Visual Description: Of all the unmitigated gull!
ETLFE = FLEET, BTAEA = ABATE, DPTUAE = UPDATE, SPIRCT = SCRIPT — Giving us: FLAAEUDASCP
Clue/Question: Birds invaded their cookout and – – –
Answer: CAUSED A FLAP
(“A” flap??? More like a multitude of flaps, from a multitude of gulls. But that would definitely make for a much more difficult Jumble pun, now wouldn’t it?! Saying that seagulls are persistent is a gross understatement. When it comes to getting food – no matter who might be holding it – they are extremely aggressive, to the point of being both obnoxious, and fairly vicious. Ms. du Maurier was no doubt traumatized in a similar fashion, which inspired her to write “The Birds”.
No new clue words today. Three of the jumbles did come up as new, but we have definitely seen “spirct” sometime in the past. None of them tripped me up. The answer letter layout was an elevated eleven letter jumble. I think it would have been a little better if “abate” had come before “fleet”, because as it stands you see FLA right away. And, you see the P at the end. FLAP came to mind right away.
Great cartoon of a family under attack at a beach picnic. Wave that hat, as much as you like, bub! It’s not going to deter these hungry birds. In this case this family will get no satisfaction. Love the classic sinking sailboat on the horizon, in the upper left hand corner! I hope they didn’t shoot an albatross! Be well and do good, friends.) — YUR
Images courtesy of Google
Happy birthday to Mark Mothersbaugh, of Devo!
Unclerave's Wordy Weblog 
UR,
Sea Story, albeit true: When I was on my 70 day “break” from the Getty Oil Tankers a funny thing would occur about 40 days into it; My wife would say to me, “Ken, get the hell out of the bars, pool halls and gambling houses and onto the Great Lakes”!!* …I would agree with her and ship out…{We did a little of the above once underway}… those days you could go out on the Lake Ore Carriers for a week or two to relieve a Seaman… they got their long “break” when the “Locks” were froze-out…I was friends with the union guy who was in charge of this set-up so I would get a good “hook-up”…Now to the main point; Seagulls, most people don’t realize how dangerous they could be if they chose to be…Their beak is like a hard razored sharp weapon that could tear a person’s face up or worse on the neck…Now my personal tid-bit…
Back then we were allowed to dump all of the food left-overs into the lake…I would ask for this duty, pro-bono,《Ha》from the Galley most times, then the fun began…it was amazing the way the Gulls would eat and play with the food,…like tossing it in the air and whoever snatched it before it hit water was the winner, so to speak!!*…One last: Many times when the birds were relaxing, they would align themselves in the middle of the hatches…in most cases as one walked on deck, port or starboard, they would slowly walk(?) away further from the person…but if they knew/liked you they would amble towards you!!…On a 1,000 ft ship, what a site!!☆…It’s one of those things in life where speaking/writing of it does not do it justice…like the man said, “You had to be there”…Man, do I…
Once a Seaman always…….Ahoy matey…….k
Great story, Ken! Beautifully told. — YUR
Ken’s “sea story”; he claims it’s true.
Unc, that’s quite a story Ken gave us. It’s quite interesting and he claims it’s true; either way it was entertaining.
Our Marines spent many months aboard ship in the Atlantic, Pacific, and Mediterranean, but we’ve never had birds alight on our ship, and much less, walk around.
I’m wondering if he or his shipmates took pictures ?
lwc,
Various people, who have sailed the seven seas, are going to have different experiences. Even with his little eccentricities, I have no reason to question the veracity of Ken’s story. Your time in the military might have been different (shorter) than his time with the Merchant Marines. You specifically mention two oceans and a sea, while Ken’s observance could have been on one of the Great Lakes. War ships might be louder and filled with more intimidating activity than freighters and tankers. No reason for fussing and fighting my friend!
— YUR
Oh, I don’t doubt Ken’s story; it was an interesting read. It was just that the idea of birds resting on the deck seemed so odd.
However, it’s interesting that you mentioned the Great Lakes.
I’ve never been near the Great Lakes, but I can imagine the environment is quite different from the oceans; there’re probably birds everywhere around and over all the Lakes. They might even treat a passing boat as temporary resting spot, or a temporary home.
Iwc,
Glad you enjoyed my “sea story”…Even though I tried to add a little levity to it…the story is all True^*¥…
An interesting side note: I spent 95% of my time on the oceans and never had the same things happen concerning the Seagulls on the oil tankers…the Seagulls would eat the food we threw overboard and kinda show appreciation but would not put on a “show”…one or two would occasionally alight on deck but nothing like on the Great Lakes…why the difference I cannot answer for the tankers and the ore carriers are not terribly different on the exterior and the crew size was close…maybe an instinct thing?
UR, Thx for the comment*
Smooth sailing… Byyyyy…….k
They are definitely something worth seeing, lwc. You’d think you were on the ocean sometimes. — YUR
Ken wrote: “Glad you enjoyed my ‘sea story'”
Thanks for the comment, Ken !
I enjoy reading your notes to Unc; there’s always a little twist to unravel.
I had a chance to think more about the seagulls. They don’t actually hang out in the middle of the ocean where we can see them. They would only be over the ocean at high altitude on a migration route.
The only time we would see them is at the beach or someplace near land looking for food or squabbling over scraps.
I’ve never seen the Great Lakes. The closest I’ve been is visiting friends in Buffalo, NY where they took me to see Niagara Falls. What a site !
I should leave Atlanta for a couple weeks so I may see the Lakes before I’m too old to appreciate the view.
Take care, Ken, and keep writing.
Iwc,
Very last one thing: I just had a memory flash-back; This one I’ll let you think on: When the deck watch was on the bow occasionally he would shout in the speaker to the bridge, “The dolphins are running!!” Depending on our situation, the mate-on-watch may give orders to “pass the word” throughout the ship…what the dolphins would do, sometimes an inch in front of the bow, is above my mental capacity to understand…so I will let you think on it…this, of course, is on the oceans and not the Great Lakes…
Note of interest: I have met Merchant Seaman who truly believe that the spirits of many dead Seaman are actually in dolphins awaiting to enter heaven…I am not of that belief but the ones who do believe this are generally very all-around intelligent^*…what I said here is straight-up!..but I do sense Rod Serling is in the house…….
And away she blows…….Lattttter…….k
Ken wrote: “…Merchant Seaman who truly believe that the spirits of many dead Seaman are actually in dolphins awaiting to enter heaven…”
I can understand merchant seamen having that belief. I tend to believe that the typical merchant seaman may be older than typical Navy sailors or Marines, who tend to be fairly young and don’t spend as many years afloat. Although I’ve been at sea many times, if I add up all the days and weeks, it may total to no more that two years, or slightly more.
I think all life has the same God, even if we can’t see Him/Her/It.
Once is enough, lwc. You don’t need to send comments three times. — YUR