Big Top by Rob Harrell for May 17, 2009

Hello, Tribe

Hello Rad. I’ve never been good on the bull, do you want to give it a ride?

Howdy, guys! What should we cook up today? I’ll make scrmbled eggs with a little green pepper and onions.

Doc: I reognize that cat and dog.

bmonk: Thanks for answering my question about the ring. So with the ring, comes great reponsibility.

I’ll do scones and my sonic coffee.

Hi everybody! I’ll make the cereal, as that is the extent of my culinary expertise.

See you all in the morning.

I’m off to bed too now, good night all.

Good Sunday Morning everybody! It’s kinda damp here in the ATL. How is every one and every little thing?

Good morning!!

RMom glad to hear everything’s ok there.

Anyone hear from tabby last night? I thought she was coming back.

Good morning Akenta and welcome Josh. It is going to be another sunny day here in paradise.

Morning doctortoon. You are about to find out it is very lonely out there in toonland. Very few posts. Sheesh…Sundays.

Morning, doc and cleo. I’m just sort of lurking this morning, trying to get some of my comics read before we leave for church. This is MY Mother’s Day - too hard to share it with my Mom, so I decided several years ago that mine could be celebrated on a different day. Mesquite Charcoaled grilled steaks, baked potatoes, homemade french fries, and a white cake are the menu for today. (Our family’s a “meat & potatoes” type.) I’ll try to pop back in later today. love ya tribe!

Happy Mother’s Day RMom.

doctortoon, Sundays are a short day for me. Many toons I read don’t have a Sunday strip.

I’m craving corned beef hash. I’ll make some to go along with marg’s scrambled eggs.

mornin all

doc it’s good you eat when you’re here, since you have no clue what that big white box is in your kitchen!! LOL

This strip today is a hoot! Wink is just so adorable!

cleo from last night, all those shows you mentioned, yes we’ve watched them all! British mysteries and comedies are great!

I stay away from these bulls. It’s safer for everyone concerned.

Mornin’ tribe! We have that hazy mixture of sun & clouds after last night’s rain so I’ll be doing the inside chores today. I’ll pop in & out as time permits.

Happy Mother’s Day, Rmom! Your menu sounds like what my mom & her mom both would choose. Mom & Dad’s 25th anniversary gift from me was an upright freezer. People thought I was nuts, but my folks loved it. When I was growing up they would buy half of a cow to keep us fed. TMI??

Tabby we missed you yesterday. Hope all is well & you’re enjoying your weekend! P&L

doctortoon don’t you just love it when I leave such a tempting opening re: Brewster Rockit. LOL

Good morning all. Thank you RAD for letting me in on the “secret of the 2 AM carwash”. It was funny. I will try to remember to go to this site everyday (sometimes my memory isn’t what it should be). You people are really funny. Sometimes funnier then the comics. It’s good to laugh:D

Wink, get some lessons, maybe Bud and Sissy can help. BTW, it’s Yee Haw! Good Morning Tribe! RRAmom, Happy Mother’s Day! Well, well, well, I was reading some news on a local news station’s website and I came across a familiar name in the comment section. This person is not a “tribe member” and he/she would very much like us to get a chat room.

In case you missed it, you might want to check out http://www.gocomics.com/comic_page/explore/282878?page=41. Reminded me of the tribe.

Welcome, sugie.

Welcome, Sugie. Glad you could join us.

Carmy* - We need to get a Chat Room? Well, OK. I’ve really been trying to avoid having to do this.

By whatever powers by whoever that may have been invested … er, vested in me (I think) I declare “BIG TOP” a chat room. PAR-TEEE!!!!!

AWRIGHT!!! - Who’s the joker that put ARMOR ALL on the mechanical bull saddle. I jumped up and slid off on the other side. :P

Doc and Rad, what I meant was that the person who has been coming over to the Big Top and posting comments about us needing to get a chat room is also posting on my local news station’s website. This person is not posting anything about Big Top on that site. Just posting their usual “holier than thou” stuff.

