Luann by Greg Evans and Karen Evans for July 14, 2018

I take it Al will be covering the payments of the storage unit?

He’s got all the passion of a speed bump.

Oh, no—Al’s an enabler! Run, Gunther, run! :-D

First tooth?

My mother had one of those storage pods. She kept paying the storage fee on it, even after she moved out of her house into managed care and put even more stuff in a traditional storage locker.

It wasn’t until her remaining finances were placed in a trust fund that the co-trustee and I realized just how much over the years she had spent on storing stuff that was close to worthless (we sold off the contents once we found out, and recovered less than one year’s rental fees).

Gunther is right, and I hope Al doesn’t mind paying to store the worthless junk that’s going into that storage pod.

Irma has to have a yard sale.

And Al not helping the problem he making it worse.

Was this week’s story arc mean to be amusing? Because instead it’s been… highly disturbing.

Sorry Gunthie, Hitch has you beat!

And he managed to say that with a straight face – LOL!

“Why did the tooth fairy bring back my first tooth?”

Oh, I’m all afuddle in a puddle of tears,My dear Gunthie won’t be needing this stuff for years!But I just can’t simply throw all of it away,I know, I’ll cal Al, he will save the day!

Yeah, he oozes passion. He has the same facial expression since his introduction. Too much Botox maybe?

This is why God created landfills.

Mr. Gray knows happy wife-happy life. He sees she’s a very sentimental woman and wants nothing more than her happiness. And if that happiness comes in the form of memories from the boys childhood, who is he to judge.

Okay. The GOOD News is, Gunther does NOT have to take that STUPID high chair to the Guest House Gulag. Looks like option #2 was correct at 30%.

This is a very slim but POSITIVE step for the G-Man. Not cow-towing to Mom’s every single SILLY whim. Big Al MUST have plenty of dough to afford an expensive storge pod to store those “keepsakes” in.

Now, the BIG Question: Big Al has helped Les. Today He’s “helped” Irma.

WHEN is Al going to do something for his new “Step-Son” Gunther? Hell. WHEN is he even going to have a decent conversation with Gunther?

#FREEGB!!!

Al may appear to be a “speed bump” but If you want to see a real romantic, he’s it. She’s in an emotional crisis and he’s willing to spend a little money to make sure she is happy. So what if he has to store the stuff for 10 years? If his past behavior is any guide, I’m willing to be that he has a plan. But for now, he’s thinking of her happiness, and that’s my definition of “romantic.”

Okay, but did I call it, or did I call it? A storage unit is a perfect solution, I said!

Gunther gets to the storage pod, realizes that Leslie isn’t there and decides to move in himself.

Al understands Irma’s sentimentality over her things and found a solution for her. Al obviously doesn’t want them in his house so the pod is a good solution. My father in law actually built a storage shed in the backyard for his mother in law who moved into his house after her husband’s death. The mother in law liked to go into that shed to see her things. She was moved into a small bedroom where my husband slept as a child. As she became older, she visited the shed less and less, so my mother in law begun to donate things that she noticed her mother did not hover over. By the time she died, there was almost nothing in that shed that belonged to her – it turned into a yard shed. Still useful.

There is an old saying: “still waters run deep” meaning that a quiet love can be a lasting and passionate love, and contrary to what Gunther is snarking about Al is smart and sensible and passionate. I think he is a very amazing guy, whom people are being so judgmental about, thus not seeing the real story. We will come back to this arc, but I wonder what will be the next one we dive back into; I think new because Tiffany and Ann story is probably on the back burner for now, but then I am never right predicting what will come next in this strip.

Gunther, do not move into the guest house next to your Mom’s new home. Instead, transfer from Moony to some college on the other side of the USA. Seriously.

I can see it now. Every time Irma wants to engage in some passion with Al, he will have another storage pod brought around.

Big Al. A man of many passions, yo! Lost Wages, Nevada looms large. What passions will burst forth? What fires burn within the savage breast?Only The Shadow knows. He has the power to cloud men’s minds don’tcha know? (Comes in handy don’tcha know?)

Al and Irma. They’re certainly not Archie and Edith! They kinda remind me of Big Daddy and Big Momma. Will the boys encounter Maggie the Cat in LVNV? Breath’s are bated. Minds are inquiring. Yoda is mangling the English language. (He speaks Yedish fluently tho’.)

Where the heck has this weeks lame sub-ark taken us? I’m all afuddle! :o\

“Hey, who loves you, baby …..”

