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

Est. 1985

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Reaping What We Sow

By Jimmy Johnson

2004-08-03-made-in-usa.gif

(Cartoonist’s note: I’m repeating another post today, from 10 years ago. It’s a busy week, and I’m doing this instead of simply skipping a day, as is my wont. I do go to some length to show you something I consider worthwhile.)

I don’t know about the rest of the country, but the American south not long ago was littered with what were generically known as “sewing plants.” It wouldn’t be much of an exaggeration to say most towns had one, an almost invisible manufacturing facility tucked away in a second- or thirdhand warehouse where an endless array of sewn goods, from baseball caps to shirts to throw pillows, were produced. Mostly women worked in these places, for not much money, but the plants did provide a significant number of jobs in a lot of towns. We’re not talking long ago, but sewing plants are mostly gone now, to other countries. I don’t know the moral of this story, but I do know having a low-paying, unappreciated job does not mean it won’t be taken away from you.

(addendum: There was a sewing plant in an old cotton warehouse, visible from my front porch. About the time I originally posted the above , it closed. A few years later, the roof fell in. A couple of years ago, they tore it down. I guess I get my ideas on my front porch.)
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71 responses to “Reaping What We Sow”

  1. Ghost Avatar
    Ghost

    Antony Bourdain is dead at 61, of an apparent suicide. RIP, Chef.

  2. Ghost Avatar
    Ghost

    Anthony Bourdain…

  3. emb Avatar
    emb

    Last post was almost 12 hr. ago. Someone hex this site? Peace,

  4. curmudgeonly ex-professor Avatar
    curmudgeonly ex-professor

    New (to me) bird outside window, eating seeds a few hours ago: size lies between an ordinary sparrow and a robin, maybe a little bigger than a cardinal. Back is a deep brown with no visible markings; belly is lighter, but could not see much of it. What caught my eye was the color of the head and neck: something I can only call “silver”. That color stops sharply where the deep brown begins at the shoulder. I have never seen such a distinctly silvery tone like this one; it is not merely a grey.

    Little to go on, eMb, but maybe you have a clue….

  5. curmudgeonly ex-professor Avatar
    curmudgeonly ex-professor

    Perhaps a grey color with a sheen on it?

  6. Ruth Anne in Winter Park Avatar
    Ruth Anne in Winter Park

    cx-p: Did a quick flip through my bird book and couldn’t find much to match that description. Mourning warbler is probably too small. Dark-eyed junco is a possibility.

  7. Old Bear Avatar
    Old Bear

    If it were Gold I would say Cowbird?

  8. emb Avatar
    emb

    c x–p, Ruth Anne:

    Nothing normal comes to mind. The abnormal is possible; e.g., here at the Meadows once saw a robin, perhaps male, that was grey where normal would have been brick– red. If it were winter and you were in the NE, I’d suggest you look up Fieldfare [Turdus pilaris], member of the same genus as Amer. Robin, T. migratorius. Fieldfares are European accidentals reported mostly from NE in winter. But, birds fly.

    Decades back, at the old house, a male Common Grackle with white cheeks was around for several days.

    Browse the “Big” Peterson Field Guide to Birds of N.A. if you can find a copy. Too big for your pocket, but they are all there. Its NA does not incl. Mexico, though there are several Mex. birds in the book. Much of my current “bird–watching” goes on in the copy under the table to my immediate L, by Modern Library’s complete G&S and other bibles.

    Peace,

  9. Old Bear Avatar
    Old Bear

    Had an all white Robin here last (’17) Spring.
    Did not see it in summer.

  10.  Avatar
    Anonymous

    Ghost and I got tired of eating out really tired. My radiation is daily at 8 a.m. and an hour drive. We eat out after. By dinner i am wioed out place in town shut down

    This week I decided I would rather eat a peanut butter at home than pick a restaurant on lessor if two weevils.

    I made tacos one night, quesadillas another. Ghost made steak one, beef enchiladas tonight. I am making smothered pork chops next and have no idea his next choice.

    We help each other where asked and it works out somehow. The only Mexican joint in town closed months ago.

  11.  Avatar
    Anonymous

    Off to bake cream biscuits for breakfast.

  12.  Avatar
    Anonymous

    Setved woth fresh strawberries and real whipped cream these biscuits become shortcKe. Who knew?

  13. emb Avatar
    emb

    I sure didn’t, but it sounds like you should say grace. Peace,

  14. Mark in TTown Avatar
    Mark in TTown

    I knew. I ate at a country restaurant in Alabama that used their biscuits in strawberry shortcake. MM-good

  15. Llee Avatar

    sounds great! 🙂

  16. Ghost Avatar
    Ghost

    Noted that newly-wed Prince Harry road in a coach rather than on horseback in today’s annual Trooping of The Colour. My first thought…that he might have pulled a groin muscle on his honeymoon…was apparently not correct. Only members of the royal family that hold the position of Royal Colonel are so privileged. Who knew?

  17. Jackie Monies Avatar
    Jackie Monies

    Ghost made homemade nachos tonight, the first i have daten. He also made beef and cheese enchiladas which I had never eateneither. We both love Tex Mex so this is interesting. Maybe I can make chills replenish for us?

  18. emb Avatar
    emb

    Ran across this in today’s AWAD.Mail:

    In his retirement speech, Sydney xxx, Prof. and University Librarian Emeritus at Harvard, said “I’m hoping to get some time off so that I can get some work done.” Submitter said college faculty were the only ones likely to say that.

    Just learned that submitter has a double tt. Didn’t even know it was a word, so made it up. Eccl: “There is nothing new under the sun,” or words to that effect. Learned that from folks long before I knew of Ecclesiastes. Good book.

    Peace,

  19. Rick in Shermantown, Ohio Avatar
    Rick in Shermantown, Ohio

    Made in the USA:

    Yesterday afternoon, I found a reasonably-priced, high-quality, all-cotton bath towel at Walmart.

    I am glad to say that it was made here in the states.

    I am also glad to say that I found many other items that bore the “Made in USA” label.

  20. emb Avatar
    emb

    Breathed obviously doesn’t know how rabbits copulate, or chooses to ignore that. Also, some readers [not Villagers] won’t get the joke in the Sunday “Shoe.”

    https://www.gocomics.com/academiawaltz/2018/06/10

    Peace,

  21.  Avatar
    Anonymous

    Chile rellenos