You guys are really rolling along. I am amazed at the wealth of talent the Cat attracts.

If you can persuade your Song goddess to do so, you might have fun with this whacky situation from Reuters:

Pencil-Carrying Camel Convoy Blocked

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Saudi Arabia has refused to allow a convoy of camels carrying pencils to Iraq to pass through its territory, Iraqi newspapers said Thursday.

Quoting an Interior Ministry source, the newspapers said the pencils were donated by the people of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) in a gesture of support for ordinary Iraqis.

``Sheikh Sa'd Bin Tha'in al-Mansouri and a number of the UAE people decided to organize a convoy of camels to transport one million pencils to Iraq via Saudi Arabia,'' the source said.

He said al-Mansouri submitted a request to the Saudi embassy in the UAE requesting permission to cross Saudi territory, but this was turned down.

Iraq's relations with the six-member Gulf Cooperation Council -- a regional alliance comprising Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Qatar, Oman, Bahrain and the UAE were strained by Iraq's 1990 invasion of Kuwait. Kuwait and Saudi Arabia have yet to resume diplomatic relations with Iraq.

The UAE, which joined a U.S.-led alliance that drove Iraqi troops out of Kuwait in 1991, has led calls to end Iraq's isolation.

In 1998, the UAE began a ferry service between Dubai and Iraq's port of Umm Qasr with United Nations permission. In April the UAE reopened its embassy in Baghdad.

My father used to play in a Dixieland band, and they did a real footstompin' version of the "Sheik of Araby" when they got into their cups; after every phrase of the song, they would all yell "With no pants on!" at the top of their lungs. Just try it next time you're singing that ditty...

The metaphors about leads in pencils and grinders used for sharpening pencils and so on also flood tot he fore as fodder for your fertile imaginations....

G'wan, ask the Goddess!

Regards,

Amos