True Confessions - The Great Flamingo Caper

Okay, It's time to come clean about Flo, Mingo and CoCo. As I said in the last post we had acquired them which is true, just sort of in a misdemeanor kind of way.

First of all, I want to go on the record right here that I had nothing to do with it. It was all Margo. I'm going to sing like a bird right here all over the internet for immunity from prosecution.

Here's how it went down. Our good friends (well, maybe not so "good" anymore) Dawn and Ted left on vacation a few weeks back to visit family in Pennsylvania. This is the same Dawn and Ted who had our back when we blew out a tire on LuLu coming back from Orlando earlier in the year. We've been to their house many times for parties and holidays. They've always welcomed us with open arms so it really is hard to stomach what Margo has done to the friendship. She has coveted their yard flamingos for a long time and was just waiting for the time to be right to take them for herself. Did I say I had nothing to do with this? Okay, just making sure.

After we were sure they were gone we brazenly pulled right into the driveway and commenced to thieving. Flo and Mingo were first in the car trunk, then CoCo. They didn't put up a fight or make any noise - probably because they're plastic and in CoCo's case made from a dead coconut. Just as we were getting ready to make our getaway their neighbor Bill pulled in behind the car, blocking the car with his pick up truck. At first he didn't recognize what was happening. He was just doing what a good neighbor would do by checking on things. We were caught red handed. Margo gave me a look of "should we take him out?" I gave her a look of "hell no, he probably has a gun."

After explaining to him what was up, and after he recognized us, we folded him into the plot. Ironically during this conversation Ted called him from the road to check on things. They talked for a bit and Ted was assured that all was well. That Bill is smooth I'll tell ya.



Anyway, the rest is history. I posted the blog post introducing our new friends and all was well. Unfortunately I failed to realize a few of things. Number one, Dawn is a regular reader of the blog and recognized her beloved birds when she saw the post. Number two, we know a really good defense attorney in town that could help us out of this mess but Dawn happens to be his paralegal.  Lastly, three, I think Ted knows some guys that could make us disappear very quietly.

We're going to give them back and hopefully the friendship will be able to be repaired. We're gotten some new flamingos to replace them, this time legitimately, paid for and everything. They arrived the other day after leaving the great plastic flamingo breeding grounds at Amazon.com. They've taken the first Flo and Mingo's place at the hitch and will do just as good a job of classing up the various places we visit.

So there ya go. If charges are filed and the heat arrives I'll be putting up a PayPal link for bail money.  Give generously.

UPDATE:  Apparently once Dawn and Ted arrived home and discovered the missing birds Dawn immediately ran to Facebook and set up a hotline for information on the return of their birds.  She even offered a 57 cent reward for their return thinking they had been kidnapped.  May I go on the record to say it was certainly not a kidnapping 'cause that's a felony -  it was merely a theft.  So Dawn, you can shut down your hotline.

Till next time.

Meet Florence and Domingo

Plastic pink flamingos and Airstreams just go together. Everyone knows that. But not everyone knows why. Well, through the miracle of copy and paste technology I can tell you the following from the Smithsonian Magazine.

"First designed in 1957, the fake birds are natives not of Florida but of Leominster, Massachusetts, which bills itself as the Plastics Capital of the World. At a nearby art school, sculptor Don Featherstone was hired by the plastics company Union Products, where his second assignment was to sculpt a pink flamingo. No live models presented themselves, so he unearthed a National Geographic photo spread. It took about two weeks to model both halves of the bird, brought into the third dimension by then-revolutionary injection-mold technology. A flamingo-friendly trend was the sameness of post-World War II construction. Units in new subdivisions sometimes looked virtually identical. “You had to mark your house somehow,” Featherstone says. “A woman could pick up a flamingo at the store and come home with a piece of tropical elegance under her arm to change her humdrum house.” Also, “people just thought it was pretty,” adds Featherstone’s wife, Nancy."

That's the basic story. The relationship with Airstreams and flamingos is simply the symbiotic partnership of two examples of Americana that went well together. Sales of the plastic bird slowed for a while but then "Miami Vice" came along with their oh so awesome intro and the rest is history.

We've had LuLu for almost a year now and have made some improvements - tires, interior decorating changes etc., and felt it was time to get us some birds - so we acquired these. You'll have to wait for a future blog post to learn the details of the acquisition but let's just say that Flo and Mingo, plus Mingo's sister CoCo, who is visiting from Miami, decided to come with us. Yes, Margo, who I have mentioned before names EVERYTHING, came up with the monikers for our simulated feathered friends.

Henceforth from today they will travel with us so that we may class up the various RV parks, state parks and national parks we plan to stay at. We'll have to be careful in bear country but otherwise they will maintain station at LuLu's hitch - or thereabouts.

Till next time.

Lake City Dog Show

Hello friends.

I've gotta tell ya about the Lake City dog show. Last weekend I set up the green screen booth and went to the dogs again. I know, I know.  I said on the last post that I wasn't going to do another dog show but I had paid my booth fees for Lake City before I went to Deland so was invested. These kennel clubs insist on early payment. Makes sense though. They want to know in advance how many vendors are going to attend.

Friday evening. Before the show.

Partial set up Friday evening. Night prior to show.

This was a little different set up though. My booth fee included RV space rental. Even better, my space was right behind my booth. Oh, what a difference to have LuLu right behind me. My own well stocked fridge, all my stuff and my own bathroom. I'll spare you the story of the Deland Fairgrounds toilet that wasn't bolted down..... this is a family blog.

As I suspected though the timing issues repeated themselves. This was a two day show so on Saturday I talked to a lot of show dog owners that didn't have their dogs. As in Deland most were in the custody of the handlers. They really loved the idea and promised to come back on Sunday. And they did - all at once. Sunday afternoon was non-stop, three deep at times, but, as in Deland, I lost a lot of people that just didn't want to wait. Also, come 4 o'clock when the cheers went up for best in show it cleared out in a matter of minutes. I looked up and the RV parking lot was empty and they were moving in to take down the tents.

I'm glad I went though. I met my expenses and made a profit. My web site sales were brisk this week and I saw a lot of people I had seen in Deland (repeat customers - go figure). Best of all I had some incredible neighbors. Glenn and Paula operate a sharpening business and do the show circuit. There's a lot of dog grooming at a dog show, a lot of groomers, and a lot of dull clippers and scissors. On the other side was Karen who carries a full line of conditioners, shampoos and other magical potions that the discerning show dog owner has to have. Evenings were spent over a beer dodging Glenns humongous Standard Poodles (missiles actually) as they intentionally ran full speed with full intent to take out a knee. Sadly Glenn and Paula's pizza dinner got taken out by one of the missiles in their RV while everyone else was outside.

So the real verdict is in. Dog shows - long hot days with sporadic sales until the very end then too much of a good thing but a really nice common denominator of incredibly friendly and enthusiastic people. I was shaking my head at some of them but it's like anything, hobbies grow legs sometimes and get real serious - this one grows 4.

We headed back down I-75 to Ocala Sun Resort late Sunday night in a gully washer of a rain storm. Another new experience for me. Obviously I've driven in rain but never towing a 6,000 pound Airstream. Although not the most comfortable experience I have to say that she was more stable then I thought she would be. I wasn't comfortable stopping so just kept a lot of space open ahead and all was well.

I'll be doing some local shows and such this month and next but this should be it for the photo journal. I think everyone understands the photo biz now but if you want more I'll offer a shameless plug - check out my business web site at kcartwrightphotography.com and see some of the work from the shows.

Till next time.