A pithy comic strip about life, love, lust and puthy cats.

Est. 1985

Extra, Extra!

Busted Blush

By Jimmy Johnson


Buy the new book, "Beaucoup Arlo & Janis!"Today's "Arlo & Janis!"
This is the “edgy” humor that earned me a reputation in the old days. I never saw it coming really; I was just trying to do “married” humor. By the way, the blush color on Janis’ face in the last panel was added this morning by me. When this strip ran in 1991, all daily comic strips were black and white. Readers were adept at transcribing comic strip shorthand. The little lines around her lower face indicated to all that she was blushing. Or had a five-o’clock shadow.

About those t-shirts. Developing my own line of clothing is proving to be more problematic than I imagined. The trick is to order the correct amount of shirts while juggling colors, styles and sizes. Failure would mean not just financial loss but that I might face the prospect of wearing a new A&J t-shirt every day for the rest of my life. Quel horreur! So, here’s probably what’s going to happen. There will be one style offered initially, the arloandjanis.com logo, the car art. I hope to learn a lot from sales of the car shirt. I really expect it all to proceed well, and other designs will follow quickly. I’m just hedging my bets while I learn my way around the world of haute couture. Remember, I really am doing this myself. Like an idiot.

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135 responses to “Busted Blush”

  1. sideburns Avatar

    GR6, you’re right, although it wasn’t in that form. It was just referred to as “detergent,” and it was so new in 1940 that most people hadn’t heard of it. Very good! And, just to make things a tad more interesting, it was a duckling, not a grown duck.

  2. emeritus minnesota biologist Avatar
    emeritus minnesota biologist

    “Galliglo from Ohio on 29 Oct 2014 at 7:58 pm # Oh, yes… I am familiar with Sandford, Davenport and Flowers. My daughter is reading a Flowers book now. She said she would give it to me when she finished. Ah… ’tis great to children who read!”

    When you shortly posted: “Galliglo from Ohio on 29 Oct 2014 at 8:02 pm # Gee! to *have* children who read!”, I thought to myself, didn’t G. just say that? I’d unconsciously inserted the word; it was the only thing that made sense, and we agree about our kids. Good example of how hard it is to proof your own stuff.

  3. curmudgeonly ex-professor Avatar
    curmudgeonly ex-professor

    GR6, I rather doubt anyone has ever eaten “lintels”!! Some people like lentils, though….

    (just being curmudgeonly)

  4. Ghost Rider 6 Avatar
    Ghost Rider 6

    sideburns, I totally made that up. Well, as my Daddy used to say, even a broken clock is right twice a day.

    cxp, as I said, I’ve never eaten lintels. 🙂

    OK, no one has a guess about my Travis McGee/Stephen King quiz question? I’m proud of it; I discovered it myself, I didn’t find it somewhere.

  5. emeritus minnesota biologist Avatar
    emeritus minnesota biologist
  6. emeritus minnesota biologist Avatar
    emeritus minnesota biologist

    1. OK, no one has a guess about my Travis McGee . . ..” reminds me that nobody sees a problem, or what some might regard as a problem, in the quote by Ms. Altwegg, below. Remember, it’s not a science problem.

    emeritus minnesota biologist on 24 Oct 2014 at 5:03 pm #

    Quote from MPR’s daily news email, this item concerning the gasses emitted by a comet that has a probe closing in on it:

    ” ‘It’s quite a smelly mixture,’ she [Ms. Altwegg] says.
    ‘Why didn’t we know comets smelled so bad before?’
    ‘That’s mostly because we’ve never been that close to a comet,’ says Altwegg. [The Rosetta mission is now just 5 miles from the comet’s surface.]
    ‘It’s just like a person: You can’t really get a good sense of a person’s body odor until you’re right up next to him.’ ”

    Any problems with this quote?
    ““““““
    2. Jackie: Volunteers can still do those things in our hospital. Volunteers are not allowed in certain individual’s rooms that have certain NO-NO labels on the door, and examples of those are posted in the volunteer workroom, where we all go twice each shift to check in and out on the cptr., so we all know about that. I am rarely upstairs anyway; the Family Waiting Desk is outside the surgery suite on the ground floor. I sometimes escort very pregnant women upstairs on the nearest elevator, one I have to use my badge to access. The OB reception desk is right there, so I’m never near patients’ rooms there either. To my knowledge I’ve never been credited as assisting in the delivery. Bummer.

