Arlo and Janis by Jimmy Johnson for July 24, 2022

Some days life just hands you lemonade.

They will still be there long after all three of them are gone.

Solid memories.

This reminds me. I used to live somewhere where exactly this happened. But where? I don’t remember. Geez, it must be 50 years since I thought of that. I wonder how the kitty is doing.

Don’t worry, Luddie. You’ll be remembered forever or until there is no more Internet, whichever comes first.

He says I was here. It is written in stone. Sorta.

This gave me the feels…

As engineers say…don’t fix it feature it.

Arlo needs to put in handrails.

When building an addition and smoothing out the cement for the mudroom, I blocked off the area and left for lunch. Upon returning discovered one of the downsides of living next to a lake……Duck prints right across the cement.

Luddie makes quite the imprintion.

Love the hat flying off!

Panel five: birth of a history preservationist.

The best laid plans of cats and men. Awwww. !!!!!

At least he didn’t stop, dig and squat.

I saw a driveway get poured once and the finishers got done, packed up and left before the concrete was dry. They had barely got out of sight when a dog walked the length of the driveway. I’m guessing those tracks are still there. On another, a UPS guy did the same thing. We got UPS to pay for that one.

I think I’m going to Cat-man-do!

Paw art from the Ludite School of Art.

Job security for future archaeologists.

From the Daily Mail: Archaeologists have discovered what could be the world’s oldest cat paw print. The imprint of four feline toes was found on a tile which dates back almost 2,000 years. It is believed the marks were caused when the tile was left out to dry by a Roman potter and a curious cat stepped on it. Jun 7, 2017 https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-4580286/Archaeologists-uncover-2000-year-old-cat-footprint.html#

I love paw prints in concrete!

We got our floors refinished and the guy insisted on using oil-based varnish because “I don’t know what chemicals are in the water-based stuff”. Took multiple days to dry and there are a set of paw prints from Honey that will be there for a long, long time.

This exact thing happened with my dad and our beagle, Sandy. He also left the paw print.

Now take paws everyone and go, Aww.

Those are the tracks of his tears.

A practical note: wash those paws off! Uncured cement is caustic. The process of curing comes from slaking the quicklime in cement, and that process is what has been used to hasten decomposition of the dead for centuries. The water added to the cement takes care of most of that but it still burns sensitive areas.

Or until a new owner……….

Memories……

The print claimed as “oldest” that I’ve found is from a brick allegedly made in India during the Harappan period 5300-3300 years ago: https://imageproxy.ifunny.co/crop:x-20,resize:640x,quality:90×75/images/38d0fd8300e616a223c1f0259ef59157aa78cd42dce996ed866d66b0bc93e543_1.jpg

Wash the cat’s paws, immediately! Portland cement paste, which holds the concrete together, has a MINIMUM pH of 13 when wet. Alkali burns are painless until it is too late, and take forever to heal—if they ever do.

And Arlo takes credit for it

I have cats paws on my concrete cellar steps. The house is 60 years old.Love them.

Every new walk I ever seen some kid put their mark in it.

Is Janis happy or mad in the last panel? I would not be happy to see that, no matter how much I loved the pet.

The house my grandparents built almost 80 years ago burned in 2010 or so. I was back in town briefly and drove by to see the lot. When they cleaned up after the fire someone hauled off the old porch slab, with handprints from my cousin. It’s crazy the things you miss.

Our neighborhood walking path was laid during the fall. We have lots of leaf “fossils” to count when our grand-kids come to walk with us.

From “Alley Cats of Gasoline Alley”

https://tinyurl.com/29o25xmx

Hard to tell if Janis likes it or not.

Back in the 60’s, my father put in a concrete curb for a gate. He had my brother and I put our handprints on one side. Still there and I had my grandson put his hand in the depression for comparison almost 60 years later. Good times.

Precious.

There may be reasons people keep cats as pets but I can’t think of any.

Reminds me of the old Popular Science Wordless Workshop, usually on nearly the last page.