Rain, by any other name it is still wet.

It has been a long time since I sat my self down here and pontificated my disturbed thoughts and wicked observations. I got caught up in outside stuff of moving rocks and dirt and then we did some traveling and then the family came to visit and back to yard work etc etc. Lousy excuses when I vowed to my self I would create one comic strip per day. It is all mental, looking at a blank piece of white paper and actually drawing out gags.
Where do the gags come from so many people have been asked and I for one see them out of the side of my eyes. If I am looking directly at something no gag will appear but somehow by staring out the sides of my eyes they come to me. Some would call it looking outside the box or is that thinking outside the box?
The other day I was reading another blog called "Hyperbole and a Half http://hyperboleandahalf.blogspot.com/
This blog is about a dog and the relationship between the dog and it's owner or human companion. The lady who writes the thing got off on a thing about the words "A Lot". Since lots of people do not realize these are two word they put them together and it comes out as an Alot. Apparently lots of people do not understand the concept of spell check but that is another story for another time. Here she was discribing what an ALOT looks like and what an ALOT eats etc. As I am reading this ode to the Alot it made me feel so secure in my insecurity in that I have come to find other people see things as other do not just as I do.
I have also wondered about those who miss use the words There and Their and I have started to wonder if tweeter or twitter is taking over the English language. I am also seeing new words apparently such as: UR, LOL, BTW and other strange ways to say simple thoughts. The French used to get upset with the fact that so many American words were starting to creep into the French language and they even held protests at the local McDonald's to protest Le Big Mac. Is it our fault Americans are loved so much in France?
Anyway tomorrow I promise to start posting my silly assed comic strip here for the foreseeable future. If the Rapture happens on Saturday night I will probably still be here on Sunday since they are only taking to good normal people and the rest of us will have to make do, for the next 1,000 years. I would suggest if you are not yet stocked up on ice cream and beer you best do it now while you still can. We do not know if the beer makers are going to go up in the first part of the rapture but I figure all the cows will since I doubt they have been doing much along the line of sinning. Anyway until tomorrow. TTFN

To pooped to pop.

I am currently building a retainer wall for a friend and have been too tired by the time I get back home to even think of anything funny. The retainer wall is to keep dirt from migrating down a hill side against a wooden privacy fence. This involves moving about 40 cubic yards of rock and dirt, constructing a 4 ton retainer wall laying down about 4 tons of cobble stones and then fixing the fence.
Currently it is 36 degrees and looks like snow is coming in and am not looking forward to moving all those big rocks today but if I don't do it, it won't get done by it's self.
Funny thing in doing stuff like this is when you start digging in someone else's yard you can come up with the darnedest things buried. Yesterday I uncovered a 16 foot long, 12 inch by 4 inch timber next to the fence. That thing has to weigh at least 150-200 pounds and the only way I can move it is to cut it in half.
Time to head out so until later.

The chase is on!

When my kids, Dan and Steve were little bitty guys, we used to watch all the wild animal documentaries on PBS. Since Animal Planet and Discovery were not yet on the scene all we had was stuff like Wild Kingdom. While watching those exciting chases of the lions and zebras or what other poor smuck got stuck with the roll of the dinner for the lions, I often wondered what it must have been like behind the scenes. Today's comic strip takes a look at what I think really happens in those Wild Kingdom animal chase scenes.

More squiggly lines

Today's comic strip examines commercial placement. I for one would never step that low! The idea of being paid to add some sort of logo or product in one of my comic strips is just plain wrong. But on the other hand some of my little characters do not have as lofty ideals as I do.

Whatsamatta U.

All my Italian-American slang I learned while watching the Sopranos, campy old mobster movies and old sitcom like Welcome Back Carter. The Sopranos and American Chopper television shows gave the American corporate ladder climbers lots of insight on how to succeed in business and how to "Fuggeddaboutit". The Rocky and Bullwinkle Show made the Whatsamatta U famous though I figure the only place you will find any graduates from that almamatta in this comic strip.
Today's comic strip for April 16, 2011.