  7. Granny Carol Avatar
    Granny Carol

    Emb, I’ll bite – should the quote say “Why didn’t we know comets smelled so badly?” Were you speaking of a grammatical error?

  8. Mindy from Indy Avatar
    Mindy from Indy

    emb – Taking a whack: ‘Why didn’t we know comets smelled so bad before?’ should be ‘Why didn’t we know comets smelled so badly before?’

  9. Mindy from Indy Avatar
    Mindy from Indy

    Great minds, Granny Carol! I had glanced at this when emb posted it earlier, but hadn’t taken the time to read it *critically*. Took me a bit, it’s been a while since I’ve treaded grammar waters.

  10. emeritus minnesota biologist Avatar
    emeritus minnesota biologist

    Granny and Mindy/Indy: Oral interviews often contain grammatical problems that people might correct if they had to write it down. No, this is, to some, a socio/political problem, to others no problem at all. I actually added a hint above that was not in my original email. I’d really like somewhat to see this and not be forced to simply tell you.

    Maybe you should think about emb and his slants on things. Try to see it, as Joel Grey says in ‘Cabaret’, ‘through my eyes’.

  11. Jackie Monies Avatar
    Jackie Monies

    Nice to see so many friendly posts here! I am too tired to be entertaining but got mom to her doctor’s appointment and got her home and everyone fed. Except maybe the dogs? I am going to collect those to correct locations and fed or maybe feed and move to evening quarters?

    Our primary care family doctor is all the way north of me in Tahlequah, OK which is the capital of the Cherokee Nation and a college town, an interesting combination, I go there for a top cardiologist who revitalized a small town hospital with a cardiac surgery center and a REALLY good female PA who monitors my miserable health patiently and diligently, making sure I do what I am supposed to do. Or at least close!

    Had hoped the fall foliage would be out but only a few trees showing much color. Lots losing leaves already without turning?

    Ghost I have eaten lentils and tried to cultivate a love/like of them without much success. There are many colors, black, red, golden, not just that putrid looking olive drab one. I have eaten some in Mediterranean foods that taste OK but maybe I have not eaten enough?

    I love hummus with pita chips, which my two year old grandson and my mom like also (although mom thought she was eating cheese dip) I was wondering about making homemade hummus out of lentils, instead of garbanzo beans, especially the colored ones.

    Has anyone made homemade hummus, which sounds awfully easy? What did you use for additives, like olives, roasted peppers?

    Love, Jackie

  12. emeritus minnesota biologist Avatar
    emeritus minnesota biologist

    Come to think of Ms. Altwegg’s grammar is ok. Skunk scent smells bad; annoyed skunks smell bad. Bad here is an adjective, modifying the animal or its odor. If you or I cannot detect an odor, we smell badly, an adverb modifying the verb ‘smell’.

    No, it’s a small, grammatically correct bit that might disturb some, others not at all.

    Peace, emb

  13. Granny Carol Avatar
    Granny Carol

    Hmm, not sure, emb. Is it because she refers to body odor emanating from a “him?” I think I am grasping at straws!

  14. Ruth Anne in Winter Park Avatar
    Ruth Anne in Winter Park

    I haven’t made hummus but have made a bean dip that is similar; I found the recipe in the Orlando Sentinel several years ago.

    Smokin ‘ Bean Dip

    2 19-oz. cans white beans, drained and rinsed well
    2 cloves peeled garlic
    1 or 2 chipotle chilies in adobo
    1 tsp. ground cumin
    2 tbsp. fresh lemon juice
    1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil
    1/4 cup chopped parsley
    salt to taste
    hot sauce to taste (optional)
    1/4 cup smoked almonds (optional)

    Combine all ingredients in a blender or food processor. Process or puree until smooth and creamy.

    I usually use dried parsley, rarely add salt, and have never used the almonds. Recipe says it makes 6 to 8 servings; not sure how they figure – it’s a generous bowlful.

