November 9 – November 22 (2020)

RANDOM PIC OF THE WEEK

I saw a rock in Joshua Tree that looked like a big Valentine heart sitting up high. But when I moved to look at it face on, it didn’t look anything like a Valentine heart. It just goes to show you, it’s all about perspective in life – the angle in which you view things. Things can look like just a rock, or it can look like a heart, depending on your point of view

While driving back from Palm Springs, I found out that one of Michelle’s favorite songs is “Dream A Little Dream Of Me” by the Mamas and the Papas. I love it too, as I literally wore the grooves out of the 45 we had in our house when I was a kid.

Monday the 9th – TOO SOON! TOO SOON! – Since it was a gorgeous day, I decided to walk over to Enterprise to secure an SUV rental for my upcoming trip to Palm Springs. On my way home I stopped at Rusty’s Pets to pick up some supplements for Roxy. And darn it all anyway, but I heard Andy Williams’ “It’s the Most Wonderful Time of the Year” on the store’s music system. In case you don’t recall, my personal policy that informs me that the Christmas season is truly upon us, is when I hear that song in a totally random setting, at a totally random time. It’s then and ONLY then that I’m assured that Christmas is on for real. But even though this is my favorite Christmas song of all-time, I was disappointed because it seemed too soon. Almost a year ago, when I was in Orlando, I heard the song in the bathroom at Disney World. And just like last year, I groaned a loud groan again this year, at the idea of hearing the song when I wasn’t quite ready to hear it. Just FYI – while working on “The Tonight Show,” I learned that Jay Leno has a similar ritual/tradition. Except the song that lets HIM know that Christmas is upon us is “White Christmas.” Well, I guess it’s really here – like it or not. I walked home to feed the pets, and then I started planning on a video that I was going to shoot. Through my Instagram account, I was made aware of a 2 year old boy bravely fighting a horrible cancer. A nice person reached out to me after seeing my posts about my Oscar the Grouch replica Muppet. She said that little Carlos loves “Sesame Street” and she wondered if there was anything I could do. I informed her that I was only a fan, and not an actual Muppet performer, but that I’d be delighted to throw something together for him. Unfortunately I don’t have many “Sesame”-related replicas. I only have Oscar, and Green Grover and Beautiful Day; two characters from the EARLY days of “Sesame,” that a young boy like Carlos obviously wouldn’t recognize. But figuring that he would definitely recognize Kermit (is Kermit even ON “Sesame” anymore?) I wrote up a nice little message and edited some music to go underneath. Through e-mail channels, I got a message from his mom with more info about his family dynamic, so I could incorporate that into the message for him. She also said he loves the Cookie Monster song “C is For Cookie,” and “I Love Trash.” Then I got the idea to do a parody of “Cookie” called “C is For Carlos,” that talked about him specifically. While I’m only in the early stages of making a Cookie Monster replica (can’t find the right fur to make a vintage-looking, 70’s era Cookie) I know that my friend Vickie Sebring has one that she has taken around to cons and events. I asked her husband Scott if she would be willing to make a video performing to my voice track. He said she’d be delighted! So I downloaded a karaoke version of the song and recorded a Cookie Monster vocal to it. I’ll send it all to Scott for a mixdown, and then Vickie will have something to perform to. Wonderful! (I advise everyone to follow Carlos’ fight by following his IG page at CarlosVsCancer) When I finished that I did my nightly auditions, and later I wrote up Wally’s Week. I did a little work around the house, and then fed and walked Roxy. I had some nice sloppy joe fixins left over, from when my pal Sara came in a few days ago to make some based on a recipe from my brother-in-law’s mom (THEY WERE AMAZING!) so I reheated that and made my final three sloppy joes and watched the final episode of “The Time Tunnel.” Discovering this series was like discovering gold! I enjoyed every episode! It’s just too bad that it only ran for a mere single season.

