On Thursday morning, July 13, the convention activities convened at the nearby Georgia Golf Hall of Fame and Botanical Gardens, which was a short walk across the street from our Mariott hotel in Augusta. The area was beautiful with appropriate decor including a classic car display and woodcrafted signs with the names of Laurel and Hardy films on them placed around the gardens. Also on display was a giant reproduction of a mousetrap that all conventioneers were asked to sign. Of course, after everyone signed it, the hosts realize that the marker they supplied was not permanent and we all had to sign it again (see picture at bottom of page).
It was nice to just walk around, socialize, and enjoy the morning. The weather was hot but not unbearable and there was plenty of bottled water on hand. The first activity of the morning was the Oliver Hardy putting contest. Ashleigh and I both participated but neither of us made a ball into the hole on any one of our three tries. In the photo, Ashleigh putts while I show Janet Duff the correct way to hit a ball (notice the upside-down golf club).
Then we moved on to the Pee-Wee Contest. For those not in the know, the object of this contest to hit a wedge-shaped piece of wood into the air and then smack it as hard as you can in order to achieve the greatest distance. This contest is based on the film Babes in Toyland, in which Stan goes through these motions. In his case, however, the Pee-Wee actually returns to him.
Although I usually perform poorly in this contest, I did fairly well on both of my first two hits - but on the last hit, I smacked that sucker like I was facing my worst enemy. It sailed well beyond the current long-distance markers. The crowd roared. 
Ashleigh had a tough act to follow. I’m ashamed that I was too busy answering how I just did that (and “shaking hands and signing autographs” as Bob said), that I missed most of Ashleigh’s attempt immediately following mine. Bob snapped a nice shot of her though, and she did get a piece of it once. By the way, I had no answer to that question. It was a case of the stars, sun, and moon all aligning at just the right time. I’ve never been good before and I’ve never practiced. Someone upstairs just wanted me to get first place that day.
After the excitement died down from the Pee-Wee contest, all conventioneers gathered under a tent for hamburger lunch. Nothing to write home about, but decent enough. Following the lunch was a mini-pie-fight (participants are seen above). Ashleigh and I declined to participate, mostly because we would have had to walk all the way back to the hotel to get our ‘pie clothes.’ Gene, Ellen, and Karen-Marie (the latter two seen above left) from our tent did participate - and predictably ended up covered in pie.
Ashleigh autographs a giant mousetrap during our outdoor festivities. My signature is upside down at the bottom.
The PeeWee hitting was always my favorite part of the movie. Now I feel I must go and watch it again as it has been far too long.
Susan
November 29th, 2006