Frazz by Jef Mallett for April 29, 2024

Not for this old man!

I purely HATE being cold. I’m that old dude who wears a vest INSIDE and carries gloves in the jacket just in case. And gravitates to steam baths and saunas.

When I was a teen, I’d go out in a canoe as soon as the edges started opening up in the spring. Not any more. Today, at my lake, people are already kayaking and canoeing but the water is still cold. If they tipped over, they’re in trouble since no one has put their motor boats out yet, (no one to rescue them), and they would get hypothermia within minutes. Now that I’m older, I tend to think this way.

That’s a bit like hitting yourself in the head with a hammer in order to distract yourself from having stubbed your toe.

Frazz…shrinkage much???

Kids like Caulfield and the bumptious few that must be there but are never seen in this strip are Mr. Spaetzle’s ‘little problems’ that must be solved.

Mr. Spaetzle’s cup is more than double the size of Frazz’s and I bet he drinks a half dozen of those a day. That’s a big problem he can survive, [at least until retirement, when payback for over use will hit him.]

Our family used to go to the New Jersey shore each year. There’s a reason that the lifeguards post the ocean temp on their observation chairs.

Yeah, Frazz. It’ll grow back!

Wet suits, or better yet, dry suits are wonderful.

My brother used to regularly swim in Lake Michigan. Then he got some growth in his ear that was making him deaf. Apparently it is common with cold water surfers. Frazz, if you want to keep hearing the music, I would get back in the pool.

For a species that evolved in Africa, we’ve learned to adapt better than one would expect to cold temperatures. I’m still most content right around 68°F / 20°C, tho. Speaking of which:

“30 is hot; 20 is nice. 10, put a coat on; 0 is ice.” —Mark Henschel, “The Celsius Poem”

It won’t make your other problems go away.

As Mark Twain said, if you eat a live frog first thing in the morning, nothing worse will happen to you for the rest of the day.

Jim Rockford, after hurting his wrist while punching Gandolf “Gandy” Fitch: “OW!” Fitch: “You feel better now?” Rockford: “No, but it made me forget my headache.”

Doesn’t make the lesser problems go away.