Hello, Everyone!! Well, the first International Interwebs Welly Wanging Competition has officially come to a close. I’m sorry if you were not able to find the time to join in (ahem! to my brother, who promised he would get to it), because it turns out that Welly Wanging is super fun! But don’t worry – it was SO much fun that I’m pretty sure we’re going to celebrate spring NEXT year with another competition.
We got a lot more entries in under the wire today because Alden had her 6th birthday party, and we included Welly Wanging as one of the activities. It was great fun. We split up the various jobs associated with our particular tournament, and swapped them around for each round. There was, obviously, the Welly Wanger.
Then there was also the line judge (that’s Alden’s job in this photo):
The measurer:
The score recorder:
And the photographer:
There were also two guards per round who stood at the end of our sidewalk and made sure no unsuspecting folks leaving Doug the Baker’s with a bag full of sun buns would get hit by a flying welly. Six different people were spared the offense (and we were spared any lawsuits) thanks to those guards.
Also, perhaps THIS photographer should have had a guard or two protecting her (I’m talking about ME):
Do you see it? Do you see the threat? Here, let me help:
Do you see that boot? The one headed straight for my head? Well, I didn’t see it. I was too busy taking pictures. I really could have used those guards there. Thank goodness we weren’t using standard issue wellies, because we might have had to broadcast this post from the emergency room. Hallelujah for not entirely following the rules!
Alright. The upshot of this all is that we had a great time, and definitely see more Welly Wanging in our future.
BUT – FOR THE PRESENT:
We have our official listing of the entrants and their measurements –
And so, we are proud to announce the winners of this year’s first International Interwebs Welly Wanging Competition!
The trophy goes to Sydney, with a final distance of 9 yards even!! Congratulations, Sydney! The trophy will head your way shortly!! I hope that you can find some time to send us a photo of you once you get it! Good job!!!
The first runner up prize, an 8×10 print of your choice (of any of my past illustrations) goes to: Anna!!!
We were most impressed with Anna’s tough-as-nails approach to the competition, not being undone by a little bit of snow. Congratulations, Anna!!!
And finally, we’d like to award the final runner-up 8×10 print to Team Team Mark-Jeany-Harvey-Harry-and-sometimes-Guyberg!!!
Technically, Mark came in with the highest score, but we think the grown-ups have minor height, strength, power, focus and coordination advantages and shouldn’t be considered in the same running as the rest of the kids.
So there you have it. This officially closes the first International Interwebs Welly Wanging Competition! We hope you enjoyed it as much as we did!
We see a future in this sport, and look forward to a more robust competition next year (along with the invention of a calculator that will convert inches to yards, feet and inches, and not just one of the three).
For whatever reason, there’s not much to mash today. Perhaps you were all too busy outside enjoying the springtime to send us your stories and pictures, but I have only a few things to share today, though wonderful things they are.
For example, this drawing from Simon.
I’m guessing you can tell that this is a leprechaun. But did you notice that it is a leprechaun playing skee ball? If you don’t know about skee ball, then you should learn about skee ball, because it is one of my favorite games. Here’s a link to get you started. Perhaps skee ball will be the theme of the week at some point.
In my experience, one does not win a pot of gold for excelling at skee ball, but that said, I have never played skee ball with a leprechaun.
Moving on, then, to other signs of spring.
Here is Alden’s drawing of our welly wanging efforts.
You can see the path of the welly and the bright yellow tape measure with which we measured the might of the toss.
A close, up, for those of you without superhero vision.
If you have not yet entered the International Interwebs Welly Wanging Competition, here are the rules.
And here is the trophy you could win by wanging your welly the farthest.
Which is to say, if you have not yet wanged your welly, why on earth not?
We will consider all welly wanging results received by the end of tomorrow (Saturday, March 21), so grab your welly, head out of doors (or stay inside if you live in a castle with an enormous ballroom) and start wanging.
Did you know that today is the first day of spring?
Look what’s happening outside.
Before the flowers came up, my mom made some shamrock cookies in honor of St. Patrick’s Day. They made me think of spring.
And, lastly, here is Robbi’s drawing of spring, in case you missed it on Tuesday.