Welcome sugie

dcguys where was that link supposed to go. when I clicked on it, said it couldn’t find the collection.

Haven’t heard from my sweetie yet this morning, but there is a chance she may be coming home today. Yahoo!!

Cleo, I like our site here just fine. I do want to get a chat room either. Some troll stops by here sometimes to suggest we get one.

Doctoon - Have you ever had AOL or remember a Chat community they had called ”LaPub”? This was awesome. There were usually more than a dozen people on at any one time all talking to each other and the screen was practically a constant scroll. That’s the first time I ever had trouble hearing anyone using text.

Oh don’t move to a chat room, I enjoy reading the comments here. Good morning all.

A chat room is where peoples chat. Right?

We chat therefore it is. Scrolling chat panels are for sissies, We can do it ourselves with the little mouse scroll button; better control. Visitors are welcome to drop in and say howdy. We ain’t goin’ nowhere. Before the “Tribe” set up squatter rights here, there were maybe two or three posts a day. This is progress, baby.

Akenta Sorry about that. It was supposed to point to Life According to Garfield. It reminds of the tribe.

Try this one http://www.gocomics.com/lifeaccordingtogarfield.

Hello all, dcguys, the link still doesn’t work for me, maybe it is my computer… I don’t want to get a chat room. If people don’t want to read our chatting, they don’t have to.

I don’t know what difference it makes to anyone else what we post here. Everyone is entitled to post, whether it be on the cartoon or to visit. If someone does not enjoy our comments all they have to do is read the strip and move on. Geez, some people aren’t happy unless they’re complaining about something of someone.

Welcome back dianalyn.

Doctoon - I found out that many people cheated on those really fast moving sites. While some COULD type faster than they could talk, others used a new technology like “DragonSpeak” which used a voice-to-text program where they just spoke and hit the return key. Many of them still should have had some kind of spell-check.

http://www.gocomics.com/lifeaccordingtogarfield

It’s one of the comics on this site if you still have problems. Please no chat room. This is too much fun to see the regular tribe & meet the new folks. Back to the chores. C U.

I just got the word. My wife is heading home today. So I have to do some clean up from all the parties we tribe members have had since she left. Which one of you left their underwear hanging from the ceiling fan. Don’t claim they are mine. What use would I have for them? LOL

No doctortoon I haven’t found your boxers. I’ll look up at the fire pit. You were doing a lot of dancing up around the fire while chanting African tribal songs. They may be there. In fact I might possibly have seen a scorched remnant of Spidey’s web amongst the embers.

not mine

margueritem says:

”bmonk: Thanks for answering my question about the ring. So with the ring, comes great reponsibility.”

But not necessarily great power! :-(

Greetings all! . Doc - Good night, sweet? prince, and may fights of felines sing thee to thy rest…

dcguys sounds like a great gift to your parents. Dad raised enough cattle until shortly before he died, to always have beef in the freezer. Within a few years of our marriage, we bought a chest freezer, so we can buy 1/2 of beef at a time. Much cheaper, convenient, and delicious than buying beef at the store. At least there are still plenty of farmers in the area who raise beef cattle, so we still buy it that way. I wouldn’t think a freezer would be a romantic gift (guys take note) but a fine gift from a son to his parents.

@RRAmom, one of my vacation/journey principles is that I eat local specialties. Illinois is corn, Great Plains beef, New Orleans crawdads and other seafoods, and so on. Why eat imports that are not as good as the food they know how to grow and prepare?

I am a lover of seafood. So whenever we travel it gives us to have the fish that is local. Whenever I go back to North Dakota I have to have Walleye. When I’m in Florida it is grouper and conch and the crabs in Maryland. Mmm, I making myself hungry.

Oh, bmonk I do understand! While we were in FL, visiting my in-laws, they took us to a (supposedly good) steak restaurant. The steak was mediocre at best. Made me wish I’d ordered the shrimp instead.

