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

Est. 1985

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The Golden Years

By Jimmy Johnson

Buy the new book, "Beaucoup Arlo & Janis!"Today's "Arlo & Janis!"
This old A&J from five years ago reminds me: I need to make an appointment with my dermatologist for a look/see. Which further reminds me, I need to get a dermatologist. I’m afraid of what I’ll hear; when I think of the hours I spent lying on a blanket in the broiling sun, I marvel I’m still around. Of course, for most of us guys the object was to drink beer all day and be around scantily clad women, who were the serious sun worshippers. Now, I get my vitamin D in reasonable doses, working in the garden, messing about with boats and always covering up responsibly—as do the women around me. I don’t drink beer all day anymore, either. *sigh*

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300 responses to “The Golden Years”

  1. Jerry in Fl Avatar
    Jerry in Fl

    My flip phone has been dropped on the pavement many times and still works as well as ever. Of course, I could run over it and it would still work as well as ever. I was surprised today to see a picture of my house on the front page of the local fishwrapper in a story about zoning. It really had nothing to do with me though. Fewer but stronger earthquakes. What does it mean?

  2. Ghost Rider 6 Avatar
    Ghost Rider 6

    More earthquake damage but occurring less often? πŸ™‚

    My $700 smart phone does everything superbly, except for providing clear and intelligible telephone calls. My cheapo flip phone fills that gap, however.

  3. Jackie Monies Avatar
    Jackie Monies

    The earthquakes have moved to Oklahoma. Had one yesterday, another today. My husband used to joke about California that we would end up with oceanfront property in Oklahoma.

    We may yet!

    Love, Jackie Monies

  4. Jackie Monies Avatar
    Jackie Monies

    Vitiligo hits dark skinned/black people badly. My best friend had it and she said her twin (deceased) did too. So does lupus. It is confusing to people that dark skinned people cannot be in sun.

    Michael Jackson also had lupus. I have two Caucasian friends who have it, along with either RA or another of the autoimmune diseases. Both are florists. We used to joke that there was something about florists that made them have no immune system but I just think they are often women who have higher incidence.

    Love, Jackie Monies

  5. Ghost Rider 6 Avatar
    Ghost Rider 6

    Four words for people who think earthquakes are just a West Coast phenomenon…New Madrid Fault Line.

  6. David in Austin Avatar
    David in Austin

    But Ghost, which side of the New Madrid is going to fall into the ocean? Recent news says there may be a major quake (catagory 6 or above) within 50 years. They don’t really know what is causing the fault there, though. It isn’t at a plate boundary, where we normally expect and study earthquakes.
    Β 
    Here is one link: http://bigstory.ap.org/article/study-new-madrid-fault-zone-alive-and-active-0

  7. Jackie Monies Avatar
    Jackie Monies

    Went and read about Arkansas earthquakes. I remember my grandmother talking about a great earthquake in Arkansas. She wasn’t born until 1898, so I was trying to guess which it was? We lived in north Louisiana and she was probably in central LA during that time.

    Since I live near the McAlester, OK ammo dump and they blow up ordinances, it is hard to tell if we are being shaken by earthquake or the government. Or is it the same, no matter where shake comes from?

    Love, Jackie Monies

  8. Mark in TTown Avatar
    Mark in TTown

    ursen, here is what I upgraded to in December: http://www.att.com/shop/wireless/devices/lg/optimus-g-pro-white.html#fbid=_nrb0UH8FQL

    I like it a lot, because I can do most of what I need to with it. I actually got mine thru Amazon because at the time, it was only $25 instead of the carrier’s price of $99.99. Got a protective case thru A as well. Carrying cases are a little harder, but if it will fit a Samsung Galaxy III it will probably fit this. It is big enough to make a good E-reader too.

  9. Llee Avatar

    VM, didn’t you use the blog for research on your thesis? How did that turn out? It’s nice that you missed us and came back.

    JJ- so funny, new and old. Thank you!

