Why did the chicken cross the road?

Why did the chicken cross the road? The simple answer would be: to get to the other side! Isn't that why any one, person or animal, would want to cross a road?

Let's think about this for a minute. Ehh... no, let's not. So many others have already thought for us. Here are some of them with their own version of what is, should be or must be the answer.

DR. PHIL : " The problem we have here is that this chicken won't realize that he must first deal with the problem on 'THIS' side of the road before it goes after the problem on the 'OTHER SIDE' of the road. What we need to do is help him realize how stupid he's acting by not taking on his 'CURRENT' problems before adding 'NEW' problems ".



OPRAH: " Well, I understand that the chicken is having problems, which is why he wants to cross this road so bad. So instead of having the chicken learn from his mistakes and take falls, which is a part of life, I'm going to give this chicken a car so that he can just drive across the road and not live his life like the rest of the chickens."



GEORGE W. BUSH: "We don't really care why the chicken crossed the road. We just want to know if the chicken is on our side of the road, or not. The chicken is either against us, or for us. There is no middle ground here."







COLIN POWELL: "Now to the left of the screen, you can clearly see the satellite image of the chicken crossing the road..." .









ANDERSON COOPER - CNN: "We have reason to believe there is a chicken, but we have not yet been allowed to have access to the other side of the road."





JOHN KERRY: "Although I voted to let the chicken cross the road, I am now against it! It was the wrong road to cross, and I was misled about the chicken's intentions. I am not for it now, and will remain against it."








NANCY GRACE: "That chicken crossed the road because he's GUILTY! You can see it in his eyes and the way he walks."









PAT BUCHANAN: "To steal the job of a decent, hardworking American."











MARTHA STEWART: "No one called me to warn me which way that chicken was going. I had a standing order at the Farmer's Market to sell my eggs when the price dropped to a certain level. No little bird gave me any insider information."







DR SEUSS: "Did the chicken cross the road? Did he cross it with a toad? Yes, the chicken crossed the road, but why it crossed I've not been told."






ERNEST HEMINGWAY: "To die in the rain. Alone."











JERRY FALWELL: "Because the chicken was gay! Can't you people see the plain truth? That's why they call it the 'other side.' Yes, my friends, that chicken is gay. And if you eat that chicken, you will become gay, too. I say we boycott all chickens until we sort out this abomination that the liberal media white washes with seemingly harmless phrases like 'the other side'. That chicken should not be crossing the road. It's as plain and as simple as that."

Uh oh, I am getting pretty confused here. I do have one question though.
Why did that stupid chicken have to cross the road? She should have stayed where she was. That would never have brought up this question!

Party Fun

The other day we passed a church that had several inflatables set up. I see them more and more, not only at kids parties and it seems like great fun for both young and old. Yes, for old too!

At the Inflatable Party Rentals Los Angeles there are obstacle courses for rent, or how about a Velcro Wall?! Wouldn't you love to beat your boss at a corporate event? I hope you keep your job, haha.

There are so many more. Check out the Inflatable Party Rentals Sacramento and Inflatable Party Rentals San Diego. Water works, food machines, video games and even a petting zoo! I had no clue there was such a wide variety of inflatable entertainment to choose from.

I am eager for our grand babies to get older and rent some inflatables for their Birthday party. Oh.... , I don't have to wait for that at all. My 50th Birthday is coming up, hehe.

Maarten Toonder's Economical Impact

Maarten Toonder's creations have been published in dailies and periodicals all over the world.

In 1938 his creation Dom Sombrero is published in Sweden and Tom Puss in Argentina and Tsjechoslowakia.

In 1946 the Tom Puss comic appears in 50 national and international news papers.

In early 1954 Toonder designed a new series: 'Koning Hollewijn' which appeared in the reborn De Telegraaf until June 1971, and which also found a market in Denmark, Sweden and France.

Tom Puss and Oliver B. Bumble ('Olivier B. Bommel' in Dutch) success caused an increasing demand for merchandising products such as picture postcards, puzzles, toys, calendars among others. The characters are also available as stuffed animals, produced by the famous Steiff company.

On June 13th 1998 The Maarten Toonder Museum was founded in Zoeterwoude, The Netherlands. It was officially opened by his son Eiso J.G. Toonder. Entrance is free and you can find all his works, national and international publishings and all kinds of merchandise, displayed here.

In honor of Marten Toonder's 90th birthday,the city of Rotterdam erected this six-meter public monument on Friday, 12 July 2002, featuring several characters from the famous Toonder comic 'Tom Puss and Oliver Bumble'.

