear Eddie Cheever laying any Bricks whilst building Thy Foundation; Oh Never Mind!

And then just over a week later, I'd be serenaded by my JACKALOPE upstairs neighbor Bryan's Bone Jarring, Head Bangin' THUNDER; Err Musak! Most disgustedly during the entire broadcast of the Fast-9 Shootout; URGH! Although obviously NOT as L-O-U-D as those obnoxious
EA-18G Prowler Jets!

Whilst another song from RUSh's vast archives comes to mind for reasons unknown; Hmm? Perhaps for the symmetry of its lyrics, eh?

 "The Way Out is The Way In..."