Today's comic strip.

Where do the ideas come from?

I wonder if anyone stops to think what it is like to write site gags for cartoons day after day. Don't get me wrong I love the challenge. As one gets into this hobby or career one tends to develop ways to see things as other do not.
Today for instance I am working on a gag pertaining to Sam the wild life movie maker giving Percy the lion on what to do during the shooting of the scene. And there I am drawing out the concept and realize I didn't know what the new movie cameras look like so I pulled up Google images for the new movie cameras. As I am drawing the camera I decide to add Zak the bear as the guy who holds up the chalk board that goes click and pencil in his thoughts about primadonna actors and bang!! A brand new gag hits me like a bolt of lightening!
Sometimes ideas hit me while I am a sleep and wake me up at 2 or 3 am when I have to tell my wife who of course is asleep. She sort of wakes up and says,"That's nice." and goes back to sleep.
Ideas for gags usually happen when you least expect them or while you are working on something totally unrelated.
I once read that there are exercises to build up your gagability (brand new word) or the ability to build or create gags or jokes. In that same book the author said that most gag are in groups of three, gags have to have a surprise ending and since our life styles are changing with new inventions the gags usually refer to the here and now. Today a joke about a hand crank telephone would not work nor would most people under the age of 30 know what one would mean when stating that a phone was slammed down.
There are quite a few people who seem to think all the gags and jokes and books have been written but how can that be when I am not done yet?

HE MAY BE FAT AND BALD BUT..HE ALSO NEEDS A SHOWER.

Some times looks can be deceiving. Look at Colombo & Monk the television detectives. Sometimes we can look at a project and think in our mind, what a piece of cake! Only to find out weeks later that the little project was connected to other things and to fix the original problem you ended up fixing all the other attached things. Stanley Tenor is a take off in sorts of the television shows the Sopranos and the Flintstones with a dash of the Three Stooges.
A little back ground of Stanley Tenor. Ten years ago today he turned 40 years old, working as an accountant for a Mutual funds company in New York City. He was single living in the basement of his mother's home and had not ever been on a date with a woman in ten years. He never had a driver's license and had never been out of New York City. He had worked in the same department for the last five years and had sat at the same work station or cubical for the past five years. In other words Stanley was in a rut. The day after his 40th birthday he did not show up for work and no one noticed he was gone for a week. The day Stanley disappeared his mother was making him his same breakfast she had been cooking for him for the past 40 years, Oatmeal and a glass of orange juice. She placed his plate in the same spot he had sat at for the past 40 years and thought it odd that Stanley was not in his seat at 6 am like he had been for the past 40 years. I wonder where that boy is? she thought to her self and just as quickly put the thought out of her head. Later on that day she noticed his breakfast had not been touched and wondered, "I wonder," and went down to Stanley's bedroom in the basement of his mother's home.
Timidly at first she knocked on the bedroom door, no answer. "I do declare.." says his dear old mom. Slowly Stanley Tenor's mom opened the door and peered into the empty bedroom. Actually the room was quite full of Stanley Tenor's former life, a life full of regret and disappointment and rejection.
Where was Stanley, thought Stanley Tenor's mom? Where indeed had he gone. He had simply vanished leaving behind all his clothes, all the things people collect over years of waiting and waiting for something to happen and it never happens.
One might say that Stanley Tenor finally found out what so many people never do come to understand.
Before going to bed the night before Stanley looked at his tired rejected face in the mirror, slowly turned around and looked at all the things around him. "This is your life Stanley Tenor", a small voice said out of the darkness. This is my life? This is what I am? This is what I have to look forward to? This is my future? At that point Stanley started to cry, softly at first and then the tears started to flow.
Looking at his "things", his "Life" a thought began to form in his brain. Stanley had finally came to a realization that if he did not change, he would start dieing tomorrow on the first day of the rest of his life and the first day of his 41st year. What had he done in the past was gone and what he did from this moment forward was his future.
Did his job really matter? What did Stanley have to stay in this life for? No one even said good morning to him at the coffee shop where he got the same cup of coffee every morning on his way to work at the very same time each day. No one sat with him at lunch, no one invited him out for a beer after work any more and no one even remembered his birthday at work. Face it Stanley he said to the mirror, you are nothing to anyone. With that thought in mind Stanley Tenor, who lived in the basement of his mother's house and worked in a cubical in a mutual fund company on the 60th floor of a really tall building in mid town Manhattan, vanished. Stanley Tenor who used to sit for eight hours a day five days a week in front of a computer monitor in a 6X6 cubical with security cameras monitoring his every move simply disappeared.
Three days after Stanley Tenor disappeared, Stanley Tenor's mother reported to the police he was gone, two weeks after he had vanished several of his co-workers wondered if old Stanley "What's His Name" was out sick.
Where was Stanley Tenor? His mother was in a dither and could not understand why her son Stanley Tenor would leave all his things as though he had simply walked away from all the things that were important to him.
Stanley Tenor had left his former life and had gone to the air port paid for a one way ticket to Africa in cash. There was absolutely no record that Stanley Tenor had boarded that plane that night ten years ago and found himself whisking away to Africa. Why Africa, Stanley Tenor? What did you expect to find in Africa Stanley Tenor. We probably will never know what it was that Stanley Tenor expected when he started his journey into the unknown because as lots of us old guys know...Sometimes what happens once a person starts a project is a discovery of the unknown and you end up at a totally different place than where it was you thought you were going.
Stanley Tenor as I have just discovered, represents my own life as he does so many people. We start a project like I have this comic strip and over a period of time it evolves and becomes something else all together. Funny how each of my characters I have created are actually a small minute part of my own self.
Stanley Tenor has now been living in the jungles or as they now days call Rain Forests, amongst the great ape or the lowland gorilla. After a few years they trusted him so much as to make him part of their family. After a few more years Stanley Tenor former lowly accountant with a New York City mutual fund company and Stanley Tenor who used to live in the basement of his mother's house was now the family leader of a group of Lowland Gorillas. Stanley Tenor is quite happy these days and never plans on going back to New York City to live once more in his mother's basement.

