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

Est. 1985

Extra, Extra!

Rearranged Marriage

By Jimmy Johnson



Buy the new book, "Beaucoup Arlo & Janis!"Today's "Arlo & Janis!"
Today I’m posting a two-fer from 10 years ago. I’ve been doing a lot of this sort of thing myself lately, thinking of ways to expand my studio, which is a small downstairs room in my house that is overflowing with, well… I’m not sure what all this crap is, but suffice to say it’s “overflowing.” In 30 years of drawing Arlo & Janis I have had only one perfect studio space, the entire upstairs of a small Tudor-style house I lived in briefly in the 90s. Of course, this situation is my own doing. My lack of organizational skills and my relative indifference to clutter have turned many an adequate room into a dysfunctional fire trap. Well, if I say so myself, this year’s resolutions are holding strong, and I’m determined to transform my current workspace, albeit small. Maybe I’ll post pictures as I go!

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141 responses to “Rearranged Marriage”

  1. Mark in TTown Avatar
    Mark in TTown

    Jackie, not giant angry beavers. Ordinary ones we got. Saw one cross the 4 lane road near our Winn Dixie last year. Funny thing is, there is no body of water there. Guess he was hunting new territory. Saw swampy area created by beavers in a state park in TN, too. Didn’t see the beavers but saw the chew marks on standing trees they hadn’t gotten yet.

    We have had possums eating our dry cat food outdoors, too. But haven’t seen them doing it lately. The cats will not go near them though. Smart cats.

  2. Mark in TTown Avatar
    Mark in TTown

    sandcastler ™, how about this rule for bra holsters? Don’t put in them any weapons you weren’t born with.

  3. sandcastler™ Avatar
    sandcastler™

    Mark, I have always thought of bras as bait traps.

    After this evenings fireside chat, I am having concerns if we could behave in Camp Hill long enough to build an artist retreat for JJ.

  4. Jackie Monies Avatar
    Jackie Monies

    What? In hard hats and tool belts?

  5. Jackie Monies Avatar
    Jackie Monies

    Y’all made me forget what I was going to ask: I am looking at a map of the coastal region of Mississippi-Alabama since I will be heading that direction the end of February and I notice the Sandhill Cranes wildlife refuge there. I suppose the cranes will all be up in Nebraska with John in Richmond about then, right? Anyone visited the Mississippi refuge?

  6. Mark in TTown Avatar
    Mark in TTown

    Here’s a web link for the Mississippi refuge, Jackie: http://www.fws.gov/refuges/profiles/index.cfm?id=43615

    It says they have a non-migratory population of over 100 sandhill cranes. So you can see cranes, even in February.

    Remember Barq’s root beer? The way it used to taste till Coke bought them out. Used to get it when we lived in Longview, TX. Umm. Still better than most.

  7. Old Bear Avatar
    Old Bear

    JJ
    Do you work on horizontal surface or one that is tilted?
    I guess i was implying tilted was OK because it is more difficult to
    pile thing deep. ( without doing some serious engineering )

  8. Old Bear Avatar
    Old Bear

    Sand
    GR6, keep purchasing doo dads, you’ll need to upgrade your pants. Next trip to post office should be for these, https://www.duluthtrading.com/store/mens/workwear/fire-hose/fh-work-clothes.aspx?all&processor=content&src=G001099&admkt=&gclid=Cj0KEQiAjZGnBRCOuJOUo9Xd0sUBEiQAPbicNxfxdsN-_mYb6iarM4OVD3Rw9UXTT_QBSpB0EKeOmFIaAp308P8HAQ

    Add a couple pairs of the Buck Naked undies to complete the ensemble. ????

    They do have nice long t shirts (which they advertise ingeniously) that fit me but at
    $30 each I will pass. Their galluses are slick too with the way they attach to the belt-
    non metal so pass airport security.

  9. Charlotte in NH Avatar
    Charlotte in NH

    Dear David in Austin, very happy to hear your news. Wishing, with everybody here, for a return to full working order, and that you will feel stronger and more like yourself. Thank you for sending us a report, for we all want to know.

    Love, Charlotte

    Also sending love to Debbe, Jackie, Ghost, Mindy from Indy, and other friends … I am thinking of you. Galliglo, is life treating you kindly?

  10. Jackie Monies Avatar
    Jackie Monies

    But you could still strangle the pilot with them, right? I bet Sand and Ghost know how to kill six ways with a pair of suspenders, with or without metal attachments!

    Mark, you will not believe this but we used to do floral arrangements in six pack cartons of sodas, Barqs being one we used. If we did bud vases, we would empty one bottle and use it for flowers while leaving the remainder full to deliver, Someone had to drink the extra bottle so we could wash it and put floral preservative in to arrange the flowers.

    I have to remember to find my binoculars for this trip. It is hard to watch wildlife or birds without them usually.

    Love, Jackie

  11. Jackie Monies Avatar
    Jackie Monies

    Charlotte, when the snow melts I am coming your way this summer. Do you think it will all be gone by end of June and July 4th?

    Love, Jackie

  12. Old Bear Avatar
    Old Bear

    Mindy from Indy

    If I recall – and it was quite awhile ago now, Juliette was warned the old man was a tale spinner
    of the worst kind (to put it mildly).

