Ballard Street by Jerry Van Amerongen for July 09, 2015

In case the birthday announcement above “disappears”, you can view them at the links below.Glittered birthday announcement for Veteran

Unglittered birthday announcement for Veteran

Happy Birthday Veteran

I brought a six pack earlier but now I can’t find them.

VeteranMrs, Higglepooder wishes you a Happy Birthday!

Hi everybody!

Happy birthday, Vet!

Sorry I’m late!I worked late tonight at the farmer’s market…The cake is outside in my dog car, Elvis…no he didn’t eat it!

I just need some help to bring it in….

Beautiful announcement, Stel!

Now…. where’s the Veteran?

No cake yet. Hey Veteran how about a birthday taco?

Thanks, Fenton….

Yeah, on that white table….

OK……

Now you do, 2Old!

Bev….I’ve never seen fajitas grilled right on the coals like that…but they do look delicious.

38 days, though?I…. uh… I dunno….gee…. that chicken over there looks good, too….

Thanks, Bev…and yes, chocolate through and through…..(Hope you like chocolate, Veteran!)

And of course you can take some with you, Bev.I decreed several birthday cakes ago that we will cut pieces from the back if the birthday person hasn’t arrived.

Roger the Knight seems to also be the King of his own castle…..But remember the old saying, Roger …“Once a King, always a King…but once a Knight is enough!”

Bev… Once a,,, a ,,, um… a knight isn’t enough for you?

You wild thing, you!

Bev…. I guess 38 day old beef is OK….

I mean, In-N-Out Burger has a sign behind the counter that says “We’ve been cooking our French fries in pure vegetable oil since 1948.”

(I always like to read it and then ask the young person at the cash register whether the fries are done yet.)

Gee Bev, I’m kinda with Susan…the Dr. says I have to cut down on beef, so I’m gonna stick with the tacos, Tacos, a beer and chocolate cake, Oh i’m gonna sleep good tonight!

Happy Birthday, Veteran!!!

Where did that happen 15 years ago?!

Happy B’day Veteran. Good morning to all other B.S. reader/commenter(s) too,also. :) Peace.

Hey everyone, Veteran’s getting close to 2old. Sixty three is a LOT of candles!!!Said by one almost six months older than the kid. BTW, When ya gonna retire? Does the Texas State Patrol not have a pension plan?

Seriously, Have a Happy Birthday and keep yourself safe. Use a fire extinguisher on the candles.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY VETERAN !!!

Just remember old policemen never die, they just lose their beat ! Also, no matter how old you get, I’ll still be older !Have a great day !

Happy Birthday, guy!

But, but ………. the Barbarians are at the gate!

Veteran – HAPPY BIRTHDAY! Hope your day is wonderful for you. Quite the party on Ballard Street. Your gift to us is your stories and I thank you for them. And would you please arrest anyone in a pink bikini today – especially if they are hairy.

StelBel – great invitation! SusanSunshine – looks like a yummy cake! Beviek – quite the birthday feast – my favorite foods. Love all the pictures today.

Happy Birthday Veteran. God Bless You.

Happy Birthday Veteran. Watch out for hairy men in pink bikinis especially if they have been eating pickled eggs. Can someone pass the Brain Bleach PLEASE.

StelBel, SusanSunshine and Beviek: Quite a party that y’all have put together.

If I were Roger, I’d have opted for the 4 qt. pot for a helmet, rather than the roasting pan.

We’re all here at the Tiki ready to party hearty. We’re just waiting for the birthday boy to cruise in ( lights and siren, of course. ) so we can watch him attempt to blow out all those candles.I see that Stel , Bev, Susan and 2old couldn’t wait to get started on the liquid refreshments and are already sailing with a couple of sheets in the wind.Oh well, sorry Vet, but it is Thirsty Thursday ! My usual, Fenton !

Fantastic invite StelI love the rope in Veteran’s cake, just like the one on his hat!Finally, WHY is everyone fixated on my AGE? I don’t look it, don’t feel it, and last blood test confirms it!’I shoulda made my avatar JudyPatootie like I originally thought……gurmble grumble. 77 1/2, grumble grumble.

Yeeaahh,,,,,,no.

Hope you don’t give me a greeting like that on my birthday…it WILL be deleted.

Finally here.Been using my orange cone minions to deny access and movement to the public.It was soooooo much fun.It amazing that some fool would walk up and move the cone to park. Of course the cone would alert me to the violation and I would magically appear from my unit to inform them molesting an orange cone minion of the State is a serious offense punishable by a good talking to.The cone was nice in accepting the apologies.(We had a crane putting a new AC on our roof had to block the area for the crane) There are so many to thank I am just over come with Joy.Joy was so nice about coming over. She is such a nice lady.Got about 3 more years left then I will hang up the guns and badge. Join the fully retirees of Ballard Street.Maybe chat up the guy in the pink bikini………A Tiki toast to you one and all…..I would say drinks are on me but that is what happened to the bus stopping officer…..then he got his butt kicked.So again thank you one and all including any late comers……at least you got here.And Linquist…….slow down, you move too fast, got to make the morning last, just kicking down the cobble stones, looking for fun and feeling groovy.Peace one and all.