Tuesday the 10th – KERMIT FOR CARLOS! – I recorded my auditions for the day, and then recorded the vocal track for my Kermit For Carlos video. Since trash day was Wednesday, I wanted to clear out a section of my garage that had become overwhelmed with cardboard boxes I no longer needed. I had a box cutter with me, and given how clumsy and accident-prone I sometimes am, I kept telling myself, “Wally, don’t cut yourself…don’t cut yourself…don’t cut yourself.” The good news is, I didn’t cut myself with the box cutter. The bad news is, while lifting a large plastic bin full of items, a jagged section of the edge caught me on my right ring finger, just to the left of my fingernail. It didn’t hurt, but it bled like crazy! Just my luck! I came inside and cleaned and bandaged it (it bled so much I had to change the Band-Aid about every 10 minutes because it would bleed through) and did some paperwork. I made some spaghetti and settled in to watch the bonus materials on the “Time Tunnel” Blu Ray set. There was a pilot from a 2002 reboot that was unwatchable. It bore very little resemblance to the magic and charm of the original series. I watched all of the cast interviews, which I’m guessing must’ve been done sometime in the 80s. Since it was now Veteran’s Day morning, I watched the President lay a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, as is my annual tradition on Veteran’s Day.

Wednesday the 11th – PALM SPRINGS PREP! – There were tons of errands to accomplish in advance of my exit for Palm Springs on Thursday night. First I hit Taco Bell for some drive-thru food, and then I hit the grocery store. My custom smiling facemask always gets a ton of laughs and comments, and I love it. I picked up a few 16gb SD cards for one of the photographers who would be shooting a photo shoot for a friend of mine in Joshua Tree this weekend. Then I went back home to record a ton of auditions. I set up my camera to shoot my Kermit For Carlos video, along with my iPod which had the voice track on it that I could perform to. Since mic-ing for a puppet is always a difficult proposition, without the right equipment, it’s best for me to record the vocal in my pro studio set-up, and then “lip sync” to it on camera. It’s a little more difficult, but with a cleverly marked script I can follow along pretty well. I put 3 beeps at the top of the audio file to give myself time to get set with the puppet after I start the iPod, and then give it a whirl. It took me about 3 takes, but I finally got one I liked. Then I marry the video to the audio in my editing system, and it all works! The video turned out great and I sent it over to Carlos’ mom. Next week, when I return from Palm Springs, I’ll have Vickie’s Cookie Monster video to send him, and then the week after that I’ll have Oscar ready to send. I spent the rest of the night packing for Palm Springs, and then I ate some delicious mac and beef that I had gotten earlier from the grocery store. It tastes a lot like the goulash my mom used to make when I was a kid, but it’s not every day I can find it at the store. I just got lucky, I guess. I saw they had some, and bought every last bit of it they had left. I started season four of “The Mod Squad.”

Thursday the 12th – TIME FOR ME TO FLY! – While I waited for my maids to arrive, I did an audition I had lying around. After the maids finished and left I walked over to Enterprise to get my SUV – a silver Chevy Tahoe. I needed something bigger than my usual Palm Springs rental because I’d be hauling around so many people. I got home and packed it up, and then my house sitter Emily came over to get ready to stay with Spooky while I was gone. In the old days of my Palm Springs trips, I didn’t hit the road until 9pm, but I decided to leave around 7 to try and get an earlier start to the desert. The trip went very well and by 9 I was in Palm Springs getting my traditional meal at Denny’s. I got to the Hyatt and got everything set up in my room, and spent a wonderful night watching stars from my balcony. There must’ve been some sort of meteor shower or something, because I saw a lot of shooting stars while I sat there staring at the sky and pondering life and the universe. It helped that it was a gorgeous, clear night with hardly any moon at all. Beautiful! I LOVE THIS SO MUCH!

Friday the 13th – SHIRLEY WORLD! – As is my tradition on my first day in Palm Springs, I slept very late. Later in the day I drove out to Palm Desert with Roxy to pick up my ‘adopted grandma’ Shirley for dinner. I’m so elated that she’s in a new place, and now that I’ve seen it I’m even happier! It’s an amazing place with a very nice staff. We went to a local deli called Sherman’s and had a nice meal on the patio. Then I drove back to Palm Springs and walked down the street to go get a Dole Whip for dessert. My friend Officer Mark and Miss Connie had just hit town, so I caught up with them at the restaurant where they had just finished dinner. Then I headed back to the room for an abbreviated night of star watching. I had to be up early on Saturday to go meet my friend Michelle’s flight.

