Ballard Street by Jerry Van Amerongen for November 22, 2009

Why, it’s as plain as the mess on the road!

My way or the highway.

Jackson Pollock goes into public service.

It’s not anyone’s fault. It’s the asphalt.

choll, I think that’s sometimes known as “Ed Zachary” Syndrome, or so the old joke goes.

If you know Cleo, you expect her to utilize all the tools at her disposal to make her presence felt. And maybe a few tools not at her disposal.

This is too confusing. Lets jump over to Ballard for a change:

http://www.comicssherpa.com/site/feature?uc_comic=cscwy

Once again, Cleo realizes her potential.

Whoa… I got here!

I’m as surprised as the rest of you, I assure you.

Last night, I opened my “My Comics” page, on GoComics…

then… nothing… only error messages from the site for the rest of the night.

I couldn’t see Cleo, or get to any forum to read or make any comments… till I finally gave up in the wee hours.

 

But… tonight…. I opened “My Comics”, then “Cleo” on Sherpa… and my profile (I visit my previous posts to check for replies and newer comments… then move ahead to the next day.)

I made the mistake of thinking “Yay!” … and it all stopped, just like last night.

I kept trying to reload the stuck pages…. “Firefox is having trouble finding that site….” “GoComics is taking to long to respond….” the little blue “try again” buttons of despair….

 

So…. doing other things… reading email… going to other sites… and three hours later….

My abandoned GoComics pages opened themselves…. as mysteriously as they stopped…. and (hoping not to jinx it) I seem to be able to open new ones, too…. like this one.

Not gonna dare a “yay.”

 

Anyhow…

Cleo… that’s what we’re here for….. the November 22nd, 2019, “Cleo and Company”… on Sherpa .

We see the secret of how she howls on time, every night… why, it’s almost like clockwork.

It’s her external clock, not her proclaimed inner one.

She gets a little buzz out of it.

And the neighbors are …well … they’re alarmed.

 

Interesting to think Cleo feels the pull of duty….

though, as one might predict, it’s actually a duty to …um…. I suppose her inner … dogness? … and not to some neighborhood watch program.

I’m sure the neighbors would gladly forgo.

Some do express themselves colorfully.

 

Cleo won’t need that megaphone when the evil cat next door scratches her from head to toe for waking him up. Plus, some good news. Only 5 more weeks to go before the fix-it date is changed to 2020.

Paint fight!

Next time, gag her!

Speaking of “colorful”…. and yes, that’s one of those great segues on which I pride myself…

That was quite a colorful little tiff on board the highway line-painting truck.

 

Um, I don’t want to sound prejudiced in any way…

and as many of you know, one of my very best friends in the world is a monkey….

that would be Sheriff MonkeyBlues, who in my heart is still the Sheriff of Ballard County, no matter how many leaves of absence he takes, or how many “Acting” titles he pins on my jacket…

But I’m not sure his decision to give preferential hiring to Simian-Americans, under county affirmative action rules, was a great idea for jobs in which paint is involved.

Or garbage, for that matter.

 

And speaking of prejudice… yep, another world-class segue, if I say so myself…. and no one else will, so I must….

I thought I might not be the only one curious about MisngNOLA’s mention of an “Ed Zachary joke…”

So I Googled it, thinking I’d post it here.

But it involves “cute” parody of a Chinese accent… and even if you enjoy such things… it isn’t very funny.

So… nah….

 

Tomorrow night is puzzle night. I’ll try to be on the site early, to give it time to settle down.

But if that doesn’t work… my side-by-side and I will be on our way…. don’t give up

 

My Favorite Part™ was

STAR   TWIRLY THING   POUND SIGN   TORNADO   EXCLAMATION POINT

BLOODY DAGGER   SKULL & BONES   TWIRLY THING   EXCLAMATION POINT

All I can say is: AROOOOOOOOOOOOO!