“Morning Ralph. Morning Sam.”
This may be dating me, but the winner of our recent photo caption contest totally took me back to the Saturday mornings I spent devouring giant bowls of cereal and watching old Warner Bros. Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies cartoons while my parents slept.
Back then, kids, cartoons only aired on television on Saturday mornings. The horror.
The photo above features TU’s own Kirk Deeter standing in a Kodiak Island river dressed in a brown bear costume, with a guide at his side, armed with a shotgun. It’s not an exact match for the winning caption, “Morning Ralph. Morning Sam,” which clearly references the Ralph Wolf and Sam Sheepdog cartoons that graced the airwaves almost 70 years ago. The premise is simple: Ralph and Sam meet each morning at a time clock, punch in and then go to work. Sam spends most of his day simply staring over a herd of hapless sheep while Ralph concocts complicated schemes to thin the herd.
At the end of the day, the pair would meet again at the time clock, with the “Evening Ralph. Evening Sam” farewell — Sam was generally no worse for wear — Ralph would usually show up in casts, bandages and sporting any number of bruises from his day spent incorporating the Acme Co.’s explosive sheep-removal devices that just never seemed to work.
Like I said … not an exact match, but it was close enough to earn a pretty hefty belly laugh, and it earned several “likes” from others who commented on the photo.
The caption, crafted by TROUT reader “Belem,” (full name not provided) earned its author a brand new RIO Elite Gold fly line. The author simply needs to send an email to trout@tu.org, noting the caption contest win, and we’ll get the line out to them as soon as we can.
Thanks to all who participated. More caption contests to come.