Sunday, January 31, 2010

Family lines

I'm pretty sure most people don't think even for a second about the research that goes on behind the scenes to create a cartoon. In this cartoon, for example, it's not hard to find those who theorize that modern birds evolved from dinosaurs. There are some raptors that have been compared to vicious chickens (which is sort of where this whole idea started!).

Well, if I were a rooster trying to impress a hot chick, I asked myself, what sort of ancestor would I claim? Well, the king of the dinosaurs (T. Rex) scores fairly high on the brain to body size ratio, which is one measure they use to determine a dinosaur's relative intelligence (the example of Rex in Toy Story notwithstanding!).

The research came in determining what would be considered the dummy of the dinosaurs. So I consulted an expert, my fifth grader.

"Easy, dad," he said. "Stegosaurus."

A little too easy, I thought. So I consulted several reputable sites on the Internet to determine which dino was indeed the dumbest.

Site after site listed the stegosaurus as the major league idiot of the dinosaurs, using the same brain size-to-body size criteria that crowned the T. Rex king! Who knew? Well, besides my son, I mean...

There was one list, however, that had the great stego listed as No. 2 on the all-time idiot list. No. 1?

Barney.

Go figure!

Saturday, January 30, 2010

The last one. For now.


No, it's not my last cartoon blog entry. But it is the end of those silly alphabet 'toons! And it couldn't happen soon enough!

Friday, January 29, 2010

Gentlemen, start your engines!

Aah! Tonight is the highlight of the Cub Scout's year: the Pinewood Derby! Our goal this year is to beat our family's previous best, Sam's Pikachu car from when he was a Bear. Good luck, Cubs!

Thursday, January 28, 2010

What if there is no light at the tunnel's end?

I had one professor who didn't speak to me for days after this ran in the college paper! It may have had something to do with his academic specialty...

Wednesday, January 27, 2010

Be it ever so humble

OK, so there is a bit of a non sequitur here in that her "home" is actually her college apartment, but the idea is the same.* I think we've all had days like this!

*Although I really don't think I'd like to go back to my college apartment!

Tuesday, January 26, 2010

On a clear wave you can see forever

It occurred to me the other day (when I went outside to get a breath of fresh air in the rain) that perhaps fish would like to do the same thing. And what about salt water fish? Does the humidity bother them? All the imponderables got to be too much for me, so I went back inside and hunkered down in front of my computer and went back to work.

Sunday, January 24, 2010

Rain, rain, omnipresent

One thing that always amazes me about Oregon is just how much it can rain. And keep raining. I guess that's why we call it the land of liquid sunshine!

Saturday, January 23, 2010

Sneakin'!

It's finals time at the high school, so we're busy at it from both ends: the teacher end and the student end.

Friday, January 22, 2010

The spirit of service

I always enjoy it when we send the Scouts off to winter camp -- and I get to stay home!

Actually, some of our best Scouting stories and favorite memories come from winter camp (we call it winter camp in Oregon rather than snow camp, 'cause there ain't always snow!).
  • Collapsing snow caves
  • Flying steak
  • Raw ramen noodles for breakfast
  • Lost keys
  • Scouts who weren't really lost (everyone else was).
Of course that balances with
  • Bp. Jacobsen's gourmet dinners,
  • Midnight skiing
  • Snow, snow, snow
  • Teetering Tenderfoots
  • Bro. Heder's stories.
Winter camp: it's all good!

Thursday, January 21, 2010

Tuesday, January 19, 2010

More groaners

My wife said I'd alienate everyone if I keep running these. I just have a couple more left, and I promise I'll space them out. Please don't feel alienated!

Monday, January 18, 2010

Monday skechbook: Donation time!

Guess what it's time for yet again? I though about saving this for tax time, but I'm sure we'll have something else by then!

Sunday, January 17, 2010

In memory of...


Elder Andersen's talk last week about being a "captain in the Lord's cause" brought to mind this old cartoon (one that I discovered cleaning out our storage unit). Not quite the same message, but the whole captaincy thing comes into play...

Missionaries sacrifice a lot of things when they dedicate themselves to be in the Lord's service for two years. Even though as a missionary you miss a lot of that stuff, the blessings more than make up for it!

Saturday, January 16, 2010

Help to Haiti

I ran this as a special edition of Good Heavens earlier this week. I don't know why, but somehow the disaster in Haiti touched a chord in me or something. I've never been there, but I've talked to a few folks who have served there as missionaries. Based on how they described life on the island, those people who didn't have anything don't even have that any more. If nothing else, keep them in your prayers.

Thursday, January 14, 2010

Law of the letter

I told you they were corny, although I do like the Australia one!

Wednesday, January 13, 2010

Letter of the law

I found some of these alphabet jokes that I made a while back. They may be a little bit corny, but I like 'em!

Tuesday, January 12, 2010

From America's Dairyland: 21 Guns

I just had to run this today, in part to express my deep sympathies to Gary and his Packers. At least they went out with a bang!

Monday, January 11, 2010

Monday sketchbook: Weight for it!

This is the time of year many people celebrate their holiday weight gain by starting a diet or joining a gym. I noticed that when I went down to the Courthouse last week. For the first time in several months...

Enjoy the post-holidays, and remember that nothing says love to your Valentine like a box of chocolates!

Saturday, January 9, 2010

Flashback!

Here's one from the early '90s during the height of Shirley MacLaine's "New Age" heyday (note the homage). For some reason I felt it was important that the banana be peeled!

Friday, January 8, 2010

Know before you go, or
Don't look back


It seems like it's an annual event for Oregon to have some kind of major storm sometime between Thanksgiving and MLK Day that wreaks all kinds of havoc for the traveling public, and therefore, ODOT. The storm usually comes in the form of snow, ice, wind, rain or mudslides. In the case of last year, we got all of the above, with the addition of falling trees that shut down huge segments of the highway.

I drew this cartoon last year after things settled down a bit -- because I knew a plague of locusts was just around the corner!
  • Here's the official plug: Know before you go. Visit TripCheck.com.

Wednesday, January 6, 2010

Tuesday, January 5, 2010

Cold nights

I have an app that gives the weather from selected cities. My son in Provo says it's chilly when the temperature is around 28; My son in Arizona says it's cold when it drops into the 50s! It's all relative, I suppose!

Monday, January 4, 2010