#sohannabarberaesque

[oli-draw]

wow! this is me

Creator:

@xsunnysoftx @vhsthe1950s @maduuwu @gabrieljakob @golden-animal @heliosar113 @yakkuo13 @oddlyvoid @teachyouhowtodothesponge @teardropzzz222 @sara-bell101 @hardwaresysx0 @sohannabarberaesque @seadragon-sailing @severeacrophobia @sunstar-of-the-north @dis-harmony

Let's create ourselves and spread it to friends?

[cumaeansibyl]

@sohannabarberaesque replied to your link: “Business partner of Falwells says he had affair with the power couple”

I understand the news of Falwell's resignation IS official.

Oh yes, Liberty confirmed it and I saw it in WaPo so --

BREAKING NEWS

“I have not resigned,” says Falwell

[sohannabarberaesque]

Underwater America with Peter Potamus: Florida’s Space Coast

art by MaudeDraws (https://www.deviantart.com/maudedraws)

This story continues a Friday Fanfic series which debuted late last year, in which Peter Potamus and friends go on a cross-country tour of the nation’s most interesting diving sites in the hope of selling their adventures to television. This story takes place early in the summer of 1970.

I drove the bus out of Ocala at around six o’clock in the morning while everyone else inside was still sleeping off our latest refreshing adventure.

Early into the next leg of our cross-country tour, I pondered taking the winding country roads instead of the highway. I eventually decided on the highway, for the roads were generally less bumpy—thereby making the crew less irritable—and faster, even though we had lots of time to get to our next stop: Florida’s famous State Road A1A, featuring the longest stretches of beaches one could ever hope for.

About 90 minutes later, once everyone was awake, alert and begging for breakfast, we stopped at a diner in Ocoee, not far from Orlando, Walt Disney’s latest conquest. In fact, as we sat in two separate booths looking at menus, the conversation turned to the resort.

“What do you think he’s got there?” Breezly pondered.

“Do you think we could get up close and take pictures?” asked a slightly hyperactive Squiddly, shivering with delight.

“Yeah!” Magilla giddily exclaimed. “Maybe we could have a piece of history!”

“Please,” Mildew said in his usual sassy style. “I doubt they’d let anyone near a construction site. Plus, this is Disney we’re talking about, so they’d probably shoot you!”

“Indeed,” I added, dead serious. “I’m not going to waste valuable time going there. We’ve got Cape Canaveral coming up in a few hours.” The thought of me or any of the others possibly getting arrested for trespassing immediately came to mind. “Let me remind you all that even though we’re all having fun here, I’m spending my life savings to make this dream happen. You all have nothing to lose, but not me.”

Squiddly and Magilla clammed up immediately. I figured they knew what I was talking about: nobody else had any means of support. Hokey and his partner Ding-a-Ling only had their street smarts to get them out of jams. Lippy and Hardy were just struggling. While Magilla could simply go back to Peebles’ Pet Shop, it simply wasn’t a life. This was a ticket to a new life for them and I was not about to risk that for something stupid.

Breakfast, otherwise, was nothing special. The coffee was a little too strong for some of them, and some of the meals just weren’t up to par. Lippy, sitting opposite from me, wasn’t thrilled with the slightly-soggy pancakes, either. We still paid for the meal, though, and went on our way. At least Squiddly loved the bagels and lox.

To compensate for the lack of Disney in our lives, we made an unplanned stop at the Tosohatchee Wildlife Management Area in Orange County. The area brings hunters, birdwatchers, campers, hikers, botanists, fishermen and wildlife enthusiasts together under one roof, and today all of the above were out enjoying themselves.

We took plenty of pictures of birds that morning, with bald eagles and kestrels hunting for their next meal, while herons and ibises, among others, hung out in the wetlands. We were also able to get on camera a group of wild turkeys congregating nearby, with Mildew and Hokey instantly regretting not bringing a shotgun—if only we had one.

“Monsters,” Loopy said with a smirk, although I am certain that, deep down, he would’ve wanted it.

The excursion turned out to be a good thing: the heavy showers came in a few miles after we got back onto Route 524. Better now than later.

“Oh, dear,” Hardy moaned. “That’s going to ruin our plans.”

“Aww, don’t sweat it, Hardy!” replied his optimistic friend, Lippy. “Better now than when we’re out on the boat, right?”

