Breaking Cat News by Georgia Dunn for March 23, 2025

I am NOT trying this recipe out on my dashboard…

Ah, he is doing this unsupervised and without authorization, now it makes sense. Perhaps there should be a disclaimer with the recipe? “Kids, don’t try this at home without permission?”

Lupin, I pray we NEVER see “the right circumstances”. But at least our agents of chaos are wearing eye protection. Even Iggy is, was, looking on. Smart boy, he turned tail and ran!

Tiny volcano is less messy than elephant toothpaste, but not by much!

Glad to see The Boy is making good use of his Little Oppenheimer Play Set!

Ah, A crucial difference:

The Woman: “No!!!”

Georgia, the cartoonist: “Here’s the recipe and instructions!”

“Under the right circumstances.” (i.e. “If it will cause at least some degree of chaos.”)

Right! (Adam Savage’s sulfur hexafluoride voice (if you don’t remember it, google it)) “It’s Scientific!”

Puck in the background of panel 3 is priceless. Pure Parent Mode there. And that scowl as he’s carting OZ away…I wonder if he got lessons from Baba Mouse?

I remember drawing those S’s on my graph papers. Such fun.

I LOVE Lupin innocently hiding behind the newspaper. He is really setting new standards of Lupinness today!

Last panel. “Lupin? What is Lupin? No Lupin here…”

Doesn’t he mean, “Cat of science”?

This reminds me of a line from Macbeth: “Double, double toil and trouble; Fire burn and cauldron bubble” – chanted by the witches as they brew a potion of foreboding and chaos.

I had to look it up since I remembered it as “bubble, bubble, toil and trouble”. I hope I don’t get in trouble with Mr. Shakespeare for copying his work!

So many cats and kids means the adulting in the house can be exhausting!

Every time I see that cool “S” I get hit with a wave of nostalgia. ❤️

He may be a future MythBuster. If so, I pity The Woman.

doitdoitdoitdoitDOTDOITDOITDOIT!

The Boy’s investigative impulses are being repressed. His prospects of becoming a scientist are doomed.

But we get a chart!

I absolutely love the second panel. I can just hear Lupin’s voice saying, “Oh, this is gonna be good” with such relish! (ﾐゝᆽ╹ﾐ)

Angry humans are like volcanoes.

Hey at least he was in the kitchen . . . .

Like most 5th and 6th graders in the USA, I had to create an experiment for the Science Fair. Yes, I was among the many who built a vinegar/baking soda volcano. I made the cone out of modeling clay. I then covered it in paper machet, painted it in brown, and covered it in a layer of Shellac to make it waterproof. I set it inside a sheet pan with high enough sides that it wouldn’t make a mess on the cafeteria/gym floor. I filled the cauldron with baking soda then added the vinegar for the finale of my demonstration. Yes, I made a chart. I got an A, but due to lack of originality, I did not advance to the district Science Fair.

The next year I planted radishes. Again, I got an A but did not advance to district. I loved the episode of Star Trek: Next Gen where one of the winners of a science fair grew radishes. Their prize was a tour of the Enterprise conducted by the captain where the radish grower Captain Picard made him his executive officer in charge of radishes.

And I am sure the, Woman’s mother, Grandma senses are tingling with-My child is now experiencing a, ‘Why did you do that?!’- moment!

And we have a cameo appearance from Violet! My day has been made!!!

With changes coming to GC, does anyone know what happens to our saved comics? Do they stay or do we lose them? I’m going to copy down the dates so I can find them again! Just in case!

Woman you got off easy. At least no KA-BOOM! came with this experiment.

Used to do a cool thing with the kids. Put some baking soda (Tbsp) in an uninflated balloon. Shake it down to the bottom of the balloon. Pour some vinegar (1/2 cup) in a small water/soda bottle (something with a narrow neck) Stretch the end of the balloon over the neck of the bottle. Bring the end of the balloon up so that the baking soda falls in. The balloon will inflate on top of the bottle. FUN!!

Yay!! The cool S from the nineties!!

Science. It is not what most peoples theenks it is. Just like time.

This so happened to me as a kid. Mom wondering why she was always running out of vineger!

I love them all with their safety glasses!

It’s a funny coincidence that today’s cartoon revolves around ‘science.’ Yesterday, I tackled a stain in a small plastic storage container—courtesy of chipotle pepper sauce—using the classic baking soda and vinegar combo. It turns out, this bubbly duo makes for an excellent stain remover. Of course, you have to wait for the fizzing action to settle down first. Science in action, am I right? LOL!

OT: Sunday Funday!

Lupin is indeed a man of science. He’s best known for his experiments in gravity.

On the plus side, the counter will be quite clean after mop up.

I think we have a future Mythbuster in the making! Woman, you need to make him your assistant in the kitchen and teach him that baking is chemistry.

I love that the robber mice are included and how Papa Puck goes after OZ as The Woman goes after the boy.

Between his paw on his hip in panel 3 and his sober prouncement in panel 7, Elvis is clearly the adult cat in the room!

Science: Always fun when you’re not the one tasked with cleanup. That usually falls to an action hero or a mother (ah, but I repeat myself).

Make a paste of baking soda and dish soap. Then put vinegar in either a spray bottle or a squeeze bottle and let the kids at it. You get foam, bubbles, and a really big mess.

Well, that’s what you get for letting you kids watch Bill Nye the Science Guy on tv.

Flashing back to a query from a couple of days ago – while trying to find Ora Zella’s marking up the box, I found the strip where Puck has the cucumbers over his eyes. 2023/07/23. It’s the co-parenting one, and has Puck in a basket of warm laundry with his towel turban, cucumbers over his eyes, and a wine glass..

The vinegar and baking soda can also be used to clean the kitchen. It’s already mixed.

