Well, let's see. I had a dead possum in my swimming pool over the weekend. I'm taking it as a Godfather-style warning from someone who's afraid The Complete Pogo series will beat them out for an Eisner Award this year. I also have no hot water in my house but a plumber's coming later today to see how much he can charge me to correct that situation.
Try as I may, it's impossible to shut out all news of Trump from my life. From what I gather, he's absolutely perfect in everything he does and anyone who suggests otherwise is a lying idiot who's totally corrupt and their business is failing and they have lousy ratings and they're probably ugly, too. I find it kinda fascinating that the worst insults that Donald Trump can find to hurl at anyone is that their business is failing, they have low ratings and/or that they're physically unattractive. And of course, usually their businesses aren't failing, their ratings aren't low and they look better than he does…or no worse.
End of Trump comments for this message and, if I can manage it, this week.
Getting back to something that gives me joy: Below is the final cover for Volume 7 of Pogo: The Complete Syndicated Comic Strips: Pockets Full of Pie. It is off to the presses well ahead of schedule for a release date of October 13. Reports indicate that Friday the Thirteenth will be falling on a Tuesday this year.
Honesty compels me to say the following. In normal times, there would be no question of the book coming out on schedule; not when the printers have it this far ahead of its publication date. But these are not normal times and the books are printed overseas. It would not surprise me if that person I'm not mentioning suddenly decided to close U.S. borders to any import from a country with a "K" in its name. All publishers around the world are dealing with at least a small amount of uncertainty these days. Matter of fact, probably any business that relies on foreign manufacturing or labor is less than 100% confident of anything more than about eight hours into the future.
I remain insufferably proud of this series. I'm also proud to be fulfilling my promise to my late love, Carolyn Kelly, who wanted the series she launched to keep on reprinting her father's magnum opus all the way to its conclusion. Volume 7 puts us more than halfway there.
Carolyn spent the last ten months of her too-short life at a facility that was part "skilled nursing facility" and part "assisted living residence." I'm sure most of you can tell me horror stories about what happened to a loved one in one of these but — I beg of you — don't. I have heard way too many of those tales and I do not need convincing that some of them are nightmarish places that no one who is loved by anyone should ever be in.
Carolyn was in the best one we could find and I still think no better choice was possible. Still, that facility is today awash with COVID-19. As of a month ago, they were reporting 20 deaths and over 17 then-current cases of the disease. Those numbers are surely way higher today and every now and then, having spent nearly a year of my life visiting that building almost daily, it depresses me to imagine what a ghastly, depressing place it must be now. It wasn't exactly Disneyland during the Main Street Electrical Parade back then.
I'm not mentioning its name but this is the situation at many such businesses around the country. Anyone who believes this pandemic thing is a hoax to unseat certain elected officials should visit one, maskless.
Nursing facilities are as much a necessity of life as hospitals these days — especially when some hospitals are still jammed at times. I dealt with such places when my mother was dying and again with Carolyn and I did learn one trick that helped a little. I'm going to write a post in the next day or so to tell you about that trick in case you ever need it (you might) though it may only work in certain select situations. If it does work for you, please pass it on and give credit for it, not to me but to the person who inspired it…Master Sergeant Ernest Bilko.