Ballard Street by Jerry Van Amerongen for December 22, 2012

@StelBelDon’t you run a background before you sell a costume?

Happy New b’ak’tun everyone. Don’t forget to chisel on your calendar a reminder to order next the b’ak’tun in 394 years.

Do they sh— in the woods?

The only dark cloud on their horizon, is their almost fanatic devotion to the Chicago Bears….

And in return, their pet Basil shows his appreciation by strumming one of their favorite tunes>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>Basil must be playing THE BEAR WENT OVER THE MOUNTAIN !

They’re bearing up pretty well.

We’re still here!In about 2 minutes it’ll be midnight on Midway Island… and then it’ll be the 22nd of December everywhere on Earth…

There’s been a huge thunderstorm at the western edge of Ballard County…I turned off my computer when my living room was shaking, so I couldn’t catch the bus for a couple of hours.

I thought we might be having an End-of-the-World party at the Tiki, but no one is there….With preparations for both Christmas and the apocalypse, we’re all too tired to stay up all night…

So tomorrow afternoon, I’ll have a little Day After party at the salon…I know some of us are away, but anyone still in town can stop by for champagne…maybe I’ll make a cake!

Hey, what with the world not ending, some of you really ought to get those haircuts you put off in case it turned out to be a waste…19% off your cut and style between now and Jan 10th, if you say “Long Count discount, please.”

Happy Baktun, indeed!

They’re obviously not from Chicago.

BTW … I did NOT expect to find a couple of bearly dressed people sitting right out on their porch when I got back to Ballard Street.

In fact…(peeks through fingers held in front of her eyes…)… I would venture to say they are… completely…. bear naked!

No…. shoes…. they have on shoes….Well, that’s all right then.

And Red, I picked you back up and stood you in the booth in the back at the Tiki…I’ve asked Fenton to lay you on the seat and cover you up if you fall over again.

Goodnight all….

Teddy Bear Picnic?

Big fans of “Edward Bear”

OK, I wanted clearer, but not THAT big

@Essex,That bear song was cute, and very appropriate. It also had Yogi and BooBoo (who I had in this wall mural, begging at Alice’s Tea Party, with Mr Ranger, too). I also left in Bongo Bear (another TV cartoon of the same period.

My pleasure, Sir.: )

In celebration of surviving the latest disaster scenario,The Morning After

just had to stop in and say hey there, glad we all survived the end of the world as we know it….my grandson is sleeping right now, so had to come check on the denizens of the worlds wackiest street…have a great weekend all!

Lovely comments and I’m also glad the world is still here.@Stel, I had that 360 from Susan, but sometimes something is TOO SMALL, like the Frida cartoon I pasted the other day to a different strip. I need to see if that works.

Thanks again, Stel (and Susan)! I see that it DOES enlarge as well as shrink. Working on HIS computer I am missing the notes and many programs (as well as all the hotos in my hard drive). Tomorrow thru Friday I’ll be using my daughter’s.

Basil has many talents…

Mr. Jerry Van Amerongen has a very twisted mind!! Maybe that’s why my son and I take such great pleasure in Ballard Street!! It is one of the first reads in the morning. Keep up the great work!!

Personally I like it when they pay tribute to muskrats.

Santa Claus is coming soon! I know he will visit me this year! That $200,000 in cash better be worth some presents!

@Essex, Thanks, I found them both entertaining (and now remember seeing that ballet group on TV a while back (they also did Swan Lake), and no one mentioned the dancing elephants in Dizney’s Fantasia. Try as much as I could, I could not find the 13th Earl from his hanging scene in Ruling Class (accidental suicide). I still have on VHS if not DVD, but nowhere online, and I’m not home.

Sorry if I’m not answering back y’all. So much to do and so little time….Merry Ho Ho!

I dont spam for anything, usually that is….but I have to talk about one comic here at gocomics…You all know I am a woosie…emotional, totally feminine, and totally woosie….Marigold Heavenly Nostrils is a comic here at go comics. She is a Unicorn who was so entranced with her own image in a pond that she was litterly frozen in her entrancement of her own image. Phoebe is a little girl who skipped a stone across that pond and broke up the image freeing Marigold from her entrancement with her own image…she granted Phoebe one wish and Phoebe’s wish was that Marigold would be her best friend….today, as her Christmas gift to Marigold, she released her from her wish for Marigold to be her best friend….Marigold still wants to be Phoebes best friend….its made me add it as my favorite…and I want you all to experience the joy, snarkiness and beauty that is Marigold Heavenly Nostrils…please visit it and give it a chance…its an awesome comic strip and will make you truly lol and cry and wish that you had a Unicorn friend or at least a 7 year old who loves fantasy as much as we all do or we wouldnt be at go comics…

my son has taken my d-i-l and lil Ronnie to visit friends, after his lovely wife and I make Linguists home made Amaretto…(recipe available at Ballard Street earlier this week)…I am enjoying a small sip of the amaretto and some coffee while urging you all to simply enjoy this holiday weekend and take a look at MHN…you will be glad you did….and if todays doesnt take your heart and squeeze it (after knowing the back story) then change your name legally to Grinch and understand why….

