I recently attended an Aberdeen Ironbirds game...........and yes......I sat there eating steamed crabs!
Me and Supernurse and a contingency of the Emergency Nurses Association.........and uh.......Mr Boh, of course. It was a great evening..........capped off with a fabulous display of fireworks. Cal Ripken built quite a complex and I recommend that you at least take one day and take in a game. You will not be disappointed.

All work and no play is never a good thing. As it happens though, I seem to get busier and busier with painting crab shells and it is a challenge to squeeze in some time away from that. The good news is that I have two trips coming up in October......one to Texas and one to the Riviera Maya.........and then back to Baltimore for the mayhem that is the Christmas shopping season.

Today, I figured I would post some photos of some of the custom orders that I made for people. Special requests sometimes are challenging........but I actually enjoy the challenge. As usual, the customers were very happy with the end results.

Many people like to have a shell personalized.

This one was to be a gift for the owners of a cafe in Bethany Beach, Delaware.

This one is self explanatory.

And there's more..............

This one was challenging.  A drummer for the prog-rock band Sonus Umbra asked if I could somehow do the cover of their album on a crab shell...........arrrrggghhhh..........I had to really think this one out.........but after scratching my head for a few hours, I managed to git 'r done.

Sometimes the requests are for display cases with shells. This six shell and two mallet custom box was put together in honor of the career of Zach Clark, pitcher in the Baltimore Orioles farm system. Each shell had each farm team logo and the dates Clark was with them. The center shell included his photo and date that he played his first game in the Majors as a big league Oriole reliever.

Another request was for a woman who is crazy about the Orioles center fielder Adam Jones.

That's it for now..........I have shells to paint.

Until next time..............by the way, if you want to see more photos, simply search the archives, there's tons of pictures.

Painted Crab Shells and Time

Yeah..........I know.........it has been a while since my last entry here on the ole blogosphere. Needless to say, putting stuff on the blog has not been a priority of mine. I suppose I will have to get around to making a more concerted effort at keeping pace here. I have been busy and time...... as time goes by........goes by quickly..........sometimes too quick.......the days blur together.......no real
differentiation of days. Lately, I seem to get into a funk easily......perhaps I am burning out......tired.

Having said all of that, I certainly have not given up the ship yet.....there is a long way to go hopefully. Many things have changed in my world recently.......things that occur that shut you down mentally and spiritually. Sometimes it is hard to focus and some of those things that you ordinarily think have importance and relevance in your world .....become just trivial and pointless.........at least in those moments.....ugh......even days or weeks where reality enters your world. Pretty deep eh?

My guess is that I do not need to elaborate on the above commentary........you can imagine and you will be correct at least on half of whatever you might be thinking I meant. Time marches on......precious as it is......and I need more time. There is never enough time. There are things to do.......lots of things.....and it requires time. Nobody ever told me about the frustration I would eventually have over time. Hah.....even that frustrates me.

There is much going on in the world around us and for the most part those things need our attention. It is also very frustrating knowing that your attention to such things may well never make any difference. We have to try. Nothing ventured...nothing gained.....right?

For the past several weeks, I have been hearing "You haven't updated your blog in a long time."
For the record. it has not been because there was nothing to say or share with everyone or anyone..
For the folks who come visit to look at the pictures of crab shells........all of the pictures are still here. You can just check all of the posts that pertain to crab shells. I promise to put up some photos of some of my recent work very soon........once again..........its a "time" issue.

Christmas Eve 2010

Ho! Ho! Ho!.......I've been good.......The question is Have YOU been good?

So here we are.....it is yet another Christmas Eve.........and many things have changed over the years..........I am thinking that in the grand scheme of things, out best days are all behind us. Yeah, I know........that is not a very cheerful thing........but the times indicate these things and the outlook is not very good......more crime......violence...higher taxes....lack of jobs.....higher grocery bills.........you know the deal. On the bright side......none of that stuff makes too much of a difference if you stand in defiance and resist....and in spite of it all, and do the best that you can to have a good time and celebrate the holidays......as I will be doing.

I really miss when my kids were little..........Christmas.........it was a special time for me. It was always about the kids. They are all grown up now........the girls have their own children......the boys, well...........their time will come...........and Christmas in the Signtopia home is different these days.

Don't get me wrong.........Christmas is still special for us..........sure, we still decorate........BUT.........

..........we wait until Princess Fartknocker and........

her brother, the Mayor of Simpleton, can be here to help us decorate the tree. Everything is good........and while Christmas has changed alot for me and Supernurse.....it is still about kids......albeit GRANDkids......hehehe....er....hohoho!

Crabs..................................crabs?

Yeah..........CRABS!.............painted crabs.
I have been calculating and planning and thinking for quite some time about making a few extra bucks here and there via the internet. One of those plans include crabs. I paint them, decoupage them........and hopefully very soon, will be selling them online. Everything is in the preliminary stage and at this point I am a dime short and a day late to start now.......it is Christmas already for crying out loud. Nonetheless, I have plans for the new year.

I have all sorts of ideas for crabs.......

.......some are obvious..........

..........most of my ideas are not available anywhere else......

and the ones that are.....well..........MY crabs will be a bit different.

If you like what you see............leave a comment and let me know.

If you have some ideas for me...........again.....leave a comment.

If you really. really, want one or two of these........leave a comment and let me know about it........Soon, I will be posting information as to how you can buy one from me........so stay tuned!

