That is Priceless by Steve Melcher for January 05, 2021

The day the snapping turtle made off with Margaret’s pinky.

Michael took this moment to strike Madeline with the pole and Katy pushed her into the water. Michael and Katy did not live happily ever after because the water was just too shallow.

“Yes, ma’am. The algal bloom makes the water such a very wonderful green color. I am very thankful for your industrial farm runoff for providing me with such lovely scenery as I pole you around the lake on my day off.”

The idea was exciting but the chemistry wasn’t right, so they decided to just punt the whole date.

Great pun, all I thought of fell flat (bottom) and shallow…

“Hold the boat steady. I think I see my contact lens … No, wait—that’s a frog.”

“Grab it right behind the jaw, but be careful because water moccasins can be a might slippery.”

Two straight days of Marcus Stone. Who’s next? The suspense is mildly whelming.

concentrating hard as the acid kicks in, libby reaches for the pretty pretty shiny pretty things…

Failed business venture.

Venice, Florida

Trial run for “An American Tragedy”.

In the glorious days of old/ my punt I happily poled/ to a quiet place/ near the old mill race/ where we kept the beer cans cold../ and there, on a summer’s day/ we would while the hours away/ two chicks and a dude/ all three mildly “stewed”/ and engaged in a friendly “three-way”.

Margaret’s clearly not impressed with Sergio’s pole, to the disappointment of both he and Caroline.

“Charlotte, you do realize you’re talking to your reflection, right?”

Only the dog sees the grizzly swimming toward them (currently hidden by the parasol).

You have to try this. You hold the fish by the tail in your teeth and the gator will come up and kiss you.

No, sir, the water is too cold for skinny dipping.

" That’s about it! Those concrete blocks should hold him down. "

“No, dear, he’s no prince. That’s just a baronet’s badge.”

Touch that frog and you’ll get warts!

Can you give me a hand later?

“Let’s go over by that log…”

“A little further, Miss, a little further; they’re almost out…”

MAN: I still say you put cher fish pole in the water and the fish climb up it into yer boat. But you keep trying your hand-bait way if you want, Lilly.

DOG: Idiots. I’d jump out and swim to shore if I knew how to dog paddle

Dude: “Are those piranha?”

“Oh, Dexter, what are all those plastic bags at the bottom?”

Picking waterlillies: 

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Marcus_Stone_-_Picking_waterlillies.jpg 

has info and links that point to info about this A5 paper size high paintng.

http://www.artcyclopedia.com/artists/stone_marcus.html 

http://www.english.emory.edu/classes/Shakespeare_Illustrated/Stone.html 

https://www.wikiart.org/en/marcus-stone 

https://modjourn.org/biography/stone-marcus-1840-1921/ 

https://www.haynesfineart.com/artists/marcus-stone-uk 

http://www.avictorian.com/Stone_Marcus.html 

https://www.askart.com/artist/Marcus_Clayton_Stone/11073031/Marcus_Clayton_Stone.aspx 

http://www.artnet.com/artists/marcus-stone/ 

http://www.victorianweb.org/painting/mstone/index.html 

all have info, or links (especially the last) that point to more info, about this artist (again, askart.com can be read for free in full on Fridays), perhaps in addition to what’s pointed to by the title URL. So far, 2 works by him have been used here. 

https://www.gocomics.com/that-is-priceless/2021/01/04?comments=visible 

has the prior (my comment there used the same artist URLs).

Again, a larger strip image is shown by (⌘- or Ctrl-) clicking the image in Mr. Melcher’s MASTERPIECE #2612 (January 4, 2021) blog entry, accessible by the Check out the blog! box after the last comment.

Took a road trip to Texas a few years back and stopped in a roadside park in Louisiana on the way back. Lovely place with a lagoon much like the one in the painting. There was a sign: NO SWIMMING. above that there was a diamond warning sign with a picture of an alligator.

Took a bayou tour out of New Orleans in 1991. As we motored back to base on the Pearl River, we passed a water-skier down in the water. The guide commented, “Trolling for alligators.”

It’s the ’dorbs dog that draws the eye.

Feeding time at the alligator farm.

Great cleavage , Martha! But the lilly… not so much. :>)

Have you heard of the legend of the Lady of the Lake? Me either, but a legend has to start somewhere…

The lotus eaters foraging for dinner.

lulu may is looking for her Volvo she drove into the water after a night of heavy drinking,she thinks it is this lake but she’s not too sure. she has a bloody beastly hangover.

There it is! My precious!

After she catches the fish with her hand, she thinks “I am ready for the Dim Mak test now!”

“Those are some nice boobs, er, I mean, water lilies, m’am.”

Steve Melcher’s title reminds me of a glass-bottom boat tour at Wakulla Springs in Florida. The guide said, “Why you could just reach out and pet the alligators. Now I wouldn’t recommend that. People that do end up being called lefty or stumpy.”