#young divers

[sohannabarberaesque]

Postcards from Snagglepuss

Some moments of fun with the Divin' Wolf Pups

It now turns out that what could be described as the youth branch of the Peter Potamus Magic Divers has expanded itself--doubled, even!

Because joining Bon-Bon and Ding-a-Ling in such youthful exuberance in the joys of diving are no less than Augie Doggie and Hector, nephew of Huckleberry Hound. And the initiation, so to speak, came at Square Lake Park--yes, the same Square Lake as saw the initiation of Huck and moi into the Magic Divers.

Nothing real formal, to be honest about it, save for Peter Potamus giving the Divin' Pups sharks' tooth neck pendants before going off into initiating Hector and Augie into the diving experience. Hokey, you might say, served as the "den leader" more than anything, what with Ding-a-Ling being something of a cheerleader for such a lovable scamp as Hokey is ... and considering the youth of such young divers, SCUBA is pretty much limited to 20 feet maximum depth.

Thankfully, I was invited to serve as a witness as much as guest.

And for the walk from shore to the diving location, which would be at a depth of about 12 feet, you could sense the excitement the pups had in them, SCUBA gear fitted proudly and the tails wagging excitedly, never mind Hokey advising all to keep it down with the tails until the dive. "Spit-and-rinse" mask cleansing, fitting mouthpieces inside, depth gauges checked ...

"Now, boys," Hokey exclaimed," "I thought I'd make this initiation a little challenging ... you see, I chose to submerge a couple of sticks in the lake at the depths we're diving to; they should be easy to spot, in lime green with orange reflective tape at the ends! And the first of you pups to find the sticks will receive a modest little gift! So let the dive commence!"

To a pup, the dive got underway ... and you couldn't help but sense how our young divers put those tails to use in the descent, and in such remarkably clear waters making such Minnesota's diving paradiso! Even as Hokey pointed out to our diving group such schools of lake fish swimming gayly among lake grasses near the bottom ... the two lupines of the group, Bon-Bon and Ding-a-Ling, sensed the object of this particular initiatory dive.

Picking the sticks up, our founding wolf pups swung away playfully at each other with same, which stunned Hokey somewhat until, through hand signals, he asked Bon-Bon and Ding-a-Ling to grab the sticks more by the middle as our party surfaced in a slow and gradual ascent. And just sense the stroke of the legs of our young divers, especially our lupine such, what prowess they certainly must be sensing! Back on shore--

"Now, boys," Hokey remarked, "open up those tubes and all will be revealed!" Which, for wolves like Ding and Bon-Bon, turned out to be rather easy, for what came out from inside were abalone shell pendants to be presented to Augie Doggie and Hector Hound as welcoming presents, and cowry-shell anklets as shows of recognition for what were now the Divin' Pups.

Which had Peter Potamus invite all four to a shallow dive underwater for the climax of this initiation--the Underwater Hippo Hug and Accolade. "Though I must acknowledge, Snagglepuss," Bon-Bon remarked, "that things felt a little funny when Peter touched his cheeks against mine, and underwater. I couldn't help but sense a sort of funny feel between the legs as well!"

"Admittedly, such things can happen!" was how Peter Potamus elaborated on what ensued. Good enough for a chuckle over the barbecue which followed.

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[sohannabarberaesque]

Somehow, Loopy De Loop and Hokey Wolf couldn't be prouder about their young lupine companions, Bon-Bon and Ding-a-Ling, respectively

Particularly when you consider their shared fondness for diving in the face of their obvious extreme youth. And especially so SCUBA as much as breathhold.

But for some reason, the Divin' Wolf Pups (as Bon-Bon and Ding prefer calling themselves in the collective) can't resist the sheer thrill of the diving experience, even allowing for their mentors being fond of diving as well. Be it finding a few fish for the evening's fish fry, an underwater treasure hunt or Hokey's girlfriend, Harmony Wolf, teaching the boys some interesting "facts of life" approaches underwater, you can't resist them Divin' Wolf Pups....

[sohannabarberaesque]

So what exactly attracted the Divin' Wolf Pups to diving, to begin with?