Toonder has received a great many awards and honorary distinctions for both his illustrating skills and the quality of his literary output.

Redneck or Genius IV

I don't like to gossip, but I would advice you to stay away from our neighbors. Ever since they won a huge amount of money, they are acting kind of weird. I think the money went to their head and they feel like they are so much better than us common folk.

Sure gotta love their new wheels!

They won a contest by making this ginger-bread house.

It was the best looking entry in the contest! Very tasty too. :-)

They left for vacation yesterday and asked us to watch their house for the duration of their time out.

We hope they will have a great time.

We are glad they took their cat with them. It's been bugging the dogs and has them barking all night.

I love the cat-carrier they got him. Must have cost a pretty penny.

Anyway, I am happy for them. It must be nice to be able to spend some money on things you like to get. But... I am not complaining. When we need anything, we just brainstorm. So far, that has always resulted in a solution. For now, we got all we need and then some! :-D

Maarten Toonder's Work

When he was 19 years of age, his father, a captain in the Dutch merchant navy, offered him passage aboard his ship which called at various South American ports. In Buenos Alles, Toonder got acquainted with the work of the well-known Argentine artist Dante Quinterno, who ran a studio producing comics. Quinterno's creations impressed him to such a degree that he decided to become an artist himself.

he commenced his career by drawing the short-lived comics 'Bram's Avonturen' (or 'De Lotgevallen van Bram Ibrahim') for the daily De Nederlander and 'Tobias' for the periodical Ideaal (both in 1933).

In October 1933 he found employment with the Nederlandsche Rotogravure Maatschappij (a printing and publishing house) as an all-round illustrator. In that capacity he produced a great many gags, drawings and paintings as well as several comics for weekly magazines.

He designed the adventures of 'Thijs IJs', which ran from March 1934 till October 1938 in the daily Nieuwsblad van het Noorden and in some affiliated newspapers.

In 1939 he decided to set up for himself, and apart from the artwork which he continued producing for his former employer, he started designing full-colour book covers and pen-and-ink illustrations for various publishers.

On 16 March 1941, as a result of the war, the Mickey Mouse comics disappeared from the news paper and Maarten's comics 'Tom Puss' made its first appearance in Holland's biggest daily, De Telegraaf. Toonder's wife Phiny Dick (herself the author of various children's' books) wrote the captions for its initial six publications, but then left it up to her husband to provide both texts and illustrations.

Toonder had to engage additional artists and soon found himself heading a studio. He co-founded Geesink-Toonder Produkties in Amsterdam, with Joop Geesink, producing comics and animations. Together they made advertising movies for the Dutch Railways and Philips in 1942. This collaboration lasted until 1943, when Geesink began to devote himself to puppet animation and Maarten starts his own Toonder Studio's in Amsterdam.

When in 1944 De Telegraaf is run by an editor who is a German SS member, Toonder withdraws Tom Puss from the news paper by having himself declared manic-depressive. This allows him to quit working without having to go into hiding. Just like his brother, Maarten draws political cartoons for the illegal paper Metro, that ran from November 1044 until July 1946.

When the War was over, the Toonder Studios came to life again, slowly but surely. The national and international demand for comics was such that new series were started up. In 1946 The Tom Puss comics appear in 50 national and international news papers and Maarten also starts new comics. He made a total of 177 stories for the news papers and in 1947 the first comic book of Tom Puss was published. The Toonder Studio also start producing more and more cartoons.

In his third adventure Tom Puss was joined by a new character: 'Mr. Oliver B. Bumble' ('Olivier B. Bommel' in Dutch), who soon proved to be indispensable and who was to become the key figure in the 174 stories to follow.

In the course of 1965 year Toonder left the ownership and management of the Toonder Studios to others, enabling himself to fully concentrate on the 'Tom Puss and Mr. Bumble' saga. From then on the stories were the products of his personal imagination and he took on the full inking himself. The overall quality of the series became such that their publication in paperbacks (in addition to their daily appearance in the papers) resulted in 44 best-sellers.

In 1985, at the age of 72, Toonder decided he had told all he had to tell, and on 20 January 1986 the papers published the last installment of the last story. The event received nationwide coverage and public sentiments were running that high that the NRC Handelsblad decided to republish a great many of the stories.

Twelve years later the newspaper finally replaced the adventures of 'Tom Puss and Mr. Bumble' in spite of protests by its readership and condemnation by Holland's leading captains of industry. Sweden's leading daily, Dagens Nyheter, commenced publication of Tom Puss's adventures in February 1947 and fifty years later the newspaper was still re-running the series.

