Part 3 of Today's Posts

You will notice there are two other blog entries: a video by Miles and Lukas and a blog entry from a family that came out and saw our show.

It was HOT. We are under a heat wave out here so Mami and Titus stayed in the cool confines of the hotel.

I am surprised the crowds we had sat through the heat to watch our 45 minute to one hour show....but they did. And in all three shows they were pretty good sized crowds. I think with the pool and splash lagoon at the park I would've spent the whole day in the water. But many ventured over and caught the show.

Nick is off the DL and back in the air and did fantastic.

Though still in development (slowed down by the weather) we finally did a test run of the Bamboo

Illusion. Jim did a run through of his Samoan Fire Knife routine followed by us doing the production number of the illusion. The music is good, the idea is great, we still need some costumes for Victor (Brandon too for this week) and Jim. Also I am thinking of a production or magical appearance of the "girl" in the trick. (I know this means little to you because you haven't seen the trick. I can say that it has a couple of twists and turns that makes it pretty cool. Yes we have a video from today but it is not ready for release until the bugs are ironed out.

Talking about bugs this 1" long beetle was in my van today.

I got mail from home today which included a certificate for participating in World Circus Day in April. We are a registered circus. And little Miss Katelyn Pennington from London, KY came down today to Beech Bend to celebrate her birthday by watching our show. She brought with her a photo wrap-up of the Laurel Co fair and Victor and I were in the picture...mostly Victor Jr.

More to come tomorrow......

Three Tuesday Tots: Living it UP at the Bend

Three Tuesday Tots: Living it UP at the Bend

This is a link to a blog from a family that came out to our shows.

Miles and Lukas' Video blog

Hot and Potter

It was Hot today. Index of 106 degrees. We all sweat like rain as we performed. Just for fun we mixed up the show plan for each show keeping everyone on their toes since they didn't know when they would go on until the last second. Crazy~

Afterwards we came back to the hotel and downed some pork chops then hit the cinema to see the new Harry Potter Movie. 99% green screen and special effects. Capped the whole HP thing so I am glad for that. Never really was a fan but the movie was fun. Even Titus went and had a great time. Public forums like that really aren't his bag but put a giant "TV" screen in front of him and he was entranced.

Since I went out instead of doing office work when I got back I don't have much to offer in the form of videos or many pictures...sorry. I will make it up to you next time.

Mami surprised us with a little cake thanking us for our hard work.

Reading the news I am amazed that California even exists anymore. Wow, the social junk they are passing, the taxes, the lunacy, it makes me not want to come back. Let alone raise a family there. We are now taking donations to buy a house out here. Paypal me upto $1 Million dollars....smaller donations acceptable.

Keep Cynthia's wrist in your prayer...it has been hurting for several months now and is still hurting. Also Nick's Shoulder. He has been off the trap for a couple of days. I think he and the audience would love to see him up there again. He is a hard worker and I don't think he likes being grounded.

We are a strange family. We believe in old values unlike those seen or even acceptable by the average person today...we a biblical....or try to be (frail and foolish mankind that we are.) We home school our kids, try to raise them in the Bible, try to resist the world's values, push to be the best performers and people we can be. Temptations of the world are around every corner. We all want our selves to be first but know that that path is a dangerous one. People compliment us on our behavior, our show quality and kindness. But I know even with all that we come short. I am shamed by the kindness and large hearts of my friend's like Bill Jackson, JC Dunn and even Midori. They put others ahead of themselves even if it means they do with out. They would give you literally the shirts off their back if you needed it. They would suffer if it meant you would benefit. God bless these people who put a face on Jesus every day to remind me of my short comings and that being a good person , a really good person, in His likeness is possible.

videoblog2-14 Jim Brandon Miles Belle Vic Jr and Nick

Blog Update!!!!!

www.antimonkeybutt.comwww.facebook.com/antimonkeybutt

Mami made an interesting comment tonight while we went out on a "date". She said, "You know, I've tired to think of other people who live like we do, owning a small circus, traveling, etc....and I can't think of anyone else like us...I guess we are kind of unique."

Our date was unique too. We went to an Italian fast food place and realized our stomachs had shrunk considerably this summer. Then we went to the Home Depot and Walmart. How romantic. But we were alone...if you don't count the hundreds of people in the stores with us.

Good news today is the shimmy and shake that my RV has had since I bought it is gone. My guess was the front rotors and I was right. S & R Tires i n BG here took great care of me. I got there at 6Am and they were done before 9:30. Grant it I had to get up at 5 something to go there and I hate waking up. Regardless, what I though was going to cost between $600-$1K to fix came in at a little over $400 including the oil and lube job. And the best part, she drives like a smooth dream.

