Pearls Before Swine by Stephan Pastis for July 08, 2021

Must be really hard being the only sane person in your family and circle of friends and acquaintances.

Goat better take a DNA test to prove that he isn’t related to rat.

Goat, just walk away from Rat and go get yourself a Nutty Buddy.

I recall one of my marching band friend’s mother saying of his marching: “Oh look, everybody’s out of step but Leroy!”

FINALLY Rat is cutting off his family nuts.

Every one is crazy but me and thee, and I’m beginning to wonder about thee.

There are people who actually have to do this, because all of their family are abusive jerks. It’s a strange world.

How do you define NUTTERS, Rat? That’s what I’D like to know!

No man is an island but Rat Is making a "GO " for it ! ;-)

If I’m not a “nutter” then the world is in trouble.

A “nutter” good strip today!

Dunno Goat. We are taking about Rat’s family here.

My birth family, Mom, Dad and 2 brothers are all dead!mom and 1 brother mostly sane, Dad and 1 brother, sane for certain amounts of time!

My wife’s family, some dead, mostly sane, some are geniuses! A couple are clever but manipulative backstabbers who I have learned to avoid!

Good self-awareness, Rat.

I speak with my brothers for 5 minutes each every Christmas, That’s about how long it takes for me to run out of things to talk about as my life is very monotonous. The rest of my extended family i see at funerals every few years, if I see the notice that someone died. I haven’t been part of the family in almost 30 years and I have never figured out why.

Suddenly I have a craving for Nutter Butter cookies.

Goat should put those horns to good use, become a Nutter Butter, and take Rat out!

Hang in there, Rat. You’re not alone.

The whole world’s mad but thee and me. . .And I’m not sure of thee!

Every family has a nutter, and if yours doesn’t, it’s you.

Rat probably has hundreds of relatives. It’s gonna be a long list to make.

Well said, Goat. Or Pig with horns, whatever you are.

Nutter is a common surname in parts of the UK. My stepchildren were Nutters until I married their mum. They couldn’t wait to take my surname.

No problem everyone in the family has done the same. It saves a lot of money on birthdays and Christmas also.

I think of “nutter” as British idiom. So is he a British rat? Or is Pastis British?

If you meet an a**hole in the morning, you’ve met an a**hole. If you meet a**holes all day long, you’re the a**hole.—Raylan Givens, Justified.

All I can say is you can pick your friends, you can pick your seat at the show, but you CANT PICK YOUR FAMILY! My fathers side, including him were mean and hateful people! Is there such a thing as a “mean gene”? Well they certainly had it!

Yeah… I’m the nutter. At this point, I have learned to subtly disagree with Rat so as to not get concussed.

Explains why Rat’s family never comes to visit. They’ve already crossed the nutters off their lists too.

Life would be very boring indeed if it weren’t for the nutters in my family. As it is, every day is an adventure!

They’re not the nutters, Rat, you are. (Also, how are you supposed to bold and italicize words?)

I think it’s safe to say that rat’s family has a similar opinion of him. So it runs in the family.

Don’t worry rat you’ll fit in well, you’re another nutter.

Soooooo many nutters around….

Rat is the first individual I know that sticks his pencil under his ear.

I learned that in my early 30’s. People I’ve known who explained why they fell out with their entire family and most, if not all, of their friends were the very people I didn’t care to interact with because of their personalities. It dawned on me that it wasn’t their family and friends with the problem….it was THEM! Now when I meet someone and they start telling me their life story which involves falling out with everyone they’ve ever known (it’s always the other people’s fault…never their own), I know to not become friends with that person. It wouldn’t end well if I did.

i’m beginning to think this rat fellow is never wrong.

Didn’t Trump patent that method? Ostracizing anybody that disagrees with him.

They’ll be so thankful to hear they no longer have to hear from a nutters like you, Rat.

Takes one to know one Rat!

Rat reminds me of one of my very favorite jokes.

A wife calls her husband: “Watch out on the way home, dear, some maniac is driving on the wrong side of the highway!”

“One? There’s hundreds of them!”

If you look for the nut in your family tree and can’t find one, maybe it’s you.

The defining characteristic of a personality disorder.

I can sympathize with Rat, to a degree. But not all my relatives are “nutters.” Not quite all….

When you’re at a poker table and you don’t know who the sucker is…