  10. sideburns Avatar

    David, every place is earthquake country if you wait long enough. On health issues, I just learned, yesterday, that I have a kidney stone sitting in my bladder, but they’re not going to try to help me pass it. It seems that 3 centimeters is a tad too large for that. Surgery will be required, but not hospitalization. I’ll keep you all posted, if I remember.

  11. Debbe Avatar
    Debbe

    On topic here…on TDS…did anyone read them…fired up, they are; but one stood out. Gonna save you the trouble…but to get the full effect you should read/scan thru them.

    My one good out loud today

    katzenbooks45! said, about 5 hours ago

    “Two tin cans and a string was good enough back in my day! And get off my lawn!”

  12. Debbe Avatar
    Debbe

    …and no , I did not work…but I did have a very pleasant visit with Mom.

    good night….

  13. Debbe Avatar
    Debbe

    …and, GR ;), I live in the yellow zone of the Madrid Fault line….and have actually experienced “the earth moved” twice in my 22,228 days of life πŸ˜‰

    later….maybe

  14. Debbe Avatar
    Debbe

    …and, GR πŸ˜‰ , you should have seen this coming!!

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hoHuxpa4h48

  15. Debbe Avatar
    Debbe

    Sideburns…you have my sympathy….passing a kidney stone is like giving birth, be glad they’re removing it surgically…don’t they sometimes blast them with laser? Think pain meds.

  16. sideburns Avatar

    Debbie, I’m not allowed to take most pain meds because they’re also blood thinners, and mine’s too thin already. (chronic low platelet count) And as far as earthquakes go, I’ve lost count, but I have vivid memories of both the Whittier Narrows Quake and (even more) the Northridge Quake, along with its month or so of aftershocks.

  17. Mark in TTown Avatar
    Mark in TTown

    Debbe, yes they are very painful. 5 and counting. There are two basic methods to break them up. One is putting you in a tub of water and using ultrasonic waves targeted at the spot. The other is passing an instrument to fragment it through the urethra via catheter and doing it endoscopically.

  18. Steve from Royal Oak, Mi Avatar

    Jackie:

    The autopsy on Michael Jackson did state that he had Vitiligo, but not Lupus. He may have been trying to bleach his skin, which may or may not have happened when the Vitiligo started to occur.

  19. Galliglo from Ohio Avatar
    Galliglo from Ohio

    Llee: I don’t know why I hadn’t noticed before now that your screen name is a link. I clicked – and I was blown away by your art! I actually got a lump in my throat. I am in awe…

  20. Llee Avatar

    Aww, thanks Galliglo! I’m very glad you like it. πŸ™‚ I haven’t had the link for long, still trying to figure out how to work the website thing. A lot of learning curves. But again0 glad you enjoyed it!

    Wait, you did enjoy it right…. didn’t get a lump in the throat because of gagging over bad work…right?

    πŸ™‚ Have a great day everyone.

  21. Mindy from Indy Avatar
    Mindy from Indy

    Debbe – Yes, Kokomo. Only sub-tropical in summer though. The humidity is awful. Still no A/C at work during the day. Finally decided to look you up.

    Flip phone v Smart phone: There is another option people often forget: the middle guy. My phone has a pull out keyboard (I have given up the notion of not texting.), and I *could* add limited smart functions, and add an app or two, but isn’t touch screen. I have a touch screen Tracphone for the places Verizon doesn’t work (My old hometown) and I frequently hang up on people by mistake. The arguement for a “smart phone” is gps. Sorry, I rarely don’t know where I’m going, and if I don’t, I’ll look beforehand or get a map: maps don’t need charged to work. I can also go without Internet for a few hours too. Nothing that major in my life. I understand the applications, but I’m betting more people could survive without than they think.

    Earthquakes – Wabash Valley Fault System. The lower Great Lakes region can rock too! I’ve been in four “earthquakes,” but only felt the first two (Ohio); both times, we were having spaghetti for dinner. The third I slept through, and the fourth, walking into work.

