Free Stuff!

 What grown-up person goes to the library? A friend was going on a road trip, and their jam is to check out some audio book novels and binge them on the trip. That's a little out of my taste, but I'll tag along to the library to wander around while they look for some book CDs.

Check out the size of that sun in this photo! It was a Saturday, but we checked the Internet, they were still open. Funny that we used the Internet to check, in a way.

Merry Christmas Town!

 Merry Christmas! One more batch of pictures we took when we visited for Thanksgiving. We were there for Thanksgiving, but the park was set up for Xmas. So posting these pictures for Xmas is not strange at all. 

We left off while we were leaving the Festhaus show. Outside was this giant tree which looks like Glow-y Spider-Man thwip'd all over it. 

Busch Gardens Xmastown '22

 Busch Gardens... again? Wasn't I just here? Well, we went again, so we'll get some pictures... again.

This trip was over the Thanksgiving week, so it was full-blown Christmas Town decorations. Last year, we went after Xmas, and it really put us in the Xmas mood. So it was nice to get that effect before the holiday, this time. Um, that wasn't confusing, was it?

Not-Vacation Pics

 Another round of random pics from our not-technically-a-vacation for Thanksgiving.

The night we got down there we were taken out to Outback for a nice steak. One of my friends got their order messed up which was kind of a bummer, but they wound up not charging us for it, so I guess it all worked out. Nobody likes having a bad restaurant experience. It's hard to enjoy your own meal when someone else is just sitting there waiting to get a re-do.

Not a Vacation Technically

 Pics from our Thanksgiving trip down to Virginia Beach. My friend is currently unemployed, so I don't think we can technically call this a "vacation". Hey, at least he's getting a sense of humor about the situation.

Technically we took this picture when we were leaving the beach, not when we just go there. But it's such a cool picture I wanted to post it up front. This is like, the city's entrance to "The Beach". There's probably some kind of story to what this scultpture represents. Is that the reason it's not obvious? To make you curious enough to investigate what it's supposed to be? Is it going to work on me? Did they count on me being soooo lazy? Hey, it looks cool, that's enough for me.

Toy Graffiti

 Here's a bunch of pics from a while ago. Not that you'd notice, I guess. Why would I even need to mention that? Anyway, enjoy the fun comments.

I wonder if this is real graffiti from real trains. You think they are giving credit to the artist? Could you imagine how cool that would be, to be the person who did this, and they ripped off your art to put on a toy? Nah, I'm sure it's made-up for the toy, but it's fun to think that could happen.

Chew on This

 Despite the odd couple of weeks we've had, since my friend is currently unemployed, we've still been taking pictures of interesting stuff. So let's try and cheer us up with some fun comments.

How can it be both Bubble Gum and Cereal? I wonder if it's "chewy"? We saw this at the Dollar Tree store, and I don't know why we didn't just get some out of curiosity. I mean, it wouldn't have been much to try it. At least we got a picture. It was probably good because the next time we went there, it was all gone.

Today is What?

 Let's take a break from our worries with some pictures I took a while ago.

This plaque is oddly vague about what it implies, but if you needed any kind of inspiration for whatever; today is the day. Maybe it's the day for checking out my silly pictures, at least.

Halloween Cheer-Up

 Who's Ready for some Halloween pics? Despite my friend's sad situation (he lost his job a few days ago. No drama involved; they simply closed his whole department. Maybe I'll elaborate on that some other time) that wasn't going to stop us from roaming around to ironically get some scary pictures to try and cheer us up.

Google-eyes in those two upstairs windows are enough to make this whole house cute. Already cheered-up a little bit.

Picture M.A.S.H.

Another mash-up of pictures with fun thoughts from a little pony.

Wow a M.A.S.H. Jeep! This shiny thing looked pretty new, so either they have kept it in pristine condition, or Jeep is selling auto-sized merch from a series that aired from 1972-1983! To be fair, the show is part of TV history and worthy of this type of merchandise.

Pics or Treat!

 It's that time of year again for spooky things everywhere. Here's a collection of Halloween pics I got. Most of it's not too scary, if at all.

There's something you don't see too often; a space suit skeleton. It's a neat idea for a "snow" globe, and I especially like the ashes stuff in the water. You have to shake it yourself to get the full effect; when you first shake it, you can't see inside, but as it settles, it reveals the skeleton.

Warm Memories

 Every year we wind up with some pictures from our bike-rides that we wind up posting well after the temperature is too cold to go out again. It's nice to remember it being warm outside, at least. And I could use some sunny pictures right about now.

Like this picture, I remember it was soooo hot that day, and when the sun would hide behind the tiny clouds, it was a lot better for... a hot minute. 

Don't Chew That!

 Random pictures to chew on.

