'COO-ROO-COO-COO-COO-COO-COO-COO'

Good day, eh, and welcome to the Great White North. I’m Bullzeye McKenzie, and this is my brother Sanjana McKenzie.



Take off hose-head. My name is Sanjana, but I am no McKenzie. And this land of yours may be great, but it sure isn’t white.

Will you at least have a beer and some donuts??

Okay Bullzeye, I will drink your good Cantadian beer. Now just leave me alone. Your sexuality confuses even me, and I’m just an inflatable banana.

Okay peeps, so here we go. After beating Bullzeye in 11 straight games of beer hunter (he’ll never learn) I left for a weekend of frivolity in the near northern part of Ontario, otherwise known by Torontonians as Cottage Country. Just remember, a weekend of cottaging in Ontario is decidedly different than a weekend of cottaging in England. Not that there’s anything wrong with that, but this is a family adventure. The Yoffer family to be exact.

Interesting side note here. Turns out this byoffer fellow is not By-Offer, but rather B.Yoffer, or just Yoffer. Much in the same way that J.Slice is Slicey. So henceforth here I will refer to the Yoffer family.

Our adventure began with a 2 hour drive out of Toronto. I was a little antsy at first, as there was a cat on the scene and those claws always skeer us inflatable types. Luckily the cat got dropped off at the cat spa (read Nana and Papa’s house) and we were claw-free for the weekend. Not a worry in the world for an inflatable banana… or so I thought.

After the drive I needed to unwind, so YofferGirl took me down to the lake to air out.



Talk about a lot of open space. Bee-you-ti-ful! I haven’t seen that much air since that weekend in San Fran with whats-her-name *coughBraviecough*

After some fresh air YofferBoy suggested we stretch out for a bit. After 2 hours in the car I would have expected him to have more energy, but…



Enough of this lounging around – I was looking for a little action! YofferGirl and YofferBoy thought I might like a turn at archery…



But their idea of participation skeered me more than the damn cat!!



So I called foul and put an end to that game. YofferBoy had another suggestion, but nice as he is, he just doesn’t relate well to the plight of the inflatable banana!




Finally I was able to talk YofferBaby (YofferToddler?) into some play time. This kid really gets me.






That was so much fun, I decided to let the little whipper-snapper take me for a ride in the canoe…


It was really cool – we even saw a turtle sunning on a log…



Then we played a really cool game that was basically 39 days compressed into a few minutes. They say no man is an island, but the same can’t be said for a banana. It should come to no-ones surprise that someone with my pedigree should end up as the Sole Survivor…



When we returned from all that canoeing it was time to enjoy the water and work on my tan. I feel a bit bad for making Yoffer look so white. He just couldn’t keep up to my natural tan. YofferBoy, on the other hand, obviously gets out in the sun more than his father.



I didn’t want to get too much sun, as no-one likes a banana with age spots, so I retired to the shade. Now Yoffer called this a chair hammock, but to me it looked a lot like one of those “special activity chairs” they sell on the back of Hustler magazine. Oh wait, this is a family adventure, and besides, there are children’s toys in the picture.




While I was relaxing I decided to help myself to a nice cold Canadian beverage. Yoffer kept saying something about "the pride of Nova Scotia"…




I have to come clean here – I drank too much. Being American I just wasn’t ready for that high-octane Canadian beer. So I lay down on Yoffer’s bed for a rest, and had visions of Stanley Cups running through my head…



I was resting nicely when all of a sudden Mrs. Yoffer woke me up…



Let’s just say in respect of the family nature of this thread that my mind is blank on the next several hours. and everyone promise not to tell Yoffer, mkay??

After all that time in bed I needed a real sleep, so I crashed with the YofferKidlets. Poor YofferGirl, she drew the short stick and got the couch, while I scored the bottom bunk.



Sunday was another great day in the sun. The water was great, the sun was shining, and everyone was in good spirits. Alas, it was time to leave, and move on to another leg of my Amazing Race: Banana Edition. Thanks to the Yoffer family for all of their hospitality, and special thanks to Mrs. Yoffer for her special hospitality.




Now on to see some Seana lady. I sure hope she makes Rice Krispie Squares for me!

O, Canada! 2007

I arrived after a long flight from Seattle at Maroonclown's humble abode. We sat in her back garden having a riveting discussion but her hubby duly deleted the pictures. Humph. . .they were some of my best shots. Oh well.
So to make up for it, I got BBQing lessons from the clowns. Had to be careful to keep away from the heat.



This dinky little cat couldn't seem to keep away from me. I had no choice but to bond.



I was dying to get into the dirt. The Clowns have a beautiful garden and I was anxious to get my stem a little dirty.



After too much outdoor activity it was nice to settle in for a little bit of Seinfeld. Maroonclown got quite cuddly.



The Clowns don't have any kids, and very few guests, so I had to try and see life from their perspective. They tried to explain to me that they were really protecting me from their cats but I had my doubts.



Nonetheless, I tried to make myself as comfortable as possible.



The next day Mr. Clown snapped. He had enough. Luckily Maroonclown was there with a camera and was able to save me.




She bundled me up and got me the heck outta there. She felt so bad she brought me out to lunch with Byoffer and Bullzeye. I gotta say, I've met so many peeps on my travels.