If anyone is feeling quite motivated, this painting can still be had on Ebay through 12:30EST tomorrow (Sunday, March 22), though the bidding has gotten quite spirited.
And now, I am ready to head outside for a walk on this beautiful spring day. But before I do, it is my pleasure to announce the winner of the Bobbledy Theme Week Trophy for Spring is none other than…
I’m not sure how Simon knew that I am a sucker for 1) Leprechauns and 2) skee ball, but his strategy was extremely effective.
You can just download this image to print it out and color it in, or get the pdf HERE, Simon!
As for the rest of you:
1) GO WANG YOUR WELLYS
2) ENJOY THE FIRST DAY OF SPRING, and
3) CHECK BACK TOMORROW FOR A POST ON OUR NEW THEME.
We missed seeing your drawings and reading your stories this week.
Bobbledy is only as fun as you make it. Unless, of course, it’s only as fun as WE make it, in which case: WE’LL TRY HARDER!
Does it feel like Springtime where you are? Actually, it’s been snowing here in Bobbledyville, but we’ve still got Spring Fever. Here’s this week’s quiz about Spring. Let’s see how you do!
[WpProQuiz 12]
Well done! Alright, now that you know all about Spring, it’s time to get down to business. And business is…
WELLY WANGING!!
Yes, whether you’re in the Northern Hemisphere or the Southern Hemisphere, you can (nay, you MUST!) join us in the first ever International Interwebs Welly Wanging Competition! The rules are outlined in our theme post (which you can find HERE) but the idea is simple:
1. Welly Wanging is basically a ferocious competition of throwing a rubber boot (known as a “Welly,” which is short for “Wellington,” a brand of rubber boots in England and the British environs). Anyone can do it:
(we even tried to get Iggy to join in, but she refused, claiming that throwing is for people and fetching is for dogs).
Boys and girls:
Even two-year-olds can compete, though August’s toss came in at 32″ (since official regulations state measurements must be made in yards, feet and inches, it actually came in at 2 feet, 8 inches), which one might argue isn’t really competing.
2. Once you’ve made the toss, you need to measure how far your welly has flown.
We discovered that having multiple tape measures on hand made it much more exciting for the many (count: three) people who were desperate to use a measuring tape.
3. You have to wang your welly from behind a designated line on the “thong” – the “thong” being your area of play. You may simply stand behind the line and throw it, or you are allowed a run-up of 42 paces.
I attempted a windmill-style run-up, in which I swung the welly around multiple times during my approach. I don’t think it helped, and I almost hit Kato in the head three times, so keep in mind to clear the pitch if you plan to do a run-up.
4. Traditionally, the “thong” is a specific area in the original welly wanging competition site in England. For our purposes, we just agreed that the welly had to land on or near the sidewalk. Allowances were made, however, for grandmothers:
or at least this grandmother, whose welly ended up hitting the back of Doug the Baker’s and landing in a pile of leaves.
5. Be careful to record everyone’s measurements.
(Being careful, of course, not to mix up Mama and Papa’s tosses, because it made Papa look bad). Alden recorded first in inches, and we had to work together to get the proper conversions to yards, feet and inches – a somewhat taxing math exercise.
6. It helps to get your strongest wanger to go last.
There are a couple reasons for this. Number one is that everyone gets exhausted having to run so far to find the welly.
Number two is that you’ll need to commit a fair amount of downtime to measuring. It’s best to do this once everyone has figured out a successful strategy.
And number three is that through brute strength, the best welly wangers often eviscerate their welly, and (apparently) can injure themselves enough in the process to prohibit further throws. It also messes up the game for everyone else who might have been sharing (or wearing) that welly.
And so, the first entries to the first International Interwebs Welly Wanging Competition are as follows (from shortest distance to longest):
* potential disqualification due to endangering another contestant. Decision pending by judges.
** potential disqualification due to destruction of fellow contestant’s welly. Decision pending by judges.
The WINNER of the first International Interwebs Welly Wanging competition will come away with THIS very fine high-class trophy of glory and sophistication, sent via post to the contestant with the highest score:
The first and second runners-up will win an archival 8″x10″ framable art print of their choice from any of Robbi’s drawings. For those of you who have lost out on auctions, now is your chance! First and second runners-up will not only be judged on distance, but also on style points. If you send us a good story or photo of your welly wanging, you might win the judges over in the artistic category.
