Comic strips such as the A&J Sunday that appeared in newspapers August 2 always are problematic. The cartoonist knows that while the August drought may have set in where he lives, there are places somewhere that still are getting more than enough “free water.” When the living room furniture is afloat, readers easily can lose their sense of humor. That’s just the way it is. However, that is not why I’m showing you the last panel from what was an admittedly weak joke. Actually, I was playing around with Photoshop, trying to simulate a driving rain. This was the result. I still think it looks OK on a monitor screen, but I noticed in the newspaper version that it was not quite as effective. At least I didn’t think so.
Rain Maker
By Jimmy Johnson
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115 responses to “Rain Maker”
Us fellow Southern residents appreciate the drought humor!
I saw this one in the newspaper and immediately knew what it was trying to show. I didn’t think it translated to print poorly.
Weak joke???? Eastern Massachusetts had less than an inch of rain in July. We have a brand new garden than requires thrice-weekly watering of 8 specimen trees, 50 shrubs, and 200 perennials. The process takes two hours to do by hand and consumes roughly 200 gallons of water. My wife saw that strip and burst out laughing. It has been cut out and given a place of honor on our refrigerator. To us, it wasn’t a ‘weak joke’. It was the most spot-on, topical cartoon of the year!
In our family, we refer to rain as “Money in the Bank.”
Cartoon rain, like cartoon blushing, is very tricky to render well. Charles Schulz had a knack for such things, and was especially adept at facial expressions. Of course, that is like saying that Michael Jordan could dunk a basketball; that was what made Schulz so good.
In the current instance, Our Humble Author used some graphic innovation, much the same way Jack Kirby did for Marvel Comics in the ’60s, using photo collages as backgrounds for huge illustrations. The effect was striking, although some were not pleased. I view it as equivalent to any other illustration: if it got the point across and was not displeasing to look at, the. 90% success right there. If the illustration sings, as Schulz and OHA so often have happen, that is a bonus. OHA sweats such detail, much as he does composition and pacing. And like Michael Jordan, the shots usually drop and it looks so easy.
NealinBawstun, find yourself one of those traveling sprinklers. They look like a little tractor. All you have to do is lay out the hose where you want it to go, put the sprinkler on the hose and turn it on. The water pressure provides the motive force to drive the tractor around your yard and water as it goes. They water very thoroughly too. The front wheel is grooved to fit on the hose so it follows it and the rear wheels have mild spikes to provide traction.
Neal, like this: http://www.amazon.com/Nelson-1865-Raintrain-Traveling-Sprinkler/dp/B00002N6AN
I didn’t think it was a weak joke at all… one of your better ones. The best ones always have some insight into human nature. I think almost all people can identify with the sentiment expressed in the joke.
Jimmy, bring back “When they say just dig me a hole, watch out”. That would be a perfect companion piece to this one. Not just free water, but you don’t have to drag a hose to water everything, as NealinBawstun is doing. I got a huge laugh out of this strip when it ran recently.
Today is the one year anniversary of a huge flood that hit Royal Oak. We will long remember the date as a lot of homes were flooded that never had seen water before. It was very wet in the Midwest and many are just starting to dry out. But, yes, we usually have little rain in late July/early August.
Here in SE Ohio (and parts of WV & KY), it seems that we have had more than our fair share of rain. Last night, the apt. parking lot was flooded again. But… if I don’t have to worry about flash flooding, I love the the rain. Now, if I could sit under a tin roof and listen to rain, I would be ecstatic! LOL
emb: I could open the link posted this morning, but I do have Chrome. Don’t if that has anything to do with it. Too, I usually get that message if the Internet connection is going out.
hey Villagers – hope it is cooler in your neck of the woods than it is here. For the last week the temps have broken 100, with heat index of from 108 to 116. Too blasted hot!
