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Just as Poe and Ken were celebrating the fact that they managed to capture one of the spiders, there was an ever so slight sense of impending doom approaching...
Tuesday 31 August 2010
Uglyworld #751 - Premature Celebration (244-365)
Monday 30 August 2010
Uglyworld #750 - Has They Gone? (243-365)
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Trunko and Domo decided that it was time to stand up to those pesky spiders in the bathroom, well when I say stand up I actually mean the pair of them were to be found cowering behind a blanket about 5 meters from the bathroom door which still remained closed since last night.
Babo had earlier tasked the pair with the job of finding out the answer to his question, "Has they gone?".
"I thinks I hears one of them havings a shower", Trunko whispered to Domo who stifled a scream at the thought.
Sunday 29 August 2010
Uglyworld #749 - The Mother Of All Spiders (242-365)
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Until tonight I had never heard Turtle scream, infact I had never even seen everyone's favourite travelling turtle even give off a sniff of being scared of anything - after all he's travelled through space to get to Earth and since arriving he's tackled all manner of terrains on different continents.
After he slammed the bathroom door closed and stood quivering beside the bed for a few minutes he began to explain what had happened, "Holy hells man, there is the mothers of all spiders in the bathrooms!".
I decided that it was my duty to head in there and get rid of the spider that had frightened the life out of poor Turtle, however the second I opened the bathroom door I too jumped back out and slammed it behind me...he's damn right - that IS the mother of all spiders!!!
Uglyworld #748- Why Is We Still Heres?
I'm not sure what triggered Ralf off this morning, maybe it was the fact that by complete chance the number of my "Adventures in Uglyworld" picture from yesterday was #747.
Whatever got his mind ticking over resulting in him digging through my laptop bag to find the paperwork containing our flight details, at which point all hell broke loose as he barked and barked until the entire hotel must have been awake (which isn't necessarily a good thing when it's early on a Sunday morning when it happens).
The little guys all went into a "teams huddle" as they like to call it, I've long since learned that when they do this they REALLY don't want me to be listening in to their conversation so I let them continue while watching intently from the bed.
Babo was (as normal) quickly determined to be the spokesperson of the group, and he purposely strode over to the couch, sat down and shouted over to me, "We needs to talks, NOW!". I wandered over to the couch and sat down beside Babo waiting for whatever had sparked off such a crazy Sunday morning.
"We flied here on the sixteens of julys, corrects?", to which I nodded my head at Babo's first line of interogation. "We was to be heres for 6 weekies, corrects?", as I began nodding my head the realisation of what had caused the madness started to sink in. "Then when my maths skills is goods, which I knows they is, that would means that we would be homes in Aachen this mornings, so why is we still in Oregons?".
Having just found out a couple of days ago that I would need to extend my stay by "at least" another 2 weeks, the madness of my day job and coming back extremely late to the hotel meant that I hadn't spread this news to the rest of the gang, and rightfully so they were now up in arms at this development.
"It's nots like we dont likes it here, but we wants to gets back to Aachens to sees the rest of our families and Mireille especiallies, as she has to makes us new clothes for the winters which comes soons". All I could do was apologise to the little guys and explained to them that we're currently staying through until September the 11th (I cringed when I saw that date come through for my planned return flight), but that our stay could end up being extended further all depending on how things go with work in the next 2 weeks.
Babo wanted some form of "golden handshakes" for having to go back and explain the reason for their extended stay to the rest of the gang, so I told them that they should consult Turtle as to where they would like to go next weekend (as with the holiday Monday we have the chance to go a little further than we have already while out here). Babo said that it was the "minimums offer he expecteds" and that I "musts be on your bests behaviours from now ons, or elses there will be troubles".
Needless to say I'm just about to take everyone along to Starbucks for some drinks and cookies.
Saturday 28 August 2010
Uglyworld #747- Saturday Night Pizza (241-365)
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Gordon was loving his first Saturday Night Pizza with the rest of the gang after the weekend started off badly with the original plans to head off exploring somewhere new being scuppered due to me having to work most of the day.
Thankfully after supplying Babo with loads of cookies he kept everyone else entertained until I finally got back to the hotel at the back of 10pm tonight (armed with some "Saturday night pizza").
Gordon said, "Is reallies tasty, I nevered has pizzas befores, but loves them now".
Friday 27 August 2010
Uglyworld #746- What Times Do You Calls This? (240-365)
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Little Babo didn't seem too impressed with me staggering home at 11pm this evening after leaving for work at 7am.
"What times do you calls this" he sleepily asked me as I tip-toe'd into the room, "I had to makes dinners for everyones and you didn't even calls to say you will be lates!".
He had me bang to rights with that, I suppose this is going to cost me a whole load of cash in cookie weight!
Thursday 26 August 2010
Uglyworld #745 - Where's Babo? (239-365)
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It looks like Babo's past may finally be catching up with him, at poor Icy's expense today...
Wednesday 25 August 2010
Uglyworld #744 - I Trained Him (238-365)
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After the revelations that Babo shared with me back in July about him being a secret agent back on Uglyworld I've been waiting for him to share some more of his background with me and in turn with all of you.
