The sun is shining, daffodils are beginning to hatch, birds are singing.
Most amazing of all: our Sea Monkeys have returned from the dead!
Having flourished throughout last summer, our Sea Monkey population began to decline in the autumn until only one big bloated Monkey was left - swimming slowly around and around on his own. And then one day even Adrian had disappeared.
Luckily we are a slatternly lot in this office, so no-one bothered emptying the water or chucking the tank away. We just shoved it in a corner and forgot about it. Throughout the winter the water slowly evaporated until all there was left was a centimetre or so of manky scum. And lo and behold! that manky scum is now home to a whole new generation of Sea Monkeys. There is hope for all of us...
This is what a Sea Monkey looks like:
Not this:
Heaven knows what they are - but apparently they were marketed as Sea Monkeys at one time.
This is certainly not a Sea Monkey:
That's me! he he he.
A Short History of Sea Monkeys
Sea Monkeys (the real ones, not those weirdy plastic people) were originally marketed in 1957 by Harold von Braunhut, although the name "Sea-Monkeys" wasn't adopted until 1962. Braunhut is also the inventor of X-Ray glasses.
(I learnt that on Wikipedia.)
In real life their name is Artemia salina x nyos
Some people love their Sea Monkeys so much they compose poems to them. Here are a selection, lifted unashamedly from Sea Monkey Worship.
Sea monkeys swirl
round and round
in my blender tornado of doom
(Dan Bogus)
my mutant monkey
sadly, you are all that's left
too bad you scare me
(alexis)
and rather tragically:
This I promise you
No more aquarium bongs
Oh, my poor Sea Monkey
(W.A. Leyva)
Oh dear.
PS I should have mentioned that the picture above of the real Sea Monkey is greatly magnified. You knew that, didn't you?
ReplyDeleteOhhhh... another interesting looksey into a world that very well could have been forgotten. Wow, what a blast from the past. I REMEMBER these sea monkeys ...and I'm probably carbon-dating my ancient self, but I also remember those X-ray sunglasses, too! They were on the adverts on the back covers of my superhero comic books. I can't remember if they were on the backs of the other comic books I used to read as well...Archie comics, Lulu (and Tubby), etc... I'm not sure if the UK had these types of American-based comic books. I'm aware of Rin Tin Tin(?), Madeleine? (vaguely)in UK and Europe.
ReplyDeleteOh what memories you bring back for me Dishy... the ads promised that with $1 sent by post, I'd get an entire bowl of these king, queen, prince and princess sea monkeys... unfortunately, me mum refused me the money and besides, I wasn't allowed to have any "pets" around the house -- including anything living in a bowl. As for the X-ray vision sunglasses which supposedly you could use to see through clothes down to people's underwear -- well, I wasn't particularly interested in undergarment fashion at the time...or wearing glasses -- visual impairment came soon enough once school started...
And sometimes the ads also had an offer of something like 200(or maybe it was 1000)little green plastic soldiers in all types of battle poses... wow...hours and hours of fun for children playing their little war games...my how times have changed now...no plastic soldiers but now kids (of all ages) playing soldiers on the tube/computer/internet, complete with real-life sound effects and 3D...
Back to our sea monkey/sea brine shrimps --- I wonder if they're edible...wouldn't crabs consider them delightful snacks?
Perhaps not. I'm more into pizzas and chicken wings for snacks... they go better with beer than micro-sized little sea creatures/pets...
Forgive me...I've been a little tired lately... I sometimes can get rather strange about other people's pets. I used to have a friend who kept a few turtles in a tank...and she didn't appreciate my little joke about turtle soup, either...
{sigh}
cheers Dishy Crab,
Snacky :-)
ps -- do write or post soon! Our friend Gail on Coronation Street is in jail. It never ceases to amaze me how the police are always portrayed so incompetently in just about every TV show except police shows...but then who knows, this is probably more true to life. I once lived next door to a house that grew a certain plant in large volumes and it took the City's "finest" ages and ages to finally raid the house and grab all the "gear" and the greenery....
The story of the big maijuana bust next door is almost a legend now in my family circles...
ReplyDelete...perhaps I'll tell it when/if I start my own blog..
hahahaha!
I don't know why your friend was pissy about your turtle soup jokes - everyone knows it's made from rendered-down calf's head, not real turtles. Surely there's no harm in that?
ReplyDeleteYes, I remember the ads in American comics. Even as a child I thought American children were 1) too gullible and 2) had too much money. And yet a little part of me was also intrigued...
Although small, plastic soliders could be extremely painful if you stood on them in bare feet. Which you invariably did do, owww.
I was out last night, so will have a big Corrie catch up tonight. Three episodes back to back - way-hey!