  22. Ghost Rider 6 Avatar
    Ghost Rider 6

    I’m far from being a tech geek, but this a very quick list of the handy uses for my smart phone I’ve found. And (I suspect) like many, prior to getting a smart phone, I didn’t think I’d find one very useful. (BTW, I do not Facebook, Tweet or use any other form of social media. Perhaps one day, but not yet.)

    1. Email (business and personal) without being tied to a computer
    2. Texting (business and personal)
    3. Calendar and scheduling on the go
    4. Checking weather (forecasts and radar) on the go
    5. Reminders and alerts
    6. Clock and alarm clock
    7. Banking services on the go
    8. Camera
    9. Listening to music
    10. GPS Navigation (A printed map won’t give me spoken turn-by-turn driving instructions.)
    11. e-reader
    12. Accessing Cloud data storage on the go
    13. Word processing on the go
    14. Internet searches on the go
    15. Shopping lists
    16. Accessing this blog on the go
    17. And, oh yeah, making and receiving phone calls

  23. emeritus minnesota biologist Avatar
    emeritus minnesota biologist

    GPS: Mrs. Garmin [our device has the voice of a woman with an agreeable Brit accent] once was telling us, ‘Turn right; turn right’ as we approached a corner in in L. Harriet Park, Mpls. where a road teed in from the left. There were no right turns up ahead, either. Another time, wife was driving and we were trying to make sense of the GPS and wife drove into the ditch into a steel mailbox support. $5,000+ damage and a loner car for the rest of a trip to Chicagoland and back. Have not used it since.

    Quakes: Think I experienced one in an expected place. We were on a [splendid] Smithsonian tour of Athens, Delphi, and some Aegean islands. I was in our hotel room lying down for a nap but not yet asleep when I felt the rumble of a truck in the yard outside our window. Turns out there was no yard there, and no place a large vehicle could have been anywhere nearby. We were on Santorini. That volcanic remnant is loaded with quake monitors, and records quakes most days, but that was the only one I felt. Maybe I’ve mentioned this before.

  24. Mindy from Indy Avatar
    Mindy from Indy

    Ghost – You are busier than I am. I rarely check my email; I have facebook and twitter, but do a quick scroll through to read about everyone’s day and am done. I hate lists. I can write them if forced, but if I ever look at it again, it’s six weeks later to pitch it. My monthly “meeting” notes generally consist of a number or two and lots of doodles. Work emails out 99.9% of the info I need. If I read/have the darn email, don’t expect me to write it down again! (This drives my bosses insane.) I do have orders written out, but my one assistant mainly does that. She is manic about lists, checklists, and notes. Me, not so much – if I have something outside of the usual I need done, or an issue needs addressed in my absence is as about as far as I go. We both think the other insane. I know what I need to get done, and I do it. Retail is all about routine, not many appoinents. And strangely enough, the alarm clock on my phone doesn’t work correctly. I use my iTouch. I *could* do everything but 11, 12, and 13 with my phone, but I choose not to. And, as I use my phone mainly as a phone (!!!), smartphones are just too big for me to hold comfortably for long periods of time.

  25. Rick in Shermantown, Ohio Avatar
    Rick in Shermantown, Ohio

    David in Austin:

    Perhaps being with the kites helps to explain his miserable lip synching.

    Thanks for the trip down Memory Lane, the most one-way and dead-end of all streets.

    And you have reminded me of two little items I wrote about 40 years ago:

    First one:

    The Past

    The past is
    dead
    Let it stay
    crouched
    in the hidden alcoves
    of the mind until
    Unbidden
    It arouses
    Savor briefly its narcotic
    Then force it down
    again

    Second one:

    The Apparitions’ Litany

    My life is filled
    with ghosts
    I’ll not see again.
    Eyed shadows in cars,
    hallway walking dead,
    good friends.