Covid Heroes! Thanks to all the medical people! I'm serious when I give thanks, but this is for your dog to CHEW ON. What?! I'm not sure whether to laugh about this or get upset. Those doctors saved lives! They don't deserve to be chewed on.

Cloudy Flea Market

 Another lazy weekend venture out to the Englishtown Flea Market. Treasures to be hunted, and all that.

It was a bit cloudy, but it wasn't supposed to rain. I don't recall seeing this sign up, maybe they only put it up when the skies get grey. Let's hope it doesn't rain and see if we can find some fun stuff to get pictures of.

Minty's Wild!

 Wild pictures!

Uno: All Wild! AHHHHH!!!! Have we all gone insane? Is that what it's like to be crazy? But seriously, that sounds like it's impossible to play. Luck of the Draw 2s and Reverses and what-not. I would be interested in trying this, but it sounds awful.

Minty Holder

 Sparlky pics! Just regular old random pics once more.

I'm not a candle pony, but this thing was so sparkling that I was seriously tempted to get it, and a candle, to see how cool it would look with the light flickering all over it.

Tiles and Stuff

 What's up? How's it going? Care to see some pictures I took? They've got fun comments to go along with 'em...

Should I be worried that some roof shingles fell down? Check out Ribbit One trying to hide over there. I saw you! Where's Ribbit Two? That frog is doing a better job at the hiding thing.

Big Antique Mall

 Another trip to the Virginia Beach Antique Mall when we were down in Virginia a while ago. There's a lot of pictures this time, I figured it would be better to post them all at once for a change. So sit back and get some fun comments on some old stuff.

Treasure hunting! You don't usually come to a place like this to find specific things, you go there and hope some thing finds you! You might also be looking for a specific old thing, what are the odds they'll have it? So keep your eyes open and you might surprise yourself with an unexpected treasure.

Ikea and stuff

 Silence! Ikea you! There's other pictures here but most of these are from the giant Ikea store.

Putting it together yourself is the whole point of going to Ikea! Imagine buying a Lego set, and paying someone to put it together? Do you want to deny yourself the sense of accomplishment after you did it yourself?

The Usual

 Back with regular old random pictures of fun stuff.

Odd spherical letter things at the art store. They didn't have an "M" so I had to use an upside-down "W". Close enough, right?

Relaxing at Busch Gardens

 One last bunch of pictures from our summer trip to Busch Gardens!

We were in the mood for some relaxing, so we waited for the boat tour! The boat just left when we got there, so we had to wait for it to go out, and come back in... and then go out with us on it. So the time we spent relaxing here was technically two boat-rides worth. That's a lot of relaxing!

More Busch Gardens

 Of course there's more pictures from our trip to Busch Gardens. Who has to remember anything when we can get pictures? The Internet will remember this forever!

This water spray fan tech is amazing. It seems like some little kid just started rambling about "what if we had a giant fan.... and a hose... and we combined them! Whoa!" And here it is! Looks like they are trying to put a thing around it for photo ops. Probably everyone takes pictures of people enjoying this fan.

Busch Gardens Again!

 Busch Gardens! It seems like I was just here. Last time I got a ticket that was good thru the whole summer, so of course on my trip to Virginia, I'd try to go for a day, since I wouldn't have to pay for another ticket. And if I'm going, let's get some pictures!

Always good to get a simple cover picture with a logo on it. Can you tell this is the Busch Gardens logo? I'm not sure, either. Is there a "B" and "G" hidden in it? Is it supposed to be a tree for the garden? Loops of a roller coaster? Well, this is the logo, whatever it's supposed to be.

Explorers' Club

 Escape! One more bunch of pictures we got of stuff we did in Virginia.

After the minigolf, we used the power of the phones to find a room to escape from. I mean, I guess you can consider every room you are in, you would need to escape from, but these are professional rooms with puzzles and stuff.

More Trippy Pics

 Travel pics! On our trip down to Virginia we got a bunch of random pictures. So this is pretty normal for the Minty Blog but this time it's a little farther away from our normal randomness.

Wendy's drive thru. Hot and crisp fries every time? Nope! The fries were soft. Busted! We usually get baked potatoes at Wendy's but thought it would be easier to get fries. So the first time we try the new "Hot and crispy every time" fries, they were not very crispy. Sorry Wendy's, but you did this to yourself. If you promise me crispy fries, I have a right to blast you when I get soft fries, especially the first time I try them. Now I feel like... I can't trust Wendy's at all! Sure I probably could have gone back, and they would have gotten me fresher ones, they might have even been nice about it... but this is a drive thru! Who's going to turn around and re-wait in a line?!

This counts as a vacation

 Happy Birthday! Well, technically it was a while ago, but we travelled all the way back to Virginia to celebrate a birthday. And of course if Minty is going, I might as well get some pictures to share.

