There is one good thing about being comic-strip characters: if you’re tired of that icky brown sofa, you easily can change it into an icky green sofa. If you don’t like that, you just change it back. The sofa in A&J, which practically is a character actor in its own right, is an almost identical copy of a sofa I owned in 1984, when I was developing the strip. It was easy to draw, which was a big plus in those days, and it was low, ideal for 360-degree viewing. However, I did not do a lot of complicated camera angles in those days. I drew mostly in profile, which required the least skill, and that included the sofa, for years depicted mostly as a square. As I said, it was easy to draw. Occasionally, I still will draw the sofa from profile, usually with Arlo’s head popping out of the top as he’s watching TV, but when you see that these days you can be sure I was pressed for time.
The Remote Present
By Jimmy Johnson
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79 responses to “The Remote Present”
OF due now-1828 CDT. emb
URL: http://www.nps.gov/features/yell/webcam/oldFaithfulStreaming.html
C-E-P,
No will or trust from my father. I was the beneficiary for the insurance, which paid for burial and then was split between all kids. Also had quitclaim deed from his surviving second wife who transferred her rights to my Grandmother’s house (which was my father’s verbal desire). We sold and again divided evenly between the kids. There wasn’t a large enough estate to cause any disputes, but we trusted each other anyway.
For my kids, my wife and I have fairly simple wills. The spouse gets any non-joint asset to which she may not already have access. In the event she predeceases, the two daughters get even shares of all remaining assets.
My durable power of attorney and a medical power of attorney is already established for my wife, with successor to a daughter.
This afternoon, I noted a memorial message on the marquee sign in front of a business formerly owned by a man who died ten years ago yesterday. (The business still carries his name.) He walked outside his house at the height of the storm to check for damage and was pinned to the ground by a falling tree. Due to the storm-delayed emergency response, he died of his injuries on site. His house was one block from my house, and I suspect it happened at about the same time a huge oak tree split my house in two. (I was not there, having chosen, wisely it seems, to shelter with my Mom, my sister and my BIL at his house.)
Another man died a half block in the other direction from my house when his house blew off its foundation, and he was trapped and crushed in the wreckage. Just two of the many fatal events that occurred somewhere in “the landmass between New Orleans and Mobile”, August 29, 2005. (Damned Weather Channel jackass.)
http://i3.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/newsfeed/000/386/066/02d.jpg
Ghost, I can hear your voice and the anger and the grief loud and clear. Both emotions are completely justified. I know what my reaction was to the Mississippi Gulf Coast that I loved so much after Camille. It took 20 years to go back and then Katrina took even more away forever and I went back two years later and my stomach still churns at the memory.
You and others like you are there with it on a daily basis and living it. I do not know how you do it, maybe the same way I live with sorrows in my own life. But I admire you for it and I admire the love and devotion to the coastal life that doesn’t allow you to turn your back and leave. You are braver than I and I love you for that courage. Love, Jackie
And on a bitter-sweet note…
Pre-Katrina, Millionaire Widow Lady had a condominium in Biloxi just a ways up Beach Boulevard from the Bombay Bicycle Club. During the many pleasant weekends we spent at the condo, we found the BBC an excellent place to replenish carbs and protein. The last time I passed by the location a couple of years ago, it was still a vacant lot. And yes, some of the scars will last forever.
http://www.llroberson.com/images/mskatrina/bombay.jpg
Debbe 😉 Diverting from the playlist a moment, here is a tune from another movie. It’s so iconic, I don’t know why I even bother to ask, but can you name the movie?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oj4Heuz3TOQ
As if you needed a clue, here is a quote from the movie: “Fat, drunk and stupid is no way to go through life, son.”
Ghost, the movie’s name is on the next version of the song listed just below the one you linked.
What happened to your Millionaire Widow Lady? Did she remarry? Die? Get too old? You speak of her fondly. I know one thing I have already discovered, like the Beatles sing, money can’t buy you love. It still takes a lot of work and compromise. Love, Jackie
MWL is no longer living, Jackie.
