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

Est. 1985

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Reasoning and Railing

By Jimmy Johnson


Buy the new book, "Beaucoup Arlo & Janis!"Today's "Arlo & Janis!"

Today, from 2004, a companion strip to yesterday’s new-year’s ruminations. What kind of house do Arlo and Janis live in? Sometimes, it has a small deck out back, evidently in need of repair. It definitely has a patio somewhere in the backyard. It is clapboard sided, with a garage. It is federal blue, sort of, and has a short flight of steps up to a nominal landing in front. It has a TV room that opens to the kitchen via an open archway. It is two-story, with an unfinished attic. Beyond that, you know about as much as I.

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90 responses to “Reasoning and Railing”

  1.  Avatar
    Anonymous

    Note to self, learn to iron again, at least the pillowcases. Downtown Abbey servants actually “serve”. Today they hide the evidence. Hal changed that word. In today’s world is no one supposed to be a servant? Guess not, my bunch seems to think I want to adopt them like I do the stray cats.

    I’m not that lonely yet. Those are the words from a country song.

    About clothes. Almost anything that remains will fit me so that is not an issue. Question is would I wear it or am I just archiving it for a little longer? Same thing on anything else I own. Wait Jimmy did a bunch of strips on this didn’t he? Thought so, just about this time of year too.

  2. Debbe Avatar
    Debbe

    Good morning Villagers…

    JJ has been getting deep in his commentary from yesterday to the retro above. Slid it right in there didn’t you? Love the ‘fence’ giving in…..another ‘bump’ in life.

    David, sorry about the mix up, should pay closer attention, might have to start taking notes 🙂

    Mark, will have to go back and reread the article I sped read until the final paragraph, and life goes on.

    Steve and Jean, yes it could have been worse….and I thought worse too. Like a new furnace. And you are right, I’ve not seen the bill, so I don’t know what was wrong….my husband keeps this house running….and he does a wonderful job.

    Well, two sewn belts done and about a half a dozen or more to go. Getting little eggs from the girls. Told the Boss I had to dry off two cages of hens because of water leaks, they were saturated. He said, ‘I’m not paying you to dry off hens, but I do appreciate your concern.”

    And another auger (same one we had trouble with a couple of weeks ago) came out. The Boss had me follow him to watch where he could pin point the trouble. He used a hooked rod and pulled on the auger to see if it was caught in the feeding tubes, motors….and I’m thinking….you’re nuts if you think I’m going to play with augers….like your eggs, you don’t pay me enough 🙂 that’s what I thought, but didn’t say.

    Jackie, you iron pillow cases???? I haven’t had an iron in my hand in many, many, years….since Mom owned the bridal shop. Ever try ironing a bridal gown when the steamer would not get the wrinkles out….swore I’d never iron again.

    Jerry…..cheezeburger.com can be very addictive….I know, I remember when I first discover that site…..you should see my screen saver 🙂

    If it’s Wednesday, Happy Hump Day….

  3. Rick in Shermantown, Ohio Avatar
    Rick in Shermantown, Ohio

    Arlo and Janis’s house:

    That settles it. They live here in my town.

  4. Debbe Avatar
    Debbe

    GR 😉 I think the following link, which I have never heard of, follows the line of the above comments…..I was curious about the group’s name and song title….

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EGikhmjTSZI

  5.  Avatar
    Anonymous

    Good morning Debbe. I finally did it, stayed up until you got up for work. I hate wrinkled anything. What the heck are they making bed linens out of nowadays? They look worse than my dish rags.

    I am enjoying Janis’s walk. Funny.

    Raining all night here. Finally going to bed, have to move a cat and dog. Good night.

  6. Debbe Avatar
    Debbe

    Now if this cat could cross his legs 🙂

    https://i.imgur.com/Q5yXZZh.webm

  7. Jerry in Fl Avatar
    Jerry in Fl

    That’s an Elvis cat, but I’ve never seen him do that. Elvis had a female orange cat that used to visit, but I haven’t seen her recently.

  8.  Avatar
    Anonymous

    Debbe, when I was a young kid I learned to iron anything. We ironed sheets, table clothes, my grandfather’s underwear, jeans, work clothes, aprons, sunbonnets, Granny’s underwear and slips, dresses, my can can petticoats, all starched.

    And dresser scarves. A lot of dresser scarves and curtains. Just like in Hooter Villegas and Little House on the Prairie. How charming?

  9. emb Avatar
    emb

    Today’s TIP BlogSpot is cute, p.c. [I think], and might also be titled, ‘Mein Hut der hat drei Ecken.’

    http://thatispriceless.blogspot.com/

    Peace, emb

  10. Steve From Royal Oak, MI Avatar

    I enjoyed today’s strip very much. Often I answer the question about the weather in the same way. At least in Detroit we can say “How about those Lions” Since they have not won a championship since I was one year old, they are pretty consistent.

    Now if they win the Super Bowl, Hell will freeze over and we are back to the political question!

  11.  Avatar
    Anonymous

    I keep looking for the like button. My SIL is a Lions fan.