Today was once again a hot one. The whole region is under a severe heat wave. (no records being broken but is is hot...you will sweat just standing still in the shade. Interesting thing is in the humidity if you just accept that you are going to sweat and you keep drinking liquids it really isn't that bad. Dry heat however just sucks the sweat off you and dries out your hair, skin, cuticles, etc. Since it was really hot we kept Titus in the RV until the last show and he was, as usual, a hit.

We have added a lot more shtick to the show this year and it has been playing really well. James does a mock striptease whenever Lukas plays that age old stripper song. And they have talked me into doing the "Les Grossman" dance from Tropic Thunder. The audience really seems to like both. Maybe the sight of a 46 year old out of shape, gray haired old man dancing to a rap song is funny?????

Olivia lost a tooth last week, Brandon lost a tooth a day or so ago, and Victor Lost a tooth today. The tooth fairy, or is it the tooth "alternative lifestyle" individual, has been busy.

Today I had Cynthia (backed up by Jim and Lukas) sing a bluegrass song at the last show. Wow does she have a voice!!

Nick has been grounded and it's driving him a bit nuts. He hurt his shoulder (muscle strain) during a trapeze work out a couple of days ago. He loves to fly and hang out on the trap so this has got to be killing him. Today he was the coolest of all of us in this heat with ice on his shoulder. He's taking it it with good humor though.

The owner of the Park's grandson, Grant, has been influenced by Miles in that her now owns a bull whip. He has been coming over practicing with the kids everyday. We are going to let him do a few cracks at our Sunday Show.

On Saturday Miles or Victor will do an upside down strait-jacket escape over the pond at the park as a publicity stunt.

Our new Illusion, the Bamboo Illusion" is almost ready to be presented. We have all the props and most of the costumes ready. Jim has his Samoan fire dance knife ready to go.

Miles turned 17 on the 16th and got a nice camera for his birthday. Cynthia made a cool "grilled cheese" design cheese cake for him. Nick gave miles a Buck Knife and wrapped it in one whole BIG roll of duct tape. We have the video of him unwrapping it and will post it soon.

True to our sponsor I hock "anti Monkey Butt powder" at every show and give free samples away.

Another new stunt...Jim stands on Miles while he lays on a bed of nails and juggles machetes.

update

New posts coming tomorrow. New blog, video, pictures, and updates....for now good night.

Lost Teeth and A Naked Poodle

Olivia finally lost that tooth that has been loose and wiggin' for the last two weeks. No more. "Daddy, look at my lose tooth!" everyday five times a day. Then we got another surprise, Brandon lost one of his teeth. Tooth fairy visits all around!

Belle went in for her grooming today. The groomers, by way of a bribe , put her on the top of the list and got her done pretty fast, and not a nick or scratch on her. She looks. Great. Sorry I don't have a picture of her today....I'll post one tomorrow. Cynthia doesn't like it when they do a tight shave on her but I think Belle appreciates it with all this humidity.

Miles turns 17 tomorrow...17!!!!! I'm old!

Jim has been re-acquainting himself with old friends and has been spending his off time in that re-acquaintanceship.

We have really been cranking a lot of time and energy (and a little money) into some new ideas. The kids have me doing a "Les Grossman" dance whenever they play the appropriate song. I have to drop whatever it is I am doing and get into character then do the dance...life on stage. Similar to James' faux stripper thing.

The Bamboo illusion goes into rehearsal tomorrow. So we will have some new things to show you soon.

Brandon and Jim are adding more to their little acrobatic routine. (they want to add a teeter-board...not this year!).

Midori is reworking her lyra routine to be more funky and hip.

Audiences have loved it when Titus performs.

Back home I got the report that our outside dog has got a ripped lip and an infection. HE is now at my folks home with a cone on his head and antibiotics for a few days ....nearly $600 for that. YIKES...donations can be sent to my home address!

videoblog2-14 Jim Brandon Miles Belle Vic Jr and Nick

Another Day in paradise.

Perfect weather today.

ca't say much about today except my back spasms are still going on.

Took Belle to the vet for a heart worm test and discovered she is fine so I can order her meds on line now.

But our dog back home, Prince, has a torn lip and an infection has set in. It will cost nearly $600 to fix it and had my kids not been in hearing distance and it not my parent reporting this to me I might have gone another direction but I agreed to pay it....UGH.

Also took Mami for her eye glass exam yesterday and that was $600 ....I don't like the theme here.