“If you say so,” the sour-flavored hyena moped. “I suppose it could have been worse. We could have been out in the water when—“

As if on cue, lightning struck a few hundred feet away from us, startling everyone but especially Hardy, who would’ve jumped into Lippy’s lap had the seat belt not prevented him from doing so—and yet, we all soldiered on past the rain and out of danger, and just in time.

The timing was perfect: the sun shone brightly on the Indian and Banana rivers, the first things one sees before entering State Road A1A from the north. Sandwiched between the two rivers is Merritt Island, home to the John F. Kennedy Space Center, known throughout the world for NASA’s Apollo space missions that eventually put man on the moon for the first time in history.

We stopped at the northernmost point of Florida’s Space Coast—the town of Cape Canaveral, where space tourism and beach tourism combine to provide an unforgettable experience. As we were on a mix of both pleasure and business, however, we immediately sought out a boat to rent for today’s underwater journey.

Once we secured one, we got to work loading our gear from the trailer into the boat. To avoid confusion and clutter, not only are the swim fins and masks hooked to the belt of the harness, our names are marked on the backs of the harnesses so we do not end up wearing someone else’s kit. We then started on our way, into the Atlantic Ocean.

As we continued on our way, we were able to get a glimpse of houses lined along the streets, not far from the Space Coast’s gorgeous beaches. These streets bear the names of past U.S. Presidents, the greats and not-so-greats among them: Washington Avenue. Adams. Jefferson. Eventually ending with Harding.

“Huh. Coulda sworn Van Buren would get his due,” Wally said before letting out his familiar, ear-pleasing laugh, noting the absence of his own street.

Further along the coast, the beaches were endless, although the places had different names. Cocoa Beach? Satellite Beach? Melbourne Beach, just a drive away from the city of Melbourne? It’s all good. You get to enjoy the feeling of sand between your toes.

I made certain to check my gear to ensure everything was operational. I took a breath from the regulator and found no problems. While everyone else was testing their tanks and regulators, I went into the cabin to plot out a course for ourselves using a nautical map.

Now, Cape Canaveral itself is not an ideal place for diving. Consulting the guidebook, I had two options: either explore a natural reef twenty miles out of Port Canaveral in an area called Pelican Flats, or explore the wrecked Dutch steamship Laertes, the Allied cargo vessel sunk by a German U-109 in May 1942. We couldn’t tackle both at once, as those two were a mile apart. As I looked further through the book to see if there were other reefs, it turned out there are plenty of other wrecks along the waters off A1A, some of them much, much older.

My mind was made up: we would be exploring a reef that day. …Or at least, I thought! Maybe some of the gang wanted a change of scene early. If there were other natural reefs along the coast, they were hard to come by. So, I told them we’d go to the reef.

After agreeing amongst ourselves on 90 feet for 40 minutes with a seven-minute decompression stop, we geared up for our journey into the depths in our familiar way: tanks secured to harnesses; harnesses worn and buckled securely; fins snugly worn; mask lenses spat-at-and-rinsed before donning; regulators being given a final check.

art by Kandlin

After a final safety briefing and the dropping of the anchor line, we were about to back-roll into the ocean when an Atlantic flyingfish flew up from the water and landed right on Breezly’s lap. We all had a terrific laugh over it, even after Breezly non-chalantly threw the fish back in the ocean, toward where the little fella had hoped to go.

“We could’ve had some lunch!” Lippy laughed. “Why’d you throw it back?”

“I didn’t want to punish him for one simple mistake!” Breezly replied with a warm smile to match his warm heart.

After that slight delay, we back-rolled into the water and slowly followed the anchor line down to the ocean floor, right next to where the reef was located.

Immediately the ten of us split up into several groups, giving us several times the opportunities for fun things to happen, though the feeling of water against one’s skin or fur is always a source of delight, regardless of the results of these dives.

One thing we noticed was that the reef was not a coral reef as some of us had hoped. Instead, we found plenty of short seagrass, an important source of nutrition for some of the aquatic life. The lack of coral gave me the first impression that the reef resembled a formation of mossy rocks and boulders one would perhaps find in the woods.

On the ocean floor nearby, Hardy swam close to what appeared to be a small, wide formation. It looked like it was a little smooth to the touch, unlike coral, so he brushed a few fingers along the length. The “formation” moved slightly, causing Hardy to jump back a little. The thing Hardy touched was a Florida sea cucumber, one of many such invertebrates found along Florida’s waters. To reassure Hardy, Lippy gently picked it up and showed its underside, with its many rows of tube feet, and the oral tentacles on the front side. Hardy nodded, having fully understood.

