Still on vacation, but I had some down time to do the Sunday post. I may wait until Wednesday to post the Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday strips.

To say this story went off the rails would be a fitting punishment. What began as a father-son fishing trip in Ohio got interrupted by a breakdown of Happy and Mark’s train (a portent of things to come). Then an explosion at a train station connected with the derailment of another train carrying toxic chemicals influenced Happy and Mark to investigate the incident. This led to reconnecting with Rex Scorpius and his mother, who happened to be living nearby. Mark’s aggressive questioning of a state senator at a press conference led to assumptions of a coverup, the senator’s call for Mark’s arrest, a fist fight with cops, and Mark and Happy’s escape. Whew!

They were spirited away by Rex and his mom with police in pursuit. Later discussions among the four at a remote location led Mark to come up with the goofy idea of livestreaming a report inside Rex’s car, speeding down a highway.  He predicted this scheme would somehow attract more listeners and help expose the chemical spill coverup and the senator’s corruption.

In fact, “Professor” Bee Sharp came online to spill the beans that the state senator was bribed by the Duck Duck Goose transportation company (that owned the train) to cover up any malfeasance. Sharp, who had been hired by DDG to be their official PR face, revealed to Mark that DDG bribed the senator with a wildebeest that he kept in his backyard. An absurd idea, especially if we take this story seriously, which we tend to do, despite Rivera’s tradition of writing goofy stories. This brings us to this past week.

Mark and company sped to the senator’s house. Surprisingly, the senator was also listening to Mark’s livestream report (how he knew this is never explained) and sent the cops to arrest him. The cops, the senator, and Mark all arrived at the house same time, of course. Mark told the police that the wildebeest was a bribe. So, on the say-so of Mark Trail (virtually unknown in Ohio) and the presence of a wildebeest on the senator’s property, the local police arrested their own state senator. Surprisingly, they did not arrest Mark, Happy, Rex, or his mother! Well, let’s take a rest and view today’s nature chat.

Okay, that’s a cute title panel. Today’s topic is not likely known by many people who are not into surfing, though Rivera, herself, is a surfer. Nevertheless, I found it interesting and informative. Well, I found several articles about aggressive sea otters and surfers, but none mentioned the algae connection. On the other hand, I found an informative page on “Environmental Health News” about sea otters and algae blooms. Turns out sea otters often envelope themselves in algae for various reasons, but infected algae are infecting and killing sea otters and sea lions. (https://www.ehn.org/algal-blooms-sea-otters-2651321061.html). But there was no link between the poisoning and the aggressive behavior noted. Still, Rivera may have access to better resources than I do. I do not even play a biologist on TV.