For Better or For Worse by Lynn Johnston for May 03, 2022

Not easy living in a construction site, is it?

Again, we see her suffering the consequences of putting herself in harm’s way.

The dog days of home remodeling.

Farley’s version of “cement shoes”…

I don’t blame Farley. He’s is probably writing a message in the concrete that says, “Water not for cement, but for concrete.”

Hurry, Farley, get out before the cement set!

Was there any other way to ask about turning on the water without invading Ellie’s privacy? ;D

Farley is leaving his “signature” in the wet cement.

BTW, why is Elly so PO’d? Is her shower too cold? If so, don’t they have a water heater in that house??

Somehow I get this saying about the Hair of the Dog that did something or another, in my mind. I don’t know why though.

Sure, and we’re all just going to stand around and watch the dog tramp in the cement… Our solution is to watch all this while complaining to the homeowner…

I thought Farley was “watering” the concrete.

Seems appropriate. Why else would they call them “footings”?

Just hope it doesn’t harden.

Dogs and kids aren’t really trying to help, they’re just trying to participate. I send both to keep away squirrels and they’re usually pretty good at it.

Again this is why they should have stayed in a hotel for the time being

Thank goodness it says soap on what Elly is holding or we’d have thought it was a frying pan.

Lynn’s Comments:

In this strip, the contractor is speaking with a marked French Canadian accent. I was harshly criticized for making fun of French Canadians—until Paul himself wrote back to my critics and said that this was exactly the way he talked!

This family really needs to keep a closer on their dog and their baby.

OK, listen up! The construction worker has that “thing” in his face again today. It is white. He is not putting nails in anything. He has a shovel. The big question remains!

Whenever I hear a French accent, I still think of Maurice Chevalier, smoking at a bar

And they didn’t think to WARN her to keep her dog in?! How’s she going to get the cement off his paws! Esp. when she’s not dressed!

He just wanted to put his paw prints in. Besides, the cement is mighty soft. His feet shouldn’t sink in…

If you want him to go away, simply say two words “Guten Morgen”. Hearing German sends any Frenchman running!

The first panel joke was predicted by about five dozen people.

Farley is doing his Dennis The Menace impersonation.

And MR.BLANDINGS BUILDS HIS DREAM HOUSE—1948—got there years before Tom Hanks.

It’s long past time Elly got dunked in a bucket of ice water, but this will do.

And once again Lynn is showing her ignorance of construction practices, especially pouring concrete. Yesterday it was the tiny mixer that would have taken about two days to fill the forms they had laid out. Today it is the wetness of the mix. Anything that was wet enough to allow Farley to sink his feet into it as far as he has is not going to be a very strong foundation. The dryer the mix, the stronger the resulting concrete.

Add to that the fact that those “footings” are at ground level. They should be at least 4 feet underground and about 2 feet wide in the type of climate that they have. The part that shows above ground or at ground level are foundations, not footings.

Mrs. Patterson builds her dream house.

Not really helping, is he?

I like the part where he says “your dog” and she has to ask “Farley?” in order for him to confirm. “Oui, Madame. We asked the dog ‘is name and ’e said ’Farley’”

This is not a comic strip. It is a soap opera about coming out to your parents. If this was a comic strip, there would be a funny scene akin to cartoon physics. For example. the shower water is too hot, so Elly screams “YEE!” as she flies up into the air, through the ceiling and into the mesosphere. Then the last panel would have people looking at a newspaper headline.

CANADIAN LANDS ON MOON

Our boxer dog Treacle did the same thing in our conservatory foundations. She’s been gone over 30 years but I always smile when I see her paw prints