The best steak I ever had was a get together before my grandfather’s funeral. We were in the little town of Cando, ND. We all had prime rib, except for my aunt who had frogs legs. The dinner came on two oval platters. One held a thick rare slab of meat and the other plate was for the side dishes. You could literally cut the meat with a fork. Man it was good. So everybody, except my aunt, had two massive platters each.

RRAMom: Enjoy your dinner.

Cleo: Hooray, that’s good news!

bmonk: Try pork next time you’re in IL. The pork producers are very proud of their product. When we lived there Illini Super Sweet was the best variety of sweet corn. They probably have improved on that by now.

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Well, first off, The owner of this strip doesn’t mind us here at all! So the person of whom we speak, (and I think I know who it is) can just, to be polite, “Take a Hike, Dude!”

And I say no chat rooms, this is fun, the comic is bright and cheerful like us, so there! I have put in my two cents worth!

Where is JFri and Joy again?

marg that corn, Super Sweet is still around, there is a new variety supposed to be the best, that I bellieve is called Sugar Sweet! And around here, besides that one, there is Incredible, which our local farmers sell out of right away! It’s yellow and white both.

cleo I suspect that underwear you found belongs to the pirate!

And where is tabby?

marg, I was talking to my friend in Prescott today and he has been trying to set up a little potting studio in his back yard for making clay decorative pots. Between the heat and his alergies, he has not been fairing well.

sugie I see you’ve found my secret hiding place!

I don’t know where joy and jfri are - did jfri ever get off work yesterday? tabby mentioned something about going out of town, but hopefully she’ll be here tonight.

Akenta yes I remember now, about Tabby. Somebody else said they were going to scarce the next couple days, also, but it wasn’t JFri.

JFri managed to touch bases a couple of nights ago, but unfortunately it was after the rest of us had signed off for the night. I know for me it was a night when I drifted off in front of the TV.

so cleo your wife on her way home? Did you get the place all cleaned up! Sorry we made such a mess!

The place looks fine, still haven’t located the owner of the stray underwear.

cleo are you going to be able to explain the underwear to your wife? If not, I suggest throwing it into the fire pit.

My wife knows that I am mister faithful. Any underwear around hear does not reflect back on me. But thanks for the heads up.

Hey, all. Just passing through. Thanks for the pointers on the corn. It’s one of my favorites. Being a midwesterner, I just stick w/frozen. It’s the best I’ve found in this area. And I like bmonk’s principles for traveling. Enjoy the local food, fun & fellowship. I knew this was the right place to stop in when I could. This tribe has the right stuff.

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dcguys You stick with frozen corn? In the midwest? Wow, man do you know what you’re missing? Corn on the cob in summer? That and fresh tomatoes is the best eats around in summer!

Wow, just saw a few minutes of Mike Huckabee’s show on Fox. He had Jill Henessey on. Did you know she sings, plays guitar, and writes songs along with acting? And did you know Mike plays guitar? Pretty awesome song they did!

hey doc ”I’m up, what’d I miss?” Not much tonight my friend! Dull day around here! Let’s see, you must have gotten up around 7 PM? Man, I could NEVER get used to that! I like the daylight and the sun. But I guess, you would too if you didn’t have a night job!

The best sweet corn I’ve ever had was grown in Western PA or Ohio. I don’t know exactly the variety, but very tender. Kansas has a difficult time growing tender sweet corn because of the hot summers. Sweet corn is probably best when grown in a cooler climate. Unfortunately, I can’t eat corn kernels anymore, due to health reasons. (Ground corn is okay, but I do miss corn on the cob, and popcorn to a lesser extent.)

My steak was excellent, thanks to my hubby. The fries were overdone, because I was too busy here at BT and forgot to watch them. Oops! At least they were still edible.