Meanwhile, Hokey and Wally, apparently not yet over their hunger pangs, scoped out a sizable group of lobsters congregating beneath a portion of the reef. With no net with which to catch them, and no way to bring them back, lest they carry it with them throughout the dive and even the decompression stop, they were at a loss. Even so, they were not about to be defeated.

Hokey beckoned for Loopy to swim over. Once Loopy joined the pair, Hokey pointed to the lobsters that were taking cover, then rubbed his belly to communicate everyone’s favorite language—food.

Loopy looked at Hokey quizzically, pointing up to the surface: did Hokey really intend to take his dinner up to the boat? When Hokey and Wally nodded in the affirmative, Loopy shook his head, not wanting anything to do with it.

Wally, however, had a plan, and he started to take off Loopy’s scarf, despite the wolf’s objections. Once Hokey got into the mess, Loopy had no chance. He then laid down one end of the scarf by the lobsters, waiting on one of them to take the bait. It didn’t take long, as one of them gripped the scarf.

Excitedly, Hokey pulled the scarf out, but the lobster, sensing what was happening, let go and rejoined the others.

Wally laid out the bait again, but before a lobster could hook onto it, Loopy, disgruntled, snatched the scarf away and swam far from them in order to put it back on. So much for lunch.

Meanwhile, our camera-octopus, Squiddly, located a gorgeous queen angelfish swimming alongside me. The somewhat fluorescent-looking colors on its body make it stand out from most of the other fish. Getting to experience seeing one up close is exciting enough, but when about a dozen more show up in the vicinity, you get worried about whether or not you actually loaded the film into the camera!

Some of the others were able to witness a loggerhead sea turtle swim by them. Mildew started off by following it, with Loopy instinctively joining his lupine companion. Soon, Lippy and Hardy were on the chase as well, though I do believe they just wanted to pet it. For the life of me, I couldn’t understand why they couldn’t just get it over with and form a conga line.

I followed Magilla and Breezly when they decided to stray a little from the reef. We had reached a sandy area where the two of them went fish-watching, without any of the others getting in the way.

We were able to witness a group of African pompanos on their way to the reef. While the juveniles prefer to go where the ocean currents lead them, adults prefer the coastline, in depths of up to 100 meters.

Outside of that, we were unable to find many fish of interest, outside of a solitary cocoa damselfish that swam right between the polar bear’s and gorilla’s bodies. The two of them turned around in unison just as the fish passed them; perhaps those two should have signed up for synchronized swimming instead.

We were about to rejoin the group when we saw what appeared to be a large school of fish—at least from a distance. As they drew ever closer, however, we realized they weren’t fish, but a group of about three dozen manta rays swimming towards us and above us. We quickly turned around, kicking our legs as quickly as we could, swim fins waving up and down, so that we could alert the others. We were going to get a chance to swim along with the rays.

art by Enookie

Squiddly got in front of us so he could capture this epic scene. I positioned the other camera at a different angle, and we were on our way.

As we followed the group of rays, we were awestruck by the graceful movement of their pectoral fins. Taken individually, it’s a gorgeous sight, but to witness over thirty of them doing it was like viewing real-life natural art.

Mildew had the right idea when he swam the backstroke. The rays’ movements, combined with the limited light of the sun, made for the best viewing experience.

The mantas have a pair of horn-like cephalic fins on either side of their mouth. When the manta forages for food, these fins flatten in order to channel food into their mouths. At the surface they will feed on zooplankton such as shrimp and krill. At deeper depths such as these, they will feed on small or medium-sized fish.

As were were approaching a variety of fish, we had no choice but to let them be. Squiddly kept filming, yet kept a safe distance. As the rays fed on the sundry fish, I discovered, while editing this film for broadcast, that one of the rays may very have well feasted on that same cocoa damselfish Magilla and Breezly saw earlier. That’s the way life goes for an animal: one day you’re minding your own business, and the next day you’re gone. I would talk about life’s fleeting mortality, but that’s for some other show. It was time for us to ascend, anyway.

In deep dives, nitrogen starts to accumulate in the diver’s body. If a diver ascends like one usually would in a relatively shallow swimming pool, these nitrogen gases could turn into bubbles, thereby causing decompression sickness, which can be potentially fatal.

To help relieve the pressure, the diver’s ascent must be approximately thirty feet per minute. Depending on the details of the dive, a decompression stop may also be necessary fifteen feet from the surface. In this case, because of a 90-foot dive for 40 minutes, our wait was seven minutes. Even in dives at shorter depths, precautionary safety stops of three minutes may be required.

