(A day on which your humble blogger hands over the reins to the loveable boy Sherman.)

You're It!

Hi, pals! Sherman here.

Boy, a whole blog and I can say anything I want.

You know, me, Bet, and the other cartoon characters here at the Pod sure do have a lot of fun. We sing, and play clarinets (well, Bet and I do, and sometimes Mr M), and every Wednesday night at our house is Fish Stick Night. We have fish sticks and tater tots, and I always make up some tartar sauce. Friday night it's always a big pizza, but before that, Friday night is something else.

It's Tag Night!

Yep, all us characters play a big game of tag every Friday night. It's the best part of the whole week. And we don't play regular tag, of course. We play cartoon tag. Never heard of it? Well, it goes a lot like the tag you guys play, but there are some rules. This makes Bet laugh, because she says our tag is pretty much a free-for-all, but we do have to follow the rules. Here's how Poderosa tag goes.

Poderosa Tag

1. The hour before tag (7:00 pm) is for bending and stretching. This is where we meet in the living room of the Poderosa and stretch. We boing up and down, of course, seeing how high we can go, and we practice our zip-scrams. This is where you run in place as fast as you can, then take off so fast there's a "wheep!" sound, and dust flies around your feet. We also practice our lifting of heavy objects, like Bet's couch, and make ourselves flat so we can go under doors.

2. Tag begins right at 8:00 pm.

3. The ceiling is off-limits. I don't like this rule very much. Sometimes when I get going, I just can't help it, and I take a turn up the wall and head straight onto the ceiling. If that happens, it's a disqualification. The reason we can't go onto the ceiling is because Good Luck Baby Lily and Che Guellama are not technically cartoon characters, so they can't run on the ceiling. That means we could all go on the ceiling and they could never tag us. It's an unfair advantage. So the ceiling is out.

4. If you are tagged, you are out. I know this sounds very simple, but the rule is in there for a reason. Because that's how you play tag! Ha ha, I crack myself up sometimes. Actually, though, there's kind of a little exception to this rule. The little exception is Good Luck Baby Lily. Sometimes she's the first to be tagged, being a baby and all, and, also being a baby and all, when this happens, she pouts up and starts to cry. Nobody wants her to cry, especially on something as fun as Tag Night, so if she gets that way when she's tagged first, we let her keep playing. If she's tagged second or beyond though, she's fair game, and has to sit out when she's tagged.

5. Because of rule #4, do everything possible to not get tagged. This is where things really get fun. Other than the ceiling, we can do anything or go anywhere. Mr Peabody and I had a great finish one night when I boinged myself up onto the top of one of Bet's floor lamps to avoid him. Then he started to boing himself up there with me, so I whoosed back down to the floor. Only he just pretended to boing! He was waiting for me when I whooshed, and tagged me, and won the game. Lily once won tag because she climbed up into the silverware cabinet and hid in a spoon. She fell asleep, and we were having so much fun we forgot about her. There were many cheers when Huckleberry Hound won the game, and that woke her up. She climbed down, crawled into the living room, tagged Huckie, and won tag. One time, Gossamer the Monster was running around, and Quick Draw McGraw was coming up behind him, ready to tag him and win the game. Then Gossamer tripped and fell backwards, onto Quick Draw, and won tag, but we don't think he realized he won. He's a monster, you know.

6. Hiding is a legal part of tag. Part of the great fun of Poderosa Tag is that involves a good deal of hide and seek as well. See, if you're hiding, no one can see you, and you can look around and check on other characters and plot your strategy. Helpful hint: Huckleberry Hound is usually hiding behind a window blind, and his blue tail is normally hanging out from the window blind. I like to check all the windows first for his tail, so I can tag him. Mr Peabody is the best at tag, because he often uses military strategy to play, but he's also an excellent hider. He's posed himself in Bet's album covers, in front of pictures of himself, and even on the television screen. When he takes to hiding instead of charging, he's hard to beat.

7. If Bet tags you, you are not out. But watch out, she will swat at you if you get in her way. Don't say anything, but I think this is Bet's way of trying to get in on the game. This happens a lot when she has hidden herself away in the dennette while we play. She'll be answering an email and typing something like, "Hello, it was good to hear from you. I was just sitting dow3o84urog$us#yr" because one of us has run across her keyboard. When this happens, she starts flailing her arms at us, and it's so funny we all have to stop and laugh.

8. In cases of a tie, or for a ruling of judgement, Mr Peabody has the final word. Yep, good old Mr Peabody. He knows all the ins and outs of tag, and what's fair and what isn't. And he's very impartial. He's impartial to a fault. He'll rule against me, against Baby Lily, and even against himself.

9. It's not forbidden, but we're not supposed to hide on the liquor tray. This is because Bet and Peabody said something about it making Mr Peanut sad. I guess it makes him miss the Big City or something. Bet also said something about broken liquor bottles making her very sad as well.

10. After the final person is tagged, and the winner congratulated (good sportsmanship!), we must clean up our messes. After all, we are in Bet's house. If we move it, we must move it back. If we take it, we must return it. If we break it, well, thankfully that hasn't happened yet, but I have a feeling her arms would start flailing around again if that happened.

If you don't mind, I'm a pretty good tag player myself. I once tagged Baby Lily, Mr Peanut, Huckleberry Hound, and Che Guellama all at the same time when I sat on a dish towel, like a genie on a flying carpet, popped out of the dryer, and landed on all of them at once. The record still stands as the most tags at one time.

So if you have a free Friday night and want to come over for the festivities, please, you're welcome anytime. Please bring pizza, though.

G'night!

Sherman's Olympic Update:
* Ooooh! Mr Peabody just handed me the envelope containing the acrowinners - he said I could read them to you! If I recall, the acrotopic was for you to tell us your WABAC fantasy. Here we go....
- Honorable Mention goes to me, because no one else played. Yippee!
- Runner-Up goes to DeepFatFriar, with his, "Ancient Romans overlook yodeling south Britons." Mr Peabody edited that one, I think.
- And this week's winner goes to LilyG, with her, "Along Riviera, oiling young Sonny Bono." He actually chuckled when he saw that one. A chuckle from Mr Peabody's pretty good!
- Thanks to everybody who played! Mr Peabody was very proud of you all!