When we lived in Illinois, we prepared frozen corn this way: Go out and buy several dozen Fresh ears of corn from a farmer’s stand. Like, an hour or two out of the field maximum. Hurry home, clean the cobs, blanch them, and stuff them in plastic freezer bags 6 or 10 or 12 at a time, and pop them into the freezer. Still frozen corn, but the best possible frozen corn, even months later after the growing season is over.

Speaking of errant underwear, I saw a joke recently: A fellow asks a friend at work, “Peter, how long have you been wearing a bra?”

“Ever since my wife found it in my glove compartment!”

RRAMom If it was your Mother’s Day, why were you responsible for watching the french fries? LOL It’s that way around my house too!

Nice thing about Illinois is the corn on the cob season (fresh) is about 2-3 months long.

We also have a frost warning tonight on the Dakota tundra. :-(

cleo I can believe ND has good steak. As long as you’re in a region that raises beef cattle, it isn’t hard to believe. But of course, the quality of beef can vary depending on what it is fed, cooked, and other factors. One of my brothers (6’4”) went to Oklahoma University and because of his on-campus job was allowed to eat in the atheletes’ dining hall. On a regular basis (I think once a week) OU boosters would provide steak dinners. He ate four steak dinners (including the potatoes, etc.) in one sitting! After that, they instituted a “only seconds allowed” rule on steak nights.

@Drystyha, RRAMom was responsible for watching the french fries prolly to be sure she could get a well cooked batch! (Well, she did, only not quite the way she hoped!)

Doc there’s a Calvin & Hobbes strip about summer, “it’s hot, it’s humid, it’s buggy, and the air is full of pollen. BUT IT’S SUMMER!” And off they go on their new adventure. I have that strip taped up on my fridge, and on my computer workstation. I call it my motto to live by! :-D

bmonk we have a frost warning here as well! But the sky is cloudy, so I’ll believe it when I see it! Its 60 here now, I can’t imagine the temps will drop that low!

My hubby couldn’t watch the fries in the kitchen, while he was watching the meat on the grill out on the deck. (And a flight of stairs in between.) The boys thought they were overworked because I had them use the french fry slicer (manual, not electric) appliance and made them slice 3 potatoes each as I supervised. Usually I do just fine on the fries, but the older I get, the easier it is to get distracted…

@RRAmom, I think I said it before, I have Attention Deficit…

Look! A squirrel!

bmonk If you freeze the right sweet corn, frozen corn is better than corn on the cob from an inferior location. When my in-laws still lived in PA (& once when they lived in OH) we would time our trips to sweet corn harvest time. Eat fantastic corn on the cob while we were there, and prepare bushels of sweet corn for the freezer. We would pack cooler of frozen corn with ice to take it back to KS. We referred to it as “imported corn”. Yummy!

bmonk “Look a squirrel!” ROFLMAO! Funny stuff!

RRAMom yes, if you freeze corn on the cob just right, it is delicious, especially in the LONG, LONG, LONG, LONG winter months!

Mine is AAADD - Age Activated Attention Deficit Disorder. As I get older, I think about the hereafter more. Such as, “Why am I in this room? What did I come here after?”

RRAmom Do you have any idea how many notes I have posted on my microwave, taped to my purse, stuck in my cell phone carrier?? LOL I’m with ya’ girl!

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We tried freezing that corn on the cob, but it lost some of the quality that way. Biggest problem though, is the amount of freezer space it took. We could get more corn in the coolers if we cut the kernels off the corn before we bagged them. It was great to have the corn months later!

cleokaya says:

marg, I was talking to my friend in Prescott today and he has been trying to set up a little potting studio in his back yard for making clay decorative pots. Between the heat and his alergies, he has not been fairing well.

Cleo: Sorry to hear that. Allergies have really been flaring up around here this year.

Dry I’m usually okay if I can remember long enough to get it written down. The trick is to not forget BEFORE I get it written down. And then of course, putting the note where I’ll find it/remember to look at it when I need to.

