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

Est. 1985

Extra, Extra!

Playful as a Kitten

By Jimmy Johnson


Buy the new book, "Beaucoup Arlo & Janis!"Today's "Arlo & Janis!"
By 2009, when this Sunday A&J first appeared, video games had advanced well beyond what Ludwig is playing, but yours truly still was stuck in Atariland. But after all, he is a cat, and I’m an old man, so cut us some slack. I actually owned an early Atari game console and enjoyed it very much. My glory days, though, coincided with the dawn of computerized arcade games, such as “Space Invaders.” I remember a buddy and I were playing Space Invaders at a two-man, sit-down game console in an establishment called “The Cherokee Inn” in Jackson, Mississippi, one evening in the early ’80s. The Cherokee Inn was, well… they would call in a “pub” in England. Someone who had gotten a head start elsewhere pulled into the parking lot and failed to stop quite in time. There was a loud “wham,” and the plywood wall next to our gaming table buckled inward. If the driver had been going much faster, you might not be reading this, but, unperturbed, we kept playing.

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273 responses to “Playful as a Kitten”

  1. Denise in Michigan Avatar
    Denise in Michigan

    I’m right with you, emb, on kale vs. other coles.

  2. Jackie Monies Avatar
    Jackie Monies

    I would like to point out that Jackie still keeps up with supermarket and grocery news, long after she quit selling to them and being a vendor for floral departments. The most wide spread and largest supermarket, far bigger than Whole Foods, is now Krogers, followed by Walmart as #2 in the organic and natural department. The same Krogers where my daughter started as organics /natural foods buyer for 250 stores and left for Whole Foods.

    Sprouts and others are also getting into it with Whole Foods, so WF is becoming more competitive. Just watch what you buy anywhere. Sometimes I buy organic and naturals, sometimes I don’t. Since I don’t even eat processed food at all except the occasional frozen low calorie dinner I sometimes buy natural, sometimes don’t. Buy artisanal breads and grains, like the quinoa, etc.

    In Midwest Hy-Vee has an awesome selection, their naturals are extensive and their not naturals equally so. Ralphs is beyond compare, even Aldi’s, my great love for the bargain price.

    I make little effort to garden organically but I do keep adding the organic materials to the soils and enrich twice annually. I also chunk in some commercial fertilizers, love slow release pelleted ones that cost more than vegetable futures. Sometimes we feed the birds and the bugs because I am loath to spray poisons, in fact almost won’t. I just plant heavily!

    Love, Jackie

  3. Jerry in Fl Avatar
    Jerry in Fl

    “It’s five feet high and rising”-Johnny Cash

  4. Jerry in Fl Avatar
    Jerry in Fl

    Galliglo- Q. After we die can we come back?
    A. Only if we’ve had our hand stamped.-Charles Schulz

  5. emb Avatar
    emb

    Here’s a potentially entertaining URL.

    http://www.paulbunyan.net/weathernews/webcam/headwaters/headwaters.html

    Wife, her father Paul, and stepmother [his third wife; he outlived the other two] drove down to Itasca State Pk.

    L. Itasca, the headwaters of the Mississippi R., is in Clearwater Co., not Itasca Co. Those stepping stones enable some people to cross the river on foot. Paul made it half way. Fortunately, the weather was warm. Lovable man, but I did not press him for details. I was less fond of his first wife [my wife’s mother], but they sure did a good job of raising an only child, a genius at that.

    Peace, emb

  6. emb Avatar
    emb

    Jerry,

    I suspect they are all around us, if they choose to be. Hopeful agnosticism. Lunch, then nap.

    Peace, emb

  7. Jerry in Fl Avatar
    Jerry in Fl

    “Religion consists of a set of things of which man believes, and wishes he were certain.”-Mark Twain, amen.

  8. Evan Avatar
    Evan

    “Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God; trust also in me. In my Father’s house are many rooms; I am going there to prepare a place for you. If it were not so, I would have told you.” -Jesus Christ

  9. TruckerRon Avatar

    “Men, big suckers for boobs. :O”

    That reminds me of a joke which, depending on your political leanings, was answered with the name of the mother of an ex-president, followed by the names of two of her sons. The question, of course, was: Who has the two biggest boobs in the country?

  10. emb Avatar
    emb

    Not political, and not surprising. At:

    http://www.ustream.tv/decoraheagles , it looks like the runt has died. If I’m right, an adult will likely pick it up and drop it overside*, no wake or anything. This pair has successfully raised 3, I think at least twice. Actually, common for a clutch of 3 to have only 1 survivor.

    Peace, emb

  11. curmudgeonly ex-professor Avatar
    curmudgeonly ex-professor

    Not at Decorah, eMb. Perchance, you refer to another site? I just looked at Decorah and cannot even see any eaglet which might bear the description of “runt”.

  12. Mindy from Indy Avatar

    I try to make a point of thanking all veterans for their service as I encounter them while working. This morning, an elderly gentleman came in wearing a non-specific, veteran-related hat. As I rang up his paper, I thanked him for his service and asked his branch – Army, WWII and Korea. I remarked on the date as he started to leave. He, paused, reflecting a bit, I suppose, and came back to the counter to chat a spell. Nothing specific to battles, but how the second call to action differed from the first, “being 25, married, with a baby and then tossed in with all those 18 and 19 year old, wild and rowdy pups.”

