Pearls Before Swine by Stephan Pastis for December 18, 2023

Best to face your problems

Gravity can really bring you down.

So now you is realise gravity of situation when pigs fly.

My grip strength isn’t what it used to be. This is not the best way to fly away from that problem.

Nothing is ever that easy in life Pig, there is always a catch!

A bit like those Warner Brothers cartoons where someone walks off a cliff but doesn’t start to fall till he looks down and notices there isn’t any ground under his feet!

Is this a metaphor for drugs?

We are in the roaring twenties again. Depression in 6-8 years as banking system implodes.

Just a thought…

To be fair sometimes a while is long enough.

It’ll happen when pigs fly! Hey, wait a minute!

Not enough hot air … Politicians must be on holiday break

Balloon popped just like a couple weeks back!

Neil Young’s ’Don’t Let It Bring You Down’

You can’t escape your problems.

….. infinitum..

Some problems come with their own solutions.

I wish I could fly away from my troubles and insecurities.

Sometimes looking at one’s problems from a certain height gives one insight and maybe solutions.

It’s hard to solve naivete and gullibility.

My main trouble most mornings is arthritic hands. Makes it hard to hold on to the balloon string.

This is why you shouldn’t run away from your problems, but rather to face them head-on.

So soon? So sad. He should have used a Chinese spy balloon that Sock Puppet Joe let fly across the country gathering intelligence information before being shot down with a $400,000 sidewinder missile when it had completed its mission when a burst of machine gun fire from Snoopy’s Sopwith camel would have done the job nicely and a lot cheaper. Get out the A-20… the nit picking is about to begin…

“Be careful what you wish for”

We hope that Pig lands safely.

99 luftballons (red balloons)

Sometimes the solution is more complicated than the problem. Add unco-operation from the source/cause and it can go on for ever. I love barning, I love my critters. Honest, I really do! Most of the time…. : )

Ignorance is not always bliss.

MOST solutions come with their own problems

Take 2 balloons. Avoid single point failure.

If it happened anywhere else but cartoon land, it WOULD be the end of earthly problems…(but possibly the start of others in the next life…)

Pig was desperate…Meep Meeep

“The cause of problems, is solutions.” Eric Sevareid

Until you read about five miles up. At that height, the balloon practically freezes to death and pops.

If we estimate Pig to weigh roughly 150 pounds, and he’s using a standard 11" balloon (which looks right, given its size compared to Pig), and if we further assume he’s using helium, it’s going to take a lot more than one balloon to lift him in the air. 5,693 balloons to be exact, with 65,016 liters of helium. One balloon won’t cut it.

Yes, there’s a website you can use to actually calculate this:

website is

omnicaculator dot com backslash everyday-life backslash helium-balloons

The fall won’t hurt Pig. It’s the sudden stop at the bottom that will be the bigger problem.

No matter how far you fall, Mother Earth will always catch you. She might also break every bone in your body.

Is this is where the saying “pop your balloon” comes from?

I doubt this is what the Fifth Dimension were talking about

That’s what Republicans are hoping for.

Impeachment is the solution. The only problem is finding the problem.

It’s like dope or other forms of entertainment.

Another of life’s paradoxes.

Now Pig likely has a bigger problem than he did before.

" Guaranteed for Life of the User !! " … :)

Reality wins again.

So, Pig, should we have warned you, look before you leap?

Rat is just another cynical commentator….

Love the sign on the cloud.

These are words of wisdom.