Shark Bait
This is the week Al The Web Guy, Coco the
Pomeranian and I were all supposed to pile into
the car and take a road trip from Denver to San
Diego. However, when Al came down with a serious
staph infection in his knee, it was decided that
I should fly out for a short visit and postpone
the road trip until Al The Web Guy is over his
infection. He’s definitely on the mend, but
still not over it completely. We will reschedule
when he’s better.
I flew out to help celebrate my parents’ 64th
wedding anniversary and Mother’s Day. Married 64
years? It sounds impossible and I can hardly
believe it’s been that long. My three brothers
and their wives were there along with some other
relatives and friends.
My parents are in their eighties and my Mom is
using a walker at the moment. She broke her foot
several weeks ago and has one of those “boots” on
her foot to keep it stable. No kidding, I had to
jog to keep up with her as she zoomed around with
that thing. Now she tells me she’s enrolling in
a Spanish class in a few months.
My Dad and I had a long talk about times past. I
sat on my bed in my own room in the house I grew
up in, but he likes to stand and stand he did,
for almost two hours straight without a break
while we talked.
Some cousins, including Dr. Mike
(anesthesiologist) from Las Vegas, were at the
anniversary dinner. You may already know Mike as
the photographer for the Animals and Fish album
at www.fromthecockpit.com/gallery. During
dinner, he asked my brothers, their wives and me
if we would be interested in joining a small
group for a behind-the-scenes tour of Sea World
the next day and we accepted. It’s been many
decades since my brothers and I have done
anything together, other than meeting at various
family reunions and celebrations over the years.
It’s funny how flying has permeated so much of my
life. Our first stop with our Sea World guide
was at the sea turtles area, and I immediately
thought of the sea turtles often present at dusk
just in front of the Sheraton Hotel on Waikiki
Beach. You don’t need to be in the water to see
them as they swim right up to the sea wall.
Every time I’m in Honolulu for the night, I do
four things: Go to the beach to swim, eat ice
cream, go back to the beach at dusk to see the
sunset and sea turtles, and eat more ice cream.
(There are two Baskin Robbins right at the beach
and I feel obligated to visit them both.)
When our Sea World guide, Pete, talked about
whales and their migration from Alaska to Baja
California, I thought of seeing them from our
living room window in the house I grew up in,
where my parents still live. I also thought
about the time I saw them in their breeding
ground at Scammons Lagoon in Baja California when
I was flying a commuter flight in Mexico. I
recounted this experience in “The World At My
Feet” in the chapter called “Buzzard? What
Buzzard?”
When we got to the dolphins, my mind instantly
flashed back to the day I auditioned to be a
“Seamaid” at Sea World in the early seventies.
The dolphin trainer was too young to have been
around when “Charlie Tuna’s Underwater Theater”
was still in existence, but she knew about it and
the “Seamaids” who had performed there. I wrote
about this experience in the chapter called
“Wanted: Dolphin Rider.” Although I was called
back after the audition, college and flying
occupied so much of my time I had to decline the
job, but I still had the thrill of having a swim
with the dolphins as part of my interview. I
don’t know what the dolphins thought, but it was
certainly a memorable experience for me.
My brothers and I competed for witty remarks
throughout the tour, but it was almost impossible
to get a rise out of our guide, Pete, who was
young and a little too serious. His only smile
was when we were in an underground area looking
at the bat-rays and I suggested they rename the
facility the “Bat Cave.” That he liked.
In the aquarium, we were visiting the Giant
Octopus while Pete explained there had been some
mysterious fish disappearances in this facility.
Sea World, wanting to discover who was making off
with the fish from their aquarium at night,
installed a video camera for after-hours. They
suspected an inside job.
Well, they were right, but it wasn’t what they
thought. It wasn’t an employee making off with
their exotic fish. Instead, the videotape
revealed it was the octopus, sneaking over the
partition into the neighboring tanks for a
midnight snack. When the wall was raised so she
couldn’t climb over, she reached a tentacle or
two over the side and snagged herself some fish
that way.
They finally put in an even more secure partition
that was presumably even higher and had a lock on
it. I always refer to an octopus as an
“octopussycat,” which of course would make this
octopussycat burglar. (Okay, that’s a stretch
but I don’t have a lot to work with here.)
The name of this Update stems from the following
photo, so have a look.
http://www.fromthecockpit.com/gallery/displayimage.php?album=33&pos=11
There are lots of new additions to the photo
gallery in general this week, including one in
the Cap’n Meryl & Friends album of reader Jim
Boyes about to jump off a cliff in San Diego
(strapped to a hang glider). There is also a new
addition to the “Sky Ladies” album of a pretty
young lady named Shelby. She was afraid to fly
not very long ago. Now she’s enamored of flying,
has gotten proficient on a flight simulator her
Mom gave her last Christmas, and has decided she
wants to be a pilot. Go figure.
There is now a brand new album called “Sea World,
San Diego.” The easiest way to see all the
newest photos is to click here, and be sure to
click on the individual photos to see the
captions.
http://www.fromthecockpit.com/gallery/thumbnails.php?album=lastup&cat=0
The new photos end on page 3 when you get to the
picture of Shelby.
