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

Est. 1985

Extra, Extra!

Literary Achievement

By Jimmy Johnson


Buy the new book, "Beaucoup Arlo & Janis!"Today's "Arlo & Janis!"
I’m still mining Sundays from 10 years ago. I thought you might be interested to know that the big Web-page makeover that I’ve talked about recently (and have talked about off and on in the past) might really happen this time. If it doesn’t, I just wasted money on a retainer I paid to some fine young people who’re going to help me put it all together technically. Of course, I learned I’m still going to have to provide the content. Sheesh! It isn’t scheduled to roll out until spring, possibly even late spring, and I have no idea what it will look like, because I’ve yet to come up with a concept and the artwork to support it—that “content” bugaboo I mentioned. However, I will keep you posted as events warrant.

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442 responses to “Literary Achievement”

  1. Jackie Monies Avatar
    Jackie Monies

    Steve, do you have more than the three I listened to? They are so beautiful and they do bring peace. There are times I am a silly old woman I think and joke and make inappropriate remarks, as bad as “kids” used to be. Yet people do tell me I inspire and lead, and that is what we all should do with our lives, use them to bring others to rise above themselves or just go on.

    You do that with your voice, your wife with her writing I suspect. Each of us has some gift we can use, yet few do. And yes, that is in my opinion what is wrong with our world and our teachers and our nation sometimes. Me, me, me and nothing for others.

    Ghost and Sand, this is a serious remark, so no jokes!

    Love, Jackie

  2. Debbe Avatar
    Debbe

    Good morning Jackie….so true, that’s why it is called the “me generation”. And yes, Steve’s voice is soothing, I’m one of those 46k hits 🙂

    Took a little power nap to awaken to….rain. And a lot of it is coming our way. I’m just glad it’s in the 40’s here.

    Denise…my Great Aunt Dorothy was the ‘baby’ of the family and the last of her generation. My Dad is 83 and lost his sister last year. When we were growing up, my Great Grandpa was the town’s blacksmith….he lived just down the street. Before A/C, we could hear Grandpa clanging away on his anvil…we would sit and watch him pound out red hot steel into farming tools, horseshoes for the Amish in this community. It was nothing to see horse drawn carriages lined up outside his blacksmith shop….this was in the 50’s and early 60’s that I recall. He would give us his ‘chalk’ and we would run home and draw and play hopscotch. I doubt today if any child would even know what hopscotch is.

    =^..^=

  3. Debbe Avatar
    Debbe

    Where’ Jerry from Florida???

  4. Debbe Avatar
    Debbe

    edit….where’s Jerry from Florica

  5. Debbe Avatar
    Debbe

    not even going to try again……………..

  6. Jackie Monies Avatar
    Jackie Monies

    We know what you mean!

  7. Jackie Monies Avatar
    Jackie Monies

    Oklahoma, where the wind comes roaring down the plains. Dropping to 20 tonight and winds today to 40 but that pales in comparison to some of country. Listening to Izzy sing songs from Paradise and reminding myself that when I lived in Paradise, the weather began to bore me and I left.

  8. sandcastlerâ„¢ Avatar
    sandcastlerâ„¢

    Morning Village.

    Jackie, that was the man. His song always seems to run in parallel with my life; little like JJ’s does with our household.

  9. emeritus minnesota biologist Avatar
    emeritus minnesota biologist
  10. Jackie Monies Avatar
    Jackie Monies

    Sand, the reason we ever had the opportunity to meet either Lindberghs was Hotel Hana Ranch and the corporation that was the parent company, for whom Mike worked. We wanted to live in Hana so badly ourselves and of course that is what we should have pursued, not high tailed it back to Mainland. Kris just kept living the life and there he is with a big chunk of Hana land and a ranch, a life of possibilities that never stopped.

    Before there was a national park we went all over the mountains and the waterfalls of the Hana coast. I know exactly where Lindbergh is buried but don’t think I could find it today. I bet Kris could.

    Mike was a long time Lafayette native once and I was an oil patch kid.Old time oil patch kid and I have known some along the way. Houston and NASA, lots of interesting people who led our lives for us it seemed.

    Maybe you did too.

    Love, Jackie

  11. emeritus minnesota biologist Avatar
    emeritus minnesota biologist

    -11 F now, supposed to get to +3 today*, -7 tonight, + 17 demain. Warming trend!

    Peace, emb

    *Good day to play hooky from church, but have to shop for milk, in the “heat of the day.”