Some days it is just plain hard to focus.

Did you ever feel like you were spending a lot of time keeping the gators at bay when your original project was to drain the swamp?
I am having somewhat of a time of it getting my next strip done so in the mean time this is my version of what a bear might feel like after coming out of hibernation on a Monday.

Me Me Me Me!

Today's comic strip.

Today is someone's birthday!

A certain someone who lives in Florida told me she likes pigs. So in honor of her birthday today I present Swine Lake! Not to be confused with swan lake. Actually I could only afford on lonely pig but she did a mighty effort.

Happy Birthday Kathy! I hope you, Mark, Kyle and Billy have a great day.

LIGHTS CAMERA & ACTION! CUE THE JUNGLE NOISE

Well folks since we are in the wild animal movie business it is time to dust off the cameras, turn on the lights and sober up the actors. Lots of stuff goes on behind the scenes when one makes a wild animal movie and in the following weeks or months or until we find something else to have some fun with we will try to amaze you with scenes of absolute silliness and mayhem.
Last night around 2 am I awoke with a new group of characters for this comic strip. Imagine if you will, a former accountant by the name of Stanley Tenor who decides on his 45th birthday to quit it all and head off to Africa and live amongst the great apes and become one with them. With Stanley Tenor ( No relation to Tony Soprano) organizes three great apes named Sid, Irv & Mo into the Three Tenors! Imagine three Jewish-Italian New Jersey Mob types played by the three stooges who are big old lovable guerrillas, who only wants,"A Piece Of Da Action.
Actually, in today's comic strip you will see Sid, Irv and Mo or the three Tenors.
Have a great day and see you again tomorrow.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY RICHARD!

