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

Est. 1985

Extra, Extra!

Spring Chicken

By Jimmy Johnson

March 7, 2005


As winter’s worst approaches, the lawn & garden centers are starting to bloom. Of course, the bedding plants, the stars of the show, are not out yet, but the big-box stores since New Year’s Day have been putting away the Christmas bling that first appeared on Labor Day and returning the lawn furniture to its rightful place. The coldest temperatures so far this year are forecast this week, but this classic A&J reminds me that we could use some new lawn chairs. I might have to go check it out! (Can you tell whom I identify with in the above?)


Recent Posts

Ghost of Christmas Past

This holiday Arlo & Janis comic strip from 2022 is similar in concept to the new strip that ran yesterday. I thought the latter ...

Spearhead

I have produced a number of comic strips related to Veteran’s Day. Especially in latter years, I have tried to emphasize the universal experience ...

Dark Passage

Remember: it’s that weekend. The return to standard time can be a bit of a shock in the late afternoon, but I rather enjoy ...

What’s old is old, again

You don’t have to be a rocket scientist to build a web site, but there are similarities. Everything needs to be just right, or ...

Back to the ol’ drawing board

I don’t have a lot of time this morning. I wasn’t going to post anything, but I’m tired of looking at that old photograph ...

Thursday’s Child

On Sunday, I teased you with the suggestion there are more changes coming here. There are. They will appear soon, and I think you’ll ...

46 responses to “Spring Chicken”

  1. emb Avatar
    emb

    That’s maybe a month away in Bemidji. If they have The Meadows’ private drive plowed out, & no public snowbank across our entryway, I may get to BUMC this morning.
    Peace,

    1. Jimmy Johnson Avatar

      I can’t even imagine having to take such things into account.

      1. sandcastler™ Avatar
        sandcastler™

        What emb describes is why we left the north woods for warmer climates. This AM is frigid 48° in Texas.

  2. joedon Avatar
    joedon

    Nice surprise on a cold sunday am in Boston. Just a few inches of snow last night. Last fall we threw away the old patio furniture to force us to get new ones. Just like JJ.

  3. Steve From Royal Oak, MI Avatar

    What’s Janis going to do with that pick axe?

    6″-7″ of snow in the Detroit area. First real snow here since Veterans Day….

    1. MontanaPhil Avatar
      MontanaPhil

      Steve, are you not married? It’s Valentine’s gift for Arlo.

      1. Steve From Royal Oak, MI Avatar

        That was a rhetorical question!!!

  4. MontanaPhil Avatar
    MontanaPhil

    It’s 29 this morning in western Montana and the snow doesn’t even cover the grass. At this rate I’ll be cutting the grass by a March.

  5. Ghost Avatar
    Ghost

    40 degrees F in eastern OK now, on the way to a toasty 47 degree high. Must admit that does seem toasty for this part of the country, this time of the year. IIRC, there’s only been one night here that the low dipped into the teens, and the only snowfall we’ve had barely met the criteria for a “snowfall”. Not that I’m paranoid, but that could soon change. As we used to say in the military, averages have a way of making themselves up. That’s why they are averages.

  6. Ghost Avatar
    Ghost

    Re 1-19-20 real-time cartoon: Arlo seemed particularly adamant about not having the noise machine set to “brook”. Perhaps he knew from experience that particular sound could activate his own “waterworks”. He might, though, have opted for “thunder”. I believe other cartoons have shown him getting an armful of Janis when there was a nearby lightning strike in the middle of the night.

    1. Mark in TTown Avatar
      Mark in TTown

      Although if you have pets scared of thunderstorms, that setting might give you more company than you want. One with a nice spring rain and other nature sounds works very well for sleeping.

    2. Sideburns Avatar

      My sister’s dog is terrified by lightning, hail, sleet or really heavy rain on our tin roof. My cat isn’t. In fact, the first time we had a hail storm in Colorado, he sat down by the glass door into the back and enjoyed the spectacle.

  7. Jerry in Fl Avatar
    Jerry in Fl

    Help! I’m using a kindel paaperwhite that I got for Christmas and I’ve been doing ok aalthough I know almost nothing about iy. I’m on the wi-fi networks page and can’t find my books. Most of the symbols on the toolbar at the top are not doing anything. It’s charged so that’s not the problem. I’m at the comfort Inn in Biloxi so stop by JJ.

    1. Ghost Avatar
      Ghost

      Sorry, Jerry…I have a first generation Kindle around somewhere, but it’s been so long since I used anything but the Kindle reading app on PCs or tablets, that about all I remember how to do is turn it on. You sure yours is connected to the motel WiFi?

