“Grizzly” Adam “Wipeout” James goes Nationwide-kind of-Viral

adamsfin

My daughter, Dru, in Chicago, hepped me, last night, to my friend Adam Wipeout appearing in a national video put out by “Rolling Stone.” Whoa!

I just spent some time this morning checking out the Harley-Davidson-sponsored video, with Clint Carter trying some oysters in Seattle, then motorcycling to the wilds of the Olympic Peninsula to check out where they came from.

Hence, Adam, looking a little more grizzly than the last time I saw him.  There were others in the video, including his sister, Lissa, and… forgot his name, the plant manager; but Adam’s the guy out in the middle of the night on the tide flats. And, yeah; with him complaining about his knees slowing down his surfing lately, I did take not of a sort of painful-looking crouch-down-stand-up on his part.

Anyway, Dru; when I should have been halfway to a job, called. She tried to explain how to put a link to the video on my Facebook page, though I really wanted to put it on realsurfers. Either she ran out of patience or actually didn’t have the time; and I’m actually, as almost always, really supposed to be somewhere else, painting; but the net result is… no, it’s not here.

BUT it is out there.

Maybe you should look up “Rolling Stone,” “Harley Davidson videos,” or hama hama oysters on Facebook, or friend up with Adam James. Pick the right Adam James; there seem to be others. The correct Adam is the one with the big brown Grizzly Adams beard who lives on Surf Route 101.  It’s not like he doesn’t have enough friends, but… he and the whole Hama Hama Oyster Company need to go viral.  Viral-er.

AND, just to explain, the photo  is one Adam sent me of his midnight, low tide expedition to find a fin he’d lost at high tide.

Catching the Sun

I’d like do (almost said create) drawings that look simple. Simple is hard.

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It is odd that I finish two drawings in two days. I thought I should put this one out there before I decide to do more to it. I can’t make it simpler. Please read/check out yesterday’s blog/rant, and thanks, as always, for checking out realsurfers.

Under the Brow

Somewhere between waking up a little later than I had planned, trying to get up the energy and necessary excitement level to drive to a job I have to (HAVE TO) get completed before Monday, that project twenty miles out on a (relatively) wilderness peninsula; somewhat after I stepped in cat barf (easily detected with bare feet), had to deal with the same cat’s (Snickerdoodle’s) latest incredibly, unbearably stinky crap (each installment demanding instant removal from the litter box and the house), made a pot of coffee for today’s thermos full, microwaved a cup of yesterday’s leftover, turned on the light in the art/breakfast nook, found the magazine and the photo I would use as reference, then…

…oh, yeah, then I decided, after getting fresh boxers and socks for today from the laundry room, that I could actually use the Seahawks shirt I had worn, yesterday, for Blue Friday, but hadn’t worn to paint in; fresh enough; so I set the magazine and (I think) my drawing/computer eyeglasses on top of the stuff on top of the heater near the door I went out to retrieve my shirt. This particular pair of cheaters is too strong for watching TV (or for walking around), but perfect for making a lot of lines make sense. Some sense.

I looked. Couldn’t find them. Got a flashlight, dug around under the piano and the heater, retraced my steps. Gave up. The clock is ticking. Got to get to work.

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This is drawn with my painting (trim-cutting mostly) glasses, a few specks on the lenses. It’s not an excuse, it’s an explanation.

MEANWHILE, I got some new earplugs. I’ve been using these orange-ish waxy plugs purchased at Walmart, but, if I wipe out enough times, I always seem to lose one. Then I rip the other one in half. Then, as happened this week, I might lose one of those. If I don’t wear earplugs I will get one ear or the other plugged up. It’s not always immediate, but this last time I lost hearing in my right ear before I made it home. This deafness is quite irritating to people (Trish mostly) who think I should hear what they’re saying.

It’s also quite irritating to me, constantly trying to clear the ear, dealing with that drop of the ocean caught between the bone growth (diagnosed when I was 20 year old) that has been narrowing my ear canals, and my ear drum. Slosh, slosh, clearness, hey… replugged. Silence. “What?” I’m constantly snapping my fingers next to my ear, checking.

AFTER googling ‘surfers’ ear’, it seems like the best solution is surgery. Drilling or chisling. NOOOOOOooo! WELL, we ordered and received some new plugs, seemingly identical (except for the strap connecting the two) to the ones endorsed by Tom Carroll, but cheaper from Ebay, possibly because of the lack of his endorsement. I’ve checked them out, can’t wait to use them.

MY HOPE is I don’t find my drawing glasses the same way I found Snicky’s barf. Cruncccccccchhh.

ADDITIONALLY, because it seems to be a deal, with attacks from the tweeter-in-chief; it seems like everyone should take a note from the Seattle area high school football team that took a knee during the national anthem. This shows no disrespect, and, in fact, probably shows more respect for what our country stands for (I won’t add ‘allegedly’, ‘historically,’ or ‘supposedly’- for the sake of not arguing), while noting that social inequality is real. Really.

New Age Dawn Patrol with Malmsted Dreever

These are the first pages of a… I don’t want to say comic book, not quite a graphic novel. Okay, my graphic short story of an older guy going to… hey, it needs to tell itself; and, no, I wanted the Malmsted character to be someone other than me.

Image (212)Image (213)Image (214)…and there’s more. Coming. Soon. Will Malmsted make it back to his room before… will his desire to surf overcome his complete lack of actual experience in the actual ocean? Will he rule the lineup? Why did I draw him with a mustache AND a soul patch?

 

 

Headed Home on Labor Day…

…after, and it’s a tradition I’ve managed to keep, working. On this day celebrating, supposedly, labor and laborers, but, really, the end of summer, I was sweating, trying to finish up the painting of trim and cabinets in the last of five quite low-brow, if not low-rent apartments in Bremerton.

Along with the heat (I would have given the apartments a higher rating if there was any sign of air conditioning- one didn’t actually have power- extension cords provided me with a fan, radio, and a light), there was smoke from various fires.

Because I’ve been working in a city, Trish and I have been enjoying the benefits of the variety of fast food restaurants not available on the Olympic Peninsula, at least not in our neighborhood. On this day it was Popeye’s. Trish loves the jambalaya (hmmm- spell checked, I’d have spelled it jUmbalaya).

Wearing my go-to and go-home shirt rather than my sweated-through shirt, I made note, when I called Trish to confirm Popeye’s and I actually got her order right, that the sun, low over our Olympics, was red; and, unlike the recent solar eclipse, one could pretty much look right at it.

Now, whether there are waves on the coast or not, I know there are none on the Strait; but, still, I make note when I pass vehicles with surfboards on top. As the grimy darkness deepened, the three-day weekend crowd headed back to civilization, the increasing brightness seemed, straight on then out the side, flying by, seemed to suggest something on top of every vehicle.

It has been said that angels don’t actually have wings. It’s the glow, the halo effect that makes it seem as if they do.

I don’t know. I know we look for angels.

Here are some images. I’ll put them together later, something more, hopefully, meaningful. Right now I should be headed back to Bremerton, hoping I don’t get hung up by a bridge opening. Today is forecast to be hotter than yesterday. I have to finish up this job. Carpet layers are waiting. Apartments need to be rented.

MELISSA horses w drawingimages180szakat_nad_gornim_ozerom_1024nBlood-red-moon-total-lunar-eclipse-over-Namibia-Reserve

On the last segment of my drive, I could see the rising moon, almost full, and equally as red as the sun had been.  I’ll check the buoys one last time before I go, looking for…