It takes tremendous discipline to not let fly with really dark oaths- especially when you are all alone and it’s just you, the sky and some stinging ants that probably hurt like hell!  I know from my own garden- upset a hill and they will climb up  your leg and start doing their worst!!

And it would appear that the ants are venomous as Abbey’s hand in panel one is swelling with each bite!!  And what makes Abbey such an expert on what should and shouldn’t be on the island?  Did she study extensively on “native” flora and fauna prior to arriving?  And what makes something native vs. invasive??  Isn’t it all just a matter of perspective?  I mean, any person in the United States of European descent is by definition invasive, not to mention the “First peoples” who walked the land bridge out of Alaska to populate what is now the lower 48…  So chill out, Blondie- and just admit that you are in over your head and that gravity is about to win!

By the way… I love your comments!  Keep ’em coming!!

hurrah, hurrah?  Well, this is certainly random…

As is the idea that the birds, nature, if you will, (which we know always finds a way) will be better off in Abbey’s rosin pouch that on its own, dealing with a little “Ant Invasion…”

Friendly and fearless finches?  That’s great alliteration…  Perhaps Abbey is completely read-up on the Bird Lore Audubon Guides…  But Abbey, are you now prepared to re-locate them?  Find them a new nest where the ants haven’t taken over the neighborhood?  What exactly is your plan?  Start a gofundme page to help support their relocation and study the invasive nature of the ants and determine what the birds are doing there in the first place?

As Abbey scales the rocky rocks, she is nothing if not focused on that bird!  And it seems that she is just as intent on determining its origins.  It’s a mystery to me how she will do that, as birds don’t speak and couldn’t understand her questions anyway…

My but what risks these Trailians take in there leisure time!  Recall Mark also free climbs in his spare time to “relax,” much to the chagrin of Cherry.  And if Abbey is going to become a recurring character, then she is also protected by the same force that Mark is- that no harm will come to her regardless of what peril she faces.  There’s worse than that fate for those less fortunate!!

I wonder if the real Abbey Powell has to sign off on what her character does.  Is there some kind of agreement that one signs where a likeness of you (right down to your first and last name) is put in the funny papers??  And this isn’t the first time Mr. Allen has pulled from real life… recall that he brought congressman Trey Gowdy into the story at the end of the Rhino Horn adventure?

Well, kids, I will be away for a day, but fear not, I will catch up Thursday morning!!

Whilst sunning herself on the beach of a deserted island, Abbey Powell just happens to have her free-climbing gear along…  special shoes, shorts shirt and of course the belt pouch that holds the rosin for her fingertips.  Just what you’d expect from a French and Sociology/Anthropology major working for the USDA… But she does have Peace Corps experience… if only in a Marketing capacity.

I wonder where she got her sunglasses with the blue tint, though.  Very stylish.  As mentioned here, they are of little practical use and used mostly to ‘look good…’  How terribly un-Trail…

…that makes all kinds of sense…

I am so glad that we learned of “Abbey’s” identity.  I’d still be scratching my head.

I will say, though, that Mr. Allen’s propensity toward drawing the female figure continues to delight, I’m sure.  Recall, dear readers, an unpublished strip, back from the Great Dismal Swamp Adventure, showing Cherry and and a very flummoxed Mark…

And in time honored Mark Trail fashion, Abbey talks aloud, alone, to no one in particular in the second panel.  Has sort of a Ferris Bueller quality to it, as if looking into the camera and speaking to her public…

I can see now that Mark Trail is adding some new, recurring characters…  nice touch.

Thanks to Michael Leddy who set me straight with a comment yesterday!  Great Sleuthing!  Mark would be proud!!  Turns out James Allen is active on the Social Media and helping us navigate his story lines, since they certainly can’t navigate themselves!

So now that we know that this Abbey is our Abbey, we can stop scratching our heads for a moment or two…  but seriously- who could have known that a bikini-hard body lay beneath her government-issued khakis…  Well, this is the James Allen Era, so why not?

