Promoted to Back Seat Driver

 Marcus:  I have the sads.  Jan says I have to keep riding in the back of the SUV. 

Percy:  I can see you have something.  I hope it isn't contagious! 

Marcus:  I am ignoring Jan.  She let me into the front seat but she still says I can't drive.

Percy:  I don't blame her!

 Marcus:  She gets the back of disgust.

Percy:  You need to learn anatomy.  That's your right shoulder, not your back.

Marcus:  Did I hear Jan correctly?

Percy:  Probably not.  You hear what you want to hear.

Marcus: Jan said if I'm a really good back seat passenger, she'll let me become a back seat driver.

Percy:  Oh, good, you might have found your niche, Marcus.  I bet you'll make a great back seat driver.  Perhaps you could even become a back, back seat driver.  You know, ride all the way in the rear with the groceries. 

Marcus:  I hope Jan gives me my own ignition key.


Marcus:  So much as happened since September 25th when we posted Locked Door Motor Running.  We're sorry it has taken two weeks to post the answer to the locked door mystery.  You probably need a quick reminder of how Jan got locked out of her vehicle.  Go ahead.  Click the link to review the post.  We'll wait.

We left you with Jan standing outside a vehicle with locked doors and the engine running.  The spare key was in her purse on the passenger seat.  She was alone in the country with no cell phone.  How did she break into the car without doing damage?

We left you clues and many of you assumed the window was rolled down and Jan just reached in to unlock the door.  If that had been true, Jan wouldn't have been so upset and there wouldn't be a mystery.  By the way, I wasn't in the car, so I didn't rescue her by stepping on the button.  I only posted my picture to remind you how handsome I am.   

We mentioned Jan is not accustomed to air conditioning and likes open windows.  Just as she reached Mr. Doug's driveway, she turned off the ac and rolled down the driver's window.  Just a little.  As it turned out, just enough to stick her arm in the opening - below the elbow - and wave at the passenger window.  It didn't wave back and the open part of the window was above her head.  No way to reach the buttons.

She didn't think of it at the time but if worst came to worst, she could have searched for someone with a cell phone to beg a ride home to get her spare, spare key.  Meanwhile, it was panic time!

Then she had an idea.  What surrounds you in the country?  Trees!  She started searching for a particular type of branch on the ground.  Long, thin but sturdy, and with a distinct backward bend.  She found the perfect one, stripped the leaves and little branches off it, and finagled it in the window and down to the button.  She was successful on the second try.

That mystery has been solved, but why anyone would design a vehicle that locks the doors when the driver steps out is still a mystery.

We are participating in Happy Tuesday blog hop. Stop by Comedy Plus to see other posts or to join the fun.

Locked Door Motor Running

Marcus:  Hey, remember me in my new vehicle?   Locked room mysteries are popular in books and on television, so I thought we could do something different today and you can try to solve the locked car mystery.

Rusty:  I thought we were going to continue my problem with finding a new villa this late in the season.

Percy:  No, we were going to continue MY apartment hunting.

Marcus:  We all love to tattle on Jan, so we have got to tell this story.  You guys can fight over who writes about what later.  We weren't even going to post today since yesterday we celebrated Micah's birthday/gotcha day.

Rusty:  Speaking of Micah, our friend Loulou sent us this to give to him.

Loulou:  Happy Birthday day to you, Happy Birthday TO YOUUUUUUUU. Happy BIRTHDAY dear MICAH, Happy Birthday to YOUUUUU.

Micah: Thank you, Loulou, and -

Marcus: Enough about you, Micah. Let's get back to tattling on Jan.

Percy:  So what did she do this time?

Marcus:  Jan is very independent and isn't particularly fond of some modern computer-related help.  She prefers to make her own choices, complaining she is perfectly capable of rolling her own windows up or down, or un/locking her own doors, etc. 

For many years she had to completely avoid air conditioning so she hasn't had working ac in any car she has owned.  Until this one.  And in order to keep the ac working, she thinks she needs to run it occasionally, either for part or all of the trip.

Rusty:  What did Jan do, break the ac?

Marcus:  No.  She went by Mr. Doug's to pick up a book, where he left it, in case he wouldn't be home.  She left the engine running, got out of the car, walked about three feet, grabbed the book bag, walked back to the car, and -  Oops, all the doors were locked. 

She was in the country and had no cell phone to call anyone.  Not that we have a locksmith here, and she doesn't have AAA any more. 

She carries a spare key in case she ever locks herself out but the spare key was in her purse on the passenger seat.  (Who would expect a vehicle to lock the doors when someone gets out and closes the door?)

Rusty:  Oh, no!  What did she do?

Marcus:  She did what anyone would do.  She broke in.

Percy:  She broke a window?

Marcus:  No, to break in doesn't mean she actually broke anything.  Like when Rusty said Micah "broke and entered" his summer villa (Intruder in the Villa) but Micah hadn't actually broken anything to get inside. 

Micah:  So how did Jan break into the car?

Marcus:  I thought we would offer this locked door motor running mystery to our readers and see if anyone can guess correctly.  All the clues are in this post.  We'll reveal the answer on Friday. 

Rusty:  You're going to tell us the answer, aren't you?. 

Marcus:  No.  You'll have to figure it out by yourself. 

Percy:  You aren't that good with mysteries, Marcus.  How did you figure out the solution?

Marcus:  I heard Jan on the phone telling Mr. Doug.

 We are participating in Happy Tuesday blog hop. Stop by Comedy Plus to see other posts or to join the fun.

Our Mystery Guest

Micah: There was a strange woman in our house taking pictures of us.  Who let her in and why was she here? 

Buddy:  Oh, that was our mystery guest.