RRAmom yes, I used to cut the corn off the cob, then discovered you could freeze the whole thing, much easier, just as tasty, and it helped that my mom gave me her little freezer when she bought a new one, so I had more space. Still have that little freezer but only turn it on now when I’m defrosting the big one to store things while the big ones defrosting!

okay so guys i am here. i still have to catch up on last nights comments. sigh.

sorry i ran out on you all like that last night. my dad said “get the kid get dressed and lets go” we went get a new truck and then we went out and eat and wated for my nanny to get there to get Ana and it turns out i kept here anyways. so how was your day? Rmom happy mothers day!!

LOL, I’m a note maker too. Every morning I also make a list of things I need to do that day. RRAmom, I have AAADD too. Didn’t know there was a name for that, thanks.

hi tabby

I have to scroll to the top of the page every time I post, so I looked at the strip again. Wink is just adorable! Had to laugh again! Nice to go to sleep with a good laugh!

Tabby, I was wondering where you were. Glad all is well with you.

Hello my beautiful honeys. Nice to see you all.

For those who are still selecting the last page and scrolling after a post; Once my message has posted, I click the “BACK” arrow then “End” keyboard button. This usually takes me directly to my last post.

Just a thought for those whose scrolling finger gets tired.

i have to go eat. bbs

Cleo, Nice to see you too, Handsome.

Rad, thanks for the tip. I’m going to try that now.

carmy handsome? Have you seen the car wash video? Yes cleo it’s now posted on You Tube, ROFLOL!! (Just yanking, my friend!)

Hey Rad it worked this time! Hope I remember it! I wrote it on a little piece of paper! If you read my previous post, I have little notes stuck all over the place!

Dry, LOL! I was wondering who was going to be the first to comment about handsome.

Good morning Tribe, Monday morning maybe for some. RRAmom- Happy Mother’s Day. How was the steak? I have AAADD too. I wrote a long post ten minutes ago and must have forgotten to hit Post.

Cleokaya. I’ve solved the mystery. They’re “fan underwear”.

Keep meeting in “Big Top”! No chat room. Whoever doesn’t like it doesn’t know what great guys you all are.

RadicalKnight: Good thing you have special powers. this chat room looks great!

doctorToon: You still up, or are you at work already? Gee, I hate missing out on all the fun.

cool

Rad, about that tip, mine didn’t update. Was it supposed to?

Wink is hilarious. I love a character like that. But I’d hate to see what happens if they turn that thing on.

Reminds me of a song, “Live everyday as though it’s your last.” One of the things the guy did was to ride a mechanical bull.

um.. should have. I have a pc with Internet Explorer 7. (Firefox causes problems on my pc)

I type a comment click on post comment once it posts I click the “BACK” button Once that refreshes I hit the “End” button on the keyboard which wil take me to the last post of the previous (LAST) page. That should be my latest post.

Carmy - I just followed my own instructions precisely as I said and it worked.

There have been times when it doesn’t, but those times have been rare.

Shikamoo What part of the world are you located in if I may ask? I see you have read all the posts, or at least most! Good for you! We can be a lively crazy group!

Rad I just updated to IE 8.Our office computer guy says everyone should becasue it’s becoming a must issue. I didn’t have to wait. Did both ops one after the other and it came up like you said almost instantly.

Hey all, just writing this to try Rad’s instructions… and to say Hi!

Rad, I am using Firefox, that’s probably why I’m not getting the same results that you are. I will note your directions for when I do use Explorer. Thanks :)

I have Norton. Got a message for a free update. Installed it, so far, things are going much better, but I’ll keep my fingers crossed, and my eyes, and my toes! LOL Norton is good with viruses, etc. but when the updates and scans start it slows things down a lot! Our computer guy says theres lots of free stuff out there that is just as good as Norton. Any comments on that anyone?

