Aggravating Whoopsie

Be careful not to set your refrigerator's temperature too low. Your root beer may freeze, expand, and explode its container, creating a mess and safety hazard in one loud pop. Pun not intended. 
 

Crimson Raider

I wound up with a second Star Schlock Star Raider model, so for the sake of telling the two miniatures apart, I gave this one hues of crimson. 

Hail Ming!

I have painted Ming the Merciless. How regal he is! How fiendish his desires, how diabolical his plans! 
 

Snapshot of a Dream

 

50 Years Ago...

Mom, me, her parents, my grandparents; the summer of 1975. I need to go back there again, just to smell the grass and the trees. I hope there will be sunflowers. 

Six year old Earl has a cute, jaunty hat. Looks kind of like one of the Little Rascals. 

Short Pants

Here I am with Mom sometime in the early 1970s. Green short pants and a yellow shirt--a juvenile supervillain in the making. 
 

National Cafe Rooms

 Based on some Internet sleuthing, it's possible that this photo of Grandma was shot in Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan. 

Thumbs and Suspenders

I like Grandad's pose and grin here. Grandma seems appreciative, too. 
 

Down on the Farm in '73

Here I am with my maternal grandparents during the summer of 1973. Their farm really was a beautiful place . . . in the summer. 

Cat Scratch Near Miss

When I was very young, I pulled Smokey's tail. Smokey was my maternal grandparents' cat, and did not suffer fools. Smokey retaliated by slashing at my face, slicing a shallow groove through skin just barely to the right of my right eyeball. I learned my lesson that day, and I'm grateful that Smokey chose not to half-blind me. 

As far as I know, this is the only photo of Smokey and me. Based on my approximate age here, it may even have been taken right around the time Smokey scratched me. 
 

Bozo Can't Come to the Phone Right Now

Mom looks on as I pretend to answer a phone call at her parents' place. We had that crokinole board for years, and I still have one red disc from the set. Bozo got popped a couple of years after this. Stupid clown. 
 

Granddad at a Log House

 Jaunty hat! 

One Snowy Afternoon

Here's another mystery photo from my paternal grandfather's album. There were no notes written on the back of the print, and I recognize not the truck, nor the woman, nor the dog. I would imagine this is somewhere in southern Saskatchewan or Manitoba.