In spite of traveling we still have to go about normal life stuff. I took Nick for a hair cut today as well.

On the bad news from the economy has hit another festival and we lost the Gator Fest for September. That puts me in overload in search of replacement gigs.

As I get the report that my nephew and niece in Cali are suffering broken bones from unrelated accidents the worst here is a small cut from walking on broken glass with Amelia. Olivia and I went away unscathed.

Video of Brandon's new routine and other dailies click on this link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d-0REP8xepc

Beech Bend Park- Mami and Titus perform

After a two day heat wave that was killed by an awesome thunderstorm yesterday today greeted us with warm but not crazy hot weather so it was safe for Titus to come out to the park. Being disabled and in a wheel chair a humid day can be tough on him.

I dropped the kids off at the park early for their morning meet and greet in mascot and stilts and clown costumes. Then I took off to take Mami for her eye exam. That's right,even on the road we have to keep doing things we would do at home. Her glasses are getting old and her prescription has changed so it was off to the doctors. What should've been a 45 minute stop (including picking out new frames) turned out to be a two hour ordeal. That means I would miss the first show since I was watching Titus (walking around the mall) while Mami was "in there".

So I called Cynthia and told her to go on as usual but she will have to call or MC the show.

By the time we got to the park the first show was just ending and all reports were that CC did a great job as MC. She hates doing it because she hates talking in public.

I suffered a third back spasm in 2 days and had to "pill-up" to get through the last show and the rest of the day. You know how much fun it is to do the "Drop Zone" ride while under the influence of pain pills and muscle relaxers?

The audiences were off the charts great today. In other words, they were great. I had a lot of fun performing for them. We designed and got Brandon into a costume and he looks great. Sadly we didn't snap any pictures today. So you will have to wait until tomorrow.

Olivia is just about to loose her first tooth. The little Chiclet bends and twists and is ready to come out but she isn't ready to pull it so we are waiting. Soon.

Loving Kentucky!

Laurel County Fair continues this week

Laurel County Fair continues this week

Here is a link to a short photo news thingy...

http://thetimestribune.com/archive/x66809457

July 12 (part 2) N Candlish Report

If I had a turkey I would have been able to cook it today without the help of an oven. By 6am the outside temperature was already pushing into the 80s. On arrival to the park we were well into the nineties. From there temperature kept rising causing an early return of Jim, Cc, and Miles from the front gate. After noon the temperature climaxed with a heat index of 118 degrees.

Despite the draining heat, we all ran around causing havic and learning new things such as two person ball jugging on a ladder, flying through the air holding onto a rope with one hand, and creating a human totem pole (James-base, myself-center, Brandon-Top). As for the shows all three went great. First two went smoothly with crazy Lyra performance from Kent, including dance moves that a middle aged white male should not attempt to imitate on any occasion( which makes it absolutely hilarious to see). Due to a back spasm before the third show Kent had Jim run the show, which went well, the aduience enjoyed it.

Back to the weather, during the second show we went from getting cooked to experiencing the Bipolar weather of kentucky that brought us a thunder storm and heavy rain. The upside was that the temperature dropped derastically.

Today overall was great because there were no major mishaps and on return to the hotel Mami had an awesome dinner prepared us, It was amazing. Thus far the rest of the evening has been spent losing at card games and getting prepared for another day with the KFMC.

signing out-NCandlish

118 to 78 in 15 minutes---Several of us Report today's blog

The day started hot and reached 118 degrees on the heat index...100 degrees + the humidity. Then at around 3pm the clouds ominously creep-ed in and then it opened up and in 15 minutes the temp dropped from 118 to 78!!!!! Refreshing but the lightening closed the parks pools but forced them into our show shelter. We had a captured audience and even after it stopped they stayed to watch the ending.

Cousin Brandon and Jim did their official presentation of their acrobatic comedy routine. I have some video of the practice sessions and will post it soon.

The night skies are awesome right now as God is putting on a great light show off in the distance.

The only sad part of the day is I missed out of the last show due to a back spasm 5 minutes before the show started. I took my muscle relaxer and pain pill and set to office work while reclining in the van. Jim ran the show and did a pretty good job...I will post some video from that too later.

Hey, this is Miles, and today has been crazy. So today I woke up and did the usual wake up routine but when I went outside I knew it was going to be a crazy day. It was HOT and HUMID!!!! We all got to the park and then us strollers had to go welcome people into the park when it was about 90 degrees outside. Fun! After torturing thru that we did three magic shows. But the cool thing was that midway thru the second show it started raining and it wasn’t as hot anymore. Thank you God! Well anyways after the shows we went on some rides and then piled into the van where we headed back to the hotel. And that completed my day.

