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

Est. 1985

Extra, Extra!

My Love Is Blue

By Jimmy Johnson

We’re still outdoors on a Sunday in 2015. I must admit, there is a lot of myself in the above A&J. My father taught me that a job worth doing is worth doing right. It is advice that has served me well. It is mind-boggling the number of jobs not worth doing and the incalculable hours I’ve saved by not doing them.

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65 responses to “My Love Is Blue”

  1. TruckerRon Avatar

    “It is mind-boggling the number of jobs not worth doing and the incalculable hours I’ve saved by not doing them.”

    I don’t know if JJ’s thinking “sideways” or “out of the box” but I DO like how he thinks!

  2. David in Austin Avatar
    David in Austin

    I’m more in favor of the thought that “perfection is the enemy of good enough.” It’s better to accomplish the mission with a good plan than it is to never get started because you are trying to perfect the plan. Janice want’s a blue nightstand. She’ll have it soon, without worrying about all the details Arlo has listed as potential barriers. Go Janice!

    1. Jimmy Johnson Avatar

      True enough. I keep saying I am going to have “Perfect is the enemy of good” tattooed on my forehead, backward. An example? That Web site. Which I am working on this very morning!

    2. reb Avatar
      reb

      And by the time the paint flakes off she’ll want it a different color anyway.

  3. Ghost Avatar
    Ghost

    Yes, truly le mieux est l’ennemi du bien.

    Re 5-31-19 real-time cartoon: Arlo has obviously discovered the power of the Ghostly Therapeutic Hug. Mine really are. Therapeutic, I mean.

    A few days ago, I was at the teller window at our bank when someone said, “Hello, Ghost!” I looked over and saw a friend of ours I had not seen in several weeks. She walked over to me with open arms, and she got the customary hug from me. (That started several months ago after she had done our business a favor, and I rewarded her with a spontaneous hug. The next time I saw her she wanted another hug, which I gladly gave her. I joked that after two hugs, it became an entitlement. She obviously took that seriously.) After we spoke for a few moments, catching up, I opened my arms to her, and she walked in for another hub. I like to think that improved her day.

    They’re probably still talking about me at the bank.

    1. Jill L Schneider Avatar
      Jill L Schneider

      I live in a very small town (pop. 150), and hugs-&-kisses greetings/goodbyes are de rigueur here. If you don’t, people want to know why you are mad at them – LOL!

      Also – “Perfect is the enemy of good” is my new email sig line – love it!

      1. Ghost Avatar
        Ghost

        LL Cool Ghost. 😀

        Use the French, Jill. People will think you are very intelligent. Or perhaps pretentious. 🙂

  4. Mark in TTown Avatar
    Mark in TTown

    Jimmy, today’s real time strip is how it should be. Two thumbs up, and deserves more, plus the widest possible distribution.

    1. Tom (formerly) from the front range. Avatar
      Tom (formerly) from the front range.

      It already holds a prominent place on our refrigerator!

  5. emb Avatar
    emb

    c x-p: Think that’s not marijuana in the eagle nest. Came here after reading the online Bemidji Pioneer to say today’s A&J is what it’s all about, but you all have already said it. Peace,

  6. Ghost Avatar
    Ghost

    Definitely a summer weekend going on here. The Uniform of the Day for teens and YAs coming into the boutique appears to be t-shirts and short-shorts over bikinis, with flip flops.

    Not that there is anything wrong with that. We sell the tees and shorts here.

  7. Steve From Royal Oak, MI Avatar

    I have to admit that it took a while to figure out today’s strip. However I think Ghost explained it for me. I’m not sure if it works out that way, but I guess “What can it hurt?” Unless of course you hug too hard!

  8. Mark in TTown Avatar
    Mark in TTown

    Steve, don’t overthink it. Sometimes there is nothing you can or should say, just the caring personal contact is enough to help.

  9. Ruth Anne in Winter Park Avatar
    Ruth Anne in Winter Park

    c x-p: The possibility of a hemp crop on the eagles’ nest is not so farfetched considering that Iowa is surrounded by states where it is grown. Certainly adds a nice touch to the decor 🙂

    1. Ghost Avatar
      Ghost

      Add Oklahoma to those adjoining states, Ruth Anne. There is a “medical marijuana dispensary” (we just call it “the weed shop”) a half block from the boutique, and another one a block away. Another just opened two blocks from the house. In OK, they seem to be springing up like, well, weeds.

      Out of idle curiosity, I looked up online the requirement to obtain a “grow license” in Oklahoma. Mostly it seems that you have to be a resident of the state and have $2500. There is a “background check” requirement. How strict, I don’t know, as it warned a non-violent felony within the past 2 years, or a violent felony with the past five years, would be disqualifying. (Good to know that the time you beat the stew out of some other dude back in 2013 for trying to sell you a dime bag of oregano doesn’t matter.) Where I’m from you couldn’t even get a barbers’ license with that on your record. I certainly couldn’t get a concealed carry permit.

      Oh, well; as a libertarian friend once said, “I believe same-sex married couples should be able to own AR-15s to protect their marijuana fields.

      1. Sideburns Avatar

        Trinidad has a population of about 9,000. We’re just north of the New Mexico border, and we have 20 dispensaries. In fact, on one corner on Main Street, just off the I 25, there are four of them right next to each other.

  10. Jackie Monies Avatar
    Jackie Monies

    Ghost is indeed a wonderful hugger. He is so tall and so big it is like being enveloped in a comforting tree. Not fat, just large and long arms.

