Monthly Archives: August 2012


Wednesday, August 1, 2012

Lynn's Comments: During the harvest, we had to get a full meal plus cold drinks and dessert out to the fields every lunch hour. The hired men needed lots to eat, and real home cooking was expected. When I had the chance to drive the swather, tractors, trucks, or combine, I took it fast. Sitting in an air conditioned cab and going around in circles beat the hot kitchen job any time.
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Originally Run: 1983-08-03
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Thursday, August 2, 2012

Lynn's Comments: Driving the combine was like piloting a ferry. These machines are enormous. They grind their way around the fields, picking up swath left to dry and crushing the seed out of the grain heads. The seed is then augured up into a box where it's stored, and when the box is full, it's augured again into a truck running parallel. Both machines work in tandem until the work is done. When the weather is threatening, crews work from dusk until dawn. Fields look like harbours as lights from the combines float across them like ships in the night.
About This Strip:
Originally Run: 1983-08-04
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Friday, August 3, 2012

Lynn's Comments: One of the pleasures of living on the farm was eating fresh garden veggies. We had fresh meat, too. We knew where it was raised and where it had been butchered. This was all new to someone used to buying groceries in cellophane packages.
About This Strip:
Originally Run: 1983-08-05
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About This Strip:
Originally Run: 1983-08-06
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Sunday, August 5, 2012

Lynn's Comments: Yes, this was another opportunity for readers to reprimand me for not being a responsible dog owner. Still, one has to wonder: even with all of their good intentions, did these people never have something like this happen? "He who is without sin," and all that? I always wanted to say, "Folks, it's a cartoon dog!" When you make a published statement every day, and you tell it like it is...be prepared to be told off!
About This Strip:
Originally Run: 1983-08-07
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About This Strip:
Originally Run: 1983-08-08
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Tuesday, August 7, 2012

Lynn's Comments: In the real world, Aaron and Katie got along well with their Manitoba cousins. At the time this work was done, there were two Cruikshank girls, Lauren and Chrissie; Arli came along later. I wish I could have shown everyone, but there was no time or space for more characters. As it was, I had more people in the strip than I could comfortably write about!
About This Strip:
Originally Run: 1983-08-09
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Wednesday, August 8, 2012

Lynn's Comments: Aaron loved playing with the barn kittens. Cats were kept to keep the mice at bay and kittens appeared regularly. He begged us to let him keep one or more, but we couldn't manage a pet at the time.
About This Strip:
Originally Run: 1983-08-10
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About This Strip:
Originally Run: 1983-08-11
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About This Strip:
Originally Run: 1983-08-12
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Saturday, August 11, 2012

Lynn's Comments: Farley was long gone when this was drawn. I relied on my friends' pooches for dog related input, and they were always keen to keep me up to date regarding kennels, shots, skunk encounters, and table manners. There was also a vet in the family to keep me in the know!
About This Strip:
Originally Run: 1983-08-13
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About This Strip:
Originally Run: 1983-08-14
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About This Strip:
Originally Run: 1983-08-15
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About This Strip:
Originally Run: 1983-08-16
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Wednesday, August 15, 2012

Lynn's Comments: I put some serious stuff into the strip trying to unravel what was going on in my own life, while poking fun at the "Pattersons." Sensitive issues were out there in the open, but when people would ask me how I could reveal so much, I'd laugh and say it was all a figment of my imagination.
About This Strip:
Originally Run: 1983-08-17
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Thursday, August 16, 2012

Lynn's Comments: I can still feel the texture and taste the sweet rubbery flavour of a brand new eraser. I had no restraint when it came to chewing on them, and I did bite them in half. My mother would bark at me for destroying a brand new eraser, but MY reasoning was that I now had two!
About This Strip:
Originally Run: 1983-08-18
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Friday, August 17, 2012

Lynn's Comments: Fear of the unknown...As a kid, I relied on this to unnerve my brother; he'd believe anything his older sister told him! As an adult, I found myself teasing my kids as well, forgetting how seriously they take these things.
About This Strip:
Originally Run: 1983-08-19
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Saturday, August 18, 2012

Lynn's Comments: The time I remember best is when Aaron was about 4 years old. I had promised him that if he took a bath, I'd make the water blue. He got into the tub and I put a small amount of food colouring into the water. He was thrilled and played in it happily while I watched. The phone rang. Able to hear him from around the corner, I left Aaron, answered the phone, and spoke to a friend for a few minutes. When I went back into the bathroom, he had emptied all of the bottles of food colouring into the tub.

