Back to the old cartoons. Current events are always a ready source of material for cartoonists. The idea for this 1998 A&J came directly from the news. There was an article making the rounds at that time saying precisely that: research indicated that one of the many effects of pregnancy upon women was an increase in intelligence. As Janis and most of the headlines phrased it, Arlo’s response was the obvious one. Sometimes, they write themselves, but not very often.
Thanks for all who ventured to the Facebook site “Arlo and Janis Fans” and joined the group. You shattered the ceiling of 500 members, which is what we set out to do. The master of ceremonies there, our friend Jim Young, was very pleased.
Fool me once…
By Jimmy Johnson
Recent Posts
Ghost of Christmas Past
This holiday Arlo & Janis comic strip from 2022 is similar in concept to the new strip that ran yesterday. I thought the latter ...
Spearhead
I have produced a number of comic strips related to Veteran’s Day. Especially in latter years, I have tried to emphasize the universal experience ...
Dark Passage
Remember: it’s that weekend. The return to standard time can be a bit of a shock in the late afternoon, but I rather enjoy ...
What’s old is old, again
You don’t have to be a rocket scientist to build a web site, but there are similarities. Everything needs to be just right, or ...
Back to the ol’ drawing board
I don’t have a lot of time this morning. I wasn’t going to post anything, but I’m tired of looking at that old photograph ...
Thursday’s Child
On Sunday, I teased you with the suggestion there are more changes coming here. There are. They will appear soon, and I think you’ll ...
183 responses to “Fool me once…”
Debbe and others, a neat video with nice music: http://www.al.com/news/birmingham/index.ssf/2014/12/drone_video_shows_birminghams.html#incart_gallery
Jean thanks. Hopefully Santa will bring me a new hearing aid. Neither the VA nor Medicare will pay for a new one.
Jackie, love to you and your family. “Lord, support me all the day long, until the shadows lengthen and the evening comes and the busy world is hushed, and the fever of life is over, and my work is done. Then, Lord, in your mercy grant me a safe lodging, and peace at the last.”
Ok, no strip for today. Damage is heavy in Hattiesburg and many injuries. I haven’t heard of any fatalities, but JJ is apparently out of touch. He could have power but no telephone or internet service. The sun is shining here but my brother in Tallahassee is getting the weather now. If you are reading this and you are a friend of JJ’s and you have a cell number please give him a call. Jackie may also be in an area where there is damage. I don’t know where she lives, but as we enjoy the day we will keep them in mind.
Sand, I think that my mother will get new ones (hearing aids) next month. Her old ones might help and you would be welcome to them.
Thanks Jerry. If I accept them then there is no excuse for ignoring Loon. 😉
I’ll not tell the story related to me by my Mom’s home health CNA about her patient who had both dentures and a son who needed dentures, and what happened to the lady’s dentures after she passed away.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I-iFsxSNN2c
Merry Christmas to all the villagers from this lurker. Prayers to Jackie. And many many good wishes to Jimmy, and an abundance of thanks.
Jerry in FL, report I saw last night said 4 fatalities, all in MS. Jackie is in OK, don’t think they had the tornadoes.
It’s likely JJ was taking this week off for Christmas, anyway. Hope the bad weather left them alone. They got enough with Katrina, etc.
We’ll keep our fingers crossed.
Is there a possibility, Sandcastler, that your hearing issue is service connected? Mine is, and didn’t show up for over thirty years. If so, apply for it and see what happens. Even if it’s decided to be “zero percent, no compensation,” you’ll still be entitled to free hearing aids, batteries and audiology services for life. And the worst thing that can happen is that they turn you down.
Debbe 😉 A visual Christmas card for you and the entire Village…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Zh-yR0pbmU
Continuing prayers for Mike and Jackie.
wife sleeps a little bit more every day, but still kickin enough to seem to be round for awhile and right now it’s a house full which at least takes her mind a little off the constant pain, the pain ebbs and flows and she can take all the morphine she wants, but she always has at least a little
AND check this out, I apologize to a lot of you who will have no clue what I’m talking about, but hey sometimes that works the other way too, I like Youtube, I watch weird stuff like 1955 Buick sales training films- SO – my son-in-law is a big time silicon valley guy and works with and for Apple a lot, use to have walk right in back door privileges at Steve Jobs’s house. So anyway, Steve Jobs apparently hated Google; and Youtube is Google and he told my Soninlaw to get youtube off Apple TV, SIL said he’d get on it and knowing that I like it, he never got rid of it, and then Jobs died. I said are you B S ing me? Are you telling me that I, John Czach here in my house on the corner of Powderhorn and Esperanza in Richmond Texas are responsible for youtube being on Apple TV ? He said yep, and knowing him, I have no reason to doubt him
sideburns, dueling agencies. Each claims it was the others fault; if either flinches the other will duck.
