For Better or For Worse by Lynn Johnston for March 29, 2010

It would be nice to see the Pattersons doing everyday things without thunderclouds and scowls. They do seem to get bent out of shape over the slightest thing.

Elly squirting Farley, I thought it was Michael !

Jeez, people, he’s just a dog and they are acting like normal people (not saints). The comic is only going to show the frustrating and amusing slices of life, not the ordinary ones. Would you chuckle if the strip showed Farley coming the first time John called, and John says “The training is going great, Elly!” and they all dance around happily?

lightenup, this is the first intelligent comment I have seen here in a long time.

lightenup has the right of it! And is aptly named!

Is my cat supposed to come when I call him?

Oh my goodness, Lewreader. Don’t you know? When you call a cat, they take a message and get back to you later. (Yet another old joke.)

Amen to lightenup. Life is full of little frustrations. And sometimes seeing them happen to someone else is humorous indeed.

just yell - farley ! c’mon i have a biscuit for you he’ll come running

Lewreader, my cat comes when I call her. It just takes a lot of training.

Good morning,all. I so enjoy your comments :-)

Speaking of cats, I had a cat once that wouldn’t come for “here kitty, kitty”. However, she would come with all haste when I whistled up the dogs.

@MrsLuke-I am sorry to offend you. However, many, many of your comments are heavyhanded and overbearing. Truly, these are comics and should be treated as such.

Also, in the case of ammonia, look up Rock Hill, SC news from this just past weekend. There was a pit bull that went nuts and tore the bumper off a police car, I imagine it was the plastic outer shell, and also chewed tires on three more flat. Look it up and see for yourself. They used a taser as well as pepper spray, neither worked. Finally he was sedated. When I had a paper route, 50 years ago, thaey did not have pepper spray, nor leash laws in the south. Ammonia was better than being bitten.

John Pike, I in no way said it’s ok to get bitten by a large dog as you tried to imply I did.

When my little brother was 5, he was mauled by a Bull Mastiff that was left alone for days, and dug his way out of the yard, attacking the kids as they played baseball with plastic bats and balls. My brother had over 600 stitches all over his bottom half.

This is 2010, not 50 years ago when you say you had your paper route. By now you should know better that ammonia is poison, and it blinds when it gets into the eyes. I was right in saying ammonia is poison and you don’t spray poison at animals, NOW IN 2010, which IS what you were advocating that people try. For simply saying “Don’t spray poison at any animal.” I was once again, completely inappropriately attacked by the same people who accuse me of doing what I did NOT do, but they DID do, to ME. Look back at what I said (and at what you said). None of my entries were deleted or altered.

Additionally, you may want to notice that my comments are made about the comics, yet the attacks I receive because of them are direct attacks on me, and I don’t do that to anyone. If you see me talking to anyone, it’s because I was addressed by them first, and you did insult me by name first, John. You need to mind your own behavior first, and take your own “lighten up” advice that you freely dispense whenever you disagree with anyone.

DO NOT SPRAY AMMONIA AT ANIMALS! IT’S POISON!!!

I am not wrong in saying that, and I don’t apologize for it.

I believe I am owed an apology, since you started on me first, and I also deserve the same sort of respect that you demand from me. It goes both ways. You are not a victim of me. You started on me, and I didn’t deserve what took place here yesterday toward me because I said don’t spray animals with poison. What took place here yesterday toward me is inexcusable. You never saw me cause any such thing.

Hey y’all! Do y’all remember Elly didn’t want having a puppy but Michael begged her to have one. Now I can see how please Elly feels about Farley, a grown-up dog. She tells John and Michael to train Farley very well so Farley should have at least better obedience.

I had a cat. When I tried to call him his name ‘Gypsy’ few times but he didn’t. What I did was shaking the bag of cat dry food. All of sudden, he showed up fast. I smiled!

@mrs luke— If you look at the above comment you will see that what you say now is wrong again. I did apologise, for one. And I also gave reference to current events where deadly poisin would have been useful. Of course, the police could have just shot the dog, opening another can of worms. And, you have always given comments on the comics, but in such a way that everyone knows where you stand. And, sadly, that is probably alone. I’ll leave you alone in the future. Also, I have never had a comment deleted, either. That person that ripped you open yesterday had nothing to do with me.

We just keep seeing how alike John and Elly are. I never realized it before.

I agree that if they didn’t get mad and yell all the time about ridiculous things, half the reason to read the strip wouldn’t be there, and it would be boring. With Elly though, she usually always does it before anything happens, in anticipation of something, and then usually feels stupid when it never actually happens. John doesn’t do much to begin with, and gets annoyed when he has to move 2 extra feet.

Farley is awfully cute.

Um..Lightenup, haven’t you noticed that by now that all these slices of life that we see in the strip always ends with someone angry, scowling, or gobsmacked? Go and find me a strip where anyone is actually happy by the end. Evil grins or hidden laughter will not count with me.

This strip is skewed way over to the negative aspects of family life instead of being balanced.

MrsLukeSkywalker, does ammonia kill, or is it more of a pepper spray, in that it ends an attack, before serious injury, or any injury, can occur?

John Pike, “@MrsLuke-I am sorry to offend you. However, …” was an apology? Not where I come from, but if that’s how you really meant it, I’ll accept it.

That guy reacted @ me due to my response to your comment about the ammonia, but you have no control over what someone else did. I won’t comment on him, but Susan knows all about his prior abusiveness toward others.

If you look closer at the rest of the comments, even the ones today, you will see my same point of view in most of them. I have always had a way of saying the same thing as the next guy, but without the sugar coating, and it rubs some people the wrong way. I don’t see that in my ammonia response at all. I believe my response was justified and to the point, the only way it could have been said in any kind of seriousness, as was the way I saw the issue you raised.

I will be more mindful in the future of the weight of my words and the way I use them when I comment on the comics, so as not to cause so much concern. That doesn’t mean I will alter my opinion to appease someone of another opinion, but you have to know that in cracking some jokes and pointing out foibles of cartoon people that everyone else notices too, I never expected to either annoy anyone else or become such a target of ire, especially for just saying it the way I say it. While I try to leave a joking impression, some people don’t understand plain old sarcasm. That’s not an excuse to direct at me what they accuse me of. It wasn’t the way I meant it. It was the way they took it. I’d like to go back to just commenting on the comics now. This sort of discourse isn’t why I come here.

I ignore plenty. I ask the same in return, if you are of another opinion.

I’ve always liked this comic. When I was a young mom, I felt good seeing that Elly had some of the same frustrations as I did at the same time. It made me laugh then, as now. But remember, it is just that, a comic.

doublepaw, you really have 2 options, either 1.) ignore MrsLuke, or 2.) go away yourself.

At least Farley seems to have gotten the joke – he seems to be laughing with Elly.

FishStix: You mean as GOOD as daytime soaps! And I agree.

And mroberts88, you’re right-on, too! doublepaw must be new. We’ll train him like Farley. Hang in there, MrsLuke.