The tractor sprinkler works great as long as your lawn is relatively flat. We had one that would get stuck if it hit a rut or a hole or a mole track. Here in Conroe we are on water restrictions most of the summer (whenever you really need a sprinkler) that prohibit using a sprinkler of any kind during the daylight hours. Hand watering is okay unless we go on to stage 3. Watering at night with a sprinkler means if the contraption misbehaves you don’t know about it, and promotes fungus growth. We try to set our sprinkler to turn on about an hour before sunrise.
Rain is very welcome! Both to save $$ and to break the heat even for just a little while.
I’ve slapped my head and remembered that I have to water the foundation, my late wife always did that stuff. I’ve heard horror stories of massive repairs from house slabs shifting.
Mark, ours is a xeric garden – no grass, just trees, shrubs, perennials and annuals in containers. You can see it here: http://www.theprincipalundergardener.blogspot.com/. The tractor, alas, won’t work for our garden.
Neal, your garden is nice! Lots of thought and work has gone into it. John, what do you mean with “water the foundation”? Is that just a Texas thing or something I should have learned about ages ago?
Jimmy- 🙂 Thanks
Great garden, Neal!
A recent email from my cousin in Tucson adds insult to injury…apparently it’s been a more pleasant summer in southern Arizona than in the Deep South.
The weather is nice, wish you weren’t here.
Nice garden, Neal. I like the mulch ground cover. Good luck finding a redbud tree. My grandmother had one at her house as I was growing up. I love to see them bloom in the spring. When I lived in Tennessee, the house I was renting had two in the front yard which had red leaves, so even after the blooms fell, we had color till leaf fall.
Neal: neat. Some lots in Bemidji have xeric yards: good stewardship / gasoline, air pollution, and time.
We usually have rain enough here. Some houses have flowers in pots on patios, or in the ground on enlarged patios and front walks. Most colorful trees are flowering crabs, which are gorgeous for 1-10 days or so, depending on the wind. There may be some red-leaved ornamentals among our 37[?] dwellings, but I’ve not counted. Also, there are lots of blue spruces, and a few white birch clumps. Redbuds and lots of other colorful trees cannot stand out winters.
Peace, emb
sand, I’m reminded of the Jimmy Buffett song “The Weather Is Here, Wish You Were Beautiful”.
Debbe 😉 I should have known I couldn’t sneak a music question from that era by you, shouldn’t I? “The Big Chill” it is. What you win is my undying love and affection. (You already had that, but don’t tell anyone.) 🙂
And yes, I can pretend you didn’t get it in one, and we can keep playing that game for a while. As you said, there were some good tunes in that flick. And in some other films, too.
Clue #2
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nZBKFoeDKJo
No one wants to be in Oklahoma in August, especially me! It has been hovering around 102 to 109 actual temps according to my Honda van which is pretty accurate. I have been entertaining myself with seeing medical personnel and shopping for summer clearance bargains inside air conditioned shopping venues. Not to say my house isn’t cool, it is, but I had to be out anyway.
Discovered I have moved downsized a little more, but I like to wear loose clothes except jeans which I like skinny and with stretch fabric so they move sizes easily.
That eight foot privacy fence out in back yard looks like I am putting in a drive-in theater, if anyone remembers those. I went and bought what I hope is the last lumber to finish it off at rhymes with woes today. I should have decided to buy jewelry instead of cedar fencing! I have decided I will get someone out to do an estimate on a swimming pool since I think few kids can scale this monster fence, especially if I run some electricity along the top cap rail!
Sat out in van and finished listening to a Dire Straits album. You guys hooked me big time. By the way, anyone here like Dr. Hook? I did and do. Oldies and moldies, I suspect.
More oldies stuff, I see that lettuce wedges with bleu cheese, bacon and pecans have made a comeback in restaurants, saw this trending more than a year ago but they have come into the chain sit down milleau and I like bleu cheese on anything. So I had one for dinner along with salmon and sauteed spinach, new potatoes and a tiny mini dessert. Treating myself well?
Love, Jackie
Love, Jackie
Where do (did?) you live that freeze-proof hydrants are used?
Oh yeah, “Sylvia’s Mother” and “On the Cover of the Rolling Stone”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fJu6Up9w2Hc