Redneck or Genius III

We can understand you don't want to come all the way to the South just for a couple of days. So, you might have more luggage and other stuff you like to bring. That's no problem.

We'll have our pick-up truck handy when we come to pick you up!

Upon your arrival, don't be afraid of the dogs. Their bark is usually worse than their bite.

Just to make sure, we will lock them up in their dog house.

Depending upon the weather, which is usually pretty good this time of year, we can have some outdoor fun. One of our favorite sports is horse shoe throwing.

We recently started a competition and the winner is to keep the horse shoe. Might come in handy!

Of course we need to go fishing! Bass is plentiful and good eating too. We love to prepare it for you.

So, make sure to catch some. We will lend you our bass-boat.

This is so exciting! We are very much looking forward to your stay. We hope you do as well. :-D

About Maarten Toonder

One of the most famous Dutch artists of comics, who left a great mark on the Dutch comic scenes in The Netherlands, was Maarten Toonder. His most famous and well known creations are Tom Puss and Oliver B. Bumble.

On May 2nd 1912, Maarten Toonder was born in Rotterdam, The Netherlands. He was the son of a Dutch merchant navy captain Maarten Toonder and his wife Trijntje Huizinga.

He visited elementary and several other different school in Rotterdam.

In 1933, he joined the local Art Academy for a short spell and fulfilled his military service. In 1935, Maarten marries his neighbors' daughter Phiny Dick, short for Afine Kornélie Dick. She also was the daughter of a naval captain, made drawings and wrote comics and children's books. The couple settles in Leiden and Phiny assists Maarten with writing text for his comics and coming up with new comics. In 1940 they move to Amsterdam. Maarten and Phiny had 4 children.

In 1965 Maarten and Phiny emigrated to Greystone, Ireland and in 1990 Phiny died. In 1996 Marten Toonder marries the composer Tera de Marez Oyens. Unfortunately, she dies three months later. Because of health problems, Maarten moves back in 2001 to The Netherlands. The passing away of his first and second wife and three of his four children, left their mark on the last part of his life.

On July 27th 2005, Maarten Toonder, who was living at the Rosa Spier Huis in Laren, The Netherland at that time, died in his sleep.

See also:
Maarten Toonder's Work
Maarten Toonder's Economical Impact

Just Blond

I opened the new box of garbage-bags to get one out and replace the full bag. As I unfolded it, I discovered to my big surprise they were only half the length of the ones we had. That's odd, I was so certain I had gotten the right kind and made sure it said 13 gallons on the box. No matter how I looked and even shook the new bag, it was only half size.

Me: "Oh no!"
Husband: "What is it?"
Me: " The garbage-bag! Look at this."
I held up the half-sized bag.
”Husband: " I have never seen such an odd size. Who would use such a size? Are you sure you got the right bags?"
Me: " Yes, I am very sure. Oh well, they will have to do for now."

Of course, in no time the bag was full and I pulled it out to be replaced. While I was tying a knot in it, I noticed a little piece of plastic sticking out on both sided at the top. Odd, what is that? Curious me pulls it and... the lower half of the garbage-bag revealed itself! It had clung together so well, I totally overlooked it. Both hubbie and myself got a real good laugh out of it. It sure solved the mystery of the odd-shaped garbage-bags, haha.

A Warned Man...

Daughter: "Corry, if you go into the building, move stuff around, be careful because it's the time for the brown recluse".

Me: "Oh okay. Thanks for the warning."

Daughter: "Do you know what they look like? I can show you a picture."

Me (already shuddering by the thought of a spider-pic): "No!"

Daughter: "Would you like me to show you a picture?"

Me ( half grossing out): "NOOO!"

Daughter: "Or what they can do to your skin?"

Me (totally grossing out now): "NOOOOOOOOO, thanks!!! I 'll tell you what. When I see a spider...I just kill it!"

That settled the matter to everyone's satisfaction and I appreciated her warning:-)

Forewarned is forearmed, or as the Dutch saying goes: a warned man counts for two. It's odd though how a warning often feels like and is taken as a threat and false pride tosses it aside because "I know that is not going to happen to me, I will make sure of that!" And then I am so surprised when I find myself in exactly that situation that I was warned about.

Well, eventually I learned that a warning is given as help and instruction to have a better, happier life. To avoid the pit-falls. It's given out of love and care and a guideline to reach the goal successfully!

How It Came About

We all know how we got here, but have you ever wondered why we are here, or rather what life is all about? I suppose the most important question would be: "How did it came about?"

On the first day, God created the dog and said:

'Sit all day by the door of your house and bark at anyone who comes in or walks past. For this, I will give you a life span of twenty years.'