This happy unicorn was holding down the balloons. Can we have a fake candle in a closed jar? It looks cool, I guess, but a real candle would not work in a closed jar, so it kind of breaks the illusion. Yay; I ruined it by explaining it!

Get Even!

 Hey everybody! Let's get some of my thoughts about fun stuff we caught in a picture.

Monopoly for sore losers. They freely admit that their game has this effect on people. I like how the box uses the word "sad" instead of the more-likely "angry", is there a rule now for flipping the table in a fit of rage?

Out Riding Da Bike

 This bunch of pictures is collected over several bike-rides. Trying not to take too many pictures, but after a while there's enough interesting stuff to post about.

Ah, precious water. The last few times we've passed this fountain it was not running. And although we resisted the temptation to dive in, it's still refreshing to get some cooler air around it.

Where's Peach?

 Hey! It's Minty with some more pictures. What else did you expect to find here?

The Princess Peach figure is ghosted-out on the front of this Lego set, and it mentions she is not included. So... what they are saying is: "Your Princess is in another castle."! Ha-HA! That's a classic Super Mario Bros. bit.

Pencil Case Cards

 No theme again, just random pics from shopping and stuff.

Have your kid be a total rebel and bring this pencil case tagged with Pokemon Trading Card Game logos. Eraser, too. Do teachers still ban the actual Pokemon TCG cards from school? You can't ban my pencil case! Ha-HA! That Pikachu is mocking the teacher!

Like a Boss

 More Minty comments on pictures we got while wandering around.

BBQ "like a boss". Hmm... so... just tell other people to do it for you? That's typically what a boss does. Not the actual thing. Does that mean you have to pay them, too?! Wait, did we just eat at a regular ole' restaurant? I'm so confused right now.

Crazy Rabbit

 Another batch of crazy pictures!

One glance at the Trix Rabbit and his crazed expression as he flees this T-Rex, and my friend seriously laughed out loud, right in the middle of the store, for several minutes. Some kind of happy terror? What a psycho! Drop the bowl and RUN!!! Of course we bought a box, and for a few days it was fun to glance at it and get that uncontrollable urge to laugh.

XL Flea Market Pics

 Flea Market! There's a ton of pictures here, but I thought I'd just dump them all at once instead of breaking it into two posts. Is this too many pictures for one go? 

It used to be quite a thing to see an aerial picture like this. Not too long ago, you had to get a whole helicopter thing with a professional film crew. Now you can just zip a cheap drone in the sky for a fraction of the cost. Do drones fly up this high? This looks pretty high.

Smell the Squirrels

 Smells like pictures around here today! There're fun comments to go with 'em.

I know I made a joke about it when I saw the name of these Whiffies figures a few months ago. Whiff! This time I caught them in the clearance aisle and realized they look like squirrels, and as a fan of "squirrels" we picked up a pack... And then later we went back and picked up the rest! I mean, look at these adorable things! And they smell! I mean, ...in a good way.

"P"icture Samples

 Another "sampling" of pictures with fun comments!

They are doing some cleaning at the warehouse, and that has undiscovered a virtual treasure trove of random merchandise. A lot of this stuff is products from vendor trade shows, like this plushie of a ...urine sample jar. Yep. The tag says Petey P. Cup. I don't know if I even need to say more here. Who wants to cuddle up with a jar of pee? Oh, I forgot... I'm on the Internet... don't answer that! Forget I asked!

You Never Know

Hey it's Minty again! Just another round of wandering-around pictures to enjoy.

I know it's a little cheap to post pictures where the signs are the whole funny message themselves, but sometimes you want to share those the most. Personally, this phrase usually makes me kinda sad, I'm not sure the toilet paper twist is funny enough.

Sweet Biking

The weather is not very cooperative this year, it's usually very hot outside when we go out for the bike rides. But not hot enough to stop us from going out, and taking pictures to share.

Ahh... The best smell of honeysuckles. It usually only blooms like this for a week or so. It's like the air version of putting butterscotch on your ice cream. Why am I talking about ice cream when I'm trying to get some exercise?!

Uno What?

 Pics! Check out what this crazy pony and her friend have been up to.

This display tells us there is some kind of Uno Championship Series. How would you even compete in something like that? The youngest kid would win. Nobody is going to beat on the poor little kid. Adults don't stand a chance!

The Upside-Down

 Bunches of random-themed pictures with fun comments. It's like you're hanging out with Minty!

I just realized that Dairy Queen should do a promo for Stranger Things, since they promise to serve your Blizzard "Upside-Down". That's good synergy, right? They could even do candy letters like the lights on the wall. Another million-dollar idea from Minty!

I Did That!