It just seems surprising to find Loopy De Loop's overly excitable nephew Bon-Bon and Hokey Wolf's companion Ding-a-Ling diving--and to be remarkable divers for their youth. Especially when SCUBA comes into the equation, although it's more than likely they'll have breath-hold dives.

And to be mascots, in a way, for the Peter Potamus Magic Divers, sometimes joining the lupine contingent on many a diving adventure in their own right. With occasional appearances at school assemblies and youth centers for motivational purposes aimed at attracting in particular vulnerable and challenged youth to the diving experience and the attraction of the underwater side of things.

But what exactly was the driving factor for the two to take up diving, to begin with? Let's have Bon-Bon explain first:

You might say it all started when Uncle Loopy, who may be crazy over his attempts to defy stereotypes against wolves, had me over for a little uncle-nephew bonding by some lake back in Quebec. Swimming was more or less the order of the day, and for some reason, I thought I'd experiment with some swimming underwater near shore. Uncle Loopy, admittedly, was a little unnerved, but coming out of the water pretty much intact ... Uncle Loopy had nothing but praise for the show of fascination, even with wet fur to show for it. Oh yes, and a smile. And didn't it seem so remarkable just to see what things must be like underwaver, and then out of curiosity?

Now, it's Ding's turn:

This is obviously before Hokey came along and took me in as a sort of Boo-Boo to Yogi's Hokey, you have to admit. I was just an innocent young wolf pup in the company of other innocent young wolf pups, out with said pups at a local swimmin' hole for a hot summer's afternoon of relaxation. One such pup, Earnshawe I believe his name was, he was challenging the other wolvess in our pack of sorts to see who could dive to the bottom of that particular swimmin' hole just on their breath. There must have been like five or six of us, including yours truly, who were game for the whole, and it seemed like all of us must've had the idea that the swimmin' hole was probably fifty or a hundred feet deep, that none of us wolves could seriously pull it off at our age.

But at any rate, our pack must've gulped in quite a bit of air before the descent, which, considering where we were all pretty much naked for the most part, must have been pretty decent. And wirh lupine lungs which must have seemed close to bursting at times, who could have imagined that by the time we reached bottom (which, it later emerged, was probably close to 20 feet deep from the surface), we could still sense the sun shining through such wonderfully crystalline waters?

Though I admit my dive technique might have been close to a wolf paddle, as it were, it turned out I was tied with another wolf pup of about my age whose name probably escapes me now ... and boy, was it a sensation--especially between the legs, for some reason or another! That certainly put me on to diving!

And as for how Bon-Bon and Ding-a-Ling met and developed the diving friendship: Through contacts on Loopy's end, the two were set up for a lupine sort of summer camp in the Boundary Waters region of northern Minnesota, and one particular skill area the camp had was that of diving. In what amounted to a modestly shallow lake that was part of the camp, one particular camp counsellor took particular notice of the two lupine pups and mentored them on the finer points of as much breath-hold as SCUBA diving over the course of the summer's camp session ... and with the counsellor watching all, both Bon-Bon and Ding-a-Ling dived down together one afternoon to the lake bottom in breath-hold fashion.

And talk about Unfogettable Camp Memories: Close to the lake bottom, Bon-Bon and Ding-a-Ling could be discerned not only hugging, but also pawfasting as a show of undying friendship, not just among themselves but also in the diving experience.

The counsellor supervising couldn't help but sense some tenderness at the sight, and duly noted as much to Uncle Loopy.

By the time camp wound up, Hokey Wolf would meet up with Ding-a-Ling under an arrangement set up by camp management in the hopes of giving Ding some sort of healthy mentor-type figure ... and boy, was Hokey Wolf somewhat stunned and surprise that his new partner, Ding-a-Ling, could show some prowess diving! And in time, Loopy, Hokey and a somewhat snarky member of the lupine persuasion by name of Mildew Wolf would come along and develop an interest in the diving game such as Peter Potamus would acknowledge in getting his Magic Divers organised.

And admittedly, it would be the influence of Bon-Bon and Ding-a-Ling, divers extraordinaire for their age, that led the elders into picking up the dive habit themselves. But at least the younger ones seem to be the especially noteworthy sort here.

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