Saturday the 14th – WHAT A DIFFERENCE A YEAR MAKES! – A year ago, when I was coming back to LA from a Power Rangers convention in Orlando, I met a cool person at the airport. She saw the Kermit the Frog cap that I had just bought at Disney World. We started talking and I found out that she was into Muppets and puppets, wanted to be a puppeteer someday, loved Beetlejuice, squirrels, and was a part-time model. She said she had aspirations to move to L.A. someday and try the acting world, but with all of the craziness with this whole virus thing, those plans got delayed a bit. But I knew I’d be going to Palm Springs to see Shirley, and I knew that I had another puppet project that I’d be doing soon, so I asked her to fly out to assist. She loved the idea of doing a photo shoot in the amazing Joshua Tree National Park, as well as providing the “hands” for my Rowlf the Dog replica Muppet in a little video I’m putting together. Today’s the day she arrives in Palm Springs, and then she’ll go back to LA with Roxy and I on Monday to assist with the puppet video. Then she’ll fly back home to Orlando next Monday from L.A. I got up at 9am (rare for me during my trips to Palm Springs) and met up with Officer Mark and Miss Connie in the lobby of the Hyatt. We got to the Palm Springs airport and her flight was right on time. Mark suggested a nearby golf resort for breakfast, and we had a great time dining outside on a beautiful day. They had all sorts of birds there in the water called coots. I’m wondering if that’s where the terms “an old coot” and “cooties” comes from. We also saw several golfers with what I called “golf droids,” automated golf bag carriers that the golfers controlled with a tiny remote. I guess Caddyshack would have been a totally different movie if those had existed back in 1980! We went back to the Hyatt to drop Michelle’s luggage off, and we picked up Roxy to go to the dog park. But when we got there we realized that the park was closed on November 12 through December 20th. RATS! So we walked around in downtown Palm Springs so I could show her the city. We made it back to the hotel so Michelle could unpack and get set up in her room. Around dinner time we loaded up the SUV with me, Michelle, Officer Mark and Miss Connie, and we picked up our friend Boz at his hotel. We’d all be driving out to Shirley’s to pick her up for dinner. We got to a place called Solano’s and had a terrific dinner! Great disco music playing overhead, and our server was wonderful. He kept calling Shirley “Miss Shirley,” as apparently he overheard us mentioning her name. Of all the weird things, we were driving Shirley back to her residence, and since I was in an unfamiliar part of Palm Desert I was having Officer Mark guide me with his GPS. But we missed a turn because he was distracted by a huge fireworks display in the distance! So we found a side road that provided a perfect view of the display, and we all just sat there in the car watching the 20 minute fireworks show. It was one of those “no accidents in life” moments we fully enjoyed. It was stunning. When it was over, we got back on the road and took Shirley back home. On the way back to Palm Springs I gassed up the SUV for our trip to Joshua Tree the next morning, and then dropped Boz off at his hotel. I got back to the Hyatt and walked Roxy, and spent a few hours watching the stars and saying “goodnight” to Mars; as it gradually dipped behind the mountain range outside the back of the hotel where my room is situated. It was gorgeous.

Sunday the 15th – PHOTO PHUN! – Since Officer Mark and Miss Connie, as well as Boz, all wanted to get back to L.A. early, they decided to follow Michelle and I to Joshua Tree so they could leave for home as soon as we finished up with the photo shoot. It was about a 60 mile trek into the national park to location called “Arch Rock,” and it was stunning. It provided a great backdrop for Michelle’s photo shoot. Both Boz and Officer Mark are very accomplished amateur photographers, this would give us all a chance to have some fun and see what we came up with for interesting imagery. We shot at various locations for a few hours, but by 3:30 we were starting to lose our light. I had brought along a reflector for the shoot, knowing that we’d most likely need to redirect some natural light for some of the shots. Michelle and I said goodbye to the gang, and we headed back to the Hyatt to freshen up in our rooms. Then we headed into Rancho Mirage to meet up with Shirley and her daughter and son-in-law for dinner. It was a yummy Italian place called The Slice. We headed back to the hotel and Michelle decided to sit with me on the balcony for a while to see what I was raving about. She enjoyed sitting there watching the shooting stars and we ended up chatting until the wee hours. But I had to hit the hay to get up in the morning and head back home. What a great trip, despite the fact that it was not my usual Palm Springs outing.