Micah:  Her being here was sure a mystery to me.  I was napping.  And then I wasn't. 

Cyndi:  I know how you feel.  Percy, Taylor and I ran and hid, but the rest of you got caught napping and had to pose.

Buddy:  It's okay.  If you remember Jan had an email last month from Bacon's mom asking to come meet Jan and bring a mystery guest.  Jan had no idea who it would be until yesterday morning when she saw the news on Facebook. 

Marcus:  Well, I think she was a nice lady.  She took my picture.  A lot!  She's my friend.

Micah:  Anyone with a camera is your friend.

Marcus:  But she's special.  She had TWO cameras so she could take twice as many pictures of me.

Buddy:  Jan thought we would never meet any bloggers in the flesh since we live too far off the traveled trail and don't travel.  But yesterday Jan got to meet two.  

Merci:  I remember her.  That's Bev a.k.a. Fozziemom from the blog All Fur One and One Fur All. She lives in Australia and takes pictures of native wildlife.  She just lost her dear dog Forrest recently. 

Rusty:  Bacon's human June (and husband Jim) drove Bev and Fozziedad Phil here and took Jan to lunch. 

Buddy:  Bev brought Jan some presents.  A handful of her wildlife cards with kangaroos, birds, even a porcupine.  Also, a copy of the book, Kangaroo Dundee.  And chocolate bars.   I suggested at least one of those bars should belong to us furries, but Jan refused.

Marcus:  Here's a picture of June, Bev and Miss I Don't Want To Share My Chocolate Bars.

Merci:  After a leisurely meal and a Funny Farmer photo op, it was time to snap Jim and June's picture before the visitors headed North. 

Buddy:  Jan had such a good day with these humans, she appears to be walking on air.  We hope she doesn't trip up there 'cause it would be farther to fall and you know how she likes to fly and crash.

The Whudunit Butler

MICAH:  Hey, Merci, you sure are concentrating hard on something.

MERCI: I'm trying my paw at writing some fiction.

CYNDI:  I bet it's a romance.

MERCI:  No, it's a whudunit.

MICAH:  If it's a whudunit, I know who did it.

MERCI:  No, you don't.  I don't even know whudunit.  I haven't finished it yet.

MICAH:  It's the butler; it's always the butler in a whudunit.

MERCI:  But there's no butler in my story.

MICAH:  There has to be.  You need to hire one right away.

MERCI:  But I don't want a butler in my story.  It's about a poor family.  They can't afford a butler.

CYNDI:  I don't know.  Micah likes to read.  If he says you have to have a butler, you need to hire a butler so you can finish your story.

MERCI:  Okay, fine.  Micah, would you like to be the butler?

MICAH:  No way!  The butler always goes to jail.  I don't want to spend the rest of my life in solitary.

CYNDI:  I'm surprised at you, Merci.  That is so mean wanting to send your own fursibling to prison.

MICAH:  Come on, Cyndi, let's go look for a snack in the kitchen.

MERCI:  Guys, I told you there's no butler in my whudunit.  I was only trying to hire you because you told me I had to hire a butler and I can't afford to hire a real one.

PERCY:  Hey, what's all the yelling about?  You interrupted my nap.

MERCI:   I wasn't yelling.  I just said there is no butler in my whudunit and the next thing I knew, I was accused of trying to send Micah to jail for life.

PERCY:  No butler in your whudunit?  There has to be a butler in a whudunit.  You need to hire one right away.  By the way, what does the butler do in your whudunit?

MERCI:  *taps Delete key*  He disappears into thin air!

CCSI III Coming

The long-anticipated CCSI III, "The Missing Mummy Caper" is here.

Our Cameron is among the cast and he is so into his part of Uncle Bill, he has asked Jan if he has any nieces and nephews he could adopt. Jan said he undoubtedly has more than he can count, but his birth family's whereabouts are not known to her today.

The mystery - the CCSI mystery, not the mystery of Cameron's relatives - will run Saturday and Sunday, May 10 and 11 at Sassy's.

CCSI III: MISSING MUMMY CAPER CAST

Detective Bucky Bun: DK
Detective Harry Moe: Mickey
Papa Adam Ball: Mr. Hendrix
Mama Patti Ball: Marilyn Monroew
Cleoctra Ball: Charlotte
Tonto Ball: Pablo
Mika Ball: Eric
Rudy Ball: Merlin
Ling Ling: Jessica
Mr. Doogle: The Devil Dog-Roxy
Peachy Pitt: Miss Peach
Catherine Pitt: Ariel
Uncle Bill: Cameron
Paramedic #1: Tyler
Paramedic #2: Derby
Nurse #1: Tamra Maew
Nurse #2: Zippy
Dr. Kieran: Dr. Tweety
Policeman #1: Rocky
Policeman #2: Maya

Dr. Tweety is one of the cast. Be sure to order some party eats from Dr. Tweety's Itty Bitty Cafe and invite your friends over to share the production fun.

Friday update: We have learned Dr. Tweety will not be able to attend the premier Saturday night, due to circumstances beyond his control. But his cafe will be open Sunday so you can all drop over there to watch the Missing Mummy Caper with friends and enjoy some paw licking good food.

Mystery Adventure

Recently Sassy of CCSI fame and her BFFF (best furry female friend) Momo had a mystery adventure. We won't give it away but if you want to follow it, it began on Friday, January 4 and ended on Thursday, January 11.

You can read the story and clues on Sassy's and Momo's blogs between those dates.

January 11 they announced the winner and runner-up. We didn't win, so you know we guessed wrong, but we had fun. And everyone who participated got a Participation Award.
We're sure glad it wasn't a guessed wrong dunce award.