Last weekend I had finished yet another book (this time it was the action thriller "Adrenaline" by Jeff Abbott) so I had been thinking of what book I could pick up to read next. While wandering around the local Target store Babo found and delivered me the next book I would read.
I've previously read all of Robert Ludlum's original novels including the stories of Jason Bourne and his quest to find out who he really is, and since the untimely demise of Mr Ludlum I was pleased to see the novellist Eric Van Lustbader step in and continue the Bourne story.
Babo had managed to find the latest novel in the series entitled "The Bourne Deception", and based on the fact that he wasn't even around when I read the original novels it intrigued me as to why he chose this particular book.
Tonight he saw me checking out the pre-face in the book and once again went through his sneaky routine of running to the door, opening it, checking outside in all directions, closing the door, turning the lights off and then monitoring for movement outside through the curtains.
Once he was satisfied that it was safe to continue he began, "You remembers I telled you of my job where I aborts the cookies mission?", I nodded in agreement and he continued, "Well, you see's, this books here is not justs a story, it be's real lifes too, as Jason Bourne came to Uglyworld for trainings." He stopped talking and moved to the door almost as though he suspected something or someone was outside, but after a few minutes he came back to the couch and informed us "Is ok, was onlys an owl about 4 blocks away, playing in the nights air".
"Jason was put into my charge, so I had to teaches him all kinds of specials stuff that he may needs in certain situations, like how's to disarms someone or gets information from bad peoples". Everyone listened intently on the edge of their seats to Babo's story which had us all captivated.
Cinko asked if Babo could show everyone some of his "specials agents" skills sometime, as the fact that Babo could teach how to disarm people sounded too good to be true. Babo is currently trying to arrange a special "closed doors' class for the guys sometime soon, they can't wait for this to happen and to hear more of Babo's tales of his mysterious past back on Uglyworld.
Uglyworld #743 - Invasion (237-365)
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Ever since Little Babo started eating cookies in bed Turtle has been warning him that it'll only be a matter of time until we get little critters in trying to get at the crumbs lying around.
Tonight it looks like they have arrived in a full-on invasion force...
Monday 23 August 2010
Uglyworld #742 - Recurring Dream (236-365)
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The last few nights Poe has been extremely restless, which has unfortunately been keeping several of the other little guys awake too, so today they decided enough was enough and that they wanted to know the reason for his to'ing and fro'ing in bed.
Cinko led the interrogation, "Poe, we all knows that you has been movings heres and theres every seconds the last nights, what the hells is making you does this?".
Poe answered the question truthfully, "I really don't knows Cinko, honestly's, when I wakes up I remembers nothing". Babo decided that it was time to use the ancient art of Ugly mind-control to put Poe into a sleep-like trance in order to delve deep into Poe's subconscious.
Poe lay down on the couch with Babo's hand placed on his forehead, meanwhile Cinko, Trunko and some of the others began chanting the following lines over and over in different tones and volumes:-
"Use the ancient powers of cookie,
Into this brain we musts lookie,
See what keeps us ups all night,
Give Babo the powers of Ugly sight"
Poe drifted off into a deep sleep-like trance for a couple of minutes, during which time Babo's hand allowed him to see into Poe's subconscious and the cause of what had been keeping Poe so restless - a recurring dream about being surrounded by Nestle "Crunch" chocolate bars.
With a clap of his hands Babo brought the chanting to a dramatic stop and Poe slowly began to come back to reality again, licking his lips as he did so and mumbling the word, "Crunch"...
Not only does Babo have a way with words but his skillset never seems to have an end, so to celebrate the fact that they found out what has been bothering Poe they decided to go to the local supermarket and get some Crunch bars to share!
Sunday 22 August 2010
Uglyworld #741 - The Welcome Cookie (235-365)
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After the madness which ensued earlier in the week when Trunko happened upon a strange green goblin in the garden Babo had been out searching for the little guy ever since.
Finally he returned to the hotel room this evening with his new found friend, "Everyone, this is Gordon, he is a goblin, but no needs to be alarmed, he is a friendlies goblin".
The rest of the gang remained huddled up in the corner of the room wondering if the goblin had managed to use his goblin powers to brainwash Babo into believing he was nice, just to get inside the room and then devour the whole gang one by one.
Their fear was short-lived though when Gordon spoke to them, "Please don't be afraid, I'm just a lonely little green goblin who would like to make friends with you all, and your good buddy Babo here already explained to me that you all like cookies too, so the fact that cookies are my favourite food I think we'll all get along perfectly".
Babo showed Gordon into the kitchen where a cookie lay waiting, and with a gentle tap on Gordon's arm Babo explained, "You is our guests now Gordon, so we must supplies you with tasty cookies, enjoys this one to begins with!".
With a cheeky little grin on his face Gordon eyed up the tasty cookie and replied, "All for me?". Babo nodded his head and with that the welcome cookie was no more...
Uglyworld #740 - Exploring Mount Rainier (234-365)
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Turtle had been looking forward to us arriving at Sunrise Vistor Centre all day, as from there he had planned to go exploring the wilderness which surrounded it.
After hiking for several miles in the direction of Mount Rainier's peak he stopped off to have this picture taken for Turtle Time Magazine. Shortly after this pic was taken the cold weather took it's toll on the camera and prevented any further shots of his daring ascent up the mountain.