Meanwhile............the Weather Channel has been very nebulous with the forecast for our area. The live reports have flip-flopped all week. We are goona be nailed with a snowstorm in the mid-Atlantic on Christmas Day...........then it was we MIGHT get some flurries........then it was "snow showers"........."it is taking a more southerly track"......and then they said it could stall right off the coast........and it also COULD just zip right out to sea. Hmmmmmmmmmmm......now it says "30% CHANCE of snow"......which means there is a 70% chance that it WON'T!

oh well...............

we shall see soon enough.............White Christmas?

Here is some fun stuff for you from Kevin Meaney. You cannot get in the Christmas mode without Kevin Meaney. Watch these videos of him promoting his Christmas shows the past few years...........I think he is hilarious.......and his kind of humor is right up my alley.

Enjoy!...........and oh..........I almost forgot........

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYBODY!

A Little Of Dis & A Little Of Dat

Here we go with some of my random thoughts...........

...........not that these thoughts have any worth........but sometimes a man has to wonder about stuff.

I remember seeing old films of people striking oil and the oil would be spewing all over the place and people were covered with it and it was a huge mess..............we were told that this was a good thing.............somebody struck it rich!.........remember the Beverly Hillbillies?........Ole Jed Clampett struck oil and moved to Bev-er-ly.........Hills that is.....swimming pools........movie stars!

Oil is supposedly scarce these days and we are said to be dependent on foreign oil. As you know by now, somebody hit the motherlode while drilling for oil in the Gulf of Mexico, off the coast of Louisiana...........hmmmm.....Clampett territory? Well.......You would think people would be all excited about it.......but no. Supposedly, we are still being led to believe that oil is scarce and that it is hard to find........huh?............if it is so scarce and such a limited supply in this part of the planet, then why are we hearing reports where each day the amount spewing out of the floor of the Gulf is increasing in huge numbers and I also hear reports that it appears that this "leak" could go on for months and months......even years and years! This doesn't all add up to me.

And where has Al Gore been during all of this?.........hehehehe......

Today, the boogeyman is BP..........but the real boogeyman sits in Washington DC. Those that made laws restricting all new oil drilling to be so far off the coast that disasters such as this are hard to remedy. The even bigger problem with the oil disaster is that hurricane season starts about now.......this is not a good thing. The Gulf gets its fair share of tropical storms and the problem with this is that you have to remember where these storms get their water from. My guess is that a hurricane might suck up that oily water and dump it from the coastline to miles and miles inland..............think its a mess now?.......we ain't seen nuthin' yet. Stay Tuned!

I am a Baltimore Orioles fan.........and the team absolutely sucks this year.............but I am still a fan............well........there is always hope for next year. It boggles my mind that hitting has been a problem for the past 12 years or so............and we have changed managers, players, stadium attendants, hot dog vendors, and Boog Powell's t-shirts two or three times a year.............but one thing remains constant in the dugout............Terry Crowley the Orioles hitting coach..........Crowley somehow has kept his job all of these years. I do not understand the logic in this.

Another thing I do not understand is..........

..........Former Orioles pitcher and now part of the MASN broadcast team. Notice how he always looks slanted. On camera, he always leans to the side as he speaks..........maybe it his hairstyle........the hair is to heavy on one side. I think it is also the cause for Palmer's continual flubbing and stuttering of players names. I have one other pet peeve regarding Jim Palmer.........he has an obvious and apparent crush on Derek Jeter. The Orioles could be playing against the San Francisco Giants and at least twice during the broadcast he will mention Derek Jeter who plays for the Yankees. I could understand referencing Jeter regarding statistics, but when the broadcast goes like this: "Wigginton got all of that one and as he heads towards second base, Jeter..................."...................Jeter?.........C'mon Jim..........this ain't New York and Jeter has nothing to do with this game. Maybe Palmer is just getting a bit senile.

In a few months, Obama's hair will look like Nelson Mandela's hair...........don't laugh, he no longer dyes it.........it is getting grayer and grayer.

Ever see this guy?.............it's Boston Red Sox first baseman Kevin Youkilis. He's the one whose batting stance looks like a Wii character in the batters box. Everytime I see Youkilis, whose real name, by the way, is Weiner..............that's right, he is a Jewish ballplayer.............everytime I see Youkilis, I am thinking........

............Louis C.K.

Twins separated at birth?

What is it with politicians that they think that if they roll up their sleeves for an appearance in public and for a photo op, that you and I will think they are "working hard". I see this kind of stuff and it just assures me that the end of the world is upon us all. Furthermore, if you or I go to the coast or the beach on the Gulf Coast to get to the bottom of what is happening, we would not walk along that beach eating snowcones..........are you kidding me?.........do you see how hard they are "working"...........how do we know they are "working"?........the snowcones?........NO!.......it is the rolled up sleeves!.........It boggles my mind that would even wear a long sleeved shirt there. I have been to Louisiana at this time of year..........it ain't cold. You can't tell me they couldn't afford a short-sleeved shirt or two. How about a t-shirt and some cut-off jean shorts?

Back to the Orioles again............this is their catcher Matt Wieters............the alleged future superstar...........who can't seem to hit his way out of a paper bag. Think pop-outs and double plays. Whenever I see Wieters face on tv, I am reminded of this guy........

............that's right..........Joran van der Sloot........the soon to be deceased murderer.

Things are just terrible.........ain't it?

Maybe Wieters should grow a beard and start looking like Kevin Youkilis.

And now for something you don't see every day............music with appliances:




...........and just because it is Thursday.......some David Bowie. It is nice to see somebody actually enjoying what he is doing.


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