  12. Trapper Jean Avatar
    Trapper Jean

    Well, the furnace guys came out, and about an hour later and a new thermostat and some tinkering with the outside unit and we have heat again. Yay! It only cost us $264, and they *think* the problem is fixed and we shouldn’t have any more problems. sigh…

  13.  Avatar
    Anonymous

    “…er hat….”

  14.  Avatar
    Anonymous

    Hired two new minions whose mama is assistant manager at $$ General and works for my male friend who left Wally World years ago and runs a tight, impeccable store. Her work ethics are good. Will have daughter and niece singly or together with mom as backup. Store is one mile from my house.

    They will be here early in morning to pick up where others stopped.

    In meantime, I am working a,one and very enlightening.

  15. emb Avatar
    emb

    Jackie: Is “…er hat… .” a request for a translation? emb

  16. Mark in TTown Avatar
    Mark in TTown

    Jackie, is Hooter Villegas, Petticoat Junction when shown on Univision?

  17. Mark in TTown Avatar
    Mark in TTown

    The Hat on my Head has Three Corners. Close enough, emb?

  18. David in Austin Avatar
    David in Austin

    From the song, “My hat it has three corners, (three corners has my hat.)” Carnival of Venice– of course, now I have that echoing through my brain as an ear-worm!

    As far as romancing my wife, for now she thinks it is romantic enough for me to stay OUT of the hospital.

    However, for the year: In May a trip to Sedona, Arizona, then The Grand Canyon. That was followed in July by a trip to Estes Park, Colorado, with very limited distance hikes (longest was about 1/2 mile, with about 200 feet change in elevation, and both crutches). In October we drove to Grand Junction, Colorado to see fall colors and visit my daughter & son-in-law. In November we went deer hunting back in Texas, where she sat with me in the deer stand every morning. I shot a 10-point 200-lb whitetail buck. Over Thanksgiving we traveled back to Colorado, where we rode snowmobiles on the Grand Mesa, watched elk in the valleys near Gateway, Colorado, then soaked in the hot springs pool in Ouray, Colorado. Finally, for our anniversary on New Year’s Eve, we traveled to Memphis and watched the Arkansas Razorbacks thrash the K-State Wildcats in the Liberty Bowl on January 2nd.

    A beach trip is probably next up, but no tent camping. We have a nice camper trailer that we bought so we could travel while I was still on dialysis. It has a sitting area with recliners which was where I did dialysis when we traveled. If Elise didn’t work in tax, we might come down to Port A for the wooden boat build. Not much time available in the spring, though.

    Finally, on container gardening, I use something called an Earthbox. It is a container with a built-in reservoir to be sure plant get consistent water. Google “Earthbox” for more information. It isn’t good for underground produce, but does wonderfully for above ground stuff. Grow bags are a good choice for potatoes, I’m told. Can do it by adding soil or decomposed straw/hay in layers as the plant grows. Since the bags are one use, just cut a hole in the side near the bottom to pull new potatoes. Harvest by dumping the bags and picking up potatoes!

    We have lot’s of saved-up adventuring to catch up on from all the time I was on dialysis. My health still isn’t great, but it is at least better than it was AND I’m not tied to a dialysis machine.

  19. David in Austin Avatar
    David in Austin

    In penultimate paragraph, either “plant gets” or “plants get”. I hate it when subject and verb disagree!

  20.  Avatar

    My comment didn’t appear. Rats.

  21. Jerry in Fl Avatar
    Jerry in Fl

    Got shelves in my shop. Yay! Now to get rid of unneeded furniture.

  22. emb Avatar
    emb

    Yep, 3-cornered hat on the ground reminded me. German college drinking song, Carnival of Venice tune. Do current Studenten do this? Probably beer in one hand and ‘mobile device’ in other. At one time, of course, all urban males wore them, British Isles, Continent, 13 colonies.

    Mein Hut der hat drei Ecken,
    Drei Ecken hat mein Hut,
    Und hat er[?] nicht drei Ecken,
    Dann ist es nicht mein Hut.

    Now you can all have ear-worms. Not sure about proper pronoun in line 3. Think the rest is ok. ‘Mein Hut drei Ecken’ should get a proper site.

    Peace, emb

  23. emb Avatar
    emb

    Searched, but only lyrics available had slightly different . Family and I learned the song, decades back, from an Eric Kunz LP of German drinking songs. Kunz and chorus were Austrian.

    Mein Hut, der hat drei Ecken,
    drei Ecken hat mein Hut.
    Und hätt‘ er nicht drei Ecken,
    so wär’s auch nicht mein Hut.

    Last line translates roughly, ‘It would not be my hat.’

    Most sites called, or showed it as, a children’s song, accompanied by gestures. Now we know more than we did. Favorite botany prof at Cornell U. often said, ‘The more you know, the better off you are.’ There are, of course, exceptions; he knew that. Peace, emb

  24. emb Avatar
    emb

    ‘a slightly different ending.’

  25. Ghost Rider 6 Avatar
    Ghost Rider 6

    I have no doubt whatsoever that, somewhere on the InterWebNet, some nerd has posted to-scale blueprints of the Day’s house he or she drew. However, I am more interested in how the structure is sited on its lot and how large the lot is. For example…

    http://www.gocomics.com/arloandjanis/1999/05/07