I didn't realize it at first. A man and woman came in wearing shirts with the hot dog logo on them, but I didn't make the connection until I overheard a family outside. The parents were telling their little boy, who was about 4 years old, "Look, there's a car that's shaped like a hot dog!" "Where?" "Right over there, see?" "I don't see a hot dog..."
A few minutes later the man came in and asked if I had a phone he could use - because his vehicle wouldn't start! I saw he had a cell phone and suggested he try walking around the overlook area to see if he could get any service further out, and if he couldn't get through I would use the radio to call out for assistance. While he was out doing that, I talked with another couple who had come in, and told them what was going on. They had jumper cables in their truck so went out to offer to help jump-start the Wienermobile.
As they all walked out to the parking lot, I suddenly realized I needed to get a picture of all this! I didn't want to lock up just for that, but I walked out in front of the visitor center and zoomed in.
For about the past fifteen minutes, I had been hearing a faint shrill noise off in the distance. Some kid playing with an emergency whistle, I thought - it's happened once or twice before. But no. When I went outside, that same little boy was blowing full blast on his brand new Oscar Meyer Weenie Whistle! As she passed him, the woman called out to him to "get it all out before you get in the car! It won't work once you're in the car!" (I suspect it got confiscated before he got in the car...)
Happily, they got the Wienermobile started without having to break out the jumper cables. (Something about starting it in neutral instead of park - I don't know.) Then more people were arriving so I had to go back inside and miss the triumphal exit of the biggest hot dog ever to be seen at the Miner's Castle picnic area!
A little later some visitors came in and asked, "What in the world was the Oscar Meyer Wienermobile doing down at Miner's Falls?!" Apparently they had decided they had time to do a short hike after all!
This was definitely the most interesting thing to happen all day, and it would have been over at that point, except for my random brain. For the rest of the afternoon I had no less than three hot-dog-related songs stuck in my head!
There was the obvious one, of course: "I wish I were an Oscar Meyer Wiener..."
Then there was one Joanne learned at Girl Scout camp years ago:
I know a weenie man, he owns a weenie stand
He sells most everything from hot dogs on down, bum-bum-bum
Someday I'll share his life, I'll be his weenie wife,
Hot dog, I love my weenie man! Hot dog, mmm boy, yum yum...
I know a weenie man, he lost his weenie stand
All of his hot dogs were dancing around, bum-bum-bum
Someday I'll get them back, I'll put them in a sack,
Hot dog, I love my weenie man!
And then there's this one, as taught to me by my dear mother. I assume she learned it as a kid...
Oh, Mister Johnny Von Beck, how could you be so mean?
We told you you'd be sorry for inventing that machine!
Now all the neighbors' cats and dogs will nevermore be seen,
They've all been turned to sausages in Johnny Von Beck's machine!
One day a boy came walking, came walking in the door,
He bought a pound of sausages and dropped them on the floor
The boy began to whistle, he whistled a merry tune,
And all the little sausages, they danced around the room!
One day the machine was broken, the machine it would not go
So Johnny Von Beck, he climbed inside to see what made it so
His wife, she had a nightmare, and walking in her sleep,
She gave the crank an awful yank, and Johnny Von Beck was meat!
Oh, Mister Johnny Von Beck, how could you be so mean?
We told you you'd be sorry for inventing that machine!
Now all the neighbors' cats and dogs will nevermore be seen,
They've all been turned to sausages in Johnny Von Beck's machine!
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