Upon his return to "base camp" he told us, "The view from ups there is somethings else, the visitors centre looks likes a little toys house, with ants moving around outsides it!".
The life of a travelling turtle is never dull!
Uglyworld #739 - Cinko at Mount Rainier
As we arrived at Sunrise Visitor Centre which is still only 6,400ft high, there were occasional glances of Mount Rainier's peak through the clouds. Mount Rainier standing over twice as high makes you feel oh so small and insignificant as you stand staring at it's huge structure carved out by hundreds if not thousands of eruptions over the years gone by.
Cinko was amazed at the sheer scale of what lay in front of him, and instead of going inside for some lunch he opted to stay outside and just stare at the mountain (and when I add the fact that cookies were involved for lunch it shows you just how awesome the view was).
It wasn't the warmest of days with the temperature set to be around 50-55oF down at sea level on the outskirts of the national park, so Cinko was glad to have packed his jacket, especially when the clouds descended onto us at Sunrise Visitor Centre bringing with them some light rain and moisture.
Uglyworld #738 - This Is Far (Evens For A Turtle)
Turtle had informed the editor of Turtle Time Magazine that he would be visiting Mount Rainier National Park this weekend and promised him some photos and a story from the trip.
This is one of the shots that have been submitted to the magazine, with the title "This is far (Evens for a turtle)".
Turtle informed the rest of us that even though Turtles are at home in water, their shells are only rated to a maximum impact rating of 4 splasheroonies, which is equal to around 150ft, so with the drop being 180ft from the bridge to the water on the canyon floor it is too high for him to consider jumping off of.
Uglyworld #737 - Sorries, No Dogs Is Alloweds!
With Rolf joining us to visit Mount Rainier National Park today we made sure that we stopped often enough for him to stretch his legs (strangely enough the little guy never seems to need a pee or poo).
We stopped off at a small rest area just before Box Canyon where signpost pointed towards the "Wonderland Trail". Cinko was so excited at the fact that we may just have stumbled on Alice and the Mad Hatter that he quickly put on his jacket and beckoned to Rolf to come with him on the trail.
They only managed to get a few metres into the trail before Cinko came to a halt and turned to Rolf. "I is sorries Rolf, they has a sign which say no dogs is alloweds!".
Rolf's eye slowly moved downwards in sadness at not being able to hunt for Alice on the Wonderland Trail, and even though Cinko really, really wanted to continue he decided against it, "Rolf, we is like 'Muskytears', we is one for alls, and alls for one, so when you can nots go furthers then I don'ts either!".
Back to the car they hopped and skipped with Rolf happy that Cinko considers him a key member of their "Muskytears" team. "We finds somewheres else to go explores, okays Rolf!", to which Rolf barked in approval.
Uglyworld #736 - Can I Drive It?
While stopped in a layby at the side of the road near Louise Lake Kendall was more interested in the digger which was parked in the layby too:
"Can I drive it?" he asked me, to which I obviously said no. "You ruin all my fun these days Baz" he mumbled under his breath as he got back into the car...
Uglyworld #735 - Uglydog at Reflection Lakes
Doug had been anticipating the chance to be able to run over to the water of the Reflection Lakes in Mount Rainier National Park and check out the reflections of the mountains which surround it.
When we arrived he did just as he planned, running over to the edge of the water, and then running straight back over to us to report the situation.
"Ruuuurrr, ruufff, yip, yip, ruff", which Turtle then translated for us, "He says the reflections is not there, as the skies are so overcasted today".
And sure they were, so Doug just played fetch with the others for a little while until we moved onto our next location.
Uglyworld #734 - Turtle at Narada Falls
Back up top at the carpark of Narada Falls Turtle said that even though the big drop below was impressive he would much prefer to have his picture taken with the smaller falls that come before the big ones.
When I asked him why he replied, "Simples, there isn't so much madnesses up here as down theres!".
Uglyworld #733 - Domo at Nisqually River
As I'm sure you're all very well aware, Domo constantly screams about something, today he chose this great viewpoint over Nisqually River to vent his anger to the weather gods who didn't provide him with the blue sky and sunshine that he ordered in advance of this daytrip to Mount Rainier National Park.
He's now seeking a refund for the money he didn't pay in the first place for this request.
Uglyworld #732 - Big Toe at Paradise River
Big Toe said that I had to take a picture of him at Paradise River and that if I was to use a very, very shallow depth of field it would make it look as though there was actually a huge river flowing behind him.
Smart little fella, aint he!
Uglyworld #731 - Cinko at Kautz Creek
After entering the park through the Nisqually entrance Cinko's first main point he chose to stop at was just after the small bridge which crosses Kautz Creek.
From here Cinko folllowed a short trail (0.2 miles) to the edge of the creek and from there he was able to see right up the bed of the now almost dry creek and through the trees in the background Mt Rainier itself is visible.
He's really starting to get into visiting volcanoes now as he informed us when we got back to the car, "I has now beens to 5 different volcanoes since we arrives here, I is turnings into a volcano officianado".
