February 2015 Part 1 - Parrotheads of Port Aransas

ISLAND POOP
February 2015
SPRING INTO THE PHLING
Saturday March 14, 2015
Time to get in the swing and plan for the Phling !
Volunteer to help
make this annual
event a success.
Deno’s Dialogue
I am a charter member of the Parrot Heads of Port Aransas (PHOPA). A charter
member means that I joined PHOPA in Dec 2008 when it was first formed in Port
Aransas. LuAnn Ferguson, our founder, got a special dispensation from the
Parrot Heads In Paradise (PHIP), our national group, because at the time there
was a Parrothead club in Corpus Christi. She explained that Port Aransas people
do not interact with Corpus Christi and we are a separate area. The exception
was granted thus PHOPA was formed. Our club is a phun (parrot heads change
f’s to ph) club that does good for local charity groups.
Our club is constantly changing. People come and go. Some folks change
interests or do not like to party. We meet on the 2nd Thursday and have a happy hour on the 4th Thursday. When there is a fifth Thursday we have a party too. I do a Bonfire on the beach every month on the night of the full moon. Although this
is not an official Parrothead event many come and we try to notify every one of the event. You can bring anyone you wish to the Moonfire. We also sometimes just do a happy hour
because. We are going
to plan a party for National Margarita day coming soon.
There are rules that we operate by. Many of them are in our bylaws (copies forth coming to you) and some
related to Jimmy Buffett and Margaritaville and patents, use of names or related material (see application )
or check with me if you need more info. Remember, Jimmy Buffett has a battery of lawyers to deal
with this issue.
Our club, in my opinion, should always be a social club that does good for the community. I believe that our
goal in any event we participate in should be phun first. The amount of money we raise should not be paramount. Every group we have given money to has said “Thank You”. Once a check is given to a group it is
none of our business where the money goes unless we designate it. We should feel no pressure to “do more
than last year” and I hope we can say we had a lot of phun raising it.
Our club has 2 phund raising events. We do a Spring Phling (3-14-15) which is mostly “winter Texans “ who
follow the excellent PA Rockers band. This is a phun parrot head event and phun is the goal. We do raise
some money which we give away to a designated charity voted on by the club (to be decided next meeting).
We want to make this event not too much work for anyone. If everyone does a little no one has to do a lot.
In October we do our Wings over Port A event which is our one “required” fund raising event. We solicit
donations and money and have a party. Planning for this event will be after our Spring Phling is over and put
away. This year the date is Oct 9-10, at the Civic Center and the band is the Bad Monkeys. These decisions
were voted on by the club to guarantee these items. Much more will be coming on this event. We may need
to decide the theme soon.
We are constantly looking for happy hour locations. We try to have one a year at all of our sponsors and
supporters. We like to have all our members to come by events at sponsor locations to show return for
support. It makes it easier for us to ask for support. I hope this has
been informative and I promise not to go on this long again. We have
PORT A PETE’S PHUNTASTIC PHEATURES
Lines n Lyrics
Can you name this Jimmy Buffet tune from one line or lyric in the song ?
“Beachcombers ride oh children lost in the tide”
I HEARD IT ON THE COCONUT TELEGRAPH
We need a trailer for the Mardi Gras parade on Feb 17. It
needs to be 16-18 feet long. We’ll decorate it with all sorts
of stuff, ride on it, undecorate it, and be done, all in one afternoon!
Call Deno with ideas...749.0256
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The Fourth Annual Rockport Writers RoundUp
Saturday, Feb. 28 5 p.m.
Estelle Stair Gallery,
406 S Austin St, Rockport, Texas 78382
Readings of original works in a variety of genres by members of the Rockport Writers Group
including a PHOPA member who will read an excerpt from her latest release,
"The King's Redress."
Beverages and light snacks will be provided. The event is free and no RSVP is necessary,
just come and enjoy.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Looks like Schlitterbahn financing is now secure and TxDOT has 361
improvements on their radar for approval in 2015. Guess the traffic will be
getting even more interesting on our salty piece of land.
PHoPA Doc Hause is cookin’ again !
SATURDAY FEBRUARY 7TH, 2015
AT VFW 8967 311 N, ALISTER
‘CHEF DOC BACK BY POPULAR DEMAND”
STEWS AND BREWS
MENU
SHINER BOCK PUB STEW
PUEBLO GREEN CHILI PORK STEW
SHELLFISH AND ANDOUILLE SAUSAGE GUMBO
HOMEMADE SHINER BOCK BEER BREAD
HOMEMADE WHOLE WHEAT BREAD
NOT YO’ MOMMA’S BANANA PUDDING
“SERVING TIME”
5:00 PM TO 6:30 PM
“DANCE”
FOLLOWING THE DINNER
FEATURING
THE RIP TONES DUO
$5.00 SHINER BOCK PITCHERS
DONATIONS $8.00
Tickets Available at the VFW Inspired by Naked Came the Sharks by Jed Donellie and Devorah Fox
A WHALE OF A TAIL
© Copyright 2015 by Orville Ballard and Devorah Fox
In previous episodes, Cheri Bradshaw, a student at the Intracoastal Marine Institute in Turtle
Point, has been helping with a team excavating the skeleton of a whale buried in the dunes
and has uncovered a human skull. Cheri, fellow student Corny, freelance journalist Tool,
local law enforcement, and the director of the IMI all want to know to whom did the skull
belong and how did it end up buried on the beach.
Cheri lifted her hands from the keyboard and leaned
back in her chair. It simply didn’t make sense.
She looked up from the monitor and gazed around the
room. The Marine Institute’s library was quiet this afternoon.
