Pickles by Brian Crane for June 04, 2022

Rutabaga is a tough act. No need to add the “follow” phrase, though.

If you’re in a British grocery store, you’d wonder why citizens of a certain Scandinavian nation are in the produce department (rutabagas in British English are called as “swedes”; note the uncapitalisation)

First he said that a fruit was his favorite animal. Now it’s a vegetable.

Will it be a mineral next? Pyrite (Fool’s Gold) might be appropriate.

Rutabaga is what we called my oldest sibling’s first car. It was a Studebaker that she got for $100 at a yard sale.

I had always assumed that a loofah/loofa/luffa was from some sort of sea creature, but another cartoon recently led me to the fact that loofahs come from a kind of gourd. That’s as close as I hope to come to having my favorite animal be a vegetable.

This story arc could be entirely too long

Earl should have told him the kumquat is just playing possum.

What is Grandpa doing to that poor kid?

Poor Nelson!

Arugula!

Bless you!

Now probably all over again

LOL

call any vegetable – The Mothers of Invention

A rutabaga? Can a rutabaga really even be a favorite vegetable?

It looks like Nelson will have to take another trip to the grocery store!

Kids getting an informal education. The best kind.

LOL! Now, Nelson should catch on quicker this time….GRANDMAAAAAA, he’s doing it again!

Next, a trip to the gardening section.

Next week at the store he learns what a rutabaga is.

“Call any vegetableCall it by nameYou gotta call one todayWhen you get off the trainCall any vegetableAnd the chances are goodthe vegetable will respond to you”

Frank Zappa, The Mothers of Invention

Earl you are digging a pit that will be hard to get out of ;-)

Methinks Opal will toss Earl into the next batch of vegetable soup!

And his favorite fruit is a actually a winnebaga :)

Messin’ with the grandkids…should be an olympic sport.

Law prohibits the keeping of a Rutabaga as a pet. And there’s a damn good reason, too.

Beware – this is a tangent. My friend Bob told me this as a true, personal story – I am not responsible for its veracity. He grew up in a very small New England town and was working with his father on a project when he was told to “use a little elbow grease”. He asked his father “where do you keep it?” His dad said he must have used the last of it and sent him to town to the hardware store. He told the owner that this dad sent him for some elbow grease. Bob was told that the store was all out and he should go to… Well the proprietors of a number of stores sent him along to participate in the game until somebody finally told Bob that his dad was playing a trick on him and explained the old saying to him. I hope it’s a true story, but I may have been the recipient of a trick myself ;-)

When my brother’s kids were young they would look at an unfamiliar dish at the dinner table and ask “what’s this?” He would always say “it’s rutabaga”.

One day he came home to dinner, sat down at the table looked an unfamiliar tuber and said “what’s this?” and his wife and daughters chimed in “IT’S RUTABAGA!”

That’s it Earl keep the kid guessing!

LOVE this grandpa! Messing with kids (in a good way) is so much fun!

Way da go Grampa…….. that kid is screwed up ENOUGH..!!!!

And the best goes on…

Not again! A rutabaga is a vegetable.

Someone get this poor kid an I Pad or something, so he can fact check Earl.

Nelson is going to need serious therapy one day.

With his grandfather as his mentor, Nelson will never have to worry about the pressure associated with qualifying to be on Jeopardy.

oh boy, here we go again

At some point, Earl will say kiwi, and Nelson will learn about the bird and the fruit