I'm not quite sure if he's at that level yet, but he's definitely learning a lot about volcanoes on this trip to America.
Friday 20 August 2010
Uglyworld #730 - Goblins (233-365)
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It's been at least a couple of days now since a fit of mass hysteria has spread like wildfire through my hotel room. Previous causes of said mass hysteria have been from quite a variety of sources such as the infamous cat which paid Babo a visit, the public outcry about the Ken twins munching on Sushi's poor off-cuts and other less dramatic things such as the cookie tin being left empty.
For the record it's against Ugly law #7262 subsection 4 to eat the last cookie in a pre-defined cookie tun and not (a) inform all other cookie lovers in a 5 mile radius, and (b) the eater of the final cookie must buy more straight away.
Back to todays hysteria causing madness, our little yellow friend Trunko had been out playing on the grass in the sunny weather when he started screaming his lungs out for help. Babo (as always) was the first to react and ran down to the grass to assist Trunko, followed by Cinko, Uglydog, Domo (who took my camera with him to gather evidence of whatever caused the madness).
Domo managed to capture this shot of Trunko running away from what he says are "Goblins, flippin' Goblins, there be's Goblins outsides". Babo took some time to calm Trunko down and then asked him more about the Goblins he had encountered, "Was these Goblins goods or bads Goblins?". Trunko looked stunned at Babo's question and replied, "Babo, they is Goblins, you hears me, Gobins! I don'ts hang around to finds out if they is goods or bads, maybe you should go invites them for teas and cookies to finds out, huh?".
"I thinks I will do just that..." said Babo as he grabbed a few cookies and made his way out of the door in search of the strange Goblin creature.
Thursday 19 August 2010
Uglyworld #729 - Checks Outs My New Passcard (232-365)
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Cinko had been on at me for the last few days that he couldn't find his passcard for the hotel room's security reader, so I had left him my spare one so that he could get in and out while I was out at work.
Today when I returned home he proudly said, "Checks outs my new passcard!". At first I thought he had just picked up some kind of funny card from somewhere and was pretending that it was his new hotel passcard but he quickly dissolved those thoughts with the rest of his story of what had transpired.
"Todays I went to the receptions area for breakfasts stuff, and the womans on reception was speakings to me about what all we does, and I tells her that I loose my card. She asks me if I wanteds a cool card just for me, so of course I says yes, and looks here it is, it has Spongebobs and Dora the Explorers on it!".
He's quite the celebrity around the hotel now as all the other guests are wondering if they too can get one of the cool spongebob cards just like Cinko.
Wednesday 18 August 2010
Uglyworld #728 - Ice-Bat's Frozen Snack (231-365)
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This evening I had to not only work a little late but also head out with some of the customers, so by the time I got home the little guys were all starving.
Babo suggested that I fire some of the Sausage, Egg and Cheese biscuits into the microwave for their late evening dinner, but Ice-Bat couldn't wait for his to be heated up and decided to munch it in it's frozen state straight out of the freezer.
Tuesday 17 August 2010
Uglyworld #727 - It's Easy To Forget (230-365)
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Kendrick and Kenjamin were in the mood for some Sushi tonight, unfortunately in light of their massive greediness they often forget where the food comes from in the first place.
Monday 16 August 2010
Uglyworld #726 - Get Well Soups (229-365)
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With Babo in charge of getting trunko back on his feet again after the dose of sunstroke he suffered yesterday it meant me being ordered to do a supermarket run for the smart little blue guys list of stuff.
Top of the list was a tin of Campbell's tomato soup, then a few other things such as water, milk, cookies (of course they were on the list), and then at the bottom there was yet another entry for Campbell's tomato soup (this got me wondering why he didn't just put it once and add a x2 to show the quantity needing picked up).
When I returned to the hotel I quizzed Babo on that very subject, to which he replied, "Well you see's, is a very well knowns fact that tomato soups is good for getting you back on your feets, so goods in fact that back on our home planet we has a phrase 'Get well soup', which is a littles like your versions of 'Get well soon'. Soups is an integral parts of our recovery mechanisms when we has been beaten ups by the wills of nature".
Babo started losing me at the home planet bit, but after getting him to repeat it again slowly it sort of made some more sense to me. Thankfully the soup seems to be doing the trick and Trunko is starting to get rid of his wobbly legs and dizzyness, Babo reckons he'll be back to normal by tomorrow lunchtime (what the cookies are for).
Sunday 15 August 2010
Uglyworld #725 - Fun In The Sun (228-365)
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Today the temperature in Oregon has gone up and up to around the 100oF marker (~38oC for us Europeans), so the little guys have been out playing at the local park to make the most of the good weather while it lasts.
Babo lined them all up this morning and told them that "temperatures when they is this hots can be dangerouses, so you must alls remember to wears sun creams, and yes I says sun creams not custard creams".
Worried that they would end up staying out too long without taking a break I also made sure Babo added an additional rule to the days festivities, "You must all makes cookie promises that you will takes enough times in the shades too, as when you stays out in the suns too long then you gets sunstrokes, and that does not means the sun strokes you, it means you gets dizzy, you falls over and can even means you gets mad in the heads!".