    He has become good as a boutique owner. He is so sweet and polite to everyone. I keep telling him the casserole ladies will be instantly there when I pass.

    1. Ghost Avatar
      Ghost

      1. I plan on taking such good care of you that I’ll probably pass before you do. Besides, you were the 17-year-old who was told you’d never see age 21.
      2. I’m not that crazy about casseroles.

  11. Jackie Monies Avatar
    Jackie Monies

    I am home again with Dickens. My hands, wrists and fingers, low back not doing well. Barely got a can of chicken and rice soup open and microwaved.

    Pain is constant, only degree varies.

    When I moved here in 96 the headline said “Bumper Pot Crop Expected “. I thought they’d legalized marijuana. Now they have the same people are growing and selling and smoking it.

  12. Ghost Avatar
    Ghost

    Strictly anecdotal, but as I was telling Jackie just the other day, if cannabis is indeed effective as a medical treatment, one would expect that the patients using it would span the general population. Yet the customers one sees coming and going from the nearby weed shop invariably look like extras in a Cheech and Chong movie. As do the operators.

    1. Ghost Avatar
      Ghost

      If you can’t eradicate it, tax it, I guess.

  13. emb Avatar
    emb

    Ghost: “… look like extras in a Cheech and Chong movie.” Lovely, quotable. Saw part of one once; Elaine must have left the basement family room TV on.
    ’78-’80s. Are any Villagers young enough [or cloistered enough] not to recognize C&C?
    Peace,

    1. Ghost Avatar
      Ghost

      “That ‘70s Show” was one of a handful of series I never watched in first-run but fell in love with in re-runs*. Tommy Chong was hilarious on it as Leo the hippie.

      *”China Beach” and “The Big Bang Theory” were two others

  14. Old Bear Avatar
    Old Bear

    Friend said that in CO the people going in shop were older than he. (60s
    even an 80YO woman.

    In Southern MN during WWII hemp was grown for rope & cordage – so ditches are rife
    with volunteers – Weed that is a weed.

    From yesterday:
    ” People like me cause accidents that kill others. ”
    Not you Jackie – you are the wise one. It is those that “know better”.

    Hugs don’t add or subtract they multiply.

  15. Ghost Avatar
    Ghost

    Favorite tee-shirt seen in the boutique today: “Maybe Swearing Will Help?”. Although, tbh, I’ve already seen Jackie wearing that one.

    Oh, forgot to report…a friend of Jackie’s showed up at the boutique the other day with his wife, a professional model. And she was wearing…wait for it, wait for it…a sundress! Last year I bemoaned the apparent dearth of sundresses in OK, but I have to say that this summer, things are looking up. (No pun intended)

  16. curmudgeonly ex-professor Avatar
    curmudgeonly ex-professor

    eMb, I have heard the names of C&C and their supposed connection to hippie movement, but would not recognize either, anywhere. Don’t even know if they survive.

  17. TruckerRon Avatar

    Cheech Marin was in a series of kids movies a few years ago (Spy Kids).

    And here’s one man’s bucket list item:

    https://www.ksl.com/article/46564105/have-you-seen-this-giant-pool-of-jell-o

  18. Mark in TTown Avatar
    Mark in TTown

    emb: Dave, is that you man?, No, man. Dave’s not here.

  19. Ruth Anne in Winter Park Avatar
    Ruth Anne in Winter Park

    Ghost, et. al.: When I said hemp, I meant the stuff Washington and Jefferson grew, now referred to as “industrial hemp”. For more info – http://www.ncsl.org/research/agriculture-and-rural-development/state-industrial-hemp-statutes.aspx

  20. Rick in Shermantown, Ohio Avatar
    Rick in Shermantown, Ohio

    I decided years ago that, if a job is worth doing, it’s worth paying an expert to do it right.

  21. Jackie Monies Avatar
    Jackie Monies

    You will note that I have only touched a marijuana cigarette once in 1969 while eating Thanksgiving dinner in a hippie commune we were invited to. Had no idea what it was and politely said I did not smoke, so no thank you. We did not go back there again. Second weirdest Thanksgiving dinner I attended.

    We ate cross legged sitting on floor but so did we at oddest one I attended.

    1. Mark in TTown Avatar
      Mark in TTown

      Was that at Alice’s Restaurant, Jackie?

  22. Jackie Monies Avatar
    Jackie Monies

    Everyone tells me I should smoke marijuana for my cancer. I woulf much rather drink wine or margaritas. I am absolutely certain I would feel better and more relaxed and pain free.

    Oddly I am not allowed to drink any form of alcohol or smoke while being treated?

    This is simply allowing addicts to feel good about addictions. Very OLD addicts older than me.

  23. Nancy Kirk Avatar
    Nancy Kirk

    Just to say I am enjoying the discussions, folks. Good night.

  24. emb Avatar
    emb

    Secret of geezer success: Do fewer projects per day than you used to could. 1. Had Toyota dealer check Prius out for upcoming trip to Summer Theology Workshop in Paynesville. 2. Moderate workout at Peak Performance. 3. Mixed a big batch of “Swiss” yogurt & dried cranberries spread, my own recipe. Needs to mature in fridge for a few days, but lasts well w/o spoiling 4. Baked a grocery store frozen pizza, accompanied it w/ Mineola pieces & a short beer, & followed w/ 8oz ice-cream, mostly chocolate. 5. Set up a short bit of gratis copy-editing [a hobby], but will finish it tomorrow. Bedtime. Peace, nighty bunch.
    emb