Oh take us, little bird, to our prize- a couple of skeletons locked in mortal embrace, with wedding bands still around their left ring fingers…  Why is it I assume that H&D are dead?  I don’t know, wishful thinking?  The fact that we found a skeleton in the old bi-plane (for what turned out to be absolutely no reason) that appeared and disappeared over the course of the weeks…  Sorry to take you all back to the cave-venture, everyone…

As to why Abbey and Honey have the same color bikinis and hats, my only guess is that the colorizing happens off-shore with little supervision, and the team was just as confused as we were concerning who was on the beach, alone, with towel and flask…  and figured it still had to be Honey… who knows…

…OK, maybe I do, but really?  In a medium that relies largely on visual recognition cues, it’s really important to maintain some semblance of consistency with how the characters are drawn…

Here we have three pictures of (I assume) Abbey (formerly known as Honey) and aside from the hat (with the changeable hat-band, apparently) we’d hardly know it was her…

I know, way too much time on my hands… I could be solving for world hunger and yet I am (mostly) content to drink coffee and criticize this comic strip… Does it ever get old? Surprisingly no, but I must say that I was more than likely to be “in” on the joke and laughing “with” the author in the old days… Now I am prone to actually criticize…

But back to the story…and more research- the Nihoa Finch.  Looking at the picture, it would seem that this particular Nihoa Finch flew through a bleach bath, with none of its typical color palette showing… It does appear to be critically endangered, though, so maybe that’s the angle- looking for new habitat… And what makes you think you aren’t on Nihoa Island??  Perhaps in judging by the pictures, in real life it looks quite rocky and formidable- not sandy, lush and inviting…

So we are still left to wonder what became of “Darling…” Maybe Abbey is like the Black Widow Spider- kills her mate after making love…

…because of the green bikini, not because the rendering is familiar.  We ran into this during our cave “adventure…” If you are not Mark or Cherry Trail, you might find yourself drawn any number of ways, many of which can be unrecognizable.

So now we know that Honey’s name is ‘Abbey,’ with an ‘ey,’ which we also experienced during the “Wally and The Beavers” story line… the USDA Agent Abbey Powell, who introduced us all to the concept of parasitoids…  could this be the same person?  Well, she would have had to shed her khakis and glasses and grown and dyed her hair, so probably not…

But really, campers, can’t you just feel the impending doom here?  no way this goes well for (who we know now is) Abbey and her love (whom we have not seen since she ravaged him on the beach…)  but fear not, we shall know all certainly by the end of this month.  I mean, that’s only a couple of weeks away…

With no sign of Darling, we have to wonder what happened to him!!  It’s just odd that Honey would be there alone, resplendent in her string bikini, remarking on the geography of the area and crabbing about birds chirping…

A deserted island, in the “normal” sense of the word means that it is devoid of human life, not nature itself…  and anyone who has just been to the conservation congress would know that, unless Darling is the wealthy eco-warrior and Honey has merely tagged along for the “ride…”

Honey is exposing her alabaster skin to the tropical sun… good thing she has sunscreen.  At least I assume that’s what’s in the bottle next to her.  Might be flask of whiskey…    And it looks like she did bring a blanket with her- white as the sand.

But where the heck is Darling??  Did he swell up and die after being bit?  Recovering from their “From Here to Eternity” scene?

And what the heck is the “International Union for Conservation of Nature?”  And why do they need to stage a “World Conservation Congress??” And wouldn’t “World Congress” do just fine?  Wouldn’t we assume that they were going to talk about “Conservation?”   Well, what do you know… it’s a real thing… but those in the know are more apt to call it the IUCN World Conservation Congress…  and looks like it will be held in Hawaii September, 2016.  But here’s a news flash- flying everyone to Hawaii, not mention tooling around in that giant boat aren’t exactly the most sustainable activities one might imagine…

And a bit more about the IUCN and the Congress… it’s held every four years, not two (I know… picky, picky…) but the choice to have it in Hawaii in 2016 was probably not a difficult one, as the selection committee had to also consider a bid from Turkey… hmmm… Hawaii, Turkey, Hawaii, Turkey…  Tropical Paradise vs a growing center of unrest…

That is the sorriest looking “I’m sorry” look I have ever seen on Honey’s face… but apparently she is determined to “kiss it and make it better…”

So as Honey and Darling get their “Island” on, we see that the boat is somehow miraculously staying put without even the hint of a tether…  Meanwhile Mr. Ant looks on, having already found the firewood that Darling brought with him… Don’t they know that transporting firewood can spread dread vermin like the dread Emerald Ash Borer?   Of course they don’t!