Trunko seemed to be the only one who strayed beyond the line Babo laid down earlier, thankfully Doug was on hand to see him going cross-eyed and get him back to the hotel room for a few stern words from Babo and a recuperating lie down before it was too late.
Uglyworld #724 - Motionless
With the evening flying in my plan to head to Hyu Mountain near Mount Hood to shoot the Perseid Meteors and Milky Way was getting closer and closer, but with Babo's request for waterfalls to be visited I had to make a couple of detours before we left the South shore of the Columbia River to keep the little guy happy.
We stopped off at Multnomah Falls and 2 of the other high waterfalls that drop off of the cliffs to the South and Babo asked if he could have his picture taken beside the water flowing down from Multnomah Falls.
I had been shooting long exposures of the water to give it a silky, flowing look, and once Babo realised this he asked if he could become part of the long exposure too.
Now, before I could answer that question I have to explain once again to you all that an Ugly staying still for anything more than a few nano-seconds is somewhat of a miracle, as they are so full of energy and when you combine that with their never-ending desire to acquire cookies "motionless" is something that they really can't do.
Babo however managed to amaze me with his statue-like pose for this 13 second long exposure, he didn't flinch, wobble, breathe or blink the entire time. He later told me, "Well you see's, I wanteds to see all of these wateryfalls, and having my photos taken with them is proofs that I was theres, so I must makes maximums effort not to moves!".
Uglyworld #723 - Ox at The Columbia River
Cinko wasn't the only one who was amazed by the sheer mass of wind turbines that line the hillsides of the Columbia River, so once we had crossed back over the bridge into Oregon Ox asked if he could have his picture taken with the columbia river, bridge and wind turbines all in the background to show everyone back in Aachen where he has been.
As I was taking this shot Ox said, "Be quicks, there is bird poo's everywheres here and I don't fancies being involved in their next targets practice!".
Uglyworld #722 - Stonehenge Memorial
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On the hills of Columbia River's North shore there stands a war memorial that Rolf to me he "must visits", at first I was a little confused as to what got his attention so much until I realised what Turtle had planned for us to visit as the day was starting to come to an end.
The Maryhill Stonehenge is a full-size, astronomically-aligned replica of Stonehenge located in Maryhill, Washington. It was commissioned in the early 20th century by businessman Samuel Hill and dedicated on July 4, 1918 as a memorial to those that died in World War I (specifically, soldiers from Klickitat County, Washington who had died in the still on-going war). The memorial was completed in 1929.
Rolf read out the inscription to the others which stands at the North side of the structure, ""In memorys of the soldiers of Klickitat Countys who gave their lives in defenses of their countrys. This monument is erecteds in the hopes that others inspireds by the examples of their valors and their heroisms may shares in that loves of libertys and burns with that fire of patriotisms which deaths can alone quenches."
The little guys all then stood in silence for a minute or two while admiring the structure and the amazing scenery that surrounds the Columbia River.
Uglyworld #721 - I Can Windmills Too!
As we began the journey Southwards back towards the Columbia River after visiting Mount Adams earlier in the day Cinko was amazed at the size of the wind farms which stood on top of the hills on either side of the river in their hundreds.
We stopped off at one of the vantage points a mile or so North of the river so that Cinko could have a closer look at these "clean energy" machines.
It didn't take long for the fun to begin with Cinko swinging his arms around and shouting, "Looks, I can windmills too!" which brought about lots of laughing from the other guys and several tourists who had also stopped to admire the view (and Cinko's windmilling skills he said later).
Uglyworld #720 - Turtle at Mount Adams
The "main event" of yesterdays daytrip was detailed by Turtle as "Awesome views of Mount Adams", and sure enough the little guy delivered once again with his meticulous planning skills.
Not only were we able to see the mountain up close from several places, but Turtle even planned the routes to and from the mountain so that we could still see Adams peak from miles away.
This shot was taken on the hillside overlooking the Klickitat River on the Yakima Indian Reserve, and you can clearly see what I mean about Turtle's planning skills with Mount Adams sitting proudly above the other hills and peaks in the distance.
This shot was specifically taken for a future installment of Turtle Time magazine.
Uglyworld #719 - I Is Not Duck Foods!
Babo asked Turtle if it would be possible for us to visit some waterfalls during our daytrip to Mount Adams, so Turtle modified his original plan to include 4 waterfalls, including Dougan Falls which ended up being the first stop of the day to catch the early morning light.
After helping Babo, Turtle and the others down the wet and extremely slippery rocks we stood watching the waterfalls until a scream came from Babo followed by the frantic sound of his footsteps.
A duck had seen him standing right on the edge of the water and obviously had thought he might make a tasty snack, no matter how loud Babo shouted, "I is not duck foods!!!".
Thankfully Turtle came to the rescue and reassured the duck (Turtle can actually speak Duck as well as several other languages) that Babo was not in fact food, but a tourist visiting the waterfalls.
After Babo calmed down again he fed the ducks some of his cookies as way of a peace-maker.
Friday 13 August 2010
Uglyworld #718 - Skateboarding Lessons (226-365)
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Since DJ Domo arrived on the scene to take care of the record decks at the "Cat Catcher Fundraiser" Cinko has been making the most of having the little guy around.