Monday the 16th – GIVE ME A HAND – OR TWO! – Though I hadn’t planned on getting up until 11, I sprang awake at 10 and was ready to head home. I got the SUV all packed up and we hit the road for L.A. around 11:45. The trip back went very well, and I was safely back home by 2. I unloaded the SUV and before I took it back to Enterprise, I took the opportunity to take a chair to my church that I was donating. I wasn’t able to fit it in my Mustang, so since I had a large vehicle, I used it to my advantage. I dropped the chair off, and then took the SUV back to turn it in to Enterprise. The associate at Enterprise noticed a 7 inch long, vertical indentation in the right rear fender on the car. It looked like somebody hit me with their door. But since I always get the full coverage when I travel, it was taken care of. I went home to pack up my Rowlf the Dog puppet and Michelle and I headed to my pal Luis’ house. He has a nifty looking upright piano in his house, and we needed to get some “B-roll” of Rowlf playing the piano for a video I’m putting together. Michelle, being petite, had no problem sitting down below the piano and working his hands, while I stood behind her working his head. We did two takes and that’s all it took. Lotsa fun! We got back to Planet Wallywood and I started in on the considerable amount of auditions that had populated my inbox while I was away. Michelle enjoyed seeing me do the auditions, as she watched and learned. I relaxed a bit, and while Michelle watched a few movies in the Puppet Room, I took a nap in my room. Later we made some pot pies and watched a Jim Henson special that had aired on PBS several years ago. The trip was a lot of fun, but I was pretty exhausted. We had accomplished a lot over the past few days!

Tuesday the 17th – BANANA BACK! – Michelle’s flight back to Orlando wasn’t until late in the evening, so we had all day to goof around. We started with lunch at Paty’s on the patio, and then we went over to the UPS store to ship a neon banana lamp that Michelle had picked up in Palm Springs. She couldn’t take it back with her on the plane, so it was best to ship it to her house. I got a few packages and then we took off for a store in Burbank called Junk for Joy. For some of the photo shoots she does, Michelle loves vintage clothing. She found a great salmon-colored prom dress that she’s planning on wearing for something someday. We got back home and she packed up for the trip back to Florida. She’d be on a red-eye flight all night, and literally a few hours after landing, she had to be back at her job. That’s the kind of wacky stuff I would have done when I was young too. She said the last time she was in L.A. she grabbed food at Jack in the Box before her flight. So in keeping with that new tradition, we stopped at Jack in the Box to get some drive-thru before heading to LAX to drop her off. That late at night the traffic to the airport was a breeze. I dropped her off, and came back home to nap for a bit. Later I made a Tombstone pizza and watched another “Mod Squad” episode. What an amazing weekend!

Wednesday the 18th – BACK TO BIZ! – After the whirlwind weekend I was ready to be comatose for a while. I slept very late, and when I got up I started in on Wally’s Week. But I realized that it was already so late, that I made the executive decision to combine TWO weeks into one entry and just publish it next Monday night. I worked around the house, unpacked some of my stuff, and started scheduling the Christoween Easter Eggs that I’d be Tweeting out between now and Boxing Day. Our Christoween.net website has all the details about our new story series, and our animation artist Luke Ski has come up with little “reveals” about all of the fun Easter Eggs he put into the piece. Check it out! I made some phone calls and did my auditions later. My pal Troy called me with a comedy bit he was doing for the “Ellen” show. I did the tracks and e-mailed them back to him. I also did a little more unpacking, and then walked Roxy on a moist, misty morning. It was so nice, warm and misty out that I decided to enjoy a nice cigar on our walk. Later I made hot dogs on the grill and watched “The Mod Squad.”

