Today we have two blogs for you, or if you prefer, a really long blog.  More about the trades we made in Houston in a moment.  First:

ButterSword presents:  The Tale of the New Refrigerator!

For quite a while now, Jen and I have been actively searching for a free or very inexpensive full-sized refrigerator to replace our little dorm room type refrigerator, but we weren’t having any luck finding one.

We’d email Craigslist ads and get no response or race over in our vehicle, The Scout Ship SEV6, as soon as we’d see an ad for a refrigerator on the curb appear, but someone else would already have picked it up before we could arrive and claim it for ourselves.

Then one day, we went hiking.

It was supposed to be a five mile loop, only it wasn’t a loop at all.

After the mile 5 marker we kept going, thinking we’d wind back around to where we parked.  We ran out of water.

We started using the cellular phone.  Finally someone bothered to answer and tell us we had to go back the way we came from.

So we did.  We refilled our water bottles in the lake when we passed it again.  Luckily that part was fine.  The water tasted bad and it was a bit gritty, but it never made us sick.

Jen twisted her ankle but she could walk.  We kept going.

The backward trail had a lot of paths that branched different directions and none of the trails were marked at all.  We ended up getting lost.

Eventually we found a path that ran beside a barbwire fence.  On the other side was a rich guy in his yard.  He was on a cellular phone beside his bull dozer.  His mansion was behind him in the distance.

He gave us directions.

We walked the trails another two miles or so and ended up at a gate about 100 yards from the same f…ing guy!  I swear it!

The gate blocked the dead end of a paved road, and we gave up and walked down the paved road.  We decided to find out where the hell we were and then call people we knew for help.

Remember these two?

Lucky for us, Chip and Angelic answered the call and came and rescued us.  We were grateful and we thanked them.  We also put some gas in their car even though they didn’t ask us to, and after once again obtaining our own vehicle, (20 miles away from the rich neighborhood they picked us up in) we bought them dinner.

During dinner Chip and Angelic said that we should stop at Chip’s house and see their new remodeled kitchen.  We said sure.

Their kitchen looked very nice.

“What are you going to do with your old refrigerator?” Jen asked.

“Just give it away on Craigslist I guess”, Chip said.  “Hopefully someone will want it and get it out of here.  Do you guys know somebody that needs one?”

So it just goes to show… when you think your day is really bad and you’re lost and your thighs are so chafed that you walk like a sumo wrestler, all of a sudden you find yourself a free full-sized refrigerator.

*****

And now… ButterSword reports on more Zinefest Houston trading!

Our neighbor at the table to our seated left was Richard Alexander.  He makes psychedelic comics on paper plates and compiles the copies into full sized books.  Very cool.  I obtained the first issue, and since my scanner is too small to show you the entire cover, I scanned it twice to give you a better idea.

It’s a self-proclaimed psychotic/schizophrenic journey through altered recovered memories and it’s a trip!  I enjoyed not only the idea and the format, but also the art itself.  The baby on the bumper was awesome.

The only contact info we could locate was an email:  richyv at texas dot net.

UPDATE:  That email actually bounced back on me, but I did find part of the project online here.  It’s really cool.

*

Our neighbor to our seated right was Dave Nelson, who among other things, is the creator of Finding Elim, which is a Christian comic designed for church newsletters and Christian publications.  The collections are also available for sale on the internet at places like Amazon.  Wow!

I’m no Christian personally, but I’ve stumbled onto Finding Elim in the past at this event or that, and it’s quality stuff.  I enjoyed some of it despite not being a Christian simply because it was funny.

*

Cej from Armzrace Comics stopped by our table and traded us his new comic Cannon Fodder.

Cannon Fodder is an impressive collection of pro-quality political cartoons and features several full color pages and a full color cover.  I liked most of all that Cej attacks people who think abortion is wrong.  Go Cej!

*

We also traded for Vol. 6 of Blazed.  Blazed is awesome!

The cover by Daniel Shaw is f…ing great!  My little scan of the cover doesn’t do it justice, but I also didn’t want to just hand over all that detail to you either.

Blazed is a true zine and is a reflection of how the zine began.  It’s good to see this format is alive and well today.  It’s all about music and bands, and it’s filled with interviews and reports on the scene in Houston with photos taken during shows and events.  It also happens to contain some great tips for marijuana enthusiasts.

Also included in our issue of Blazed was this awesome sticker!

The only contact information I found was an email: blazedzine at gmail dot com.

I’ll definitely be emailing them and seeing if I can contribute a comic to the next issue.

*

Lastly today, (we have another review by Jen scheduled for Friday) was a cool hand-drawn card I received in trade from a brave young lady whose name I didn’t catch.  She offered me my choice of three cards.  I chose my favorite.

That’s all for today!  We thought to add a second comic today but this is already so long we doubt many of you will make it to the bottom anyway.  Bottom!  Hahaha… bottom.

Anyway… If anyone wants to trade with us we’ll trade any of these trades  (let’s keep it circulating people!) as well as throw in a bit of ButterSword.  Just email us and ask at buttersword at gmail dot com.

Have a great whatever is next, thanks and please, and we’ll be back Friday with another page of the all new ButterSword that you don’t want to miss!

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