  12. Debbe Avatar
    Debbe

    emb….and I was complaining about the single digit wind chill factors tonight,

    here’s something I stumbled upon…today is the 150th anniversary when Lincoln outlawed slavery….pics…in color

    http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/photos/the-civil-war-in-color-photos/ss-AA8Eh6X

  13. emeritus minnesota biologist Avatar
    emeritus minnesota biologist

    Not going to church, but least I can do is post a holy painting. Steve Melcher inserts some topical humor today. Comic and BlogSpot are the same. Title is not helpful: “Virgin an child with saints.” Neither one is St. Jackie. Peace, emb

    http://thatispriceless.blogspot.com/

  14. Galliglo from Ohio Avatar
    Galliglo from Ohio

    Jackie: Izzy, singing “Somewhere Over the Rainbow” will be part of “my” Jerry’s memorial.

  15. Jackie Monies Avatar
    Jackie Monies

    EMB, nor am I.

  16. emeritus minnesota biologist Avatar
    emeritus minnesota biologist

    d

  17. Galliglo from Ohio Avatar
    Galliglo from Ohio

    Here in east central Ohio, it is snowing. According to what is on my car, it is about 2″. But it is to snow all afternoon. Freezing rain tonight, then snow again in the AM. Yes, definitely a good day to stay indoors.

  18. Ghost Rider 6 Avatar
    Ghost Rider 6

    Since jokes have been taken off the table this morning…

    On a personal note, my weight loss total for January was 8.0 pounds. That said, it isn’t reasonable to expect I’ll be able to maintain quite that rate of weight loss. As I’ve mentioned before, when beginning the Weight Watchers program the initial reduction in food intake causes your body to burn of some glycogen, which releases water, making at least part of the first week’s loss water weight. (Of course, weight loss is weight loss. And that’s how one of the other programs can “guarantee” you to lose 5 pounds the “first week”.) And with “just” an eight pound loss, I can tell that my 10+ pound cargo pants definitely fit me better.

    A good rate of loss is a consistent one to two pounds per week. Much more than that and your body goes into starvation-avoidance mood, screwing with your metabolism and making it much harder to continue to lose. That’s why that, over time, “crash” diets are not very effective.

    I’m not bragging (after all, I shouldn’t have had to lose those 8 pounds to begin with), but I am hoping to inspire anyone else who is currently fighting the Battle of the Bulge. Like the chicken showing the armadillo it can be done…

  19. TruckerRon Avatar

    Kids still play hopscotch in Provo UT, but we’re known for being in a cultural time warp in Utah. Heck, we still use our flip phones and have a landline. And we don’t have HD TV in our home, just an old tube set.

  20. Debbe Avatar
    Debbe

    Gal, how are you doing. Hope you aren’t alone while staying indoors today, I pray you are surrounded by friends and family.

  21. Debbe Avatar
    Debbe

    Weigh to go, GR 😉

  22. Jackie Monies Avatar
    Jackie Monies

    Izzy will play at Mike’s memorial here in October also, perhaps accompanied by a few of my other ukulele strumming sailors. I am just not sure which song yet, too many good ones. So will Kris Kristopherson and some others who lived our lives, Jimmy Buffett, Kelly McGuire who truly sang Mike’s life more than Jimmy ever did. Only Kelly will be live.

    Izzy’s voice was such a gift.

    Love, Jackie

  23. Jackie Monies Avatar
    Jackie Monies

    One of my favorite sailors who goes now, goes small, was sailing a Duck named “Uke N Sail” when I first met him. A Viet Nam vet, he is gonna live until he dies.

    And I have to confess it took me longer than it should to figure out that clever name. He has upgraded the boat now but not too much bigger, doubled the size to a fast 17 footer. He has sailed across America and they don’t have to be oceans.

    My other friend for whom I held a memorial service in my back yard was towing a Duck behind a Miata when I met him, a West Virginia hillbilly out of control who played the uke too. I think the ukes are just good size for little boats.First I saw that his ashes went home with everyone. Then I mailed my friend’s ashes around the world to all the oceans he never reached.

    I hope Jerry goes all over the world too, Gal and I suspect he will.

    Love, Jackie

  24. Debbe Avatar
    Debbe

    I have to confess….I had not heard of Izzy…so I U tubed it, absolutely wonderfully done.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fahr069-fzE

    Husband peeked in on me while listening, he liked what he heard.

  25. Jackie Monies Avatar
    Jackie Monies

    Trucker, I love Utah and have an invitation there this summer during the heat wave. I will be there. Spent one spectacular afternoon atop a mountain of red rock and dirt, as lightening crashed, storms fell and the mountains tried to wash away. Our creator’s hand is evident throughout your home.