Dr.Adonis Washing-Bugosi......

dear santa Pat, not to mention your headwarmer

I managed to listen to about 20 secs of it.......just not my cup of tadpole wine............

oh dear Hanne, spare me that

Indeed, I still have my good dress gloves which are deerskin outside and rabbit fur inside! Always nice and warm and they FEEL so good too.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jgC4Tn5Ogyw

He killed the noble Mudjokivis.
Of the skin he made him mittens,
Made them with the fur side inside,
Made them with the skin side outside.
He, to get the warm side inside,
Put the inside skin side outside;
He, to get the cold side outside,
Put the warm side fur side inside.
That’s why he put the fur side inside,
Why he put the skin side outside,
Why he turned them inside outside.

That's how the mittens were made
Anonymous parody on Longfellow's Hiawatha

I watched the Chicago Bears trounce the Dallas Cowboys on Monday Night Football. They played in Chicago, in an open stadium with the wind roaring through it (Chicago is nicknamed The Windy City), and the temperature at the start of the game was 8 ℉ (-13 ℃). You can bet the fans were bundled up, and a lot of them were shown on camera. It was serious weather and there was fur everywhere! Some fake, of course, but a lot of it real. There's still nothing like it when you're out in the bitter cold.

Here's one I hope you'll be thrilled to see. I was!

www.jigidi.com/puzzle.php?id=EPLYN2LG

Juneee, in let's say 1712 your attitude would have been a lot different. Fur was the lightest, warmest best insulator you could get. You peeled the skin off your food, ate the insides and tanned the outside for clothing. And the frontier, the place where rugged pioneers took their brave families and fought for survival, was anything west of Philadelphia, PA! Heck, as late as the mid-1860s the famous "Battle of the Wilderness" in the American Civil War took place in what is now east-central Virginia.

Am I the only one here who isn't a tad squirrely?

I wonder if that's how Deforest Kelley got his name??? Set your tasers on "stun de bark", gentlemen.

And now we know where all the trees went.............deforestation must have been rife in those days.......

fascinating, I mean that, but what kind of woman goes round with a dead rodent round her neck? Not this one

In the pioneer era 2 or 3 centuries ago muskets and rifles commonly ranged from .45 caliber up to .70 caliber. That’s huge by today’s standards, and those thunderpoles threw a great big ball of lead through the air. A big old ounce of lead was what you needed when you wanted to bring home a deer to feed the family or face down a bear. But far too often the family’s bellies were empty when the deer were sneakier than normal or just not around. Many a meal came from the lowly raccoon and ‘possum, and sometimes even from squirrels.

When you think about the size of a squirrel, and the meager amount of meat it has, and then you picture one of those monster bullets of the day tearing through it like a steam locomotive through the Little House on the Prairie, there wasn’t much left to put in the frying pan. Well, our forefathers were no dummies. They invented barking squirrels.

Have you read all this way expecting some revelation about a mysterious breed of squirrel that goes bow-wow? Come now, disabuse yourself of such weird thoughts and prepare your mind for pure genius. The marksmen of long ago figured out that they didn’t have to shoot the squirrel. They could shoot the tree the squirrel was clinging to, and blast off a big chunk of bark, and the bark slamming into the squirrel would bring about its sudden demise without damaging any of the meat. And that’s called barking a squirrel.

You had to be a good shot because you had to miss the critter by no more than an inch or so, but back then muskets were daily tools as much as axes, saws, hammers and augers were. Expert shooting was a common skill on the American frontier.

Squirrels also have pelts that can be tanned and put to many useful purposes. You can make a pretty collar for a lady’s coat, or a nice warm winter cap or even a jacket or a blanket. However one big impediment, or perhaps I should say two, were the giant bullet holes port and starboard after the bullet had done its work and gone its way. This problem, too, was solved by the barking technique. And that, dear Bugosilanders, is barking squirrels.

...........unless they're high up in a tree, of course............

Touching a squirrel's nuts is about as low as you can go......

Well, apparently squirrels do bark, when they're agitated and annoyed..........I suppose they would, if you tried to touch their nuts.......

I give in, what is a barking squirrel, or is it as Heidi said several chapters ago?

You're quite correct Gemmy, barking is the verb and squirrels is the subject, or it might be called the object, of the verb!

A subject in Danish is a person who drinks too much - in Latin it's something quite different!! - perhaps.....

Killing the cherry tree caper!!! Remember, always tell the truth! Thanks for another strange but fun puzzle/storry lela!! :)))
(time, 2:45)

Are you absolutely sure about that in this case, psquirt? Then the noun should precede the verb...unless squirrel is not the subject...but then, what is the subject???

Did you only find out NOW???? - and you are English speaking - or well, American......

Here's a BIG HINT: in the phrase "barking squirrels" barking is a verb.

Tom-minus..........That is Dr.Adonis Washing-Bugosi, drawing back the curtain to tell the tale of his younger self......The father was the Charlie Chaplin of his day - as regards fatherhood...........