Because of the potential for danger, it is advised that dives are planned carefully. Use the most conservative figures when consulting dive tables. Know how much air you have, and do not plan lengthy dives if you don’t have the air to do a safety or decompression stop.

Squiddly Diddly, bless him, doesn’t have those disadvantages we mammals have. While we waited to ascend again, the good old octopus took the time to take one last tour of Pelican Flats, showcasing all its flora and fauna in its glory, however fleeting it may be. Who knows—maybe the fish Squiddly caught on camera could be the next to be swallowed up by a manta ray!

After the decompression stop, we made our final ascent to the boat, where we climbed out of the ocean, one at a time. Some of us laid back, gear still on, a little worn out from overstimulation.

“All those wasted years of trying to catch lambs,” Mildew chuckled. “Now this is living!”

“Who woulda thought? Swimming with manta rays!” Magilla said giddily, removing the gear one piece at a time and drying himself off.

“I think all of us needed that spark in our lives where we truly got to experience something special,” said I, stacking my fins and mask together as Squiddly climbed back onto the boat, the last to do so. “We’ve all forgotten how much of a thrill life could be. All we’ve been doing before is trying to survive.”

Lippy and Hardy, having known the feeling for years, nodded in agreement.

I slowly arose from the ledge and walked to the cabin. “All right. Let’s get this boat back, we get the gear back in, get our tanks refilled, and then finally we relax. I hear there are some good seafood places here.”

“How about a lobster?” Hokey said, smiling, eager for something exquisite.

“Me, too!” Wally added.

“Eh, we’ll see,” I said with a laugh, and the others were pretty much amused.

Once back on shore, we got the tanks refilled and all the gear loaded back onto the trailer. We bade farewell to Cape Canaveral and continued further south along A1A. Although Cape Canaveral isn’t a haven for divers, what we did see was good enough to warrant a visit, and the beaches are still very exquisite. If you would like to get to know NASA’s space program up-close and get wet and sandy—preferably not at the same time—set aside some time to visit the Space Coast.

Although we never got a chance to explore the Laertes shipwreck, a greater opportunity arose pre-dive when I learned of an early 18th-century Spanish ship, part of the doomed 1715 Treasure Fleet that transported goods and treasure from Spain’s territories back to the mainland. In our next episode, in which we travel to Florida’s Treasure Coast, we will explore one of those ships lost to a hurricane, the Urca de Lima, and perhaps come away with some treasure of our own.

[joey-gatorman]

COMING SOON!

@sohannabarberaesque, someone I refer to as the Grand Old Man of Hanna-Barbera posts on Tumblr, is planning on creating a series of fanfics about the adventures of a group of animals getting together and having sometimes-zany, sometimes-educational adventures underwater.

The series, Underwater America with Peter Potamus, is modeled after the myriad of travelogues and documentaries produced during the 60s and 70s. Indeed, this series is set during the years 1970 and 1971. During that time, the FCC instituted two rules to ensure more independent companies got into the broadcasting game: the Prime Time Access Rule (which limited how long the networks could broadcast in prime-time, giving the 7–8 p.m. slots to the stations) and the Financial Interest and Syndication Rules (which ruled that the networks could not own syndication arms).

Peter Potamus, seeing as how time exploration fails to pay the bills, sees these rules as an opportunity to take advantage of one of his other hobbies: scuba diving. Consulting with some friends, Peter sets out plans to shoot 26 episodes, spanning the continental United States. Several episodes have already been queued up, and I have plans on writing four stories of my own. The first episode, in which the group visits La Jolla, California, will be shown in mid-October.

In preparations for this, I have created the above logo, with the art of Peter Potamus drawn by the fantastic artist and H-B fan @me-and-mr-stilton. Go check her out, and check @sohannabarberaesque out as well!

[iheartgod175]

Radio Rebel: A Diary Entry from Ricochet Rabbit “himself”

Ricochet Rabbit, the fastest sheriff in the West, finds himself taking up a temporary side job one week, and relates his experiences in his diary.

April 24th

Well, this has been a pretty interesting week.

Last week was my birthday, so naturally, the whole town decided to throw a huge birthday bash for me. I got new clothes, a new hat, and lots of food--some were chocolates, some were cherry, but most of them were carrot-flavored. And I got a really nice present from Deputy Droop-a-Long too: he went out of his way to draw a portrait of me. All in all, it was great.