@Essex60

Don’t blame me…I think that’s the picture from The Ruling Class that Dazz was searching for. If it’s not, well then, still….don’t blame me! I couldn’t bear it!

I meant to mention about 17 Ursine utterances ago that Stan and Stephanie’s motto is: GRIN AND BEAR IT !

Hey everybody….

Lot’s of champagne here at the salon…Come in, or come back, if you were here earlier…and raise a glass of bubbly(and thanks, Red!)

<brIt’s later than I anticipated,…. but I slept laste, and then it took a LOT of work to make this thing….

Which will probably take us 20 minutes to eat….

Come on in… I’m ready to cut the “NOT the End of the World” cake!

Tada!

I am SO glad my weather app was wrong!

Stel…. of COURSE you can have the discount on the whole thing!

You’re such a faithful customer, I’ll even give you a loyalty bonus discount….instead of 19% you get 21.7% off, on any services between now and January 10th…

Any other frequent customers, like Bev and the Monkey can get the same!

Linda Dean, you’ve only just started coming here but I’m sure you’ll remain a good customer, so you, too…

Just say “Long Count Loyalty Discount, please!”

Linguist, you too, if you want any salon services, since you buy your mustache wax and other products here…

Unfortunately, on products, I can only offer 14½ % off….

Thank you, Red!

Planet Dilbia is in a crucial location for both humans and their adversaries, the Hemnoids. Therefore making friends with the Dilbians and establishing a human presence there is of the utmost importance, which may be a problem, since the bearlike Dilbians stand some nine feet tall, and have a high regard for physical prowess. They’re not impressed by human technology, either. A real man, er, bear doesn’t need machines to do his work for him.

But Dilbians are impressed by sharp thinking, and some have expressed a grudging admiration for the logical (and usually sneaky) mental maneuvers that the human “shorties” have used to get themselves out of desperate jams. Just maybe that old human craftiness will win over the Dilbians to the human side. If not, we lose a nexus, and the Dilbians will learn just how unbearable Hemnoids can be….

The cover art is a little misleading (as the Dilbians don’t use firearms) but the book is a great read.Not spamming, just following the bear theme.

I know some of you think I just get these cakes ready made…. believe me, it’s not true.

StelBel and Eldo know what it takes!

X …. oooh … new codes?

I can do

….sometimes….what else?

Indent?

Cheers, Red…. !Cake?

excuse me while I go initiate Christmas carols with my son and d-i-l,,,,,fah la la la la la….lol too bad you all arent here with a fireplace….holly ho ho everyone…

Linda…. um…. I know when your birthday is…. but I still need a translation!

Great, Red…and X…. cool.

Red… Fenton’s off duty…. he’s a guest at the salon…

I do have Florrie helping out…It’s her day off from Ballard Fish and Chunks…. she’s great!

But for you, I’m happy to pour some champagne myself ….

You and the Linguist really helped out this party!

Ling…. more Dom?Red sent very good stuff too…. you guys are so kind….

Oooh I love nice champagne!Makes me giggly.OK, more giggly than usual.

X… I went over there and tested…now your turn to come have champagne and cake…

Susan, I did something evil…I fed my daughter in law and son, well, I fed them baked turkey…they are dozing….I would say that they are sleeping but…if I woke them up enough, they would disagree….lol….its a great time around here, in spite of the white wetness that they had to drive through…I will take the haircut after they have gone, and I have highly recommended your salon all over …. well, at least to the sites I visit most….now, I need to eat some more turkey, send my d-i-l and son to bed, and add a couple of logs to the fire, go get my grandson from the cradle, and rock in the grannies boston rocker with my little Ronnie and dream of his future and let the night burn away…

Buddy Guy and Junior Wells – Hoodoo Man

I’m gonna put on Terry Gibbs/Hubert Laws – Dance With The Brushes from their 2006 CD " Findin’ The Groove"

http://www.pandora.com/terry-gibbs-hubert-laws/findin-groove/dance-with-brushes

Ain’t no sunshine – Tracy Chapman & Buddy Guy

Six Strings Down (A Tribute To Stevie Ray Vaughan)

Sherrif Monkey ought to look at today’s Rougue.Is this allowed?