First off I suppose I should explain that Domo suffers from a severe case of ADD (attention deficit disorder), and due to this the only thing that seems to keep him sain is to constantly be up to some kind of stunt or another. For instance when you wake up to the sound of a bath being run at 3am in the morning you would normally get a shock, but not when cousin Domo is around as he's probably practising his octo-dives (which consist of 8 forward or backwards spins between the shower curtain rail and the surface of the water.
Domo was even explaining to the other guys about his crazy plan to try and jump the Grand Canyon on a skateboard in the next couple of years, and as you can imagine this got Cinko's attention and after some web searches he found some videos on youtube of the old daredevil Evil Knevil doing some of his most crazy and lairy stunts.
I'm not saying for a second that Cinko is becoming a daredevil too, but the thrill of watching those videos and hearing Domo talk about his meticulous training on his skateboard got the attention of everyone's favourite three-eyed dude. He asked me if he could have a skateboard of his own, and I took him shopping for it once he promised me that (1) he'd stay on the sidewalks (pavements to us europeans), and (2) that he would always listen to the advice and teachings of Domo (who is somewhat of a connoisseur in the skateboard world).
It's definitely keeping him and the others entertained (the rest seem to enjoy it more when he falls off and the skateboard goes whizzing off into the grass or under a hedge), but thankfully Cinko just stands back up, dusts himself off and tries again.
In his own words, "Perfects means lots of practices, and only when you knows how hards you can falls does you learn to not falls!".
Never have I heard a truer sentence from young Cinko.
Thursday 12 August 2010
Uglyworld #717 - Introducing The Brekkie Bot (225-365)
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Unknown to me, Big Toe had convinced photodavid to not only pick up the awesome Ox and Ice-Bat bearbricks at the recent SDCC event, but also a tin robot that he could use to do his every will.
Thankfully Big Toe has not used the robot for much so far, at least until this morning that is, when he convinced Trunko to jump into the control room while down in the lower compartments Babo pretended to have a "cookie" steering wheel in his hands and poor Poe didn't quite seem to know whether to be excited or afraid.
Once the team were all inside he revealed what task the robot would be asked to perform for everyone, "Attentions, attentions, uglybot do you copy?".
For a second or two there was a stunned silence in the room and then with a hiss and crackle of a loudspeaker came Trunko's voice, "...emmm, copies whats?".
"Doesn't matters, on we goes, Uglybot, you musts make all of us brekkies, you will finds the cereals and milks behinds you". Trunko did his best "beedie beedie beedie, ok Buck" Tweekie impression from the old Buck Rogers TV series and then went about making breakfast for everyone via the joystick controls of the new robot workhorse.
Thankfully with Babo and Poe's shouts of "Lefts" and "Rights a bit" Trunko was able to maneouver around and get everything ready without spilling a drop to cheers from the rest of the gang who by then were all sitting at the table waiting on their bowls of Frosted Flakes (an Ugly favourite when it comes to breakfast cereals).
Wednesday 11 August 2010
Uglyworld #716 - The Art Of Denial (224-365)
Project 365 - Image 224/365
Denial - de·ni·al / (d-nl) / noun
1. A refusal to comply with or satisfy a request.
2. (a) A refusal to grant the truth of a statement or allegation; a contradiction, (b) Law The opposing by a defendant of an allegation of the plaintiff.
3. (a) A refusal to accept or believe something, such as a doctrine or belief, (b) Psychology An unconscious defense mechanism characterized by refusal to acknowledge painful realities, thoughts, or feelings.
4. The act of disowning or disavowing; repudiation.
5. Abstinence; self-denial.
There's what the dictionary says about the word denial, now what do you think Babo says when asked why he's been eating cookies in bed AGAIN?!?!?!
His answer is simple - "Wasn't me's!".
Methinks he's still got some way to go to fully master this dark art...and more importantly he needs to learn to get rid of the evidence first!
Tuesday 10 August 2010
Uglyworld #715 - Pack-N-Seeks (223-365)
Project 365 - Image 223/365
It doesn't seem to matter if a new box arrives for my attention when I'm at home or staying in a hotel, there appears to be some strange habit written deep in the code of all Uglydolls that makes them completely obsessed with packing quavers material.
As soon as I have the box opened up I'm lucky if I can get the contents removed before at least one of them does a "dive bomb" ugly style into the packing material and then nestling into it as quickly as possible before shouting "Pack-N-Seeks" which as you can imagine results in every other ugly doing a similar dive into the box.
Thankfully this time I managed to retrieve all of the fragile parts which work shipped out to me before they went mental!
Monday 9 August 2010
Uglyworld #714 - Cookie Shopping Time (222-365)
Project 365 - Image 222/365
After a hard days work I'm sure you all are in the same boat as me, you get back to where you're staying, you kick your shoes off and want to either collapse onto the couch or bed, in my case I go for option 2, the hotel room bed.
However my time to relax is little to none at the moment due to the number of the little guys I have with me, this evening I had no sooner fallen backwards onto the bed and taken half a deep breath when I could hear the pitter-patter of tiny footsteps running from the living room towards the kitchen, next up was a series of "ones, twos, threes, jumps" with plenty of puffing and panting and then finally I could hear the jingle of the hirecar's keys.