That she has enough of this stuff to fill an entire storage pod underscores Irma’s continuing fixation on Gunther as a child and her role there. Maybe the marriage to Al will help her redefine herself. Getting out from under her roof is probably one of the best things to happen to Gunther (deal with Les and move on), although Irma’s back yard is not quite as removed as Peru – and Irma was his stated reason for moving back home.

Let’s hope the marriage works out. If not, Irma will have divested herself of all her household goods, except the furnishings for a nursery.

Seems like Irma has no female friends and has been living totally in the past until Mr. Gray came along. She has no ability to understand what growing up means for Gunther. I remember when Les was first brought into the house. “Go show Les your sewing room” she proudly says to Gunther. That really reflects living in a bubble.

Deep waters run Still….I believe Mr Gray loves her very deeply

I beg to differ, Gunth. Smart and sensible – AND so practical too!

I donated my kids’ toys, etc. to local charities. Now that I have a granddaughter, I buy her new toys.

I’m not saying he doesn’t love her, he does, but this was not the best choice.

I was truly hoping that Irma would have a “pause” moment and reconsider all of this, but not meant to be, I guess. Although I do understand her “packratiness.” I’m that way also, and there are things from my childhood I still have of which I can’t let go. I’m working at it.

That said, I do hope Gunther breaks free of this whole thing and goes on his own (or maybe with Tiff). I also hope (as I mentioned to Mordy above), that Al doesn’t oppose that effort or tries to manipulate Irma into opposing it, even if Gunther “self-finances.” I can see where Al might want Gunther to live in the “guest house” to set a good example for Les….. I don’t know how well that would work on a number of different levels.

Anyway, next arc please… return to Tiff or Brad/Toni!

Keep the tooth. That’s really cool to have and takes up no space. You might want some of the art, since it’s unique, and legitimately sentimental. See if the toys are worth anything on ebay, if so, sell them, if not, bring them to a thrift shop.

Al, your money would be more wisely spent if you used it to hire a professional organizer for Irma.

When we moved to Florida (read: no basement/no attic storage), we HAD to purge. Anything like sentimental nonsense: trophies, baby toys, etc….we just took photos of them and purged. I’m finding that it’s enough. I look at the photos and smile. I don’t need the physical junk in my house…or the garage (the only real storage here!)

Irma calls Al because he’s “smart and sensible” and Al comes up with a storage pod – yah, in this situation, that is smart and sensible even for Gunther. But look at Gunther in the last panel, he’s not happy and says it, the pod, is not “smart and sensible”. Mordy I’m not with Gunther on this one – given she can’t trash the trash, there’s two options, and the pod is the best for all concerned, especially Gunther… And he’s griping.

I wish my mother was like Gunthie’s in regard to hobby stuff I had growing up. My mother got rid of it before I had a chance to move it out of her house. Really upset me.

I’m sure Al will find a way to write off the rent of the storage unit.

Still waters run deep …

Oh, be quiet, Gunther. This should have made everyone happy: getting your humiliating baby products out of your sight without destroying them and upsetting your mother.

Rainey Daze Storage…wonder if that’s foreshadowing of things to come…

Go through the stuff. Save a few. Donate the usable items like the high chair and the toys. Pitch the rest.

@CMINUS

♪♪ “And If Al’s Not Lovin’ Her!” (Irma)

♪♪ “Then All I’ve got to Slur,”

♪♪ “God didn’t make, Little Green Apples,”

♪♪ "And Gunth didn’t put, a buncha “CRAPPLES” in a Storage Pod!"

♪♪ “And There’s No Such thing as Doctor Ruth,”

♪♪ "UnTaxed lands, or this Guy Named “Moose,” or Cattle Prods!"

♪♪ “God didn’t make, Little Green Apples,”

♪♪ “And Al didn’t Rent, a Vegas Chapel, for His Marriage Vows!”

♪♪ “And When Old Gunth, Is feelin’ Low,”

♪♪ “He’ll get His Machine, and start to sew, while Leslie Drozes!” – O. C. Smith

tomorrow: Knute and Crystal on the Comics Unemployment Line !

Somewhat ironic in light of the current trend of comments: The magic is going out with the art.

Really, Al is not too much more than a cardboard “Elf on a Shelf”, appearing in many scenes, but quite immobile and never showing any emotion. It’s Greg’s private trick for when the Luann cartoon ends. A couple of movers will carry out the cardboard figure, toss it into a dumpster, and then close the studio door, forever.