Pomeranian and I were all supposed to pile into
the car and take a road trip from Denver to San
Diego. However, when Al came down with a serious
staph infection in his knee, it was decided that
I should fly out for a short visit and postpone
the road trip until Al The Web Guy is over his
infection. He’s definitely on the mend, but
still not over it completely. We will reschedule
when he’s better.
I flew out to help celebrate my parents’ 64th
wedding anniversary and Mother’s Day. Married 64
years? It sounds impossible and I can hardly
believe it’s been that long. My three brothers
and their wives were there along with some other
relatives and friends.
My parents are in their eighties and my Mom is
using a walker at the moment. She broke her foot
several weeks ago and has one of those “boots” on
her foot to keep it stable. No kidding, I had to
jog to keep up with her as she zoomed around with
that thing. Now she tells me she’s enrolling in
a Spanish class in a few months.
My Dad and I had a long talk about times past. I
sat on my bed in my own room in the house I grew
up in, but he likes to stand and stand he did,
for almost two hours straight without a break
while we talked.
Some cousins, including Dr. Mike
(anesthesiologist) from Las Vegas, were at the
anniversary dinner. You may already know Mike as
the photographer for the Animals and Fish album
at www.fromthecockpit.com/gallery. During
dinner, he asked my brothers, their wives and me
if we would be interested in joining a small
group for a behind-the-scenes tour of Sea World
the next day and we accepted. It’s been many
decades since my brothers and I have done
anything together, other than meeting at various
family reunions and celebrations over the years.
It’s funny how flying has permeated so much of my
life. Our first stop with our Sea World guide
was at the sea turtles area, and I immediately
thought of the sea turtles often present at dusk
just in front of the Sheraton Hotel on Waikiki
Beach. You don’t need to be in the water to see
them as they swim right up to the sea wall.
Every time I’m in Honolulu for the night, I do
four things: Go to the beach to swim, eat ice
cream, go back to the beach at dusk to see the
sunset and sea turtles, and eat more ice cream.
(There are two Baskin Robbins right at the beach
and I feel obligated to visit them both.)
When our Sea World guide, Pete, talked about
whales and their migration from Alaska to Baja
California, I thought of seeing them from our
living room window in the house I grew up in,
where my parents still live. I also thought
about the time I saw them in their breeding
ground at Scammons Lagoon in Baja California when
I was flying a commuter flight in Mexico. I
recounted this experience in “The World At My
Feet” in the chapter called “Buzzard? What
Buzzard?”
When we got to the dolphins, my mind instantly
flashed back to the day I auditioned to be a
“Seamaid” at Sea World in the early seventies.
The dolphin trainer was too young to have been
around when “Charlie Tuna’s Underwater Theater”
was still in existence, but she knew about it and
the “Seamaids” who had performed there. I wrote
about this experience in the chapter called
“Wanted: Dolphin Rider.” Although I was called
back after the audition, college and flying
occupied so much of my time I had to decline the
job, but I still had the thrill of having a swim
with the dolphins as part of my interview. I
don’t know what the dolphins thought, but it was
certainly a memorable experience for me.
My brothers and I competed for witty remarks
throughout the tour, but it was almost impossible
to get a rise out of our guide, Pete, who was
young and a little too serious. His only smile
was when we were in an underground area looking
at the bat-rays and I suggested they rename the
facility the “Bat Cave.” That he liked.
In the aquarium, we were visiting the Giant
Octopus while Pete explained there had been some
mysterious fish disappearances in this facility.
Sea World, wanting to discover who was making off
with the fish from their aquarium at night,
installed a video camera for after-hours. They
suspected an inside job.
Well, they were right, but it wasn’t what they
thought. It wasn’t an employee making off with
their exotic fish. Instead, the videotape
revealed it was the octopus, sneaking over the
partition into the neighboring tanks for a
midnight snack. When the wall was raised so she
couldn’t climb over, she reached a tentacle or
two over the side and snagged herself some fish
that way.
They finally put in an even more secure partition
that was presumably even higher and had a lock on
it. I always refer to an octopus as an
“octopussycat,” which of course would make this
octopussycat burglar. (Okay, that’s a stretch
but I don’t have a lot to work with here.)
The name of this Update stems from the following
photo, so have a look.
http://www.fromthecockpit.com/gallery/displayimage.php?album=33&pos=11
There are lots of new additions to the photo
gallery in general this week, including one in
the Cap’n Meryl & Friends album of reader Jim
Boyes about to jump off a cliff in San Diego
(strapped to a hang glider). There is also a new
addition to the “Sky Ladies” album of a pretty
young lady named Shelby. She was afraid to fly
not very long ago. Now she’s enamored of flying,
has gotten proficient on a flight simulator her
Mom gave her last Christmas, and has decided she
wants to be a pilot. Go figure.
There is now a brand new album called “Sea World,
San Diego.” The easiest way to see all the
newest photos is to click here, and be sure to
click on the individual photos to see the
captions.
http://www.fromthecockpit.com/gallery/thumbnails.php?album=lastup&cat=0
The new photos end on page 3 when you get to the
picture of Shelby.
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