John, prayers for you and your wife, too.
John – I’m not an Apple user but many of my friends are (plus there’s my husband’s iPad). So, on their behalf, I thank you for the gift that you inadvertently bestowed upon them 🙂
JJ – Thank you for the gift of this Village. Anyone who has ever doubted the “kindness of strangers” need only read through the comments here. It’s unlikely that most of us will ever meet face to face, yet the love, concern, and support for each other as hardships are endured is as real as though we lived on the same block.
Peace to all of you,
Ruth Anne
And unto you, also, Ruth Anne.
I passed Wally World twice today. Both times, there were traffic jams *just to get into the parking lot*.
I once thought that Christmas Eve gift shoppers were all procrastinators. A number of years ago, I came to the not-so-cheerful realization that all too many of them are people who live from paycheck to paycheck and/or who basically would be unable to buy Christmas gifts without receiving a Christmas bonus from their employers.
I no longer curse overflowing parking lots and long checkout lines on Christmas Eve.
You can always request to have your hearing issue declared service connected if there’s any reason to think that it might be. (Back in ’72, my ship was in Tonkin Gulf doing shore support. When I was topside, I had hearing protection. However, I slept in the forward berthing compartment, two decks down from the gun mount and about forty feet aft of it with no hearing protection. One morning I woke up and learned that I’d slept through a 40 round bombardment. They had me tested by an outside hearing specialist and they found a classic artillery notch in my audiogram so they accepted my claim.) If you were subjected to Very Loud Noises in the service, it’s worth a shot because if they agree, anything hearing related is free and you have a higher priority for care than somebody without a disability. As always with the VA, it can take a few months, but it’s worth the wait.
BTW, that higher priority even counts on things unrelated to your disability. After my first cataract was removed, I was told that it might be six months before I could get the other one taken care of so I asked them to put me on a waiting list in case there was a cancellation. I ended up having it done only six weeks later, and I’ve always wondered whether that extra priority put me at the front of the line.
Sandcastler, contact me via Symply Fargone. SF has my email address and this permission to give same to you. His email address has been posted here a few times; he’s a “go-between” .
Thanks for the input, sideburns. In my experience, many things in the armed service involved Very Loud Noises. I’ll keep that in mind if I ever develop hearing issues.
About this time of day on a Christmas Eve long, long ago and far, far away, a friend of mine who managed a small loan company was holding down the fort along with his assistant manager, having let the rest of the staff go home at noon. They were also partaking of some liquid Christmas cheer. In walks a guy who stated he needed a loan to buy Christmas gifts for his family.
“Why, sure!” exclaimed my friend, overcome with The Spirit of the Christmas Season (as well as the Spirit of Lynchburg, Tennessee).
“How much do you need?” asked his assistant, also overcome with The Spirit of the Christmas Season (as well as the Spirit of Lynchburg, Tennessee).
And so, forthwith, and with a bare minimum of identification and documentation, and without aid of a credit report, the loan was granted, a check for $500 was cut, and the guy was on his way.
They of course never saw that guy again. Later investigation reveled that “that guy” didn’t even exist, except on paper. But what could be expected from a small loan company manager who was known to approve loans to attractive females who did not otherwise qualify. (Not that he attached any strings to those approvals, nor that such approvals were uncommon in that industry. They even had a name for them…”leg loans”.)
Ghost, some of them might have been shopping for supplies for unexpected guests, too. You know, the ones who show up unannounced, or with the bare minimum of lead time.
This is a strange Christmas, as far as family travels go. My brother and his wife have gone to Indiana to spend the holiday with their daughter who is in college there, and my sister and brother-in-law are coming here for the first time since 2012. My sister just called my mom today to tell her they expected to be here tonight sometime.
Jackie, still praying for you and Mike and your family. And ditto for John in Richmond, TX.
Have a safe and Merry Christmas, everybody.
GR 😉 I’ll see your Josh Groban with John Berry (ok, I’ll give you an ace of spades for the video…what movie did that come from?)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zq9c4C2573o
Mark….it’s not strange…it’s Christmas, I’m excited for you and your visitors….does your niece go to IU?
neighbor just dropped off homemade, white chocolate pretzels….yum. (I drop off double yolkers, he and his wife have two daughters and a two year old son) they are good neighbors to have.