That must have been some impact, as it appears to have knocked Mark right out of his PFD – Personal Flotation Device- (if not his BVD’s…) So now he’ll owe money for that as well…

What must is be like for a whale, who can only give the world a side-ways glance…  who must have a giant blind spot in front, which denies it binocular vision and any hope of depth perception?  Does it maintain two distinct fields of view?  How does the whale brain process that?  Apparently that’s still a mystery, even going back to Melville’s time when he captured Ishmael’s pondering of the very same question…

Close, that is…  or “CLOSE!,” as Mark puts it…  Hair only slightly out of place while he swims away from the concussion of the whale’s “KARAASH.”  Sort of light Chris Farley (rest his soul) doing a cannonball in a kiddie pool…  not that he ever did, to my knowledge, but the effect would be the same…

So as Mark is driven underwater, he’ll have to surface and find his personal watercraft and paddle… but maybe he’ll run into Abbey Powell somewhere out there… or maybe Abbey and Cherry are already tying one on poolside, new “Besties” not even aware of the tie that binds them…  I think that Cherry had decided to not return to Wally’s forest after a single visit where she got to witness his misogynistic thought patterns, and thereby never met Abbey Powell who then came into our consciousness as an Agent of the USDA, to help Wally with his Emerald Ash Borer problem…

But I digress.  Here we are in sunny, wonderful Hawaii, and unless there is a man-eating shark waiting in the wings, Mark should be able to return to Cherry unscathed, if only a bit rattled by the fact that Nature seems to have it out for him…

…and convince him that a story would move along just fine without you ending up on the wrong side of some natural force…  this time, a humpback whale feeding and and then breaching on your ass…  (the linked video is hilarious… the videographer is entranced but his mate is less than happy about the whole thing…)   I have to admit my first reaction when reading this was laughter.  Good thing this is a family strip otherwise Mark might have let loose with a more appropriate “oh sh*t” or “oh, f*ck me…” I am sure he’s quite sick of being in harm’s way.

But such is his lot in life.  So Mark, you’d better react quickly and get out of the way- at least get off the paddleboard, so you can be driven underwater, and not driven into the shards of the soon to be demolished rental craft.  Then there will be the matter of the damage deposit… much like every other thing you have ever rented that floats… it never ends up well…  if there was a list, his name would be on it, and he’d be forever barred from signing a rental contract…

Whales, huh?  I think some of you out there called this ahead of the big reveal…

And for those of you doubting, (certainly not me…) here’s what happens in nature…  pretty amazing… and accurate right up to the bubbles and such…

And look… Mario’s back… in all his clipped glory!  But one would think that the close proximity to the exploding whale pod would have knocked him off the paddleboard…

…and speaking of exploding whales, check this out…

The pace is staggering here.  Don’t know if I can take it.  I thought Mark would be on the paddleboard for a week before anything really happened!! Bravo!

…a law, even, against the single panel.

I sit here, dumbfounded.  Searching.  Wanting to say something.  I think to myself (much like Mark is now..) “This is like the cave all over again… There are different ways to be trapped, even on top of the water within a paddle-board’s distance from shore…”

Of course they are fish! What else is going to live in the water?!  I guess the “suspense” is in asking the question, “What’s causing this phenomenon?” Predators (probably billfish of some sort) are working together to form a bait-ball and have a little dinner.  The fish, forced to the surface, are easy pickings for the gulls, and they are grateful.  Mark, the supposed naturalist, is transfixed.  Next.

I am not even compelled to google ‘bubbles n the water’ since it will probably be related to gas…

Help me Obi Wan, you are my only hope…  Maybe tomorrow…

…taking your chances that a rip tide isn’t gong to suck you out to sea, and also content in the notion that Cherry is going to be all right drinking daiquiris all by herself on the beach!  Oh, OK, I mean what could possibly happen, especially when it’s not even clear (to me at least) who is on the paddleboard.   Is that Mark?  We recently learned a lesson that just because someone is wearing a familiar swimsuit ensemble doesn’t guarantee it is who you think it is…

I mean, it doesn’t even look like him…  looks like Luigi from Mario Brothers- is that a mustache??

But back to the adventure…  It is in fact Mark on the paddleboard, doing what Mark does- taking stock of his surroundings and noticing things that are off-kilter…

No “What th-” but rather a full blown, “What in the World!?” Talk about being off-kilter. With Mark’s Spidey Senses tingling, I guess we’ll have to find out tomorrow what is blowing bubbles.  My first though is whale, but that would be one source of big bubbles, not many sources of little bubbles…

But I am sure many of you wondered what became of the Saturday edition… well turns out I was back in Adams County, WI home to my Aunt and Uncle and any number of amazing things, the least of which (left) is not the fact that Uncle Tommie, after years of trying to make the senior tour, has set his clubs aside to work on becoming a bona fide hummingbird whisperer…  Now, getting this little guy to slow his heart rate down is no mean feat, not to mention getting him to lie still long enough to get a couple of pictures off…

… and not to mention the fact that our friendly Black Squirrel (common to these parts) at the Petenwell Pub has a new summer outfit- a snappy red cowboy hat!  Recall the trip from last winter, where the temperature was well below zero- the little gal had her fleece on!

Well, it’s back to reality, everyone!  Another day to give my liver a rest and look forward to tomorrow’s installment!