The dog said: 'That's a long time to be barking. How about only ten years and I'll give you back the other ten?'

So God agreed.

On the second day, God created the monkey and said:

'Entertain people, do tricks, and make them laugh. For this, I'll give you a twenty-year life span.'

The monkey said: 'Monkey tricks for twenty years? That's a pretty long time to perform. How about I give you back ten like the Dog did?'

And God agreed.

On the third day, God created the cow and said:

'You must go into the field with the farmer all day long and suffer under the sun, have calves and give milk to support the farmer's family. For this, I will give you a life span of sixty years.'

The cow said: 'That's kind of a tough life you want me to live for sixty years. How about twenty and I'll give back the other forty?'

And God agreed again.

On the fourth day, God created man and said:

'Eat, sleep, play, marry and enjoy your life. For this, I'll give you twenty years.'

But man said: 'Only twenty years? Could you possibly give me my twenty, the forty the cow gave back, the ten the monkey gave back, and the ten
the dog gave back; that makes eighty, okay?'

'Okay,' said God, 'You asked for it.'

So that is why for our first twenty years we eat, sleep, play and enjoy ourselves. For the next forty years we slave in the sun to support our family. For the next ten years we do monkey tricks to entertain the grandchildren. And for the last ten years we sit on the front porch and bark at everyone.

So, here you have the explanation of life and now you know the rest of the story. I hope you got something out of this information. If not, then I hope it at least enticed a smile. :-)

Pet's Diary

I sometimes wonder what goes on in our dog's head. Seriously! She can look at you and it's just like she is thinking. Okay, maybe I have too much time on my hands to be considering something like this.

I don't have to wonder anymore though. Someone found their diaries and published some of it. Even though I think it to be an invasion of one's privacy, I couldn't help but reading it.

Uh oh, isn't there a saying about curiosity killing the cat? Well, if you are a cat-owner, I would recommend you find yourself 8 more lives. At least that would even the score!!!

EXCERPTS FROM A DOG’S DIARY:
8:00am - Dog food! My favorite thing!
9:30am - A car ride! My favorite thing!
9:40am - A walk in the park! My favorite thing!
10:30am - Got rubbed and petted! My favorite thing!
12:00pm - Lunch! My favorite thing!
1:00pm - Played in the yard! My favorite thing!
3:00pm - Wagged my tail! My favorite thing!
5:00pm - Milk bones! My favorite thing!
7:00pm - Got to play ball! My favorite thing!
8:00pm - Wow! Watched TV with the people! My favorite thing!
11:00pm - Sleeping on the bed! My favorite thing!

EXCERPTS FROM A CAT’S DIARY:

Day 983 of my captivity. My captors continue to taunt me with bizarre little dangling objects. They dine lavishly on fresh meat, while the other inmates and I are fed hash or some sort of dry nuggets. Although I make my contempt for the rations perfectly clear I, nevertheless, must eat something in order to keep up my strength. The only thing that keeps me going is my dream of escape. In an attempt to disgust them I, once again, vomit on the carpet.

Today I decapitated a mouse and dropped its headless body at their feet. I had hoped this would strike fear into their hearts, since it clearly demonstrates what I am capable of. However, they merely made condescending comments about what a "good little hunter" I am. Idiots! There was some sort of assembly of their accomplices tonight. I was placed in solitary confinement for the duration of the event. However, I could hear the noises and smell the food. I overheard that my confinement was due to the power of "allergies." I must learn what this means, and how to use it to my advantage.

Today I was almost successful in an attempt to assassinate one of my tormentors by weaving around his feet as he was walking. I must try this again tomorrow -- but at the top of the stairs. I am convinced that the other prisoners here are flunkies and snitches. The dog receives special privileges. He is regularly released - and seems to be more than willing to return. He is obviously retarded. The bird has got to be an informant. I observe him communicate with the guards regularly. I am certain that he reports my every move. My captors have arranged protective custody for him in an elevated cell, so he is safe.

For
now...

Redneck or Genius II

In case y'all decide to come over, let us know. I need to make a grocery list, so you ain't doing without.

I can't get too many groceries at the same time, since our Harley still ain't got a basket to put them. Hubbie is working on it though!

We'll check our weather station to see what the weather is gonna be like, so we know if we have to plan for indoor, or outdoor activities.

Maybe we all can go shopping. Don't worry, you don't need to bring any fancy clothes. We're all just common folks! :-)

Anyways, we are looking forward to seeing you. Stay as long as you like. When we get tired of y'all, we'll put the broom behind your chair!