For Better or For Worse by Lynn Johnston for December 15, 2017

A… uh… cistern? (I under if my Pennsylvania Dutch relatives use[d] those.)

Judging from this article it appears that Winnipeg is notorious for frozen pipes.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/manitoba/winnipeg-frozen-pipes-review-1.3388557

Winnipeg now leads the country in dealing with frozen water pipe problems.

On the other hand, using a 5-gallon drum behind a cistern in a basement as a bathroom for 9 people in the house would lead me to ask if there was a local hotel where we could stay until Uncle Danny solved his frozen pipe problem. I am beginning to understand why Michael was so opposed to coming on this trip.

Should have been using 100 Watt light bulbs near the pipes to keep the pipes from freezing. (A friend who grew up in Alaska said that they did that. This was more than 40 years ago.) The electric bill is greatly offset by the plumbing bill.

Of course, that was for the “white” water, not the “black” water. And they probably have a septic tank for that. Yeah, I’d be asking about a motel, too.

This trip is starting to make Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation look appealing!

Colorist still hasn’t figured out the guy has a beard needing color, & he doesn’t have a weird shaped chin.

Mike is quite bald in panel three. I guess the colorist had something against facial hair and against head hair – he is depriving the characters!

I saw a new house that had frozen pipes, they burst everywhere. Holes in all the ceilings. It was 8F last night, I get a little scared when that happens.

Eww.

“Can you say…I’m outta here, boys and girls?” Frozen pipes….attic….farm…? This remind me of that movie with Chevy Chase when he and his wife leave NYC and move to Vermont because he wants to become a writer….What is the name of that movie?

For a really funny city-to-farm movie, try to find The Egg and I. Once you meet the Kettle’s, you’ll never think of making that move.

This guy is pretty slick. He’s doing a good job at making sure that there will be no more return visits from extended family.

I bought an old farmhouse out in the country – and the first winter the pipes froze the first time it hit 20 F. An electric heat tape helped a whole lot – but the groundhog stole all the insulation shortly after installation, and I had to go spelunking again to install foam pipe insulation.

If the pipes are freezing, then the house is probably below 55 F a lot of the time – that’s pretty damn cold – but then again, so is Manitoba!

In panel 3 Mike looks like Larry of The Stooges.

If you have frozen pipes, you don’t worry about them tomorrow, you worry about them NOW before frozen pipes become broken pipes and you’re dealing with water damage all over everywhere, since uncontained water isn’t well known for remaining stationary.

You can’t win; Stay in Houston and get flooded from the sky every summer or move to Canada and get flooded from inside.

I remember the winter it got so cold at my grandparents over Christmas that my grandfather disappeared for over an hour trying to thaw out the valves in the spring house. The local creeks froze over thick enough to walk on. The next summer my grandfather had a well put in.

About the colorizing: the colors suggestions are done by the artist. It is comparable to “paint by numbers” charts. Looks like Lynn didn’t go over this set to tell the colorist how and where to fill in the colors. Or she did it so quickly, that she forgot about uncle’s beard and Michael’s recurring bald spot. The colorists don’t make any decisions without the artist approval.

a place to go INSIDE when it’s that cold?!? – I will take it. At my grand’s farm when I was under 10 it was ALL OUTDOOR plumbing and let me tell you there was NO heater in the outhouse. At night we did have bedpans – ewwwwwww. Can you say ‘frozen butt’ without laughing?

Just how broke is this family to stay with these clowns just to save a few bucks?

Next year—Christmas at a near-by 5-star hotel.

The color is fixed now, on today’s strip and yesterday’s.

When I was boy all we had was out house special buckets for night for peeing only I remember getting on my knees so I didn’t miss one night mouse came running by we had rats in wall my father and grandpa would pound wall to scare them off

I grew up with relatives that had outhouses and chamber pots. Never a problem. Grandma Meredith even had a two seater!

My cousins in Saskatchewan have their pipes wrapped with insulated electrical heating filaments and the valves are insulated as well. 15+ years and no problems. (Knocks on wood for them)

Hey look, everyone! They fixed Michael’s hair and his uncle’s beard! Someone must have heard our grousing!