Calvin and Hobbes by Bill Watterson for December 31, 2018

I wonder if Dad has noticed that all this character building hasn’t changed Calvin’s character.

Just walk through the snow. Should be very simple.

Building stuff is expensive, Calvin.

Calvin, you should be building Snow Goons. You’ll have fun, you’ll clean a pathway to walk on and you will piss Dad off.

But Calvin, think about what that couple hundred bucks would (probably) do for you.

can a six-year-old even push a slow blower?

The city snow plows fill the end of my drive with solid ice balls. It jams blowers solid and beats them to death. I have to do the last 4’ with a 8" steel square face shovel.

The snow blowers here in San Diego… oh … er … never mind!

My dad , that damned capitalist user!

It is a shame that the woolly rhinoceros went extinct. It was probably good at clearing paths through snow.

Dad, Calvin’s already quite a character by now!

That’s deep thinking, Calvin. Keep going and your path will be clear. And as in all of life’s problems, don’t let the flakes get you down.

The money saved with the snow blower will just about cover the noodle incident.

As they say in the elephant attendant’s group, Calvin, be quiet and just keep shoveling!

The Character built was probably the first snow goon..

I have often wondered what Bill Watterson’s real Dad was like. Nothing like this one I hope.

This is what I tell my nephew-his dad had him so my brother didn’t need to shovel.

Deal with the snowflakes, snowflake!

Kids are supposed to help! Shovel snow , cut grass , take out garbage,etc! If they’re not doing this they’re sitting in the house while the parents do it.

Growing up, my back yard was full of trees. Dad had me mowing the lawn with this rinky-dink little electric mower with a tiny motor that stalled out if it caught more than two blades of grass. And then there was dragging the cord around in and out around the trees. I begged him repeatedly to retire that piece of dookie and replace it with a gas mower. He kept saying, “Naw, those things aren’t reliable.” Guess what he did he moment I moved away, and he had to go back to cutting the grass himself?

We used to get a lot more snow around here when I was Calvin’s age than we do now. Now, a lot of the snow gets melted by rain and we very rarely get snow deeper than a couple inches. And, the August weather has gotten less oppressive with fewer days that are hot and humid. Climate change-it works for me. Unfortunately it doesn’t work so well for billions of others.

At least Calvin’s dad loves him enough to keep him fit and strong. Too many obese children these days. My wife has hundreds of horror stories about 6 year olds that weigh 100 pounds and of children with the onslaught of diabetes. It seems that most of her patients have diabetes or the beginnings. When she says that doctors and the medical profession call diabetes a disease, I tell her that a disease is something caused by a virus or bacteria, not stupidity. She doesn’t argue when I make our sons go out and shovel snow, rake the leaves, mow the lawn or do all the little things that I hated, but then again, I stand 5’ 10" and weigh 165 lbs and do 4 miles each day. People that let their children become obese should be treated as criminals.

I suspect that Calvin has built a lot of his dad’s character.

Once again, what we have here is a “Poor baby situation.”

Like the old Midas Muffler ads with the world’s richest man: “How do you think a man like me got to be a man like me?”

Today is the 23rd Anniversary of the last original C&H strip – https://www.gocomics.com/calvinandhobbes/1995/12/31 – Lets go exploring!

When it comes out of your pocket, you may feel the same.

Dad, you need out there to help Calvin on shovelling snow.

Dad used to buy the cheapest gasoline lawnmowers. I’d crank on them till my arm fell off after school and they’d rarely start. Of course, he’d get home, yell about the lawn not being cut, and go out and the danged things would start first crank for him. I’m on Calvin’s side here.

Calvin never complained about being cold when he was building his army of snow monsters.

We had a used snow blower years ago that started great in the summer, not so great in the winter. It was a Troy-bilt model SOB.

As a boy in the Town of Madison, WI, I had to shovel our 200’ gravel drive which was uphill all the way to the road. I’m certain I did it always with no help from my brothers. That is getting to be a while back, since my older brother is 80 and my younger is 71. I do have more character than both of them combined.

Bring back the snow goons. Yeah for snow. I was just out shoveling earlier this morning. Although I do have a snow blower for when it snows more than a few inches, or it is that heavy heart attack stuff.

Snowblowers are so NOT a common sight, even today. My uncle JUST got one despite living in a mountain suburb for over 10 years

I always promised, when I grew up, to buy a riding lawn mower so my kids wouldn’t have to use a push mower. I didn’t realize how much a rider costs. Yeah, it builds character. That’ll work.

I bet at this very moment Hobbes is nice and warm reading Calvin’s’ comic books.

Life’s like that…

Please provide download link