"Baaaaaaaaaaaaaz, can we goes to the supermarkets?", Cinko asked in his cutest possible voice, "Maybes we can buys some cookies if is ok with you?".
I've long since realised that when the little guys have something in their mind it's much easier to just deal with it then and there, as if you tell them to wait even 5 minutes the number of them asking for "cookies" or whatever else they have a fancy for that particular day will increase expontentially.
So to prevent the lone ranger Cinko turning almost magically into a crowd of hecklers I jumped up off of the bed and took them to the local Albertsons to pick up some more cookies to keep them going through the week while I'm at work. One of these days they'll learn to drive and save me the trouble of being their personal taxi driver!
Sunday 8 August 2010
Uglyworld #713 - Vertically Challenged (221-365)
Project 365 - Image 221/365
With Ox being *cough cough* vertically challenged it means that everyday things that the rest of us take for granted can become extremely dangerous.
Just think how hard it would be to pour yourself a mug of piping hot milk to dip your chocolate chip cookies into when even the mug is around 4 times the size of you.
Thankfully for Ox he's now managed to find a new friend in pink Domo, who doesn't mind being the one pouring the mug of hot milk, or in this case leading the little guy through a grassy field. For the record, Ox has been known to go missing for days on end while trying to walk from one side of my garden to the other back in Aachen, so Domo is a welcome addition to the household.
Uglyworld #712 - Turtle at the 3 Sisters Mountains
The editor over at Turtle Time Magazine back in Uglyworld had send an email via the intergalactic interweb about their latest magazine, which had an open slot for another story from the galaxy's most famous travelling turtle.
Thankfully Turtle had already anticipated the possibility of him getting to write another travel entry for the magazine and decided that this one would be centered around the great sights of the 3 Sisters which are located in the Southern half of the Cascades Mountain Range in Central Oregon.
Here's an excerpt from his writeup that the editor of Turtle Time allowed us to share:-
"...When you finds yourselfs in an area of wildernesses thats you simply didn't expects to find it's all too easys to crawls back into your shells (after alls we are turtles), but it's at times likes these that us Turtles must stays out of our shells, stands tall and soaks in the wonders of not onlys Uglyworld, but alsos the planet Earth and alls the other places we may visits in our lifetimes.
Takes the 3 Sisters Wildernesses area in Oregon as a prime examples, I expecteds to find snows and terrains which would be hards for me to hikes over and progress pasts, but when I dids get to such places did I retreats into the warmths of my shell, no way, I could nevers do this, as if I dids I wouldn't be able to brings such stunning stories and images to yous all..."
He's quite the journalist and I love his style of writing, in some ways he seems to remind me of myself - not quite sure why though...anyway, here's the shot I took of him with the 3 Sisters Range in the background to accompany his story in the magazine
Uglyworld #711 - Relaxing in Devils Lake
Yesterday as we drove along the winding asphalt of Cascade Lakes Highway through Deschutes National Park Ice-Bat screamed at me to "stops the car rights now!".
What could I do other than stand on the brake pedal as hard as I possibly could as I had no idea what had got the little guy in such a tizzy.
As soon as the car had come to a halt and the dust had flown past the now stationary hirecar Icy opened the door and flew out and through some trees that lined the road.
By the time I had managed to lock the car up and track the little guy down, I found him lying on the surface of Devils Lake, and when he noticed me approaching he yelled out, "Come ons in, the water is nice and cooling, and looks how easy it is to floats!".
Unfortunately I had no change of clothes or towel with me and I think the other tourists would have been a bit taken aback had they seen a naked Scotsman floating in the lake, so I decided to leave it to Icy to have the fun this time.
Uglyworld #710 - An Uglies Best Friend (220-365)
Project 365 - Image 220/365
Since the arrival of Doug on Friday Cinko has been almost glued to his side, and every few minutes I hear Doug growling happily at Cinko who's tickling away at his belly.
It looks like dogs are not only a mans best friend, but and uglies too!
Uglyworld #709 - Rolf at Elk Lake
After recovering from his mile long run in search of some snow earlier in the day Rolf was more than happy to take a little stroll around the stone covered beach at Elk Lake.
I threw a stick for him a few times, but he didn't seem too bothered after a couple of games of fetch - I think he's missing big Wage who's back home in Aachen looking after the house and cooking tasty grub for the other guys.
Saturday 7 August 2010
Uglyworld #708 - Turtle at Mount Bachelor
The travelling Turtle had once again put together a great day for us, after all who wouldn't want to go see loads more volcanoes!!!
Here's the little guy sporting his trademark cheeky grin in front of his favourite volcano of the day, Mount Bachelor.
Uglyworld #707 - Out In The Wilderness
When I told the gang this morning that we were heading out into the wilderness today they were a little taken aback as to what exactly this meant.
When we stopped at the town of Sisters on our way to Bend, Babo jumped out of the car in an effort to make the rest of the guys more at ease, "Looks, this is the wildernesses, that means grasses, fields, mountains and other cool stuffs like this!".
The rest of the gang seemed to believe Babo and the fun of being off on another road trip kicked in good and proper.