@Josh Lyons

Josh,

*You obviously don’t understand Mist, nor for that matter, the rest of us slightly off-kilter contributors and regular denizens of Ballard. I am sure that Veteran is laughing and appreciating the creativity and time taken by Mist and all the others to memorialize his natal day. I don’t think the either you or @bern21 need to worry about birthday greetings from us.But, should you guys ever decide to stop taking umbrage and start having fun, then drop into the Tiki sometime and I’ll buy you a ’nanner daiquiri and beviek will give you some snickerdoodles

The guy in the pink bikini is what I looked like when I lost my kilt-er.

Re: bern21Let me quote bern hisself…“It’s sad to watch morons criticize genius!”

So that’s who called!And the crane went just fine…….only PO’d a dozen folks or so who could not leave because my cone minions had them trapped.I was however a little worried. They took the old one right over my patrol car.I like this patrol car so I crossed my fingers, toes, then my phone rang, some guy wanting to chat up…….but one thing NOW we know what they wear under their KILTERS!!!!“Feeling Groovy!!!”

Veteran, Mist…so….

You didn’t mean one of these fellows, you guys?

Oh!

I mean, I just thought…well, you know….I’d seen a few signs….

Sigh… I really have to stop making assumptions.

I was wondering how well they understood the orange cone business.

Im sorry I’m so late to the party.Ive been kinda busy lately.Looks like its been FUN!

She looks to me to be a little bit over-eager.

GoFundMehttp://www.gofundme.com/z6x6×4vs

Josh…

I agree with the Linguist that you don’t seem to understand the Ballard Street community, or our birthday parties.

Let me explain a little.There are way over a million members on GoComics.You can tell by the “user number” on a recent arrival’s profile page.

There are probably hundreds who post comments all over the site….Maybe a hundred who do it frequently… I don’t know, cos some post on strips I’ve never read.

A few dozen, probably, post regularly on Ballard Street…. we talk to each other on the forum…we invented occupations, characters…posted pictures, created artwork…just for this forum.

Some of us have even managed to exchange e-mail addresses or phone numbers in real life.We care about each other.

A few years ago, very small group of us decided to post a birthday party for one person who was here every day…and who played a major role in the community.

It was fun…. so over the years, we added birthdays for a few other regular commenters who were here a lot, taking part in the stories…some posting pictures, some inventing situations…

IF we knew the dates…there are still a couple of people whose birthdays I wish I knew.

Some had been here from the beginning, some were relative newcomers….but ALL of them were friendly, polite…and happily taking part in the goings-on here.They had bothered to learn the stories, they talked to the characters we’d built up…. human and fictional.

There are about a dozen right now…A small group of about 4 people keeps track of the dates, does artwork…more people jump in to say happy birthday, post cards, food, add their own artwork…to give that person a happy day.

It’s a LOT of work…. altering pictures to make an invitation, a cake, a card…finding pictures of food, cards, gifts, etc …For the birthday cake, it takes me from a few hours to a couple of days to choose, alter, letter and upload the picture.

I know StelBel spends about the same time on her invitations…. Bev on finding food…others on what they do.

We can’t possibly do all that for hundreds of people, in fact we’ve cut back a little lately cos we’ve been busy with other things.We tend to continue for people who are still taking part, who say “Happy Birthday” to others on their birthdays…even, frankly, the ones who notice the work we put in on their latest party and say “thank you”, things like that.We welcome newcomers…anyone can participate….if they’re friendly, learn the characters, join in the fun…eventually they may get a birthday party.But we don’t do them just because people who seldom post here stop by to ask for them….whether for themselves or someone else.And stopping in to attack, criticise, or threaten to delete a regular Ballard Streeter’s comments is NO way to ever be celebrated here!

Hi Happy!Hey….um…if you mean the er… jumping bunny…that’s a HE!

Hey, Bev…. are any more of those fajitas done?Or are the rest for Vet’s birthday next year?

Happy…. no…..you do participate!

You just said Happy Birthday to Veteran…you post pictures; you know who the Sheriff is; I’m pretty sure you recognise BatPug and Fenton….You notice if regulars disappear….that stuff is what I was talking about!

Now that BEV…. Her I’m not so sure about…cos she keeps ignoring me….sniffle.But she makes good snickerdoodles….and caters the birthday parties…and comes to my salon.So I guess she’s OK. :)

Happy B-day Veteran. It’s my oldest son’s B-day too. What’s going on in Texas these days?

OMG!