Today, Dick's family and friends will be gathering together in Fresno, California, for my much older brother's 80th birthday.
Even though you will never read this since you refuse to have any long or short term relationship with a computer, let alone that internet thing. Let me say a few things here about you.
I never knew I had an older brother until I was five years old. Mom took me to see you when you were at some navy base and by that time you were almost on the verge of going to Navy flight school. The next time was about a year later and at that time you owned a brand new 1951 Chevy and you even gave it a cool name ( in the mind of a six year old) Cecil the Sea Sick Chevrolet. Over the years we spent a total of maybe two weeks together and most of those were at family reunions. I remember one time when I was a senior in high school and was working on that hobby ranch south of Bodega Bay California and you and DeAnn with all your kids to visit me on the "Ranch".
Then in 1966 when I was in the Marines stationed in Viet Nam, you were in Iwakuni Marine Air Station Japan and the next thing I knew you were down near Saigon doing some paper shuffling, as you put it and I was still up North hanging out with the grunts and talking to the choppers on the radio.
Funny thing about retirement apparently that was one of the things they failed to teach you in the Navy. You retire from the Navy and after a short stint in the the private sector you start another career with the Fresno County Sheriff's department. After you retired once again from the Sheriff's department you have continued to do you fair share of community service stuff like ringing bells at the kettles at Christmas time and teaching the little kids bike safety.
Even though I am not at your big tu-du I will be there in spirit. If a man is rich not by how much money he has but by how many friends and how large his family is...Dick you are probably one of the richest guys I know. Happy Birthday Dick.

Got Greek?

Have you ever talked to a mechanic or someone who speaks "tech talk?" and felt like they were talking another language? Computer geeks like my son Dan speaks fluent Computer gizmo-ology, my step Daughter Becky who is a Doctor of Lazer-bio-whatachma callit of things that go BZZZZap in the night and my dear wife, Ruth who is a teacher talks in Teacher-student-principal-state rules and regulations pertaining to teaching testsology.
When a person has been involved in any job for a period of time and works in that function 8-12 hours a day they tend to think everyone speaks and understands their technology terminology. I really do want to understand what they are saying but when they start throwing around stuff like C-Sap tests, correct use of the coordination (balance) ball; advantages of a gyroscopic heading indicator (versus a compass), Temporal (or longitudinal) coherence implies a polarized wave at a single frequency whose phase is correlated over a relatively large distance (the coherence length) along the beam.
When your mechanic is explaining the reasons your car goes Ka-plunk or RRRRR-Plunk or Ping ping Pow and he is using terms that sound like something a space alien would utter one begins to wonder if they are really using real words or if they are just repeating what they heard some Klingon using on an old Star Trek show.
Is it important that we all know what other people are saying to us? Usually us old guys can't understand or hear the other person speaking in simple English. At that point we just nod periodically and smile or look concerned depending on the other person's expressions.
I have a theory on the old term "I do it periodically." This term when uttered by a teenager means once a day, Periodically to someone who is 20-30 years old means ever few months, to a person 40-50 means every year give or take a year or two. When one gets to be a senior citizen 60-80 the term "I do it Periodically," means every decade give or take a decade or two.
Anyway here is today's comic strip.
By the way, Bob the grease monkey is saying in Greek, " Still need to fix the tires, the wings and the propeller is still broken." Give or take a few words.

With duct tape you can fix any thing!

After Dick and Bob the grease monkey crash landed into the comic strip, they took stock of the damages. Maggy the biplane has seen many better days but Bob is a great little air plane mechanic and can fix any thing with wings. As a matter of fact last night he fixed up some great southern fried chicken...but that is another story for another time.

