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

Est. 1985

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Working Woman’s Blues

By Jimmy Johnson

April 18, 2000


I have been self-isolating. True, my routine is not that different from what it normally is, but I have been conscious of where I do go and whom I contact personally. This morning, however, I am going into town to my go-to home improvement emporium. I am going to purchase an ice maker for my refrigerator. I know; it sounds frivolous. However, my old ice maker packed it in years ago, and I have been purchasing bags of ice periodically. I don’t use a lot normally, but lately I have taken quinine infused water laced with citrus and antiseptic once a day, as a precaution. It’s more effective chilled. I reason that one trip to “Highe’s” (Let’s call it that!) is better than repeated trips to the grocery store or convenience store for a bag of ice. I know what you’re going to say next: “What about ice trays?” Well, I don’t have any, so I’d still have to make a trip to town, and by doing it this way I can get potting soil, too.


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29 responses to “Working Woman’s Blues”

  1. Otis Avatar
    Otis

    One might think that with all this time on our hands, the chore list would be taken care of….
    But somehow, there’s other (read: more interesting) things to do.

    Be safe, folks.

  2. Mark Kinsler Avatar

    That’s interesting, for I’ve been drinking quinine water (“tonic water” here in the North) for the last few months. Mine is without ice and occasionally mixed with store-brand cola.

    Is quinine water supposed to immunize one against viruses? My computer hasn’t asked for any, though.

    Mark Kinsler
    Lancaster, Ohio

  3.  Avatar
    Anonymous

    I love a nice gin and tonic, or a gimlet, or a martini or…

  4. Steve From Royal Oak, MI Avatar

    I had planned to walk a marathon next Saturday, but the organizer cancelled it due to lack of entries. So I signed up for a 12-Hour Race for the K.I.A. in Columbus tomorrow, but that got cancelled due to the virus. They did offer a virtual race, which I chose to do. I was originally going to do that today as I would be going to Church on Sunday, but THAT got cancelled. Then I looked at the weather forecast and we have been getting hit with an all day rain, so tomorrow it is!

    Why am I doing this? When I had trouble walking last fall, I was concerned that I might have something seriously wrong with me. But I was reading through all the terrible things that could be wrong with me, the common denominator was obesity. So I am about 35 lbs less (nice and slow) and feeling GREAT. I go to the local grocery store to weigh myself and it STILL says that I am obese. So I checked the settings and it showed that I am 5’0″ instead of my actual 5′ 10″. So hopefully the next time I weigh myself I will just be overweight and not obese.

    So tomorrow, please go outside and take a walk. If 105 of you walk 1/4 mile ( I hope that I did the math right!) then this group will have done a marathon. If you can’t walk, please think of me. We are ALL in this together….separately.

    1. Matt Avatar
      Matt

      “I go to the local grocery store to weigh myself…”

      That’s just not something you read every day…

      1. Steve From Royal Oak, MI Avatar

        It checks my blood pressure as well.

      2. Jimmy Johnson Avatar

        Insert laughing emoji. Actually, one grocery store I frequent does have an old-style Toledo scale near the restrooms, and I occasionally step on it. They made me stop taking my clothes off, though.

        1.  Avatar
          Anonymous

          Jimmy, thanks for the chuckle.

        2. Steve From Royal Oak, MI Avatar

          Haha. I weigh myself like that in the privacy of my own bathroom. When I weighed in at the doctor’s office I asked him if I could do that and he said no

        3. Mark in TTown Avatar
          Mark in TTown

          Thanks for the laugh. That reminds me of when people going to the feed store would step on the big scale to weigh themselves, and those old penny scales that gave your fortune or horoscope on a little roll of paper.

        4. Galliglo of Ohio Avatar
          Galliglo of Ohio

          LOL!

  5. joe d Avatar
    joe d

    Thanks for the Saturday post.