Oh that is for IE8. No wonder it didn’t work. :S

Hey Shikamoo & Johnnydoc. Dry - My moniker is the area where I actually live now - D.C. so I don’t have immediate access to Iowa corn anymore. I’ve used the freezing on the cob or adding butter & sugar to a quart of fresh kernels. Still doesn’t have that right from the farm fresh taste but better than canned anyday. Thanks for more helpful suggestions, Rad. Always good stuff.

Hi, Tabby. You were missed but it sounds like you were in good hands.

As my AAADD gets worse when I’m sleep deprived, I have to say au revoir for now. G’night all!

All let me tell you how i do it… stay on the same page… lol

ASK TABBY HAS THE ANSWER TO POSTING WITHOUT GOING TO PAGE ONE.

Do as i do… post a comment. go to top of page and hit the refresh button by the search bar(?) the bar that tells u ur on gocommics. then strole down to bottom of page adn wala. you have it.

ASK TABBY

C R A P i did something wrong ask tabby is worng hold on i must figgure it out.

okay so i figured it out… you hit refresh when no one has posted and you want to see if anything new is here. lol sorry. i still just hit end then page (ex) 3 or the last page then hit end again and it brings me to the bottom. sorry.

* HI TO ALL OF YOU GUYS* HOPE YOU ALL HAD A GREAT DAY…..

i must be going it is time to let my bro on and i have to get baths taken care of and clothes done. oh bad news i may have to go to work work tomorrow if so idk when ill be back on. sigh.

Goodnight Everyone, Sweet dreams and P&L!

dry: I’m in Canada, somewhere between Georgian Bay and Lake Ontario. Talking about the weather, where I live, we had frost in the morning, short sleeve weather by the afternoon, but where my mom is two hours north of me, they had snow. Only in Canada…

Hokey Dokey, I’m back. I just updated to IE8 and set it up for use. Seems to be working fine so far. I have XP with pc and IE8 plus MacAfee Enterprise. I scrapped Norton and all Symantec from my machine a couple years ago when it started identifying a lot of work applications as POSSIBLE viruses and trojans. I also had problems navigating and accessing various sites with Firefox and it slowed my machine down worse than Microsoft. Oh Well…

Rad thanks for the input. I will keep it in mind when my Norton comes up for renewal.

ShikamooMB spent several summer vacations in Ontario, Niagara Falls, Niagara on the Lake, Fort Erie, Kingston, Ganaogue (I know I spelled that wrong!) Loved It! Miss it so much, lovely area, doubt I’ll ever get back there, but I can dream!!

And with that, I must say goodnight to you and all our Tribe!

Dry - If you’re using Norton and NOT having any serious problems, I would suggest keep it. I had Norton and when I decided to change to MacAfee because Norton was locating too many possibles, Norton and MacAfee saw and Identified other as trojan viruses and practically shut my machine down. I had to uninstall EVERYTHING associated with Norton and Symantec; even manually searching through the deep registry entries. THAT was a real pain because uninstall does NOT remove everything.

I guess I’m saying, don’t change something that’s working fine with your system just because someone else says there’s something better. It may be better but not for your unique system. I’m pleased if I could help.

Shikamoo, nobody’s claimed them, so you are probably right, “fan underwear.”

so i am back. did i miss anything?

i truly want to ride one of these. i would probley have to go to a bar to find one wont i?

I wondered why I was broke then I revisited Fox Trot. Way to many needy Tribe members… sheesh.

One of those fake bull things? I can’t say that I would want to. I fall down too much on my own, being a professional klutz.

So johnnydoc how do you make a living out of being a Klutz. Please let me know. I have been missing out big time all of these years.

Jdoc i woudld probley break something. for the first time.

Oh sorry Cleo, all my work is pro bono, but I suppose one could make money in the improv/prop comedy area, or my favorite: slapstick comedy! And on that happy note, I am off to bed. Good night everybody.

Rad: I just tried it, and it worked fine. Thanks for the tip.

cool