Category Archives: thoughts

A tail of a milestone comic strip squirrel

6,000 squirrels

I suppose today is a milestone comic strip.

Today, March 4, 2020 marks the appearance of the 6,000th Bob the Squirrel comic strip. No bells or whistles… in fact I only started really keeping track of the number after I hit 5,000 a few years back.

But, using modern technology (and my obsessive compulsive nature of keeping good dated backup files) I’ve dug up every previous milestone comic strip.

Strip #5,000 – June 8, 2017

Not much to say about this one… I did put together a giant GREATEST Hits show for this one. Took a lot of tape and Funtac to put that show together.

Strip #4,000 – September 12, 2014

Our wedding was in October of that year and I was keeping our plans and anxiety alive and well in the strip… and pretty much in real time. It all worked out to be an amazing day…

Strip #3,000 – December 11, 2011

I was closing in on ten years of Bob the Squirrel at this point… and I questioned if I should continue doing the strip.  I had a small, loyal fan base, but the likelihood of the strip being my only job was looking like a longer and longer long-shot. Should I quit and try something else that maybe would benefit me financially? Or did the squirrel talk me out of it?

Strip #2,000 – March 22, 2009

We were in our new house just under a year when I drew this. This was also when I was really into the Ben and Jerry’s ice cream pints. Lucy’s favorite was Pistachio Pistachio … I would get a spoon and feed it to her right out of the container. I tell Lez that she should have known what type of guy I was by witnessing that act. She had every opportunity to grab Lauren and run… 🙂

Strip #1,000 – June 20, 2006

I wasn’t sure if I should include this one… despite it being the 1,000th strip. This may sound horrible… well, it DOES sound horrible.  I sometimes forget that I was married once before… and that I had a whole other life in a whole other city. But, I did… and I have the strips to prove it.  And really, aside from a few bits of clothes and my drawing board, the strips are the ONLY things I kept from that life.

So, that’s the strip… thousand by thousand. Hope we’re all around for the 7,000th – which, barring any life complications, should be appearing November 29, 2022.

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Linus… the newest member of the family…

I wasn’t ready for another dog.

I really wasn’t. Maybe, I’m still not.

Maybe…in order to move forward, someone has to push you.

Either way… I was having a really bad day.  It was a day where even though things were coming out of my mouth, no one was paying attention, listening or even caring.  Lez would not get off her phone. Whatever was on it… email,  Facebook, etc. it was really important. I asked her to put it down for a few minutes so we could eat lunch without leashes.  It lasted for two bites before she picked up the phone again.

I get mad. On top of the bad morning I already had, my feelings are ignored again. I start yelling.

“What is so damn important?”

Lez says, “Do you have your phone on you?  I’m sending you something.”

“Why can’t you tell me?! Why do we need phones?! We’re right in front of each other!”

“Check your phone”

“I don’t want to check my phone! Just. Tell. Me.”

“You need to see it.”

I’m steaming at this point. I only have 30 minutes for lunch. I begrudgingly pick up my phone.

I see the line  Happy Early Birthday and a picture:

I wasn’t ready for that. I mean, I really wasn’t ready for that. And, my first reaction was not one of happiness.

“You really shouldn’t have done that.  You really shouldn’t have done that.”

I was mad that it was sprung on me. I was mad that it was sprung on me like that. I was mad that Lucy was gone. I was mad that I hadn’t gotten over her yet. I was mad. And I let Lez know that.

Lez’s timing was less than ideal. We’d be able to get him in three days.  I wasn’t ready.

The next three days…

…were filled with my apprehension – to the point of my ulcer flaring up. Will the other dogs take to him? Will I take to him? Refusing to take him was not an option. Thousands of animals need homes. We have a home.

But the year-old dog they called “AMP” had an especially traumatic backstory.

He was an owner surrender. A tiny victim of the July 2019 floods in Louisiana as a result of Hurricane Barry. He was neutered, chipped and given all his shots. Animal rescue organizations all across the country were called upon to help take some of the abandoned and surrendered animals displaced. AMP had a time… couped up in a container, hoping that someone somewhere would take him. I can’t imagine.

He was one of hundreds.  Hundreds.

A local organization: Angels of Fur K9 Rescue was able to take AMP… and foster him while they looked for a new home.  Lez saw him on their Facebook page and immediately filled out an application.  She said as soon as she saw him she knew that AMP and I would hit it off.

This is a pic of our first meeting. I decide to name him Linus… he’ll never replace Lucy, but he’ll be there to remind me of her… as my security dog. He’s a little 9 lb. bundle of love. I think things will be okay.

You’ll be seeing him in the strip real soon. FUN FACT: WE got Linus exactly ONE YEAR TO THE DAY that we got Bruce.

And to my wife? Lez: you’re a pain in the ass… but I love you.  Thanks.

Categories: linus strip thoughts

Grunge Bob of the Day…

Smells Like Teen Squirrel

Bob the Squirrel as vocalist/guitarist/songwriter Kurt Cobain of Nirvana.

I remember where I was the day Cobain died.  I was a freshman in college and had just gotten off my shift at the SUNY Albany University library. It was a beautiful April afternoon.  I was walking back to the dorms  – listening to my (heh) SONY Walkman (AM/FM Cassette tape, not a discman)… the news came over the radio…WPYX 106 Albany.

I stopped walking… not believing what I heard.  (I’m not sure why NOT walking would make me hear better.) I got back to the dorm –  it was obvious everyone heard the news .  Groups of students mulling around the quad… talking, hugging, wondering why and how he’d take his own life.

Nevermind was on heavy rotation that evening… one of the few times I felt my generation had a shared experience.

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Categories: process Rock Bob thoughts