Meinhardt Raabe, 1915-2010

I represent
The Lollypop Guild.

I used to see the Wienermobile around L.A. when I was a kid. I had no idea Raabe was driving it.

@Dodgerblue: I didn’t include it in the post, but this is my favorite part of the obit:

Though he never surpassed 4 feet 7 inches at his tallest (he continued to grow till he was in his 30s), he did not hear the word “dwarf,” or even “midget,” until he was a young adult. No one in his community had seen a person with dwarfism before. Growing up, he later said, he assumed there was no one else in the world like him.

That changed in 1933, when the young Mr. Raabe visited the Midget Village at the Chicago World’s Fair. There before his eyes was a world of men and women just like him. Thrilled, he took a job as a barker there the next summer.

That happens to all us freaks who run away and join the circus: We discover we’re not alone.

@nojo: Berkeley, 1968, for me.

hello dragon lovers
went to the pet/aquarium store this morning to get a pump and found an Arowana that looked like a twin for the one I already had. he had gotten to big for somones tank and was brought in. he is about 13 or 14 inches long. mine is about 12 or 13 inches. and oddly he was the same price as the one I have when I got him when he was four inches long. thats just how it works at this store.
I got excited. but the guy running the store said it wouldnt work. he said they will kill each other. I know this guy pretty well being a fish nut in a small town and he usually knows what he is talking about. but I had a feeling and asked if I can try it and bring him back if it doesnt work out. so that was the deal.
I got him home and got ready with a big net to break them up and dumped him in the tank with the other one.
they did not fight.
they started circling each other in a distinctly non hostile way.
I call John and say ‘John they are not fighting”. he asks what they are doing and I tell him and he starts chuckling and says ‘looks like you hit the jack pot and have a pair’.
I already knew this just by watching them but we verified it with closer inspection of the ventral fins. Marijuana, my Arowana – who I now call MaryJane – was a girl. and the new one, Loudon Wainwright 3.5, is a boy.
and they are in love
it is is so freakin cool. all day I have watched them do their dance. they will be in unison for a while and then mirror each other for a while. then they will cross and touch her belly to his back and then his his belly and her back. it is totally totally mesmerizing.
watching this feels like a gift. so far I have not caught the best stuff on video but I hope to get better at that because its special.

LINK

LINK

@Howdy: very cool. But what do the dogs think of the fish? My dog would probably not know whether to bark or to cower (she probably would have done a bit of both simultaneously if she faced fish like that)

@SanFranLefty:
the dogs dont pay much attention as long as they stay in the tank. the problem is Arowanas jump. its what they do.
one day I was in the kitchen and hear a splash which I dont think about because she splashes around all the time but when I come in Ghost has his foot on the fishes head and his tale in his mouth and he is nanoseconds away from being a very expensive dog treat. I screamed so loud only dogs can hear and he dropped him but I have to watch it.

better stuff
color shifts in shitty cell phone video

@Capt Howdy:

more romance

@Capt Howdy: That’s beautiful.

@Capt Howdy: That is so wonderful. Thanks for sharing.

I wish I were an Oscar Mayer wiener
That is what I’d truly love to be

We had such fun with that song when I was young and fragrant.

more fish love. I think this may take a while

@Capt Howdy: I want to echo Mistress Cynica and thank you for sharing.

Stinque is a wonderful place to visit.

@Capt Howdy: Way cool, thanks for posting.

@Dodgerblue: There was a dude skiing in a hot dog suit for closing day at the local ski area. Various people in skimpy beach wear, including one guy in a Speedo and a cape who crashed after the cape blew over his head. People were in fairy wings, bunny ears, bathrobes, leather jackets, another cape and were drankin’ up a storm on the mid-mountain bar deck. The wife of one of my partners showed up with her bagpipes and played on top of one of the lifts, then launched into “Scotland the Brave” and she headed down the trail on her snowboard. Awesome end to an awesome season.

@Dodgerblue:
sadly there is often a loser in love and in this case it Cleatus the polypterus.
he has been in love with Mary Jane the female arowana since he first layed beady eyes on her. but she is hip to the fact that he is not her species even tho he can do a pretty good imitation of a short fat unattrative arowana and he never gets very far. but there has always been hope for Cleatus. until now. I am worried about him

@Capt Howdy: Oh, poor baby. How awful to be stuck in a tank with two dragons who need to Get. A. Room.
Could you find a lady friend for him?

@Mistress Cynica:
that has been considered but there are a couple of problems. for one thing this thing with the arowanas was a total accident. I am not smart enough to plan these things.
also its really really unusual to find a fish as large as the one I got saturday around here. it was only because he outgrew someones tank and was brought in to adopt. all the polypteruses around here are 3 or 4 inches long and their sex doesnt show up until they are bigger so I might buy the wrong kind.
also I know him well enough to know that at that size he would be just as likely to think they look delicious as to think they look sexy.

but I am working on the problem.