July 1st…  Half way through the year.  How was your front nine?  I mostly stayed clear of the traps and hit most of the fairways… which is a big improvement over the first half of 2015… Not that  I have much to complain about, if anything, but things related to my day job got sorted out toward the end of 2015 and 2016 has been fairly smooth sailing so far.  OK, I just mixed golfing and sailing metaphors, neither of which I do very often, ok, sailing not at all, but there it is.  I like the look on Darling’s face in panel 2, the look of a man unaccustomed to physical labor… or the look of a man sick and tired of being called “Darling…”

But here’s where things go terribly wrong (thank goodness…) Darling gets bit by something!  Let’s hope it’s venomous and creates lots of tension!  Makes him swell up and croak within the week!  I haven’t grown attached to this pair and I can’t for the life of me understand what they have to do with our hero…

And really, “Honey?” Put a cover on! at least the bottom… have you no modesty?

…”where the hell did they get the wood to build the fire??”  And for the record, I am already Honey’d and Darling’d out…

Oh an what a whale it is!  A lovely Sperm Whale!  In its southern habitat, apparently.  And speaking of whales and whaling, and since this (back) story is crawling along, I will take the time to recommend a movie- The Heart of the Sea, starring Thor (Chris Hemsworth) and directed by Ron Howard.  It’s the story of what led up to the sinking of the Essex at the hand (so to speak) of Moby Dick (who did not have a name at that point) and what happened to the crew, who spent 90 days afterward in open boats trying to find land…  The Herman Melville character drives the movie, convincing the surviving cabin boy, now an older man, to tell the tale so he could adapt it for his famous novel… “Call me Ishmael…”  4 out of 5 stars…

No even a blanket?  C’mon, Darling, that just means there will be sand in all the wrong places… kinda rough, don’t you think??  I’m beginning to think that their names are really “Honey” and “Darling…”

Thank you for having a Crew on board- at least a captain…  that’s 80 feet of waterline, and it would take a crew to sail her…  nice Boston Whaler as the tender… twin engine… never know when you might need the backup…

Well, I stand corrected… weigh (or heave or take up) anchor means the opposite of what I said yesterday… as in “Anchors aweigh…” “Drop or Cast Anchor” is entirely accurate!!

Darling and Honey (and they are still calling each other that after what must be many days at sea..) are busy making plans to drop anchor, weigh the tender, and motor to this “tiny island” to have “lunch on the beach.” What could possibly go wrong?? Apparently these two haven’t seen the movies where sharks and other such creatures seek revenge on those who would dare ply the sea…  not to mention undiscovered, primitive civilizations calling uncharted tiny islands “home…”

Not that I really care where this is going or how on earth this relates to Mark, Carina and Gabe, but we have to remember that this is happening two years in the past, and for some reason that matters…

Meanwhile let’s enjoy the splendor of two rich white people and their impeccable oral hygiene…  and watch while they make their way ashore- toward what will surely be a destiny they did not foresee…

“What th-?”

Now we are time traveling… certainly an author’s prerogative…  as we listen in on the 0.01% and how they live their lives…  Remember the show “Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous?”  Remember how Robin Leach (how ironic!) would give us a glimpse into how the 1% lives!  Remember Dallas!  Remember Dynasty!  Oh how we would tune in… what’s interesting is that all this display of excess and opulence engendered zero disdain- no talk of inequality… we were just happy to be able to look in on their exciting lives…

I got news for you, sweetheart, your little cruise isn’t going to end any time soon… according to the distance calculator, you are 4,381 miles away from New Zealand…  Hell, it’s only 2,400 miles from Seattle to Brooklyn…  let’s hope you are well provisioned…

So, “soon”is a relative concept- perhaps compared to circumnavigating the entire globe…