Thursday the 19th – SPOTTY SLEEP! – Against my usual practice, I kept my phone on while I slept. Because of my odd sleeping hours, I can’t always be reached during certain parts of the day. But I knew my pal Troy from the “Ellen” show was going to call with some possible pick-ups and changes to the bit I recorded for him the day before, and I didn’t want to miss him. Sure enough, there were some line changes, so I sprang from bed and got them recorded and set. I also found out about a possible ‘dream-come-true’ opportunity that just kind of wended my way through an old contact. I laid down some tracks and sent them in. Fingers crossed, because if this happens, it would be another “bucket list” type of item for me personally. I went back to bed to get a few more hours of sleep, and then got up to take a walk to the post office to mail off an autographed photo. I stopped at GNC to stock up on vitamins and supplements, and I hit Subway on the way home to get a sandwich. I did some work around the house and unpacked the rest of my Palm Springs stuff. Later, I wrote and recorded the Oscar For Carlos message that I’d be shooting early next week. Apparently he loved the Cookie Monster message a great deal and it really brightened his day! I scanned some checks for a bank deposit on Friday, and then I went to Denny’s to get some food to go, and came home to enjoy it while watching another “Mod Squad” episode.

Friday the 20th – CLEAN, CLEAN DOGGIE FOR THE WEEKEND! – After compiling a long list of “to-do’s” for the day, I set out to get them accomplished. I took Roxy to Rusty’s to get a bath, and then I stopped by the bank to drop off a few deposits. I went to my mailbox to get my packages, and then hit McDonald’s for some lunch. When my Mustang sits idle for a long period of time, as it did while I was in Palm Springs, it develops a little “creakiness” in the steering mechanism. When this happens I try to get it to the Ford dealer to have it diagnosed, but it seems that every time I get there, it won’t do it for me. Sure enough, it started creaking again. But by the time I got to Ford it stopped doing it. RATS! I went to get some groceries at the store, and then picked up Roxy and took her home. A few days ago, I was running through all of the messages I have stored on my old answering machine, that’s tied into my home phone. Many of those messages are from people who are no longer with us. So I contacted my pal Evan at Voice Trax West and had him call my home phone, punch in the code to extract and record the messages. I had forgotten my code, since I haven’t needed to get my home phone messages remotely for a very long time, but after searching around in my manuals, I found the one for my answering machine. He successfully obtained all of the messages and now they’re safely stored digitally. But it’s a little sad hearing the voices of people I literally haven’t seen in many, many years. I’m glad I have them though. I went through my bank statements, reconciled all of my receipts and paid some bills. Then I made lasagna and watched “The Mod Squad” before bed.

Saturday the 21st – CURFEW F U! – Later in the afternoon I woke up and did a little work on the computer. I recorded my auditions for Monday morning delivery since I had some available time. I ordered a Domino’s pizza and made some phone calls. I found out that Svengoolie on ME-TV was going to run “Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein” on his show that night, so I got ready to watch it. I LOVE that movie, and Glenn Strange is my favorite incarnation of the Frankenstein monster! Though the Boris version was child-like, misunderstood and vulnerable – the Glenn Strange version was big, hulking, strong-jawed and had super-human strength. As a kid growing up loving monsters, his portrayal was always the version I loved best. And that FACE was perfect! I loved the sheer power and strength of the monster. I talked to Shirley on the phone for a little bit, and this was the first night of a month-long night-time curfew set up by the supreme leader of California. Apparently, the numbskull who runs this state thinks the virus only comes out after 10pm. So he implemented a 10pm to 5am curfew for Californians. Based on no science, facts or logic whatsoever. Just a whim. Nice, considering that he himself was caught on camera dining INDOORS with many friends at a restaurant last week WITHOUT A MASK on. In direct violation of his own idiotic edicts! I hate very few things, but liars and hypocrites are high on my list. I don’t generally get involved in stating political views during any sort of active election, but once a leader is chosen, I feel they’re fair game for criticism…especially when they’re demonstrating themselves to be an abject idiot – as is the case with this dim bulb. I sat at my computer with the windows open, listening to the distant sounds of the nearby freeway. Apparently, judging by the numbers of cars I was hearing zoom around, NOBODY was paying any attention to the supreme leader’s dopey curfew. Much like they ignored his order to not celebrate the 4th of July (we all know how THAT went!). Double this with the recent stories about how the law enforcement agencies stated that they would NOT be enforcing said curfew, it’s really just something that the supreme leader pulled out of his backside. With no enforcement mechanism in place, it’s really pointless to even issue such an edict. I honestly can’t wait until this state has a leader that has half a brain in their head. But this whole virus thing has really outed the mental midgets in our leadership roles! I really hope the constituents have a long memory and hold them all accountable for this insanity. But I digress. I made my traditional Saturday Night Super Saint Salad and watched another episode of Roger Moore in “The Saint” from the season one DVD set.

