Monday skechbook: Twilight doubleheader

Elder Black and Elder Cullen. Ha!

I got this from my niece, who just couldn't decide.

Welcome wagon

Here's another old one from my files. It reminds me of something our missionary in Arizona wrote to us: they don't get rid of the lizards in their apartment because the lizards eat the nasty bugs!

Vote...for something

This is one of two posters I made for this particular event with the Utah Department of Transportation. Only now I can't remember what the voting was all about!

As you travel back home...

Drive carefully!

Miracle workers

Who knew that the Relief Society would be needed before it was even invented?

Happy Thanksgiving!

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At the top of my Countdown to Thanksgiving list is my family. They keep me inspired and support me…and they keep an endless supply of material coming my way! They’re the reason I do what I do!

That gratitude attitude!

We did a gratitude jar last year. We asked people to write something they were thankful for on a slip of paper and then place the paper in a jar. At the end of the day while we sat around the table with our pumpkin pie, we opened up the jar to see what people had written. One of the cool (and unexpected) surprises we found was that there were very few slips of paper that listed material things. Most were centered around love, friends and family.

Happy Thanksgiving Eve!

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There are a lot of others who I am thankful for — folks I’ve never even met! All those people over in the followers column:

• Felix and Ava have been keeping an eye on things here and in northern California for quite some time;
• Simone from Brazil; and
• mystery man Eric.

Over on the Zarahemla Times side of things, there’s

• Lirik from Russia;
• Pintuka from Ecuador; and
• Michael Carpenter, who is just up I-5.

My gratitude also goes to the Williams sisters who were among the first “strangers” to share some of my cartoons.

Turkey time!

This is from Zarahemla Times, and I think it captures the spirit of Thanksgiving perfectly, doesn't it?

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My brother told me that I should get my blog listed with some of the LDS aggregators. I didn’t even know there was such a thing (thanks, bro!). After checking them out, I found that I wasn’t alone in the G-rated/family-oriented/Mormon cartoon genres. A couple that I think are worth looking in on are The Ninth Ward and Mormon Cartoonist. Theirs are more strictly LDS-themed rather than all over the map like this one. There’s also Funny Mormons that takes a look at what’s happening in the world of Mormon humor. And the surrealistic Seriously, So Blessed! Seriously!

Monday sketchbook: Frying turkey

This is a bit of a parody on the Independence Day movie posters. Turkeys from outer space? Now there's an idea...

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Thanksgiving Countdown

I would certainly be remiss if I didn’t mention one of my first and biggest fans: the folks at the Heder Herald (yes, they are Jon’s folks). They’ve been friends of the family for years, and I love it when out of the blue Helen says something like, “Stinkyhah! That was funny!” (you’ll have to look that one up). To reciprocate, I’d recommend the less squeamish among you to sample Jon’s latest offering: Woke Up Dead, a series of webisodes in which Jon becomes a zombie. Its content ventures into the PG-13 realms, so be forewarned! Thanks, Jim and Helen!

What about the wishbone?

Our missionaries are all being cared for. But that's not always the case!

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Next on my Countdown to Thanksgiving list:

If you want to be blown away by two sistas who tell it like it is, you need to visit As Sistas in Zion. They have great stories and lessons that will have you laughing, crying and thinking — all at the same time! One of my favorite entries (so far) is one that taught Sista Beehive a lesson on tithing. Maybe it’s the fact that I’m an honorary member of the Utah Coalition of African-American Women (long story), but I feel a connection with what they have to say and how they say it! Go, sistas!

Misnomer?

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More on the Countdown to Thanksgiving:

If you ever find yourself in need of a puzzle, I know just the place to go. Magic Word Square. Dave does a daily puzzle, and as for me, I prefer the word Sudokus over the number puzzles any day! I also have to acknowledge Dave, with whom I also work, for pushing the use of social media at the agency. We’ve got a talented group at ODOT — and you can find us on Twitter, YouTube, flickr (which happens to be chock full of Gary’s photos, by the way!), and TripCheck.com.

Who would? Evelyn Wood!

Another of the Evelyn Wood ads that was hidden in the garage. Thanks, sweetie!

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And, speaking of sequels, my Countdown to Thanksgiving continues:

One Day at a Time is a slice-of-life blog done by my friend from high school, Kristin Klein. She stumbled across my blog one day and became one of my first followers. There’s always something going on with her family! She also has a photography site, Pickled Pepper Photography, which is full of awesome stuff! Check out her sites -- she's prolific!

