... And THAT Means An Airshow Is Close Behind!

By ANN Correspondent Lisa Kondrick

Just as the swallows return every year to Capistrano, the Port-o-Johns have blossomed at Oshkosh!

The EAA Pioneer Village features a webcam on their site. For the Nature lovers among us, it gives us the opportunity to watch this unique fauna as they sprout and grow. They seem to germinate first by the Bus Stop... then spread in all directions until there are patches of them the length and breadth of the air show grounds.

Some Port-o-Johnologists (or "Pottieologists") have postulated that their scent actually attracts large metallic birds to Wittman Field. But their allure is not just for the birds, people seem to be attracted to Port-o-Johns as well. There have been reports of people desperately seeking them out, standing in line and actually sighing relief after having encountered them.

Around the third day of the air show, some of the Port-o-Johns become increasingly easier to sniff out. Pottieologists call this "ripening".

When the Port-o-Johns become too ripe, the grounds keepers come and-well, they go to Port-o-John heaven. The grounds keepers then plant a healthy specimen and this one flourishes, nurtured by love and attention.

Port-o-Johns come in a verity of shapes and sizes and it seems that there may be some cross-pollination, perhaps with an Evergreen, because last year there were reports of green and white Port-o-Johns, although at this writing there has been no photographic evidence for the record.

There is one undeniable fact, however. When the Port-o-Johns waft their siren's scent into the heavens over Wisconsin, pilots from thousands of miles away load up their aircraft and head toward Oshkosh, heeding nature's call.

For more information on Pottieology -- or becoming a Pottieologist -- just visit your local airport on a stormy day... when there will be a lot of Pottie talk around the FBO.

FMI: www.airventure.org