It was a point of personal pride that I never let her buy me anything other than token birthday and Christmas gifts. Nonetheless, some of the birthday gifts were memorable. One was a tie, presented in the same way Julia Roberts gave the tie to Richard Gere in “Pretty Woman”. And yes, it was a nice tie. 🙂
Exactly, Ghost. Somehow I expected that to be what you’d say. You didn’t disappoint me. I find it ironic that one of the most ethical men I know is as mysterious as the meme of the most interesting man in the world, like a mystery man. You my friend are honest and honorable and that too is remarkable. Love, Jackie
Good morning Villagers…
I absolutely love today’s retro……still grinning…
Talking about estates and such, we have a big problem with our Mom’s and Stepdad’s home. They never set up a trust or anything…..and both died in a nursing home. Now, the evil stepbrother (due to the amount of pot he smokes, not all synapses fire!) has come out…..lawyered up due to the help of a friend. I say let the Medicaid people have it, and if he wants to buy the house…let him. Because a few years back, the basement flooded…badly, and the house is now full of mold.
My dead head stepbrother never came to Mom’s funeral either. Here’s a good conspiracy theory of his…the trails you see after a jet flies over is the government’s way of controlling the weather….hahahahahha…..see I told you he is brain dead!!
Yesterday was a good work day…Skittles works good when it’s just him and me. I even took him lunch as he never comes prepared.
And my luminating cross shines at night….will be taking it to the cemetery soon. Will bring home my Stepdad’s to make sure it still works…may need a new rechargeable battery.
have a blessed day ya’ll………………..
GR 😉 toga, toga, toga…….. 🙂 Started watching the movie ‘Neighbors’ the other night with Belushi and Ankroyd…dang, if I didn’t fall asleep, only to awaken to the ID channel. So, got up, had milk and cookies, and went to bed.
And it’s Monday…..just another day…..
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vH6v9JS26xc
today’s grin…….
https://i.chzbgr.com/full/8423188480/h478FFF07/
Jean….good to see you post again….come back soon……
OF due 0956-1016 CDT. Peace, emb
http://www.nps.gov/features/yell/webcam/oldFaithfulStreaming.html
Waiting for our resident bread bakers to chime in with advice for Janis.
Ruth Anne:
Fine, but what’s funny? Could be the yeast, no? Some current cultural thing nerds are not aware of? Maybe this is the start of a series.
Actually, no rise is bad, but dense bread is often best. The standard breads in the store are fluff. I’m a fan of Ezekiel 4:9, especially their sesame seed loaf. Made of sprouted grains, not flour, kept in the store’s freezer.
Peace, emb
Is Janis now guilty of assault and batter?
Ruth Anne, the only bread I bake is beer bread, and it’s *supposed* to be dense and crusty. Which, come to think of it, also describes some people I know.
High humidity can affect the rising of the dough before baking. If it didn’t rise, Janis should have started over instead of baking it. She can always make croutons for salad with it, though.
I am going back to my philosophy of never, ever reading what people say over on The Dark Side. In my desperation and despondency from absence of The Village I read a couple of days over there. There is a reason they are TDS.
What is with some of those people? Every other one thinks it is sexual or should be sexual or could be sexual or ….. or………. Sweet lord, where are their minds? Never mind.
Afraid to think what some of them are saying about Janis’ loaf of bread! They make Ghost and I look like the chorus from Sound of Music or Annie!
Off to dentist to have something done with drills and saws and probes. Love, Jackie
for people who get the daily in color, have you noticed, two weeks ago that the syndicate people changed the flesh tone color? just look back a month on gocomics.com and then look at today
OF due 1120-1140 CDT. emb
http://www.nps.gov/features/yell/webcam/oldFaithfulStreaming.html
Two of my least favorite things are dental work and orthopedic surgery. Both involve instruments and procedures that seem more appropriate for carpentry than medicine.
In my younger days I made bread, and enjoyed the work as well as the bread, but quit when I had three children in four years and just didn’t have the time. Then about ten years ago someone gave me a bread machine and I haven’t bought a loaf of bread since. 🙂
I’ll try to be better about posting, I promise.
Ghost, obviously the recruiting standards are different for parts of their army: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/china/11835179/China-enlists-squad-of-trained-monkeys-to-clear-skies-during-memorial-parade.html