  8. Ghost Avatar
    Ghost

    Remember some years ago when dentists would slap a set of earphones over one’s ears and hand one a volume control when one climbed into the chair, allowing one to pipe white noise or music (which was sometimes difficult to tell apart) into one’s head, with the idea being that sufficiently loud sound would override one’s pain reflex and eliminate the need for deadening agents during dental procedures? Yeah, neither do I.

  9. Jerry in Fl Avatar
    Jerry in Fl

    ghost, it appears to be.

  10. Old Bear Avatar
    Old Bear

    We only had about 5″ but it is hard to measure. There is no snow in most of the drive but
    the end 20 feet is 3 feet deep.
    And the other drift is over the top of the snow fence.
    .
    It is supposed to get to a balmy 6º above.

  11. curmudgeonly ex-professor Avatar
    curmudgeonly ex-professor

    Have y’all read of the recent snow in St. Johns, Newfoundland? Weather.com reports 30 inches in one day, with winds of 97 mph!! The drifts shown go up to the second stories, with lots of first floor doors opening into solid snow walls…no daylight seen. Brrrr.

    1. Ruth Anne in Winter Park Avatar
      Ruth Anne in Winter Park

      Thanks! I wanted to post it for our friends here who aren’t fond of spellcheckers.

    2. Galliglo of Ohio Avatar
      Galliglo of Ohio

      A great one, Mark!

      1. Mark in TTown Avatar
        Mark in TTown

        It’s Ruth Anne’s, Galliglo. She mentioned on Facebook that she couldn’t get it to post here, so I tried it and it worked.

  12. Jerry in Fl Avatar
    Jerry in Fl

    Gadget is working now. I had to talk to it properly. It’s about 50 here and will be in the low 30’s tonight.

  13. TruckerRon Avatar

    I don’t know when homonyms become homophones, but my wife and I have been finding them in our local paper for years since the advent of word processors and spell checkers. In fact, I’ve been known to shout at MS Word’s grammar checker… the folks that created it don’t know grammar as well as this grandpa.

  14. Galliglo of Ohio Avatar
    Galliglo of Ohio

    Thanks for the Sunday post, Jimmy! I notice you have been more active on FB. Yes – we need to get more Villagers!

  15. Old Bear Avatar
    Old Bear

    I have a problem with Word Spell Check
    While making a list – I type a word or two (to, too, tutu) then cut and paste.
    The first set is passed but the second set is marked as misspelled. ?? What gives?
    .
    {“The only time Misspelled is not misspelled is when it is Misspelled”} 🙂

  16. emb Avatar
    emb

    Progress: Predicted hi W22Jr = 31F. Not sure our Jr thaw this yr w/b in Jr. Of course, could be in some S-facing hollow on a recent windless clear day, but no thermometer.
    Peace,

  17. Mark in TTown Avatar
    Mark in TTown

    Here in Tulsa it was 25 when I got up at 0530. Now at 0930 it has risen one whole degree to 26.

  18. emb Avatar
    emb

    Found a graph & went back through Jr. Official hi 5Jr 2020 was 32F, & 36F 6Jr 2020. Back in the ’50s-’70s, Jr thaws were rare. Peace,

  19. emb Avatar
    emb

    Lots of snow this winter, starting back about Thanksgiving. Unusual alternation of lake freezes & snowfall has left a sequence of unreliable & inconsistent snow and ice layers. Usually by now there is a “village” of ice-houses [for angling & spearing] near the Miss. R. inlet, & a temporary pkg lot of cars by BSU. Neither is there now. One pickup went through the ice couple of weeks back; shallow bottom, nobody hurt, pulled out successfully. Common occurrence in MN lakes. Days are getting longer.
    Peace,

  20. web hosting and Avatar

    Hello there! Do you use Twitter? I’d like to follow you if that would be ok.
    I’m definitely enjoying your blog and look forward to
    new posts.

  21. t.co Avatar

    Very great post. I simply stumbled upon your weblog and wanted to say that I
    have truly loved browsing your weblog posts. After all I’ll be subscribing for
    your rss feed and I hope you write again very soon!

  22. t.co Avatar

    Hi, I read your blogs like every week. Your writing style is awesome, keep it
    up!

  23. scoliosis surgery there Avatar

    I blog frequently and I really thank you for your content.

    This article has truly peaked my interest. I am going to book mark your blog and keep checking for new information about once a
    week. I opted in for your Feed as well.

  24. that asmr Avatar

    It’s amazing in support of me to have a web page, which is good in favor of my experience.
    thanks admin