And there you have it!
Now you’ve learned everything there is to know about Spring, it’s time to get outside and do some Welly Wanging!! Post results in the comments here or on any spring-related post, or use #bobbledyspring on instagram to enter the competitive fray!
I would say spring is in the air except that it snowed yesterday. BUT – that did not deter me from doing my drawing of spring. I was inspired by the video of the birds building their nest in the Theme of the Week post (HERE). So I thought I’d draw some eggs in a nest.
I found another great video of weaver birds building nests. They don’t particularly have to do with spring, so I didn’t put it in the original theme post, but since I was inspired by their hard work, I thought I’d show you here:
Pretty cool, huh? I like how that poor young weaver bird was still learning how to make his nest, not very successfully. But, he just kept on trying, which is really the best way to get better at something anyway.
I’m also going to include Alden’s spring-inspired drawing here, mostly to remind you that that the First International Interwebs Welly Wanging CompetitionIS ON, and as it stands, Matthew is going to win the trophy, I’m going to win one of the 8×10 archival prints, and Kato is going to win the other one. As you can see from Alden’s drawing, her wanging record was 23″ (that’s 1 foot, 11 inches, in official tournament measurements), which didn’t make the cut. It might have been due to the non-regulation boot we had to use – one of August’s, so quite small (seen on the left, in black and red).
If you do not find Alden’s picture or free prints of my drawings compelling enough to join in the competition, well, how’s about THIS:
That is the trophy the longest-distance Wanger will win. (Runners up will be judged on distance AND style points.)
So, you have TWO assignments this week! Number 1: Draw something inspired by Spring! Number 2: Join our Welly Wanging Competion! (If you still don’t know what I’m talking about, check it out HERE). Post your drawings and/or pictures of Welly Wanging below to be entered in this week’s contest! And may the best Wanger Win!
Also: if you’d like a coloring page of this week’s drawing, here it is:
Oh, right, and if you’d like to put in a bid on my original bird’s nest illustration, you can do so HERE.
Hello folks. I’m excited about this week’s theme because I’m excited for spring. When I was little, I loved snow and ice because it was fun to play in (and because I enjoyed missing school, of course). But now that I’m a grumpy old adult, I’m a little bit tired of snow. Or, if I am to be very, very honest, EXTREMELY tired of snow. AND of snow days.
This year, I am as excited about spring as I have ever been before.
But, for whatever reason, when I sat down to write a story about spring, what came out was a story about a little boy who doesn’t like spring AT ALL. His name is Bobby Blinton, and he’s pretty grouchy about warm weather, blue skies, etc. But perhaps I should stop talking about Bobby and just introduce
Little Bobby Blinton Hated Spring
Little Bobby Blinton loved the snow and ice.
He loved the cold and frost.
He loved the wind and the misery.
While everyone else trudged around with chapped cheeks and sad winter faces, Bobby grinned and sang cheerful songs and wished that nothing would ever change.
As fiercely Bobby loved the winter, he hated the springtime more.
When the snow melted, Bobby yelled.
When the flowers came up, Bobby cried.
When the trees burst forth with light green buds, Bobby shook his fists and demanded an explanation.
But no one would answer him. Everyone else was too busy planning picnics and trying on tee-shirts and taking enjoyable walks around the park.
Bobby tried to convince his parents to move to Antarctica, but his mom had a great job as the vice president of a local investment banking firm, and so relocation was out of the question.
Bobby got a big box and tried to mail himself to the top of Mount Everest, but the people at the post office got suspicious when they saw the air holes he’d poked into the box.
Bobby wrote a letter to Santa Claus wondering if he needed any extra elves, but apparently there was a three-year waiting list to even audition.
“Why don’t you focus on the positive?” said Bobby’s mom.
Bobby’s mom said this a lot. But Bobby was so miserable that he decided to give it a try.
He thought and he thought and he thought and he thought, but he couldn’t come up with even one good thing about spring.
But then it hit him.
At least it wasn’t summer.
And that’s the story of Bobby. Do you dislike spring, too? Or are you excited that it’s getting warmer (provided you live in the Northern Hemisphere)?
Write your story of the springtime and post it to the comments below.
