Ballard Street by Jerry Van Amerongen for February 20, 2024

Sparky is pretending to be Starbuck in search of Moby Dick.

with that harpoon, you ought to be silent, lady!

Edna is beginning to wish that she hadn’t bought that copy of Moby Dick at the Hofenmyer’s yard sale.

People with pencil-thin legs should be careful about emulating a man that lost his leg.

Sparky is thinking that that nice elderly lady wanted to buy him at the Pet Store but Horace beat her to it. He could been sitting on a silk pillow instead of a cold damp board. Grumble grumble.

THAR SHE BLOWS…..off steam.

scooter’s ready for action! THAR SHE BLOWS!!!

Nope; it’s a life boat.

Call me Ahab.

Of course the house isn’t a whaling ship, because the is where the whale is. She better go deep.

Just as well, Arthur didn’t want fish for dinner anyway.

“And this is not what I thought you meant when you said you wanted to do some canoedeling!”

Avast, me hearties!

Edna should be glad that the fishing is poor today. Last week Arthur harpooned the fish market delivery truck.

“And if you dare spit at me, that will be your last breath mister!”

You just wait. We’re not giving you a share of the blubber.

Good morning Balladeers and Tigressy!

You’re right, Scooter’s got his eye on a squirrel.

Arthur does things without his cetacean.

“Glory be! Will ya look a that! A whale that speaks!!”

“What do you mean? Have you seen the neighbors?”

He’s thinking: “Thar she blows, again.”

Thee she blows mates

Say again? Iḿ having a little trouble hearing you over the sound of crashing waves.

Scooter’s having a whale of a time!!!

Art’s defensive tactics have been upgraded from simply going with the floe to heaving to amidst all the blubbering and spouting off.

Sparky looks resigned.

“This again?” is what he is thinking.

But, he can’t get out o it.

It’s no fluke that Arthur’s hobby is being more than a little out to sea and having a whale of a time.

So much for Arthur’s Christmas-gift subscription to National Harpoon Magazine.

Looks like The Sparkster is all set to launch — d’yer s’pose Art told him whales were made out of bacon?!

No worries, Edna — Arthur’s only on a three-hour tour.

♪♫ … a three-hour tour…♬♫

arthur turns to scooter and says, “i can’t hear her, canoe…?”

Dog is always fully involved in the current adventure.