Speaking of science. Show of hands. Who here has made a tennis ball cannon out of old soup cans? Okay, well, my brother and I decided to make one while our parents were at work. We cut the bottoms out of four empty soup cans and fastened them together with duct (or is it duck) tape. We left the bottom on the base can and put a small touch-hole in its side for fuel to be added and ignition.

Put a tennis ball in the top, a quick squirt of lighter fluid into the base can, and put a match next to the touch-hole, and…FRRRUUUMPP! A deep base sound occurs as the tennis ball is shot 30 or 40 feet in the air. That is really cool, and we shot the cannon several times.

Then, being precocious in a lot of ways, yours truly said, “You know, pure oxygen from Dad’s acetylene torch kit might help ignition.” Yes…you see where this is going. We got the oxygen tank and dragged it out to the launch site. We put in the fuel and added a lot of oxygen. Now, I’m not stupid…Quit laughing, Scaeva! I realized that this was going to be a more significant reaction, so we put concrete blocks around the cannon as a blast wall, made a fuse trail of lighter fluid back to what we thought was a reasonable minimum safe distance…and lit it.

Did you know the Fire Department and Police call your mother when they respond to a house where an explosion happens? And, ringing in the ears is a real thing. Needless to say, the cans were shredded, and even the block wall was blasted outward, and we never did find the tennis ball projectile. In addition, the neighbor lady, being a tad hysterical, said she fell off the couch where she was napping because she thought our house had blown up.

Under the terms of my probation, I was prohibited from taking any chemistry classes in high school lest it give me new ideas. Dad’s acetylene torch was locked away, and I enjoyed the rest of summer break from my bedroom, where all I had was our white cat, Tinker Bell, to talk to…and he stuttered.

I absolutely adore seeing them all wearing eye protection. Also, Puck picking up OZ by the scruff of her neck with his mouth is chef’s kiss.♥

It’s not rocket science as to why they did it, Woman.

Woman, you may want to keep the Mentos and the 2 litre bottles of carbonated beverage under lock and key.

My grandson was into dinosaurs around the age of 3, so we’d do this in the sink and it became the ‘great smoking mountain’. Broccoli spears scattered around the counters was the ‘great valley’ the dinosaurs were trying to get to.

Puck is now officially a dad!

Anybody else remember Fizzies™? Put enough of them in a pop bottle and quickly shove a cork in the top. (This was before Mentos™ existed.) Works even better with Alka-Seltzer™—as long as the bottle itself doesn’t break. If you use a plastic bottle with fins taped to it, you can even make it a rocket. Messy launch, though …

Meanwhile, Back on the Nile

Beatrixia: Anyone for a nice mani pedi at Barbara’s Shop?

Ora Z: Me! Me!

Bea: Iggy?

Iggy: I think a nice massage would be just the thing.

Bea: Alright. Let’s go!

Sometime Later

Bea: That was a lovely time.

Iggy: Thanks for inviting me.

Ora Z: Did anyone see my coin pouch?

Iggy: When did you last see it?

Ora Z: I took it out to give a tip to Reem. She gives such nice manicures.

Bea: Looks like we’ll have to retrace our steps.

Sometime Later

Barbara: Yes. We have a coin pouch that was left here. Can you identify it?

Ora Z: It was blue with gold trim and had the initials OZ burned into it.

Barbara: That’s it. Come back soon.

Ora Z: Count on it!

This story is totally fictitious and nothing similar happened to me yesterday (except it was a restaurant where it didn’t happen)

The Boy was thoughtful. Note that he was using a tray to keep the experiment confined.

Anyone remember using a real coal piece found on the tracks in childhood and using, if I recall, vinegar, baking soda and liquid food coloring to make crystals on the piece of coal. I had a science book my aunt gave me, and of all the experiments, I loved that one the best!

Poor Iggy, hiding his eyes. And Puck getting OZ out of the way. A lot in there. Lupin hiding behind the paper and one of the robber mice helping…..

Science is cool! And you don’t even have to make a mess to enjoy it, but the mess adds an extra element of enjoyment, till you have to tidy it up.

Also, Ora Zella and Lupin in their safety glasses, so cute!

The cats are all wearing safety glasses. When kids the boy’s age play with vinegar and baking soda it’s a good idea. When I was a kid almost every household had enough matches to make match head rockets. These days not so easy.

Honestly her fault. If you don’t shove the children out into the back yard and let them play alone for hours at a time, and tell them firmly that all play must be done outside (weather permitting), then this is just absolutely expected! I did stuff like this, too – on the back patio. And stuff like this cleaned up with a garden hose.

Looks like Ora zelda had a paw in it!!

OT: big sigh (no one is in danger, just venting)

OT: Tabby.net (one of our dear orbsters who seems to have gone missing) :(

Off-Topic – Quick and easy dessert

OT: Found a gem by accident!! As anyone seen this page??! It’s all about Georgia and has the most wonderful pictures included!

gocomics.Com/blog/908/georgia-dunn-breaking-cat-news

Ora Zella Toe Bean Areas!!!! SQUI!

The moment I saw OZ on the table, I thought “Ruh Roh!”

Georgia, if you’re reading these comments, I would love to know if “the Boy” ever did this when he was little. ❤️

Our OZ has a talent for STEM subjects. Do we have the first cat to win a Nobel?

Lupin states that “The Boy” is making the mini volcano, but Puck already knows that OraZella MUST be involved! Loved how he went rushing off. And OraZella doesn’t even seem aware that he’s carrying her away.

The year is 1985

Note in the last panel that we have Violet’s and Iggy’s tails making a fast retreat.

O.Z. is loving the chaos.

I love the cool S. Drew those in class during lectures in my notebooks.