The day was getting on just fine until the dinosaurs showed up and started turning over cars.Want to have a dinosaurs vs cars matchup in your own home? Well, just head over to our shop and pick up some wood dinosaurs and toy cars.
The bulk of my dinosaur education (outside of Dinosaur Train on PBS) came in the 1980s. I learned the five primary dinosaurs: Brontosaurus, Stegosaurus, Triceratops, Tyrannosaurus Rex, and Terodactyl (which is correctly spelled Pterodactyl with a silent P). There were other dinosaurs, I guess, but none that stuck with me.
Recently in the 2000s (the time-period formerly known as the future) I’ve come to understand there are hundreds of dinosaurs. Furthermore, the brontosaurus isn’t real. You know, the brontosaurus (aka The Thunder Lizard) that plodding giant of yore.
The bronto, it turns out, was a paleontological bone matching mix-up – back in the late 1800s the Western US saw a race to dig up new dino fossils. It was really tense. Explosive even. In scientific haste, fossils from different dinos were falsely paired together. The mistake stuck for a long time.
Even longer for some like me. It was tough, in my mid-thirties, hearing that the brontosaurus wasn’t real. A child told me this none-the-less. I quickly stopped him before he shattered any of my remaining youthful innocence
Given some time, though, I’ve come to embrace this dinosaur making-up of names and such. Pretty much stick a couple syllables before “oSaurus” and you have a name. Let’s give a whirl:
LongNeckSaurus
StrechoSaurus
LongReachoSaurus
The real fun though is in the Sideshow, carnival barking, stroll down the Midway, also known as names. Like Thunder Lizard (our fictional bronto friend) or Tyrant Lizard (t-rex), even Roof Lizard (stegosaurus). Sure, roof lizard is a bit lame, but you get the idea. Just stick a word or two before Lizard and you’re in business:
Car-Crushing Lizard
Major-Ouch-Inflicting Lizard
Crazy-Backed-Lizard
Can’t you just hear the showman put his lips to the megaphone, calling out to the cotton-candy eating townies:
“Here it is folks, the show you’ve heard so much about. The show your neighbors talk about, the show your relatives write you about. It’s all here and it’s free folks. Free for the wee ones, free for the tall ones, and free for all those in between.
“Step up close now and get a view of the real excitement. We have the Thunder Lizard, car-crushing, earth rumbling, fear inducing beast from the dawn of time.
“Children, Parents, and Grand Folks. Friends and strangers. Come close, gather round here. Take a look at the Tyrant Lizard! King of the ancient lords. With jaws of steel, bones of iron, and they say folks . . . they say,” as his voice drops to a whisper, “he can even breathe fire.
“Inside this very tent. Right here today only see these terrible beasts of old. Thunder Lizard! Emperor Lizard! The Three Horned Brute! Scaled Monsters! Starting in just minutes. Buy your tickets now folks.”
Okay. I have a hankering for funnel cake and popcorn. Click here to take home a wooden dinosaur toy as a souvenir from our shop today.
New wood cars are being designed and constructed here at the Bungalow. These prototypes are taped together, unfinished, and in need of sanding – but this hasn’t dulled a certain household member’s excitement. Finally we have made a fire truck! Fire truck! Fire truck! Along with a semi-truck, taxi, dragster, fuel truck, mini-car, and bus we’ve amassed enough vehicles to put together a Car of the Month Club.
We’re envisioning this Car of the Month Club to be something like a jelly of the month club, except much lower in sugar and much higher in fiber*. As rated by the Kids, the favorite new vehicle is (hands down) the fire truck. The semi-truck is a close second though. We’ll be working on a few interchangeable trailers soon.
While these trucks aren’t yet available for purchase we have some other great wooden cars in our shop.
* Our toys are not really edible
All of Happy Bungalow’s wood robot dogs come fully housebroken. In addition they respond astronomically well to the STAY command. Adopt your robot dog today.
A sort of promotional item we’ve put together a robot comic art poster. Featuring your favorite Stobor robotS rocketed-powered robot, the 413-RE (popularly known as Rocket Rob). Read more about Rocket Rob here.
click to enlarge
click to enlarge
This comic is the second pass at things. Below is the first. We’re happier with the second with one exception. Hidden in the below image is a sci-fi reference we’re proud of. If you spot it, send an email to don @ happybungalow.com
Of course the comic is based on our wildly popular wooden robot toy Rocket Rob. Check out all of our wooden robots in our shop.
This is a companion piece to another wooden art piece I did: “Pa Never Thought Much of the Sinkhole Until the Dragon Came Out of It”
This piece, Homestead, is loosely related, or not at all related. Copper and wood are the materials used, and are some of our favorite materials to make wooden toys from as well.
2013 was a busy year for the Bungalow as we took the show on the road to 33 farmers markets, art fairs, and craft shows. Covering 2 states and half a dozen cities we met lots of cool folks (maybe even you).
It was a great year – thank you for you kind words, fun conversations, and generous support.
Now we’re heading back to the drawing board (literally) to come up with some new toys: airplanes, robots, boats, mermaids, dragons, and on and on. We have quite the list assembled.
And despite our Delorean sighting, the future has not provided us flying cars. So we’re taking it upon ourselves to produce said vehicle. Or at least a toy version.