Life on the great plains of the Saragotcha can be hard but many wild animals call the Saragotcha home and it will be an ideal place for the gang to make some great wild life movies.
If in the process of these comic strips I add in wild life that you do not remember seeing in the Saragotcha part of Africa it is just because you did not apparently do safari in the same parts of the Saragotcha that I did. Of course some beasts you probably have never seen even in any zoo may be showing up. Also some people who should be long dead or in deep outer space will be showing up to lend their views of life as they know it.
Any way I am back drawing squiggly lines and writing really bad puns and gags so if you are still our there in cyber space reading this...Don't you have anything better to do?

Hold on folks we be landing!

As they say sometimes the trip is more exciting than the what happens once we get to where ever we are going. Sometimes the landings can be more exciting still than the flight was. In Africa a bush pilot like Dick have learned to land any where under obscene conditions.


If one has to fly the bush of Africa one should have a pilot like good old Dick Rigg.

See ya in about a week.

Dick & Bob hit the friendly African Skies

Dick and his trusty grease monkey, Bob are flying from Nayropie to visit with Ira and the rest of the strip characters on the plains of the Saragotcha and along the way some strange things happen.

Since Ruth, my wife who is a teacher has the next week off from her job as an elementary school teacher. Where we are going to be for the next week we will not have internet connection so I am posting tonight what would normally be posted for about a week. We will be back on Sunday and everything will be back to normal after that.

Today's comic strip deals with the stress of traffic jams. Imagine a traffic light for wild critters on an air port run way!

New comic strip for April 2, 2011
My brother Dick and his faithful sidekick and grease monkey Bob, are going to start their long trek (if one takes a trek somewhere does that make them a Treki) down to the plains of the Saragothca to visit Ira and the others who are waiting for them. During the up coming visit Dick will be using his old bi plane Maggy along with Sam and Zak to video tape African wild life from the air.
The little stick figures show how very large Dick's family is.

Here comes Dick!

I have a theory of Cartoons, Comic strips and cartoon characters. Cartoon characters are not unlike actors and actresses in that you can use the same character for many different parts. Zak for instance has been part of my life since the early 1980's. For years I kept trying to created one strip after another. One was where Zak played a town sheriff in modern day Colorado and I actually got about ten strips done of that idea. From there I kept coming up with one job related comic strip to another and finally just gave up and got caught up with raising kids and working. About six months ago I bought a light table to do comic strips on and it sat there for another 4 months and one day for fun I created a fake person I called Ira Cash as a retired guy who was a cartoonist and set him up with his very own face book page. Ira needed a cartoon strip to do so I created Bube Tube and made Ira my fake face book person as the cartoonist of the strip. The original concept was about a television station in Baja Brighton Colorado and all the many people who work there. I was really rusty from not drawing anything in over 20 years but pushing my self was able to start finishing one strip a day. That was my goal to actually create and publish on the internet one comic strip per day for an indefinate period of time.
Recently, having made face book friends with other cartoonists from around the world and view their stuff came to the conclusion that comic strips are an American medium and most of the cartoons from else where are decidedly anti American slant even though they do not think so. So yesterday I started adding in editorial cartoons with the comic strips. And that folks is as they say where we stand today. I will be posting daily on this here blog at least one comic strip every day from now until they pry the number two pencil from my cold dead fingers. Hopefully I can bring a smile to you on a daily basis. There will be times when my wife Ruth and I are camping or just out of town for a period of time like next week, but generally speaking this is my personal goal in life to prove to my self I can still create gags and comic strips. I do not get paid for this and it is purely a hobby and as such I have total control of the content, the quality and the quantity of my creations.

From a Bube Tube to a romp with Zak

I am moving my current comic strip blog called Bube Tube over here from there because over there they run a very loud commercial next to my entries..
Bube Tube started out on Face Book in February as a hobby and originally was about a small town television station and all the funny things that happen on Live TV. About three weeks into the comic strip and I was ready to set up shop in a blog. At first it was nice and quiet but a few days ago I took a look at the blog as other people would and found the blog administrator put this life action very loud noisy commercial running on the same screen.
But enough of my whining and bitching and I will now simply start posting my strips onto this blog.