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

Est. 1985

Extra, Extra!

Cat Days of Summer

By Jimmy Johnson

2007-08-31-cruelty-mercy.gif
(Cartoonist’s note: another old post from 10 years ago to wrap up the work week. I stand by my comments of a decade past; I have always relied heavily upon you, the reader, to interpret action that actually occurs off-camera. That is why I am known as the ‘dirty’ cartoonist.)
It amazes me the quality of the humor that originates in the mind’s eye. A lot of people thought this cartoon was a hoot, when really they were providing the action with their own imaginations.
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47 responses to “Cat Days of Summer”

  1. Steve from Royal Oak, MI Avatar

    Hitchcock did the same. All the scary parts were in the viewer’s imagination.

  2. Mark in TTown Avatar
    Mark in TTown

    NO!!! I don’t do spiders, or rats either.

  3. curmudgeonly ex-professor Avatar
    curmudgeonly ex-professor

    We – that would be “me”, specifically – had a pet wolf spider named “Farquhar” during our Florida years ’74-’80. It lived between the top front door frame and the cinder block wall material. Often it’d be just sitting there awaiting food, I guess. As I liked it LOTS better than the roaches and ants also present, it felt good to capture a roach and toss it into the web. Farquhar seemed pleased as it grabbed the victim and dragged it back into the wall for snacking.

    Research-wise, we discovered that the ants and the roaches kept each other’s population down, possibly by nibbling on their eggs. At least it seemed so. When I got the roach numbers down, we found that outside ants became inside ants. They had a certain utility, though. Our floor was terrazzo – good idea in a hot humid place to avoid wood – with its inherent “busy” design. When either of our young kids spilled a small amount of food, often we could not see the dropped food against the design. However, the ants found it and made a readily visible line between the food and wherever the ants lived. We’d see the line of ants and follow same to the dropped food!
    Those ants also loved a bag of modelling clay the MBH stored in the space above the kitchen cabinets. We had no idea until we removed the bag and found the holes made and the hole-makers inside with the clay.

  4. Old Bear Avatar
    Old Bear

    Steve fRO
    It seems the best of the Old Movies did it that way.

    IIR the scariest parts of Them the Ants were not seen – just the sound.
    Many others the same.

  5. Mark in TTown Avatar
    Mark in TTown

    Old Bear, you most definitely saw the ants in this, and the effects worked very well. One of my favorite old movies: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9SnL2auGFwo

  6. Rick in Shermantown, Ohio Avatar
    Rick in Shermantown, Ohio

    The koala tea of Merci is never strained.

  7. emb Avatar
    emb

    Started to search “koala tea,” then it dawned. Is that just a pun or a punch line. If the latter, please post it.

    Re that gorgeous [really: look it up] spider and the other videos, I got “an error has occurred” after 1-2 seconds of each. Maybe it’s this laptop.

    Peace,

  8. Rick in Shermantown, Ohio Avatar
    Rick in Shermantown, Ohio

    emb:

    Yep. You found a version of it.

    I first heard the joke about 40 years ago from one of my colleagues. At that time, the setting for the joke was France, hence the spelling of “Merci” instead of “Mercy.”

  9. emb Avatar
    emb

    What is it about Arthur Peel’s “Reverie” that stimulates pianist/cellist couples to copulate? BTW, in the other such 9CL couple, p. is male, c. is female.

    https://www.gocomics.com/9chickweedlane/2018/06/30 [+ several preceding days.]

    Is this Arthur Peel the same one [19th c. Brit. MP] that I find on Wikipedia?

    Peace,

  10. TruckerRon Avatar

    Would you believe that Arthur Peel was a performer? He has several recordings on YouTube. I like this one:

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ix3juEXDqHw

  11. curmudgeonly ex-professor Avatar
    curmudgeonly ex-professor

    Put the flooded shoes back on this afternoon. Given our 95F and heat index over 105F, the fact that they still felt a bit clammy was welcome. Now they are airing out again – their slightly earthy aroma is OK, but unnecessary.

    I, too, wonder about how the music in 9CL can possibly have the effect it supposedly does.

    Your normal activities may now be resumed….

  12. Judy in Conroe Avatar
    Judy in Conroe

    When our shoes (especially sneakers) got wet, we would put them in front of the refrigerator, lying on the side with the inside of the shoe up against the grill under the door. That’s where the warm air exhaust or outflow exits. It takes a lot longer to dry the shoe than putting it in the dryer but they rarely shrink.

  13. TruckerRon Avatar

    Tonight was a great night up the nearby canyon for stargazing. We had good views of Venus as it set in the west, Jupiter and all 4 of the Galilean moons, and Saturn with its rings visible even in my little 4-inch refractor. Then Mars rose and, as reported in the news, it’s a vivid yellow now… and then the moon rose and washed out the stars on the east side of the sky. It’s still 92% full.

  14. emb Avatar
    emb

    Trucker: Takes me back 40-50 yr.

    Sunday 9CL is cute. At least it’s not that damn cat.

    https://www.gocomics.com/9chickweedlane/2018/07/01

    Peace,

  15. Llee Avatar

    🙂 Glad to hear of your fun!

  16. Rick in Shermantown, Ohio Avatar
    Rick in Shermantown, Ohio

    TruckerRon:

    Any fireflies out there?

    Here in Central Ohio, they are becoming more scarce every year.

  17. Mark in TTown Avatar
    Mark in TTown

    Rick in Shermantown, I’ve seen some in Tulsa this year. Even had one in my apartment. They were plentiful in Alabama before I moved away.

  18. Rick in Shermantown, Ohio Avatar
    Rick in Shermantown, Ohio

    Mark:

    How long ago did you live in Alabama?

  19. Mark in TTown Avatar
    Mark in TTown

    Last time was Oct 2016. I was born there and have moved back and forth at various times. Rural Tennessee was well-stocked with lightning bugs too.