  15. David from Austin Avatar
    David from Austin

    EMB, are you referring to the formally standard use of the masculine pronoun for a nonspecific person? The quote bothers me more in that it’s impossible to smell in a vacuum.

  16. Jackie Monies Avatar
    Jackie Monies

    That does sound like a hummus recipe! I am going to have to start making my own. It is usually about $4 a carton here and I can eat most of that in one sitting. Not that dried canned beans are all that cheap. I know, I read the articles about how 89 cents of dried beans can feed you nutritiously for a week and a family of four at that.

    I love black bean dips too and I don’t know why only garbanzo beans should be used? I can imagine any would be good, including the “healthier” lentils/lintels. (I know what a lintel is and I know Ghost does too)

    Love, Jackie

  17. David from Austin Avatar
    David from Austin

    EMB, the other possibility is the “says” when it should be past tense “said.”

  18. Mark in TTown Avatar
    Mark in TTown

    I would bet termites have eaten lintels!

  19. emeritus minnesota biologist Avatar
    emeritus minnesota biologist

    Yay, Granny and David.

    Ms. A. is a successful educated woman in what was, and partly still is, a man’s world. She might object if I said to her, “If a student does excellent work, he earns an A.” Ms. A.: “What about female students?” But she has no trouble with the default male “him” when she’s talking about BO.

    What would Janis say if she nailed a mosquito who was biting her? “Got him!” Only females bite. And some sailors, who refer to ships as “She”‘, worry about bad luck if a woman is on board. Bea, a favorite, now retired English prof., came to give a talk on the portrayal of women in children’s lit [her doctoral topic, I think]. A young girl who had accompanied Mom to the talk had her stuffed horsey with her, and the prof asked, “What’s his name?” “HER name is Flossie.” Bea then told the story on herself to start her talk. She also volunteers at the hospital, and we enjoy remembering that one. Peace, emb

  20. Ghost Rider 6 Avatar
    Ghost Rider 6

    Jackie, just take care that you use a hummus recipe and not a haggis recipe.

    When the first two instructions in a recipe are…

    “Rinse the sheep stomach thoroughly and soak overnight in cold salted water. Rinse the liver, heart, and tongue”.

    …ah, no thank you very much.

  21. Jackie Monies Avatar
    Jackie Monies

    For a while I was monitoring a sailing/boating group from the UK.
    Now THAT was a weird and far reaching group! They’d get off on sea shanties often risqué, beer/ale that I couldn’t comprehend, strange food, teas and how to brew them. But I finally gave up when they got into the haggis discussions. Which tied into the curragh discussions somehow.

    But I did learn a lot about British/UK canoes, dinghies, canal boats, canals, rivers and believe it or not, that helps understand reading British novels and BBC television.

  22. Granny Carol Avatar
    Granny Carol

    Emb, glad that mystery is solved! I never refer to an insect pest (fly, mosquito) as him, or her; they are all “its!”

    Jackie, almost bought some hummus today, picked up the container and set it back on the shelf before I checked out. Thank you, Ruth Anne, for posting that recipe – it sounds much better than the ingredients on the container I saw. I will have to try it.

    GR, I will never try haggis! And, I have never eaten chitlins either!

  23. TruckerRon Avatar

    Time for beautiful, smiling women playing beautiful music:

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BKezUd_xw20

  24. Charlotte in NH Avatar
    Charlotte in NH

    Jackie, if you are still awake … any kind of bean can be used to make hummus. The olive oil, garlic, and some lemon juice are necessary, any other stuff you like can go in as well. The recipes call for a lot of olive oil, don’t need an awful lot; cut out some calories. Tahini (ground up sesame seeds) a dollop or so; all the amounts are real flexible. Wonder if Tahini is available in the South?
    I adore Lentils and fix them often, just like any bean recipe. The food writers would have us believe lentils will cook in 20 minutes; not true in my opinion. They need to soften up, also are indigestible if not cooked long enough. (Why are food writers so fond of frozen peas, thawed but not cooked? I dislike them and don’t get the idea at all.)
    I also adore Lima beans, both dried and green. They are SO good.

  25. David from Austin Avatar
    David from Austin

    EMB, southern women would argue that she was completely correct in her choice of pronoun. Just as women never sweat, the certainly wouldn’t stink! 🙂