Uglyworld #706 - Playing at Sparks Lake
Rolf loved the fact that there was so much grass to run around in while I explored the area around Sparks Lake in Deschutes National Park.
He was really interested in the snow which was still sprinkled on the top of Mount Bachelor, and before I could blink he took off as fast as his little legs could carry him in the direction of the mountain.
I finally caught up with him about a mile closer towards the mountain where he was lying on the grass completely out of breath, so after he regained his breath I explained that it would be much, MUCH easier to just take the car instead.
Friday 6 August 2010
Uglyworld #705 - Flickr-tastic Friends
Most of the people who visit my stream for a daily dose of Uglydoll madness will already know that it all stemmed from me randomly finding photo's of Wage's adventures on photo david's photostream.
That cheeky little smile combined with his crazy adventures had me hooked right from the start and both myself and Mireille would send each other the links back and forth to some of his funniest moments.
Anyway, back to present day - a MASSIVE thank you to David for helping me out with acquiring the all new Ice-Bat Vs Ox bearbrick figures which were released at the comic con in San Diego a week or so ago and then shipping them up to the hotel I'm staying at. Not only that, but the box is signed too, now that's PROPER UGLY to the highest possible level!
Not only does he take some of the best (if not THE best) ugly pictures on Flickr, but he's a really top bloke on top of all that - from myself and Mireille a massive thanks for helping us out David, it's very, very much appreciated.
To show our appreciation, King Ken decided to jump on a plane over from the UK to hold the autographed box above his head (some kind of strength show in monkey world it would appear) as long as he was back before Simon wakes up in the morning oblivious to Ken's transatlantic travels.
If you've yet to experience David's life since Wage arrived I suggest you check out his set, Wage, and see where my inspiration for shooting the little guys came from.
Uglyworld #704 - Doug The Bounty Hunter (219-365)
Project 365 - Image 219/365
This evening when I returned to the hotel room from work I was first introduced to "Doug" who was the bounty hunter that Babo had enlisted the services of to capture the elusive cat which had terrorised Babo last Saturday. This is the reason for his "Cat Catcher Fundraiser" which brought in enought cash to pay for Doug's legendary skills as a bounty hunter.
Doug's daily rate is 3 chocolate chip cookies, with further days being payable at the rate of 2 cookies a day, but then the chocolate chips have to also be candy coated. I'm beginning to think I'm definitely in the wrong line of work as all those cookies sounds like an extremely good deal to me.
After Doug and Babo finalised the payment terms the search for the cat was underway, and within 5 minutes Doug had managed to pick up the scent and was off like a bat out of hell tracking down the feline fugitive.
From inside the hotel room I could hear a frantic scurry of paws outside and suddenly Doug appeared in the doorway with a cat in his grasp, and as soon as the cat hit the floor Babo, a rather excitable Domo and Cinko were over to celebrate the stunningly quick capture.
Babo had already bought a pack of 20 candy covered chocolate chip cookies, so it looks like Doug is going to hang around for a little while longer to enjoy the Oregon sunshine.
Thursday 5 August 2010
Uglyworld #703 - DJ Domo Playing at the Cat Catcher Fundraiser (218-365)
Uglyworld #703 - DJ Domo Playing at the Cat Catcher Fundraiser (218-365), originally uploaded by www.bazpics.com.
Project 365 - Image 218/365
With Babo's plan for catching the pesky cat with Altoids looking like it was never going to work he turned his hand to another option which involved calling cousin Domo (the world renowned famous DJ) to come and spin some tunes in a "Cat Catcher" fundraiser.
Thankfully for Babo, Domo's schedule was clear through until the weekend so he jumped on a plane and flew in specially for the fundraiser. The rest of the gang loved the music he was playing all night, and it turns out that Babo's cash raising plan has brought in enough cash to hire a "specials bounty hunters" whoever they are.
Supposedly the bounty hunter has already been contacted and will be arriving in town sometime tomorrow, I can't wait to see what all the money has paid for...and more importantly if this so called "bounty hunter" is any good at catching cats!
Wednesday 4 August 2010
Uglyworld #702 - Giggles From The Ice Box (217-365)
Project 365 - Image 217/365
I was lying on the hotel bed watching Terminator Salvation on TV when I thought I could hear a feint giggling coming from the kitchen, so I hit the mute button and listened more carefully.
Sure enough there was definitely giggling coming from the kitchen, so I did a quick headcount of the little guys - everyone seemed to be lying on the bed beside me.
Babo's mind immediately returned to that pesky cat which has been plaguing us in recent days, so he gathered a search team and we all tip-toe'd into the kitchen to investigate the source of the giggling.
Babo called his team to a silent halt in front of the freezer where the noise seemed to be coming from, and cinko then slowly opened the freezer before shouting "Sleepy Chilly", to which Big Toe replied, "Yeahs, is a freezer, so of courses it's chillies!".
Cinko turned round and said, "No, looks, is cousin Sleepy Chilly Ice-Bats!!!". Icy had been enjoying a cold sleep in our freezer by the looks of things and then was trying to decide whether or not he should munch on one of the "biscuit" sandwiches or the orange sherbet ice-cream.
Thankfully we found him before he ate the lot!
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