The water was a dark, muddy green. When Aaron stood up, his body was green from the waist down. I tried to wash it off with soap and scrubbing, but the dye did not come off. I laughed and said, "Well, Aaron, you're going to have a green bum for the rest of your life!" He was horrified! He was so upset that it took awhile before he calmed down, and I realized how frightened he was. I was careful, after that to make sure I didn't tease my kids about something they could take so seriously. The dye eventually wore off.

Now, before you write to tell me how negligent I was to have left a child in the tub alone, let me say that...I KNOW! Nobody's perfect...and my children survived!
About This Strip:
Originally Run: 1983-08-20
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About This Strip:
Originally Run: 1983-08-21
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Monday, August 20, 2012

Lynn's Comments: On really hot days, my folks would put the sprinkler on, and my brother and I would play all day in the spray. We did the same thing for our kids. One hot summer day, while walking to a friend's house, I saw a sprinkler and thought, "if I was five years old I'd run through that thing in a heartbeat!" Then I thought..."Why can't I do it now?" So, I did.
About This Strip:
Originally Run: 1983-08-22
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Tuesday, August 21, 2012

Lynn's Comments: For Better or For Worse required a lot of time and focus. I did have to stop sometimes and wonder what was more important--Aaron and Katie, or my deadlines? I'm glad now that I took the time to be with them, and later, worked until midnight!
About This Strip:
Originally Run: 1983-08-23
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Wednesday, August 22, 2012

Lynn's Comments: Summer goes by faster in northern Ontario than it does anywhere else on the planet. Come to think of it, so does spring. As a matter of fact, it has been noted that fall (my favourite time of year) disappears faster than springtime, which means winter has several extra months to drag on. I can't say there is any scientific fact to substantiate this phenomenon, but it happens here, just the same.
About This Strip:
Originally Run: 1983-08-24
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About This Strip:
Originally Run: 1983-08-25
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Friday, August 24, 2012

Lynn's Comments: These are the last words a dental patient wants to hear! Bad days happen no matter what your "calling" is, and our clinic staff had their share. I think the complaints I heard most often were in regards to the fidgety nature of dentistry. Fine instruments and tiny parts, such as drill bits and ortho brackets, can easily pop out of your hands. Trying to finish a tough job on a tight schedule makes a small delay even more frustrating. Combine this with a long day of intense concentration, and you have dentistry in a nutshell. Despite the pressure, most dentists I meet are pretty easy going. I guess it's something they've learned on the job!
About This Strip:
Originally Run: 1983-08-26
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Saturday, August 25, 2012

Lynn's Comments: When we lived in northern Manitoba, mechanical problems had to be fixed by US. There were no technicians to call, no company to complain to. My husband just figured out how to get things going again. A dental clinic is a really complicated place. There are water lines, air hoses, suction devices, and all kinds of appliances. When we set up the practice, he put in all of this stuff himself. The clinic was in an apartment above Walter Perepeluk's grocery store. Rod and a friend worked for days to attach all the pipes, and this had to be done between the tiles on the ceiling of the store below. After a great deal of hard labour, it was announced that the pipes and the wiring were complete. We celebrated with a good dinner and a glass of wine. The next morning, however, when Rod went into the grocery store to check on his handiwork, Walter met him at the door with a strained look on his face. The entire ceiling, a network of plywood, panels, and tiles had fallen to the floor. The store was a mess of tiles, dust, and dirty produce. With more than a little fanfare, the new dentist had arrived!
About This Strip:
Originally Run: 1983-08-27
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About This Strip:
Originally Run: 1983-08-28
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About This Strip:
Originally Run: 1983-08-29
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About This Strip:
Originally Run: 1983-08-30
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Wednesday, August 29, 2012

Lynn's Comments: All of this rant is absolutely true! My mom would have disinherited me if I had moved in with a boyfriend before marriage. She had a double standard when it came to Alan...he was, after all, a boy!
About This Strip:
Originally Run: 1983-08-31
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Thursday, August 30, 2012

Lynn's Comments: This dialogue between my brother and me really happened. My brother's wonderful wit often came out like a crafted punch line.
About This Strip:
Originally Run: 1983-09-01
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Friday, August 31, 2012

Lynn's Comments: Alan broke my walking doll by holding both legs and making her walk as fast as possible. She wasn't meant for BOYS to play with!
About This Strip:
Originally Run: 1983-09-02
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