Please stop this arc, enough already

So…..Gunther gets a ‘reprieve’ from “the chair”….

-

….But there’s no release, in sight- just a transfer to a “Maximum Storage Facility”…

Mr. Grey is such a WONDERFUL man!!! <3

“Invasion Of The Pod People”

“Attack Of The Fifty Foot Unit”

“The Return Of The Son Of The Blob Of Emotions”

“The Soon-To-Be Bride Of Passionstein”

“Cram-mer Vs. Stammer”

“Three Moving Men And A Baby Stroller”

“Adventures In Baby Stuff Fitting”

or

“The Day The Pods Turned The Tide”

The stuff in storage will sit there for years and years. When Irma gets really old, it will disappear without her knowledge.

“Brought to you, by”….

“Rainy Daze Moving and Storage”….  “Moving? Major Memories?  Money?  …We’d call that the Perfect Storm!”

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“Sneez-ex Face Wiping Thingies”…..  “Cos even hard-nosed criminals have boogies!”

-

and, by….

“Ko-Jax Digital Image Capture Devices and Public Cloud Storage Rental”….  “Who loves your memories?…..Well, we do, too!”

This whole thing has been so weird. Al’s family is essentially criminal in every respect. I keep wondering when the hammer is going to drop on Irma, but Al appears to be moderately wealthy and pretty much honest.

Am I the only one who thinks this was incredibly sweet? And, after all, these two have one of the most functional relationships we’ve ever seen in the strip. ;)

Storage can seem like a practical solution (and it can be) for the right situations. The one thing, though, the monthly fees/miscellaneous fees storage places may charge can add up, over time! I know of some companies that rent storage (law firms with files for one, cable company and beverage company technicians, as well). Hopefully Al and Irma estimate properly, the intersection where “value, sentiment, posterity and cost” all meet!

Weird, when I first saw P3 I thought the pod had Al and Irma painted on the side. Like it was their company that rents them, lol.

" She Went All ‘Pasture Eyes’ "

(as once performed by Jed Rotall…before he came to his senses…)

It’s sappy and I’m smiling,

You’re profiling, but don’t bother!

You know I‘d still date you,

And not to berate you, but you ougta-

-

We’ll go pricing, somehow-

Let’s Google, now, till we put this stuff out to pasture!

All the compromise,

And to no surprise!  It goes hurtling into a passed blur!

◆

Once I used to keep things,

But with reckonings, I was realizing:

Now there’s cell phones with instant captions

And other contraptions, that go digitizing

-

But if we close our eyes,

We can just memorize all the things that we have, like that broken cast, and tub o’plaster!

But, Oh! She won’t give in!

So, we’ll keep on giving money, auto-debit will be faster….

◆

Oh, time, she won’t give in! Paces with fickle ticking,

These things keep sitting, waiting to have passed her….

-

Storage gets what we’re giving: Money sieve-ing,

Once it was brimming, but that’s what the past’s for….

-

(Oh, look!  I found some more things!)

Convolutions! Memory dilution!?

Don’t be disillusioned!  The solution is sort-of easy to master…

-

A Gray-Berger Museum, curated to please ’em!

Yeah, they’ll be squeezing past the front door!

-

Gunther, what’s the matter!? How did you turn plaid, Sir?

You got half price! That’s what the ‘Family Discount’ is for……

(cue fade out….finally!)

What a good man! Is a he a blood relative to Les?

Think about it Gunth. Yer whole life boiled down to a storage pod.

I suspect that Uncle Al is no stranger to making other “problems” disappear.

Storage pods/lockers have become quite popular in recent years. I hear that some Vegas gangsters use them to store dead bodies and all sorts of contraband. Good thing Al is just “a passionate man”….

I like that Irma turns to Al for counsel. That is how a married couple should rely upon each other. I like that Al didn’t “force” her to give up everything, since it isn’t an issue of space or money with his solution.

Throwing away everything from one’s past is something that can be regretted by future generaions. I have the pocket knife my dad carried throughout his later life and his single blade razor. I have my mom’s molcajete she used in cooking. These are treasures to me. I wish I could have gone through more of their “stuff.”

Uncle Al seems to be made of Money… must be nice.

In a few years the high baby chair will appear in an episode of Storage Wars

With their images in front of the truck, it looks like Al and Irma are the owners/sponsors of the ‘Rainy Daze Storage Pod’ company. Their motto?: ‘SAVE IT for LATER!!’

Ugh. This woman needs major therapy. Her unhealthy dependence on Al is so sad. :(