  6. MontanaPhil Avatar
    MontanaPhil

    We started cleaning out a closet in one room the other day, out of boredom. There was stuff in there that hadn’t seen the light of day since we moved in 9 years ago. Reorganization let to moving thing around and the decision to construct more shelves in my closet. So….a trip to Hygh’s and something to do.

    1. Mark in TTown Avatar
      Mark in TTown

      I hope you didn’t find Jerry the Gerbil in there, Montana!

  7. Nancy Kirk in AZ Avatar
    Nancy Kirk in AZ

    Huh. I just went back to yesterday to see if there were any comments I’d missed at the end, and found mine–as Anonymous. Evidently the laptop ate my name. (Or maybe it never had it. I admit I was usually using the iPad to read and comment at the Village.) Anyhow, that was moi.

    Thanks for the chuckles over weighing. Good stuff.
    Sending good thoughts and wishes from our house to your house–literally, with just a few exceptions.

  8. Lois armitage Avatar
    Lois armitage

    Help. Anyone explain the March 28,2020 comic? The piano will stop?!

    1. Mark in TTown Avatar
      Mark in TTown

      Classic in old Western movies. The villain walks into the saloon and the piano player stops playing while the camera pans over the faces of the crowd.

  9. emb Avatar
    emb

    Just changed the guard at DN nest. Think this is the male.
    https://explore.org/livecams/birds/decorah-eagles-north-nest
    Also, at various Afr sites, think operators deliberately avoid actual mammal mating. “Exit, stage right.”
    Peace,

  10. TruckerRon Avatar
  11. TruckerRon Avatar

    And a great parody song:
     
    We’re All Home Bound – the Corona Virus song
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k0ci5EYb9qA

  12. Steve From Royal Oak, MI Avatar

    I DID IT!! I completed 26.2 miles by myself. I did take a few more breaks to eat and drink towards the end but my moving pace never really wavered much.

    Of course I might have gone faster but the wind picked up.and I had to battle 40-50 MPH gusts. Because of the lockdown in Michigan, there were no restrooms and miraculously I didn’t need to use one for seven and a half hours. I weighed myself when I got home and lost two and a half pounds which was probably all water. My wife picked some cookies and I had two or six or 10 I’m not sure 🙂

    I am halfway to my goal weight. I plan to keep walking during the week and maybe take a six or eight mile walk on the weekend. I’m a real happy camper!

    1. Ghost Avatar
      Ghost

      Congrats, Steve. One of things that makes one feel better about oneself, isn’t it?

  13. Ghost Avatar
    Ghost

    From “Life In The Slow Lane”: Today, I changed out the “spicy treat” (aka oleoresin capsicum, aka “pepper spray, aka “carjacker repellant”) container I carry in my SUV. No, I didn’t spray anyone; the stuff has an expiration date, which is something you may want to remember if you carry some in your vehicle or purse, keep by your door, or wherever for personal defense. And no, I won’t use it to enforce the six-foot “distancing” space that is recommended in public…although it’s sometimes tempting.
    On that subject, I made a quick stop at the neighborhood Dollar General yesterday for household supplies on the way back from the pharmacy and noted they have one-foot by one-foot squares taped to the floor leading to the check-out counter, with signs asking customers to use them to maintain safe spacing. They had something similar at the pharmacy, plus a table in front of the register for the credit card terminal and to provide separation from the cashier. First time I’ve seen that.

    1. Ghost Avatar
      Ghost

      The DG was out of TP. It seems to go PDQ.

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

    Based on my observations of high school hallways and pep rallies, the easiest way to move crowds quickly and safely may be good old-fashioned “fart spray”. (Tried but failed to think of a more refined name.)

  15. curmudgeonly ex-professor Avatar
    curmudgeonly ex-professor

    Perhaps we can place ads offering our place’s trees as suitable for practice TP-ing! Then we’d harvest the hanging “fruit”….

  16. Steve From Royal Oak, MI Avatar

    Something that I wondered about last week is happening in comics today. The first couple of strips that I have looked at today (A&J first) have addressed the COVID-19 virus and quarentine.

    I doubt if Popeye will address it…..