Pickles by Brian Crane for April 01, 2024

Wait until Roscoe comes inside after a walk.

Better bring him a foot bath.

If I had to do to walk in my house, I wouldn’t be pleasant

Gotta wonder what he’d SMELL like if he attempted that low hover…

If he could hover, she wouldn’t have to Hoover.

Nothing worse than iffy socks.

Opal if that is what you want bring Earl a pair of slippers to wear ;-)

I doubt Earl can walk on his hands.

Perhaps a foot bath on the front stoop and a towel hanging on the doorknob are in order.

David Copperfield never had this problem

All those years, and he never learned to hover. Yeah, when raising his kids, he was probably not a helicopter parent.

My Asian friends it is the custom to remove one’s shoes before entering their house!

Don’t be silly, Earl. Just take your feet off.

Earl I believe it’s your home too? Just keep walking.

…or Hoover?

Yes! Do not step into this house until you do!

Learning to hover is the hardest part of learning to fly helicopters, but once you master it, it’s incredible.

Hover or Hoover?

not hover…Hoover, Earl

I think SHE does enough hovering for BOTH of you..!!!!

What is on the wall, behind Opal’s head, in panel three?

Good one, Earl.

Easy…don’t wear street shoes in the house [google “wearing-shoes-indoors-is-gross”]

hmm, try hovering and see if that works. if it does, you can put your stuff back on. :J

hovering is GOOD! where do I learn how? no weight on any specific joint, no ground contact, right?

And shut the door! It’s cold in here!

Maybe Earl should turn himself into someone who just glides over the rug in this comic strip.

Maybe Opal wants Earl to hover while he Hoovers.

Bring him his freshly laundered slippers.

Well this is a typical American comic. In most of the rest of the civilized world people remove their shoes upon entering a home. It is far more sanitary that way, considering all the various things shoes track in.

Tee hee!

I live in the country on a ranch, we warn people to put shoes on before they come in the house.

This is the secondary reason males abhor “cleaning.” It’s not just the work of the cleaning. It’s the fact that after the cleaning’s done you’re not allowed to live normally in your own home for at least the next several days afterward.

Ha! Good one!

The solution Earl is to be so drunk you’re crawling when you come home.

Hey, Earl. You’ve learned how to walk on eggshells around her. Why not air?

Earl is so maddeningly malleable, it infuriates me.

Well Earl, if you could manage it that would be great!!!

This strip is from 2005.

A carpet merchant told me that the oils from bare feet are worse for your carpet than some dust on a shoe.

No, but you could learn to Hoover.

I had a dream like that one time when I was a child. I somehow pushed myself above the ground mentally. I didn’t know how to do it but I needed to do it so I did it. It was a nice dream.

That only works if Earl’s feet are also clean…

Hovercraft, maybe two or three might work.

If you could, that would be nice of you.

Ha! She wants him to learn to Hoover!

…or learn to Hoover!

I had to beg my ex husband to take his shoes off when he was visiting one day, then the children and I had to beg him to put them back on. The smell lingered… when my roommates got home they were baffled at the source, how anyone could let their feet get that bad.

If he gets the carpet dirty, he’ll have to Hoover

When I work at a really dirty job, I have to take all of my clothes off at the door.

Hardwood floors and a genkan.