Gumby and friends - Stories for my grandchildren

I was watching a college football game the other night when I spotted a student attired as Gumby. You know, the little green dude who palled around with Pokey, the orange horse. For several years we had a life-size version of Gumby hanging around. Well, he was life-sized if you were sort of on the small size. You can judge his size here as a passenger in Barb's little Civic.

Gumby's specialty was to show up where he was not expected, like in the car, ready to go on some trip. Or posed in the bathroom, caught in the act of... well, you know what he was in the midst of. Or hanging out at the mailbox, waiting for the kids to come home from college on a visit. Or on the treadmill, or in the closet, or in your bed.

I don't know where we acquired Gumby, and for that matter, I'm not sure where he went when he left us. I do know that he had developed a chronic leak on a hard-to-patch seam and it became harder and harder to get him pumped up for some adventure. My guess is that he moved on during a garage sale.

Gumby had a buddy that he hung out with at our house - Dino. Given that one of Barb's favorite teaching units was dinosaurs, it is not surprising that we had a less-than-life-size (thank goodness) T-Rex as well. 

Here's a shot of Dino working off the effects of an over-indulgent Thanksgiving. Like Gumby, Dino couldn't take the pressure.

I searched for a picture of the other creature that lived with us - the adult-sized dinosaur costume that Barb made and wore, on special occasions, during the dinosaur unit.  I recall that I wore it at an IBM function once, but I cannot for the life of me remember why I would do that. The dinosaur suit may - or may not - be in the family still. You'll have to ask John about that.