In getting back to the artwork....little Adonis Washing looks to be about six years old and the story tells us his father was eighty-six...oy vay!!....what does the mother look like??...and who is standing in the foreground of the painting??...

I've never heard a "barking squirrel", nor ever have I seen one...But let me tell you this, I'd rather hear than be one.....to paraphrase or plagiarize, or just plain misquote.......whatever.....

Yes...and Suffolk and Norfolk, too...come to think of it, psquirt could freeze off his little bits and pieces there, too!

but Diamond were you in Essex England?

A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away?

I HAVE heard of the "Calgary squirt"......now I know what it means......
As for barking squirrels, I suppose they are similar to squeaking elephants (which abound in Nether-Bonga)......
Gerdje-thingy.......Please try and pull yourself together - though very sad, it all happened a long time ago.......

I was in Essex last summer...must have missed the barking squirrels...and if psquirt has any knowledge of "them", I count myself lucky on having missed "them"! They're still looking for you in Calgary, psquirt.

Reeding the Story tears and tears were running , running over my face ,so , that I had to make the puzzle blind . After two coffees and 13 cleenex : this Story CANNOT be passed in Bonga-Bonga !!!

I've heard of two, O Flashing One. Prairie Dogs are also called Barking Squirrels, and there is a Barking Squirrel Lager. Which do you mean?

You haven't been in Essex?????

Come on folks, barking squirrels. Not even close so far!

I've heard about it - a terrible noise there!!

they live in Essex

All right then, is anyone familiar with barking squirrels?

WOOF!..............

Bow-wow, what does Dogdaze say???

grannygoatlady you are so right....long-winded senseless stories are utterly boring...so now we need a touch of humour...Lela says the tree was barked and that reminds me of this whimsy....a dog was standing at a tree saying "Birch, birch"...when asked why...he said it's the only bark I know....

Ohhhh pass me the Kleenexes pleaaaase....

Yes.....'tis so!........
And, Santa-Squirt.............Your recycled rantings hold no water here, in this pond.......

Being cold with frosted fingers (having just come back from feeding horses and cows in drizzling, blustery, 35 degree weather)...I think brevity of comment is the order for the day......To Lela I say, "is that so"...to P_squirt I say, "Huh".....

"A truly touching moment in the Bugosi family annals............"

Well it MIGHT be, except for one thing! This touching story actually happened NOT in the Bugosi family, but in the BARLOFF family. Yes, those (supposedly, if you only hear lelabug's side of it) dastardly Barloffs, the other moiety or half or side of the family.

Yea verily, though ye know it not, recent Bugosilanders, the Bugosis and the Barloffs, whose patriarchs are Lela Bugosi and Koris Barloff, respectively, are two halves OF THE SAME FAMILY!!! The Barloffs have all the money, which is only to be expected. After all they come from the great movie actor Koris Barloff, who lived a life of richly deserved stardom, wealth and acclaim.

The Bugosis on the other hand descended (and boy, do I mean descended) from the pitiable Lela Bugosi, our lela's namesake, who made a couple of movies, mostly hiding behind his cape for he was ugly and could not act, and then lived a miserable, lonely, friendless life until he passed on to the other realm a broke, penniless, farthing-begging drug addict. Oh, woe, oh woe, oh woe.

Today's lelabugosi has embarked on a campaign of rehabilitation for his half of the family, but it is a sordid affair blackened by scandal, crime and the most horrific "science" experiments the world has ever seen. Tadpole wine is just one example. Whatever its flavor may be (for I have never tasted it, and warn you never to let it pass your lips), it is virulently addictive, and has become the foundation of a new Bugosi family fortune. A fortune based on squeezing the last nickel out of every wretched soul who has become hooked on it, so that lela may live a life of luxury in his newly-bought "castle" with his trophy wife, Mrs. B.

But this is the holiday season, a time of joy and good will, so I'll say no more except to warn newcomers that whenever lela uncorks a warm, touching story such as this, chances are he's lying though his hat!

My dear Surreal-Blue-Whateveryoumaybe.......It is really so simple.......After the confrontation, young Adonis Washing took the hatchet from his father and both went out to see the tree.......though Adonis forgave his father, he would not give the offending weapon back to him, choosing instead to give it to his little sister, George........I hope this has helped in your education, which I am sorry to say, is sadly lacking......
Mr.Christmas-Carroll.........It brought a tear to my eye..........
Mr.Le-Squirtz.........Are you not cold?...........

These Bugosi family stories are getting harder and harder to believe, Lela. That's because the details don't correspond with the picture! The wrong person is holding the hatchet, according to your story, and the confrontation is taking place next to the murdered tree. How do you explain that? Huh? How?


Mr Squire.... your avatar appalls me! Flashing children instead of old ladies! I may not show up for your New years Eve concert if you continue this behavior!

just only showing your Christmas baubles to the young boy...........er what? Something wrong there

I am overwhelmed by the Christmas spirit this year. I hope everyone who sees my new avatar (courtesy of Octomom, you know) will take my benevolent greeting in the spirit of joy and happiness with which it is intended! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! ! ! ! !