Sunday the 22nd – SANE SUNDAY! – With full intentions of shooting my Oscar For Carlos video, by the time I got up I realized I was losing too much daylight. I want to shoot it outside on my patio with a nice, leafy background. So I decided to shoot it on Monday instead. I hung around the house and did some work on the computer, made some phone calls and rested and relaxed. The word came down that our idiotic mayor (another dim bulb who needs to go) pulled the plug on outdoor dining starting Wednesday – again, with not one shred of scientific evidence to back this edict up. I’m just wondering how long the public is going to continue rolling over for this craziness until something pops. Honestly, we’ve put up with it much longer than I ever thought we would. I’m just concerned that when it pops, it’s going to pop BIG! But I pray that doesn’t happen. But continual, idiotic rulings are bound to be resisted at some point. I spent the majority of the night composing two weeks’ worth of Wally’s Weeks to post at the beginning of the new week. I also had to suss through tons of photos and videos from the previous two weeks to get you caught up. Enjoy!

And how were YOUR weeks??!!

PIX FROM THE WEEK

Thanks to Renegade Games for sending me this nifty Blue Psycho Ranger figure! Anybody want to paint it for me?

I couldn’t wait to try these! I think I need to have a few more bowls before I make a final judgment.

These are the custom-made Starsky & Hutch figures I’m getting soon. BEAUTIFUL work!

As it gets darker outside earlier, and the weather grows colder, the pets have been sticking close to dad.

Sometimes my cat Spook is so darned cute I can’t take it!

While sorting through some old photos, I came across these gems. I took some of my Muppet replicas to a theater in Sioux Falls when “The Great Muppet Caper” opened up.

Beaker seems confused by the concept of chocolate, while Animal guards the snack bar.

Here’s a shot of Kermit and I at a 4th of July celebration

… and this is a shot of my very messy, Muppet-obsessed room when I was 19.

I also made a Yoda puppet out of a Don Post Yoda mask. It wasn’t the easiest thing to build and operate, but we had a lot of fun with him

Here are a few more clips from our 1981 Radio/TV class project called “Summer Safety Tips For Kids.”

Animal discovers his new favorite song!

Here’s the “C is For Carlos” video we did. Vickie Sebring is operating the puppet to my voice track.

This is the Kermit For Carlos video we put together.

Following up with the 2 Minute Twitter Tour of Planet Wallywood that I did a few weeks ago, this is the one I put together of the Main Showcase area.

It’s not quite a star on the Walk of Fame, but at least Michelle was able to find her name on a sidewalk somewhere!

After staying in the Puppet Room a few nights, something strange started happening to Michelle. I can’t explain it, but she seemed different somehow.

Some artist in Palm Springs really knows how to capture my attention!

Trying my best to look important at the country club in Palm Springs on my groovy flip phone.

And this…is why I love this town. (See the Coots on the green?)

Michelle poses outside the home formerly owned by Liberace.

Adorable dogs everywhere you look in Palm Springs!

This is the fireworks display we stumbled upon in Palm Desert!

After hearing the song on the radio, I started singing it in the parking garage of the Hyatt, which had great acoustics. Officer Mark had his camera ready to capture the madness.