Jim report:

Today was hot. It was a cruel heat today and when we arrived at beech bend in the morning to stroll, I was already sweating. In my lovely stilt walking outfit (nicknamed "the mongolian princess" by the crew) I walked up to the front gate and crowds of people poured through the gate with a smattering of Hi-5s to me and corny jokes and high times from me. The three of us at the gate performing (cc, miles and I) decided to cut our time there short considering that we were melting and pouring down sweat as we greeted people. Honestly, I was growing weak at the knees by the end of it. Anyway, we got to the stage and the crew practiced new routines and experimented with new ideas. I started to put together a new act involving ladders and insanity. (is there any better combo?)
The first show went off as it normally would. Nothing to comment about there. On the second show we had massive amounts of rain pour down un the ground and the captive audience flooded in. Branden and I went over the routine just before that show and perfected it with the help of father. During the show the routine went off without a hitch.
Before the third and final show of the day, father gets a back spasm and I get the lovely job of directing the show, which suprisingly did not fail. I mean to say that the audience enjoyed it and laughed and love it, but I personally thought it was not as good as it could have been and the backstage crew definitely felt the lack of the classic leader leading the show in the impossible to replicate Victor Kent style.

Cynthia Report:

Ummmmm......so I woke up and ate this morning. Apparently getting up fifteen minutes early helps a lot. Anywho, it was really hot today. When Miles, James, and I went strolling we had to return early because we were really hot. The humidity was yucky. All the shows went fine. Not much to report in that department. After the heat warnings of the day we got thunderstorm and flood warnings. It also became pretty cool. It was nice when all the heat was gone. Then daddy got a back spasm so we had to do the last show. Not a huge deal but it went okay. After the last show James went strolling and the rest of us went on rides. Fun stuff. Dinner at the hotel was amazing with beef stroganoff ( I hope I spelled that right) and broccoli. Then I played some cards. That is all. The End.

Opening Day Beech Bend Park

The heat index hit 115 degrees today...no kidding and it felt every degree of it! Boy did we sweat! Thank goodness the park gives free fountain drinks all day long. We all lost at least a gallon of water over the course of the day. We are in our air conditioned rooms now but the humidity and heat of the day still rests heavy on my mind and body. Tomorrow is supposed to be similar except there is a chance of a thunderstorm in the afternoon. In a way I say, "bring it on".

We did three shows today and actually had three pretty good sized crowds in spite of the heat. I will take pictures of our set and some changes we have made tomorrow.

It was so hot that two of the three mice I bought for Buttercup died while I was in Wal-mart for 10 minutes. The van got that hot. Luckily freshly dead mice are fine for Buttercup. Too much info?

Cousin Brandon and Jim have been working on an acrobatic comedy routine and they showed it to me. I liked it so I had them do a practice run in front of the last audience and they crowd loved it. I suppose I will have to video tape it for his ma and pa to see.

Mami and Titus stayed at the hotel today and will do the same tomorrow. Neither one would do well in this heat.

Maybe it's the heat or the lack of fluids in my body but my brain turned off....just got in from shopping for supplies and it is still 90 degrees out there....it's 10:30PM!!!!

Last Day in London, KY....Arrival in BG!

We arrived in Bowling Green today and set the show up at Beech Bend Park. Shows start tomorrow. The little ones got to ride a bunch of rides as the big kids set up. We all are exhausted. It was hot and tomorrow it will be near 100 degrees with a heat index of 107!!!!!



















Sorry I did not post this yesterday. It was really late when we got back to the hotel. Even later for the big kids as they stayed at the fairgrounds packing up the show. It was a fabulous day weather wise and the audiences were great. Packed every show.

It was wonderful seeing old friends and as always it was tough saying goodbye.

Here are the run down of the pictures. The field is what we call marshmallow field because they covered the hay in white plastic. The deer was just a bonus. We actually forgot to take the picture so my friend Tony "Apple-pie" Brown took the picture for us and sent us them...17 of them. Thanks Tony. He is the guy I am standing with doing the thoughtful poses. This was after the very last show as we were packing up.

The other photos are of the kids with various friends we have made over the years. The young lady you see often in the yellow shirt is Katelyn Pennington long time friend. her family ion call to help Cynthia while in Berea.

The man with the three wheeled unicycle???? is Bruce Sarafian from Florida.

You will also see Olivia and Brandon holding a turtle shell we found. The turtle was long dead and missing a body.