More Wood!

I'm starting to get suspicious. Every time I clean the garage, I find more of my old cartoons and stuff. I think my wife has a secret supply that she puts out every time she asks me to clean up!

This is another of the Evelyn Wood ads. This one only ran in the BYU paper, The Daily Universe. They always say to match your message to your audience!

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I'm starting my Countdown to Thanksgiving; I want to acknowledge folks in the bloggerverse who have inspired me or encouraged me -- or both!

I need to first tip my hat to Newsphotography:Exposed, the site that is run by my buddy, Gary Weber. Each month he covers some aspect of photography from a news photographer’s point of view. He offers tips, resources and many great examples of his work. His blog is one of the reasons I decided to go ahead and post my cartoons online. And he’s included a few of them in his blog, too. Check out his site. I think you'll be glad you did.

You can almost taste the aroma!

I'm a doctor, not a photographer, Jim!

I have to give full writing credit to my young apprentice, Ben. He came up with this idea after seeing the movie. The force is strong with that one!

Monday sketchbook: "Beam me a drumstick, Scotty!"

OK, so "baste" isn't exactly a proper term, but it sounded so much better than "set phasers to bake!" or "set phasers to deep fry!" (although that does have a certain appeal...). There's a reason these don't get past the sketchbook!

It's a closet thing

I wouldn't be surprised to see that this idea had been done before, but I think it's cute anyway. The problem my kids would have wouldn't be fear of the dark...more likely it would be fear of opening the closet door after they "cleaned" their room!

A sandy foundation

When everything was finished beneath the surface of the road and just before they started paving, it looked like a big sandbox.

The Tale of Abooboo

This is a page from a story that my wife wrote and I illustrated, the Tale of Abooboo. Today is a special day for her (yes, Friday the Thirteenth!), and I just wanted to acknowledge it with this illustration.

We're still working on how to get it published, but we'll let you know when we get there!

Timing is everything

You ever have those days? I have those days!

Veteran's Day

I have to thank my cousin Bruce for the photo in the third panel, my dad in Korea. My dad passed away in 2003. He didn't leave a lot of photos behind, and he was reluctant to talk about his experiences in the war. Bruce, who was about the same age as my dad (long story) served in Korea during the war as well. He's the one who has given me all the stories about what happened over there.

Dad always said that he didn't have any exciting war stories, that he was more like Radar O'Reilly in M*A*S*H than Gregory Peck in Pork Chop Hill. Bruce told me otherwise -- Dad was on the hill while Bruce's company was shelling it. He took very careful aim so that he didn't hit "Uncle Blaine."

The one story that Dad DID tell was about seeing Marilyn Monroe. As company clerk, he had to man the fort while the rest of the guys went to see her USO show. He got to see her as she was driven through camp after the show!

Dad thought it was great that both my brother and I got called to serve as missionaries in Korea, my brother in Seoul and me in Busan. And there were a lot of the Korean people who thanked me profusely when I told them that my dad was there as a soldier during the conflict. It made me proud!

So, as Kerri Jo says, thank you, Dad, and all the other veterans out there who put their lives on the line to protect our freedom!

It's the stupid economy!

Monday skechbook: Divining the truth

OK, so this is just kind of silly. There's a reason some of these never make it past the sketchbook!

Ticking

Shoot!

I guess this might be classified as more of an editorial cartoon. There was a clinic at the high school a couple of days ago. There were a lot of people who showed up to get the vaccination. There were also a lot of people who swore they wouldn't get the vaccination because of all kinds of irrational fears about it. But like my buddy Kristin says, "Just get the shot already!"

Off and on

It was always fun to go through the construction zone after the sun went down. Kind of a poor man's strobe light!

Which button, panic or snooze?

I had a friend in one of my classes who didn't show up one day. The next day, I asked her what happened. This is her response.

Midterm blues

My son at BYU tells me this is about a week late -- which goes along with the basic premise of the cartoon!

Game Six

Just in case you were wondering what they do for the Fall Classic elsewhere. Yeah, I just ran this in Good Heavens, but it's worth repeating over here!

Monday skechbook: Judge not

You ever notice how if a team loses a big game, suddenly there are calls for the head of the coach on a platter? Sometimes the game gets taken waaaaay too seriously.

Elder George of the Jungle

It's common to refer to the assistants to the president in the mission as "apes." It's an abbreviation for, d-uh, assistant to the president (AP). This one almost didn't make it past the sketchbook, but I finished out for our missionary, Elder Zach.