Byoffer offered (??) to take me into is home for the next few days and I was so ever grateful. But I did take a real liking to Bullzeye. He can dance!

Hanging with Slicey

Slice's OT thread:
"Sanjana's been misbehaving..."

And it started when I got out of the shower yesterday.



Jerk stole one of my cigarettes, as well as my seat at the computer.

I yelled at him a little, then told him to go wait in the living room while I changed.

Only I found this - lazy banana went and stole my comfy TV chair.




"Go somewhere out of the way. The Price is Right is on."

So he left. After the show, I decided to go sit on the porch and read.

Sure enough...




I shooed him out of my special seat.

"Can you at least make yourself useful and clean the catbox?"



Alas, he was more interested in my games.




"Then read the book I have to slog through first."




::sigh:: It wasn't meant to be. I blame the nicotene.




Although Sanjana did have time to visit with poor old Uncle Jerome while in Phila.



See any family resemblance?

Sanjana's in the air now, and can't wait to see the rest of you

San Francisco, I'm baaaaack!

Bravie's OT account of the my peep meet with her and Sharnina:
"Sanjana must be a big fan of the Bay area because he requested another trip here. This time he had a Friday night dinner with Sharnina and Bravie.
Here are the three prior to ordering their meal. See how happy they are?



Bravie and Sharnina really hit it off. I think the proof is here, where Bravie was feeding Sharnina some Lemon Chicken.



Unfortunately, this made Sanjana a bit jealous. So he decided to pout for a bit.



After the pouting was over, everybody made nice and they posed for an after dinner picture.




I'll admit that I was a little nervous about meeting Sharnina because we had not had any contact prior to our meet. We spoke on the phone for about an hour before we met for dinner which helped a lot. As soon as we met at the restaurant we hugged and immediately started to chat and it felt as if we had already known each other. The conversation flowed so easily and yes, we talked about you and you and you. *grin*
The staff really got a kick out of Sanjana. They acted as if they had never seen a two foot inflatable banana in their establishment. One of the waiters even asked if he could sign Sanjana. Sadly though, that seemed to be the most attention that Sanjana got because Sharnina (or should I say Sharnia? *giggle*, she knows what I am talking about ) and I were so involved in our conversation. We spent so much time talking that we didn't even pay attention as the staff was closing down the place. *giggle* We just continued to chat away as the staff sat for their end of the night meal.
Sharnina is just wonderful. We found out that even though we sit on different sides of the fence on many issues, that at the core, we still had a lot in common. It reinforced my belief that people, no matter their political and religious beliefs, can and do get along and can and do become friends. It's amazing how a message board and two foot inflatable banana can bring together people who would otherwise never get to know each other. I believe I have made a new friend in Sharnina and am grateful for our wonderful meet. I can't wait until we are able to get together again. Thanks for such an enjoyable night, Sharnina.
See? I didn't post the picture of you dancing on the table for dollar bills."

I feel I need to point out a couple of things. I was *not* pouting, I was listening. Besides, who could get a word in edgewise? Do you notice that no one offered to feed me? All I have in front of me is a pot of hot tea. Hot tea? I'm plastic! Bravie was trying to melt me!

But I do enjoy the Bay area, and may have to make plans for more trips to the west coast soon.

Let me show you my ink...

More of my visit with HD, as told by HD

I spent a good portion of my day editing the first chapter of my dissertation, but that did not stop Sanjana from making himself at home at my place.

Of course, he didn't really have to entertain himself. George III was here all day, so the two of them got to hang out together.


Sanjana decided that the first thing he needed to do this morning was work off some calories. I guess that he had one too many cheesesteaks while I was at my seminar the other day. He did hit the Yuengling pretty hard too.


After he finished his workout, I caught him at a rather delicate moment in the shower. Usually just snapping the photo would have been torture enough, but he was so crabby about it that I flushed the toilet just so he could cool off for a moment.


Since he was so shy about the shower, I was surprised when he sprawled out on the rug in front of the fireplace. I really do not want to know where online he posts his special banana profile.


After he was done messing around, he went outside to enjoy the sunshine. My neighbor was working in her garden, which prompted Sanjana to help out with some of the landscaping that needs to be done in my front yard. Here he is hard at work.


Although he was willing to help out with the bushes and flowers, he absolutely refused to mow the lawn, no matter how much it needed a trim.


I took a break from working so we could eat lunch together. I would have been content to keep it fairly informal, but Sanjana insisted on eating in the dining room and breaking out the cloth napkins.


Between the food and working in the yard, he was ready for a nap in the afternoon. I just left him alone while I ran an errand over to the library.


After he woke up, he decided to catch up on his blogging. (I noticed that he cleared the history on the browser before he let me use the computer again, though he did mutter something about a unicorn website that Arkie told him about.)


Right now he is anxiously awaiting the "Survivor" finale. He has his spot in the living room all staked out. He even grabbed a bottle of whiskey from the pantry to make it bearable as Jiffy murders the English language by pretending that the word "tribal" is a noun. He's just going to be crushed if Yauman doesn't win.


Hopefully some evening this week I will have some time to take Sanjana out to see more of Baltimore instead of hanging out in Oakenshawe the whole time he is here.