She figured that everybody must be at the beach taking
advantage of the sunny weather. That’s where she should be, not here in this ghostly
silent library surrounded by maps and reference books on oceanography but she
found she couldn’t go to the beach without thinking about that skull she had dug up.
No one seemed to be doing anything about it. If the police had made any headway in
their investigation they certainly weren’t telling anyone. There hadn’t been anything
on TV, in the newspaper, or even online.
She tapped a pencil against her chin. That reporter Tool, she should talk to
him. He might know how the investigation was coming along. Then she could get out
of here and out into the sun.
Cheri picked up her phone and tapped a quick text: Stuck in IMI Lib researching tide
charts. Tell me they know where that damn skull came from so I can get outa here.
When she got no response, she sighed and put her hands on the keyboard. She
typed, jiggled the mouse, and entered another combination of wind and water currents
and air and water temperature. Red, blue, yellow, and green lines snaked across the
digital image of the Gulf of Mexico displayed on the monitor. They made landfall, and
took off in every direction across the Texas Coastal Bend and beyond.
At no point, however, did they cross the spot on the Turtle Point
beach where she found the skull.
“You rang?”
Cheri looked up to see Tool standing behind her.
“If anyone’s come close to identifying that skull or how it ended up on our beach
I haven’t been able to find out anything.”
“You didn’t have to come all this way to tell me that. You could have just texted
me.”
Tool shrugged. “Watcha doin’?”
Cheri explained her research and the lack of results.
Tool frowned.
“So far I haven’t been able to determine that the skull was brought to the shore
by any tide originating from anywhere. Unless it’s a very old and I have to go back
further in time. I can’t claim to be an expert in forensic anthropology and I’ll admit I
didn’t spend a lot of time examining that skull.” She had, in fact, tried to get her hands
off it as quickly as possible. “But if it was very old would it still have hair?” Cheri
scowled at the baffling display and shook her head. “You’d think it dropped out of the
sky or something.”
“Stranger things have happened. I did a story for the paper once on sky junk,
weird shit that falls off of and out of airplanes, even outer space.”
Cheri scoffed. “’The Skull That Fell from Outer Space.’ Sounds like the title for
the next Keanu Reeves movie.” She frowned at Tool’s distant expression. “What?”
“Speaking of stories, there’s another one that I did that might be of more help.
Are you done here or do you have more research to do?”
“What do you have in mind?”
Tool grinned and said, “Come with me.”
Fifteen minutes later, Tool brought his Jeep to a stop outside one of a line of
hangers at the Turtle Point Municipal Airport. The
compact white plane parked in front of the hanger
looked like it could take off and go somewhere with
no more preparation than a car would need to run a
quick errand downtown. A loudspeaker mounted over the open bay door broadcast
Van Halen’s “JUMP.”
Cheri followed Tool into an open hanger which from the unadorned corrugated
metal exterior appeared as nondescript as a boat storage locker. Inside it looked like
part auto repair bay, part stables. She saw fuel tanks, oil cans, and compressed gas
cylinders. Toward the rear, a couple of people in cargo shorts and T-shirts stood at
worktables covered with hand- and power tools. Ropes
and rigging hung from hooks on the wall. Sheets of what
looked like nylon or maybe even silk draped another
wall.
At their entrance, a young man strode out from the rear of the hanger.
Despite his slim build he seemed robust and held himself with confidence.
“Welcome to JUMP. I’m Fitz. Oh, hey, Tool, it’s you. Great to see you, man.” Fitz held
out his hand and Tool shook it. “Thanks for that story that you did for the newspaper.
We got a ton of interest after that ran. Are you here to do a follow-up? You ready for
that jump?”
“Thanks, Fitz, but I’m still not ready to throw myself out of a perfectly good
airplane. Tell ya what, though. I could use another ride. Fitz, this is Cheri. She’s part
of the Intracoastal Marine Institute team that was working on that whale excavation.”
“Oh, yeah, I remember reading about that too. You dug up something more than
a whale skeleton as I recall. And didn’t I read that then the whole thing got bulldozed
or something?”
Cheri said, “That’s right.”
“Must have made the director awful mad,” said Fitz.
Cheri nodded.
“Cheri’s still looking into the whole business. What would
really help would be an aerial view of that part of the shoreline. Could you take us
up?”
“Sure,” said Fitz. “I don’t have a jumper coming for a few hours. I think we’ve
got time for a little cruise. Let me get it set up.” He jogged back into the hangar and
conferred with his staff, and gathered up equipment. He returned with another fellow,
a slightly older gentleman whom he introduced as Sal, the pilot.
“You’re not flying the plane?” Tool asked.
“No, I’ll sit with you in case you have questions. Now hang tight. We’’ll just give this a pre-trip
once-over.,” He and Sal strode out to the plane.
Cheri and Tool followed. The loudspeaker now played “Jump” by the Pointer Sisters.
Fitz and Sal completed their inspection. Sal climbed into the cockpit and Fitz rolled a set of
steps into place so that Cheri and Tool could climb into the belly of the plane. As minimalist as the
hangar, it offered no seats.
“Just plunk yourself down on the floor,” Fitz said. He rubbed his hands together and cackled.
“Now my pretties, I’ve got you up here. Who’s going to jump?”
Tool snorted. “I told you, man, no way. All we wanted was an aerial view of the coast.”
Fitz pouted. “Aw, really? You won’t believe the experience. It’s like nothing else.” He turned
to Cheri and gave her a pleading puppy
dog look. “How ‘bout you? Wanna give
it a try?”