The day afterwards, some feller from the radio station came barging in the office, babbling about an emergency. At first, I thought it'd be the start of another case, so I rushed off before he had a chance to explain. However, I ended up jumping in the beginning of a radio show where the host had called in sick and nobody else was willing to take on his extra role. The producer told me that the feller who'd barged in said I sounded similar to the character the host portrayed, this hothead called "Rapido" or something like that, and he was wondering if I could fill in for him, providing I didn't have anything to do, that is.

It certainly wasn't the most odd job I've been asked to do, but I was surprised. Nevertheless, I decided I'd give it a shot, and I asked for the script so I could have a reference, as they were about to go on live. After the show, I was called off to handle another case, but not before the producer and the rest of the cast thanked me for filling in. I told them to think nothing of it and that I was glad to help.

I figured that'd be the end of it, but a few days later, I was asked to come back to the station again. The producer said that I had done more than just fill in for the the original actor of Rapido--I had actually saved his show, as it was about to be cancelled and they had intended for the episode from last time to be the finale. Several fans had called him and told him that they found my frequent ad-libbing amusing and how the rest of the cast had to adjust to it interesting.

Regarding my ad-libbing, I found my parts to be rather silly. I couldn't tell the producer that when we were recording, but I sure as heck wasn't gonna say those lines. So I just made up whatever came to my mind, which annoyed two of the co-stars who were very much by-the-book. Everyone else went along with it, and I later learned that one of the stars who played Rapido's girlfriend said it was one of the best episodes they'd done in the whole four years they've been on the air. Since the original actor was still out sick (apparently he had laryngitis, poor guy), I had to fill in for him for a few episodes that week. When he came back, I told him what I'd done for him. He thanked me for saving his job, as well as changing up the formula for their show. I guess everyone hated the original writing style!

It actually ended up being kinda fun, doing something other than sheriffing for once. I would consider quitting to become a full-time radio actor, but I suppose I have too much fun being a sheriff; the pay for a radio actor is even less than being a sheriff, so I have that to think of.

Other than that, I had fun being a "radio rebel", even if it was for a little bit.

(A diary entry-style ficlet I wanted to write up. It’s mostly inspired by @sohannabarberaesque's Moth Mondays  and loosely inspired by the Love Live diary entries. If Ricochet had a career aside from being a sheriff, I could see him venturing into TV/radio...and being like a Harrison Ford-type of guy XD)    

[cumaeansibyl]

@formaldehyde--face replied to your post “cumaeansibyl: @sohannabarberaesque replied to your link: “Business...”

Evangelical rebranding coming up soon! He’s gonna spend some time with white Jesus and then he’ll be all better and people can trust him again! I grew up in the baptist church so I’ve known 100000 gross fucks like this, so it’s very personally pleasing to see them melt down publicly.

Oh, definitely, they’re both gonna go on the 700 Club and cry about their sins and how they got taken advantage of by this young man they tried to help out of Christian charity and totally sidestep the whole issue of how they were old enough to be his grandparents and clearly used him in multiple ways 

Difference is a) there are some serious questions about Junior’s tenure at Liberty re: sweetheart deals for friends and family, and when money’s in question people are much less forgiving, and b) the cuckold jokes are going to follow him for the rest of his life

yesterday was first day of classes at Liberty and ngl I feel for the students, like, of course I want them all to see the hypocrisy and venality of the world they’re living in but this is A Lot to deal with, and COVID on top! 

these money-grubbing power-hungry evangelicals are failing their children and they’ll have to account for that on top of the rest of their sins so like... how’s that dominion over the things of this world workin out for ya

[iheartgod175]

A Thanks to My Followers

I wasn’t really on Tumblr much yesterday, so I checked out my activity tonight, and I was really surprised to see that 3 people had reblogged my silly Peter Potamus pic, including the awesome @sohannabarberaesque. 

And throughout the week, I noticed that a lot of folks were reblogging/liking my GIF of Gowther from The Seven Deadly Sins.  When I first put it up, I had only four or so notes. Last week, it bumped up to 27! I think it had to do with the fact that SDS’ TV specials were put on Netflix last week, but even so...that’s amazing.

And topping that is the fact that I actually got a follower on my Ricochet Rabbit sideblog, which is amazing in itself :D The likes and reblogs I get from my other posts are also really awesome, too, but those made my week.

So thanks, guys, for making last week, which had been kinda crappy, an awesome week in the end. You guys rock :D