  13. Old Bear Avatar
    Old Bear

    Jackie
    Just found a pamphlet by Quaker Table Cloths about table setting – very interesting verbiage.
    This has no copyright date but is from late 50s(?) Mentions the “Jet Age”.
    The thing is every picture (b&w) has a floral arrangement, usually described. And warning to keep them low so people could talk across table.

    David more prayers

  14. Old Bear Avatar
    Old Bear

    Friend of 50 years stepped on the rainbow yesterday. He was 95.
    GR6 and Sand would be interested in that he returned a souvenir sword, (that he picked up in Japan at the end of WWII), to it’s owner’s son in a ceremony last year. It had 2 tags on it which I have been told is rare.
    It was on the News here in the Twin Cities.

  15. Jackie Monies Avatar
    Jackie Monies

    I love old magazines and booklets like that designed for the housewife, homemaker. People did have floral arrangements for every dinner party and often for weekends, like Sundays or at all holidays. Center piece design was still a big deal up into the late 80’s.

    One of my favorite things we did was to make all the floral arrangements for the University of Houston’s chancellor and among those parties was the decorating of the University of Houston’s sky box in the Astrodome for each football game. Now comes the interesting part:

    Each arrangement had to be done in only the school colors, red and white but were not to resemble a Valentine’s bouquet in the least.

    Each was to be done in “high style” design, ie. a form of modern art in flowers

    Each was to be only so many inches tall, as the chancellor was a short man and wanted clear visible eye contact

    Each was to be masculine but employ no “cute” elements like football picks, etc.

    Can’t remember how many tables we did (a lot) but each arrangement had to be completely identical to each other.

  16. Ghost Rider 6 Avatar
    Ghost Rider 6

    Your educational dollars at work.

    OK, somebody had to do it…

    http://milkywaytshirts.com/media/catalog/product/cache/1/image/650x/040ec09b1e35df139433887a97daa66f/s/a/save_a_tree_eat_a_beaver_tshirt_girl_women_tee_funny_gift_sex.jpg

    Debbe 😉 Have a good day and try not to get augered too bad.

  17. Jackie Monies Avatar
    Jackie Monies

    Are we talking about me making floral centerpieces for the chancellor’s parties or the eat a beaver tee shirt?

    Making centerpieces for university presidents is what began my floral design career. I was a botanical plant classification and herberium specimen mounter but when someone had to make a corsage, wrap a plant and put bows on them or make centerpieces, guess who had to do it?
    The only girl/woman in the department!

    That eat a beaver joke was around in the 196o’s along with some other scatological “jokes”.

    Love, Jackie

  18. Jackie Monies Avatar
    Jackie Monies

    You probably don’t want to know about the butler and the bartenders, serving staff for the chancellor’s sky box either then? And the liquor and bar and dinner menu?

  19. Ghost Rider 6 Avatar
    Ghost Rider 6

    Someone’s tuition dollars at work.

  20. Debbe Avatar
    Debbe

    Good frigid morning Villagers….

    Emb…getting a taste of what you experience in weather….minus 9 with a wind chill of minus 25 right now. Eeee..haaa!!!!

    GR 😉 saw that ‘saying’ on a bumper sticker once…almost lost control of my car 🙂

    Left the hen house with window only open an inch and only 8 fans running, it was 70 degrees in there when I left….will probably see ice as we did the other morning formed around the openings. I can call the number and it will give me the temp inside the building..but I can wait. The other morning while walking down one of the middle aisles, I spied a dark moving object…I thought “too big for a mouse” then it took off flying. $hit….that is a ‘cardinal’ rule….no birds. Told my boss and he said the same thing “Oh, $hit….” then he asks ” does it look sick”…..I just shook my head….said “I can’t tell, it’s flying though”. Haven’t seen it but one other time that day….must have hit the pit, I hope.

    David….prayers are still with you. Keep up your spirits, it does well in the healing process.

    Gal….type something and let us know how you are doing.

    Ya’ll have a blessed day……

  21. Debbe Avatar
    Debbe

    you have to wait a couple of seconds on this one 🙂

    http://cheezburger.com/8448850688

    and the rest of the lol pics are pretty good too…enjoy

  22. Debbe Avatar
    Debbe

    Miss Charlotte…the first person I thought of in that little video was you….all that snow. Still doing oK in your “confinement’?

  23. Debbe Avatar
    Debbe

    edit….first post….windows, not window…..very important to have more than one window open!!

  24. Denise in Michigan Avatar
    Denise in Michigan

    David, good to hear those couple of items have been checked off your To-Do List! Thank you for sharing how things are going; I know many here have you in their thoughts and prayers. I know, too, that we are a curious people in the Village, and appreciate learning just how this transplant and recovery business works.

    In today’s real-time, Robin has Jimmy’s sense of humor!

    Debbe, was Max Lucado the author you recommended to me a while back?

  25. sandcastler™ Avatar
    sandcastler™

    David, charge on!

    As for the daily offering, run Janis its an ambush!

    Jackie, I’ve done my share of environmental work and saved many a fine tree. 😉