Hey Bri… Haven’t seen much of you…

Want some cake and champagne?

I’m bringing some over to the Tiki now that everybody has left the salon… and I had a little nap.

Lotta cake left… it was a huge one, and so many people are out of town.

Including the Sheriff, BTW…. I’m sure BatPug or Lt. Canine can take the call.

I can wrap you up a big hunk of cake to take home, actually….anybody else for leftover cake?

Any time, Brian…here you go.

x_Tech!!…. the Muppet version???

OMG! You sneaked that one in, didn’t you!

Just to see whether anybody was paying attention, I suppose.And I wasn’t…. sometimes I have to come back later to play some of the links.

Now I love me some Muppets as much as anybody, maybe…but Rockin’ Robin?

I … and I’m about to date myself here….I just about wore out my 45 of this one…. one of the first records I ever owned, given to me by the teenage boy who lived next door…he was basically throwing it out… “hey kid, ya want this?”… but my smitten adolescent self thought of it as a gift….

A first step in discovering rock ’n roll…. with Bobby Day!

Oh… thanks, Red…. sorry I missed your goodbye. Hope you took home some cake.

I had to leave my own party for a while…It’s windy here, and my internet connection went down for a scary hour or so.

Got my fingers crossed now… Last night I turned off the computer a couple of times cos of a lightning storm… tonight no internet…

Is the universe trying to get me to go to bed earlier?

Whoa… just found two messages…apparently I also haven’t been getting incoming phone calls all day… I can call out, but when someone calls my number, it doesn’t ring….and the caller only hears what sounds like wind.Great.Anybody know anything about phones?

And for your late night listening pleasure…Let’s step back to the 50sFeverYou Send MeThe Stroll

little darlin’Tear’s On My Pillow Put Your Head On My Shoulder

Susan…Susan?Can you hear me now?

Chantilly LaceAll I Have To Do Is DreamThat’ll Be The DayWake Up Little Susie

Oh… hi X … I dozed off….That last song woke me up…. always does!

Even if I DO hate being called Susie….

:)

Love your music….“You Send Me” always makes me want to slow dance…

Very popular for that when I was a young teen…

If you’re still here…. got time for a turn around the floor before I’m off to bed?

And yeah… the “Wind Answering” option would be nice to be able to turn on and off….I get a lot of 11 AM robocalls…. could use it then…but actually, there’s a different sort of wind noise I’d like THEM to hear.

Wow… just looked at the clock…

Probably nobody’s up but me….and I shouldn’t be….

Stel…. I saved you a piece of cake…. Somebody should take one out to Storm…it’ll be stale by the time Bev or the Monkey get home…The rest of you guys… help yourselves….

G’night….

Save The Last Dance For MeGood night all

OK…who let the Coca-Cola bears come to the party yesterday? Stephanie? Stan….?

Just in case I get sucked into the Christmas vacuum and don’t get spat out until the 26 or 27th, I wish all of you a very Merry Christmas! Sheriff, hope you get lot’s of bananas and I made you a tree with hammock, tire swing & pool table. It’s around back behind the Tiki. Everyone’s gifts are at the light house. Go on in and have fun! The turkey’s are hosting it. Stephen will translate and do……other odd jobs…..Have fun!

@Stel and others, It is not a hanging, actually- just accidental from erotic play. The old get seems to have done this regularly (not sure WHY the tutu) and his butler had standing orders not to disturb him. O’Toole was his next heir to become Earl and was suitably crazy (or not). Has to be seen in context; as I am mostly of British heritage and Anglophile I appreciate that film as I do the foibles of our Great Country, as long as done lovingly. We all know that inbreeding can be a problem.

Well, It sounds like all the parties last night went swimmingly (the Tiki as well as my daughter’s (she says). We were tucked in nice and tight and now he’s about over the flu/cold whatever. My ganddaughter will be here for me in about 1/2 hour more. I told my daughter to put those beans to soak. If she had done last night as I instructed, I could start on them when I arrive (now I may read or be back to BS from her house). I hope she relises just how much 2# of dry beans make.

It doesn’t look like ther’s too much going on. I’ll see ya’ll on the other side after thew switch.

They need to improve their footwear.

A brand-new and glittery movie poster by our one and only StelBel is here!

https://cleoandcompany.net/december-22-2022/

Good morning Balladeers, (((((Plods))))) and Miss Susan.