CAPTION CONTEST
Backwoods Blog;
in the woods and on the road…
My cousin sent me this photo earlier in the year, one that I had never seen before. My father, George, is standing on the left with the rifle and my Uncle Charlie is holding the poor cat in this posed photo from the late 1920s. This would be another example of the numerous “Charlie and George stories” from their early years. (See Backwoods Blog #93 for “The Great Car Chase.”) I’m not sure how the old timey border was added, but it almost looks like it could be a postcard. If you are familiar with The New Yorker caption contest, the magazine posts a cartoon with no caption and readers are invited to write their own clever caption with the top winners included in the next issue. I thought it might be interesting to try this with the “Charlie and George” photo. To participate, submit your caption in the comments section below. My cousin who sent the photo will select the top three winners on December 22nd (no prizes included). For submissions and results keep checking the blog site. To get things started I am contributing these three possible captions:
“Merry Christmas from the Hutchinson boys!”
“the art of persuasion when herding cats…”
“negotiating with the cat regarding Santa’s milk and cookies on Christmas Eve…”
I remember my father telling this memorable story (time and time again) about a Hutchinson family Christmas on the old homestead. This was the year that Bruce, the family’s Saint Bernard ate the cake. Bruce was huge, even by Saint Bernard standards, and had a reputation for liking the cold northern Maine climate. His favorite spot in winter was the top of the snowbank right beside the house, totally content, oftentimes getting buried in snow during a storm. It was Christmas day and the family was just finishing up Christmas dinner when Mae Hutchinson went into the pantry to get the Christmas cake. She had placed it in the pantry to keep the cake cool and somehow, Bruce got into the pantry and there he was sitting in the middle of the floor eating cake, the entire cake. My father called this “the Christmas there was no dessert.” In spite of the debacle, apparently it didn’t dampen the holiday spirit and here we are telling the story to this day.
In the woods,
Dave
December 14, 2022
“Don’t even think about being like Bruce – the Christmas cake is well hidden!”
David- absolutely love this blog and all the stories and pictures. Thanks for sharing! Merry Christmas!
“Ok! Ok! I’ll talk….I may know where that canary went…”
Alright buddy, where’d you hide the money!!
Okay, Mister, where’d you hide the Christmas decorations!!
Charlie knew his brother’s cruel game all too well: He must guess the exact weight of the cat, or it would have to die.
George demonstrating his desperate need for the new glasses he put on his Christmas list.
My caption would be, “when the cats got your tongue”
posted by Joshua A.
How about this caption? “ Confess now to putting the dead mouse in my slipper or it’s cat heaven for you!”
Many of my mother’s old photos from that time period have borders like this one.
posted by Susan B.
Hahaha!
I can’t think of a caption about the cat photo, but the story about The dog eating the Xmas cake is priceless!
posted by Paula S.
The first thing I thought of was the quote from the classic “Home Alone” movie, “Hey, I’m gonna give you to the count of ten, to get your ugly, yella, no-good keister off my property, before I pump your guts full of lead!”
Hilarious!
Listen cat, I’m gonna ask you one more time, “Were you the culprit that knocked all the ornaments off the Christmas tree?”
Santa claims there was no milk to go with the cookies! You know anything about that??
We are announcing the winner of the “Caption Contest.” We want to thank everyone who submitted a caption and participated in the contest – it was great fun!! And here is the winner:
1) Jess Atkinson “Ok ok, I’ll talk – I may know where the canary went..”
And runner-ups (It was tough to decide…)
2) Mike Fasulo ” George demonstrating his desperate need for the new glasses he put on his Christmas list.”
3) Christopher Thompson “Charlie knew his brother’s cruel game all too well: He must guess the exact weight of the cat, or it would have to die.”
4) Randy Atwood “Santa claims there was no milk to go with the cookies! You know anything about that??”
Thank you everyone and Merry Christmas!
On the cat —
“You destroyed our Christmas tree again, one too many times !!!”
Enjoying your blog.
Merry Christmas !!
posted by Peter R.