    Happy early Mother’s day to all the moms out there. Enjoy the day.

  13. emb Avatar
    emb

    c x-p: Yes, Decorah: http://www.ustream.tv/decoraheagles

    I think the one at the back, by the tree trunk, way smaller than the other two, qualifies as a runt. There often is one. It was still and all splayed out when I looked before supper, and didn’t move. They are now illuminated by IR, and I’ve noticed the others breathing, but think maybe the youngest breathed also. We’ll see.

    Peace, emb

  14. Jerry in Fl Avatar
    Jerry in Fl

    Trucker, You get best of the day for that one. On a previous topic, I would never attempt to talk anyone out of their religious beliefs and I ask for the same in return. I have an entirely open mind on the subject. That being said, religion and death are probably the two most common subjects of jokes and also the funniest. I actually had dinner one night at a table next to a priest, a rabbi and a Baptist minister and they seemed to be having a great time. This is a quote from me, although I suspect that it has been said many times by many people-Man is the only animal that has a religious belief, or needs to.

    this

  15. Jackie Monies Avatar
    Jackie Monies

    Our area of Oklahoma is in need of some arks, flash flooding all over including my front yard and driveway, porch. No fault of my stone mason, who came by with his wife. He needed a hug, so I hugged them both. Their property is flooding but they are on raised pier footings. The lovely ditch handled what it was designed to do, my neighbors ditches of course did not function adequately, but what do they care? They are weekenders, seldom here, maybe 10-12 times a year at best.

    Cats and dogs are all inside, bringing a lot of water and mud with them.

    I assured stone mason he very much had a job but that we would just go to plan B which was to re-purpose my driveway and carport into something else and build another stone retaining wall behind his giant drains to force water into the primary ditches and waterfalls, which are beautiful, by the way, melodic and impressive.

    Carport moves to back two lots with new driveways and this one becomes either a garden house or a storage shed for smaller boats that can be hung in davits. The additional stone walls will just add to value of property and beauty. That bloody lane is too hard to turn into or back out of anyway. We will make lemonade! Some of us do insist on seeing the positive in what happens to us. Isn’t that an annoying habit to those who don’t?

    Love, jackie

  16. Charlotte in NH Avatar
    Charlotte in NH

    Dear Jackie, I feel bad about the damage, but congratulations on your new plans and your great attitude. Make lemonade indeed!

    I am curious and wonder where you will get all the stones from. Will you have to buy them? We have a lot of rocks in NH, but you can’t just go around and help yourself. I don’t need any, but I notice a lot of rocks for sale (I wonder where they come from — China? Joking, but maybe not!) They are on pallets for shipping. There are also manufactured stones that look quite real. What will they think of next!

  17. Jackie monies Avatar
    Jackie monies

    Charlotte, I am in the eastern mountains of Oklahoma, which geographically is part of Arkansas. Same mountains. We have a huge rock industry here within a few miles, most of which ship to Dallas-Fort Worth where huge homes with lots of rock work is popular and widely used.

    One of my boating friends has daughter who came to kayak with her dad. She is landscape rock designer and wanted to borrow my mason. Love Jackie

  18. Jerry in Fl Avatar
    Jerry in Fl

    A caution to those in a flood prone area. That yellow water isn’t lemonade. I’m just saying.

  19. Mark in TTown Avatar
    Mark in TTown

    Charlotte in NH, I had heard that many New England farms grew more rocks than crops. If true, that is probably the source of the pallet-loads you are seeing. I also have wondered where all those nice smooth “river” rocks come from. Are they truly dredged from rivers, or tumbled in industrial machinery to smooth them?

  20. Jackie monies Avatar
    Jackie monies

    Second major river across front yard. Since I am neither sugar nor spice, I waded out and put a heavy weighted gate across entrance to porch. I didn’t melt and flooding slowed from front door. New stone wall going up.

    What one walks through in life depends on what one sees and expects. I found cold water. Love Jackie

  21. Jerry in Fl Avatar
    Jerry in Fl

    As a fading voice floats by, “There goes the neighborhood.”

  22. Jackie monies Avatar
    Jackie monies

    No problem Jerry, this is Oklahoma. This neighborhood is already made up of people who live in trailers, sell drugs , are socially unacceptable misfits and wouldn’t fit in a neighborhood of show homes. Lots of misfits and less than perfect people and I like that. Gives the world and neiborhood character, no where for UT to go.

    Thunk I need a vacation sooner then I thought. See my Village later my friends. Keep the campfires alive and don’t let the embers die. I will be back if the yacht stays afoat! Love yall, Jackie

  23. Debbe Avatar
    Debbe

    Good morning Villagers…

    And happy Mother’s Day to all of you who are mothers….and single fathers raising children. When I was single, raising Ian alone, I celebrated both days.

    Jackie, be safe wading through flooded waters in the future…swift waters can take one down quickly…and don’t stay away for too long.

    And I learned a long time ago, one does not piss in someone’s Cheerios.

    Been awake since midnight thirty….tried twice to go back to sleep. Sleep deprivation erodes my mind…so, I’m having an early Mother’s day ‘cocktail’….

    GR 😉 and Denise, thank you for you kind words on my son. My husband and him struggle to get along…therefore, blood is thicker than water.

    ya’ll have a blessed day

    ….and no, I’m not regretting hitting submit