 Another bunch of pics from our recent trip down to Virginia. 

Somebody put this sticker here! I know this counts as "political" but c'mon, it's funny, right? Taking Grandpa Joe's catchphrase of accomplishment, and pointing it towards the skyrocketing gas prices. What's going to be more funny about this picture, is that I took it a while ago, and probably now the gas prices are much higher than this, so instead it actually makes it look... better? Whoa!

Travel Bags

Road Trip! Yeah I'm kinda behind on posting some pictures, this group is from a trip we took down to Virginia back in May. Eh, it's just like, random pictures, but some are from the traveling parts.

This is only funny for us, but New Jersey recently outlawed store plastic bags, so it was trilling to see them in stores again. Like, it's a rebellious act or something.

Hot Biking

 Finally the weather gets good enough to go out for a bike ride. Actually, it's probably too hot. We skipped right over "nice" and went from a little chilly to oppressive heat. But I'm not going to complain, let's go!

Head on out to the D&R Canal trail, and I'm met with a sign that tells me to turn around? Um... no. Were there some new rules I wasn't told about? I'm going to keep going and see if I can figure this out.

Ikea You!

 This is going to sound like a long explanation, but are you familiar with the ventriloquist Jeff Dunham? He has a a puppet named Achmed the Dead Terrorist, who's repeated catchphrase is "SILENCE! ...I KEEL YOU!" Well everytime we visit Ikea, we hear that puppet in our heads scream "SILENCE! ...IKEA YOU!" Because of the similar way he says "I KEEL". Anyway, we went out to the Ikea-you store and got some pictures.

Who needs a map for a store? Ikea does. Don't get lost! It's easier than you'd think. You'll stop to look at something, get turned around, follow the path, wait... how did I wind up back at the entrance? You laugh, but it'll happen to you if you're not careful!

May The 4th Grade Math Be With You

 Time for more pictures of Minty! And other fun stuff.

One of the fun highlights of the new "Disney" Star Wars movies was the way Kylo Ren would throw a fit of rage and destroy the room he was in. So I got a laugh out of this 4th Grade Math book and the mental image of him going "FRACTIONS!? AAAARRRGGGHHH!" And slashing up a desk with his lightsaber.

Busch Gardens - more yays!

 One more round of pictures from our trip to Busch Gardens Williamsburg. It was Memorial Day weekend, so super packed! Packed with fun!

Apollo's Chariot hits all the buttons for a great ride. It's fun, has a comfy seat you feel super-secure in, sooo smooth, and has the current-best tag line to start the ride: "We hope you enjoy your journey to the Sun on the wings of Apollo's Chariot!" Not to mention the science-designed alignment of the track which is pointed right into the sunrise, if you can get here at the right time.

Busch Gardens - Yay!

 Busch Gardens! I can't really say "twice this year" because technically when we went last Xmas, it was still December. There's a big difference between those seasons, this was full-on Memorial Day unofficial Beginning of Summer Weekend!

Last Exit before Busch Gardens! You can see the tops of the coasters peeking up, past them trees. There was a traffic line to get into the parking lot, so let the waiting begin! As a "Holiday Weekend" it was super-packed. My friend's Season Pass got us free VIP Parking again, so at least we didn't have to suffer a big trek into the park.

Picture Fest

 Guess what? More pictures! And fun comments, too.

When we visit Princeton, we typically park far away in the neighborhood streets. It's more to avoid the "hassle" of parking where the meters are with putting coins in and worrying about times, and maybe we get some walking exercise, too. This day there were odd crowds around specific houses, and people playing live music and stuff. You'll need to zoom in to see those people on the porch up there, I was too shy to get up all in their faces for a better picture.

Jersey Gardens Mall May '22

 Wooo! Jersey Gardens Mall! It's been a hot minute since we've been here. So of course let's get some mall adventure pictures!

This mall is HUGE! It's basically a "Figure 8" layout with a full upper and lower levels of that. Just now I realized I didn't get a picture of the directory, but I guess that's online somewhere if you were curious enough to look for it.

Stomp

 I'm still happily wandering around and snapping fun pics when I get a chance. It's enjoying for me and hopefully for you. too!

This Lego set is called the Hydra Stomper, and somebody put it in the display case stomping on the Hydra dude. Fun. You know the employee who did that was wondering of anybody would notice. I did! Also, is this a cheeky reference to the classic household bit where you painfully step on a Lego brick?

Trash Treats

 More fun pictures. This batch has a bunch of flea market pics in it.

Speaking of "markets", we got home from work one day and saw somebody left a pile of groceries outside. Probably from a delivery service or something. This picture was taken... the next morning! All the groceries were still there, and it looked like some neighborhood critters had a little munching. At least the food didn't all go to waste.