Calvin and Hobbes by Bill Watterson for March 14, 2022

Mom said the same the thing to Dad when he went to work that Hobbes said to Calvin.

unless the mother is laundering the beds’ sheets, you’re out of luck, Hobbes

Did he forget his lunch again?

Rain can still be fun even during school. Like if it was stormy outside, sometimes it would cause the power to shut off. There would be no choice but wait it out even if there was a few minutes of class left.

I suppose you go to the Gulag on the Gul-bus

At least he came out with you to the bus. He could have stayed in the warm and toasty bed.

Mom and Dad let Calvin stand ALONE in the pouring rain waiting for the school bus (To them, Hobbes is just a stuffed toy.)??

If this strip was made today, they’d be arrested for negligence.

See, this is why I like working from home.

So how is Hobbes going to get back home by himself? (Related question: Who gets the umbrella?)

Into every life a little rain must fall

It builds character, as his father would say!!!

What are friends for?

Just don’t get the sheets wet.

dear inmate, your parents pay for that gulag… and you as well.

It’s now 8:15 AM local time on a rainy day. I have to go out and be somewhere by 9. The other half just announced he’s staying home and enjoying the rain indoors.Don’t get me wrong, we need the rain and I’m glad it’s falling, but I wish I hadn’t agreed to do this.

Same with having a cat, only they don’t even get out of bed when you have to leave for work. “Have fun supporting my lifestyle!”

What horrible conditions, like being tortured by the gazpacho!!!

Hobbes deserves a boot in the butt or saying that. roflol

It could be worse… Like Monday morning.

Never mind.

I wonder if the school bus will even stop for what looks like Marvin the Martian in a spacesuit standing beside a large tiger?

The good ole days, now its “Was that the shingles coming off? What about the siding? That tree in the back is a little shaky, did the trash can just go down the street….”

Since weeks, we have a too great dryness!It is not good for the plants. – Rub it in, Hobbes!!

All that wet tiger fur… he’s not getting back in the house!

I have a cat who impatiently waits for me to get out of bed, and then crawls under the covers to capitalize on the warm spot I left behind.

and hope the gazpacho don’t get you.

It’s been a while since we’ve had that kind of rain down here…

He’s right, rain against the windowpanes makes it hard to get out of bed.

Wait until he gets older and has to go to work.

My mother didn’t believe in umbrellas or other rain gear. Once we get soaked to the skin rain doesn’t matter any more. It is the process of getting wet, rather than being wet, that we really object to.

Sounds like retirement. Mmmm!

For those who are wondering, the Gulag was a brutal Soviet Union labor camp where many people died.

Nothing like the smell of wet tiger in your bed.

These days, with helicopter parents, I wonder if kids even know what it’s like to wait for a bus wearing rain gear and galoshes. I know I am a geezer, but I remember waiting for the bus in rain, and sometimes in below-freezing conditions.

I think Hobs has a trip through the dryer in his future.

I love the sound of rain on the windows and roof and the howling wind – it´s nice being retired.

Looks like it’s still DARK OUT AFTER DST time change. FARMERS ? They, HATE, DST ! The, Indians ? Used to say, " only the government can cut off the top of a blanket, sew it on the bottom, and say, the blanket is longer now. "

To be fair, Calvin does have the situational awareness to dress appropriately for the weather. He is not like the out-to-lunch kid in For Better or For Worse, where there was a strip about waiting for the bus:

Mom: “Michael, it is pouring out. Aren’t you going to wear your raincoat and fisherman’s hat?”

Michael: “Are you kidding, Mom? Do you have any idea how dorky I would look in that. And no one wears rubber boots anymore!”

Mom: “At least take an umbrella.”

Michael: “What are we, British?”

Michael departs house laughing

Final strip. Several kids are at the bus stop. All are wearing rubber boots, rain coats, fisherman hats, a hood like Calvin’s, umbrellas, or some combination. All except Michael, who is standing there drenched, staring into space

LOL, “the gulag.” And yes, I know how it feels to have something rubbed in like that.

Watterson uses the directorial trick of ‘crossing the line’ to make the reader feel as disorientated and uncomfortable as Calvin feels.

Jokes on you, Hobbes. Mom is going to put you in the wash machine today.

Could be worse. You could be out in that rain, without an umbrella or coat, going to College, in a Chemistry laboratory with air conditioner.

I admit to developing a cavalier attitude to the weather since I retired. No more worries about driving 60 miles if it’s snowing.

Hobbes is going straight into a toasty, cozy dryer.

If someone don’t physically bring Hobbes back in, he’ll be laying at the bus stop when Calvin comes home.

Sometimes school really did feel like that…but where I grew up I lived close enough to the school to walk there, but it was far enough to make it an absolute nightmare in rain or snow…

I had days like that… but I had to walk to school.

Still, it’s nice that Hobbes is sharing the “bus stop in the rain” experience, even if not sharing his umbrella. :)

My school at St Anthony was a gulag?

Nice of Hobbes to see him off on such a wet day. He could have stayed in bed.

That rain hat, though. Hahaha!

That’s true devotion on Hobbes’ part to wait out there with you, Calvin, you should show him some appreciation.

How exactly is Hobbes getting back to the house?

Damn, Hobbes! At least you could share that umbrella!

One of my favorite C&H strips. That was me when I was in school. Also had jobs like that.

Ah, the good old days. In my decidedly upscale neighborhood, parents would never let their little kids wait for the bus alone, or make their way home by themselves from the bus in the afternoon. There was always this cluster of anxious grownups at either end of the process. So far as I know, the number of abductions prior to this helicoptering behavior held steady at zero.

Bill has this exceptional talent to tap into thoughts of every kid of this age.

I wonder how many times the mom has found a soggy Hobbes at the bus stop? Or if Calvin rescues him when coming home from the gulag?

Calvin and Id

At least he came out with you to wait for the bus