The X-Files, Part Two

Another batch from the box that was lost in time

The one of the left is borderline bizarre but semi-factual. We did sit with a woman who did her knitting on the plane. Can you imagine the hubbub today if the metal detector pinged a nine-inch sharpened instrument in a bag?

On right has to be the big breakfast buffet in Montana. Only time we would be at an omelet station, my caricature seems to be wearing one of the button-up undershirts I wear skiing, the chef has a mountain man beard and he’s bragging about how hot the chilies are.

This project is making me do detective work, channeling my inner Nero Wolfe.

Could almost narrow this date down because it was a year when I did a golf tournament for Canine Companions for Independence… but there were several of those, so who knows?

Last one may or may not have been with the series and apparently some are missing. Probably didn’t have their dates drop off and were posted with a proper year.

Days gone by. Who buys razors with replaceable blades anymore? Also been a long time since I was doing laundry in a laundry room.

That one on the right I am almost certain appeared elsewhere. Guy hitting the ball is caricature Tom Krueger, who was losing hair on top. I always pictured him with sort of a Friar Tuck hairdo. That remaining hair is long gone. Bill Wise I did with a big forehead and a little moustache, plus that year he had just gone to the Masters. Jerry “Moose” Boehm in moose hat, Ray “Gator” Ginn in gator hat. Duh.

This golf outing was probably at the Robert Trent Jones course in Mobile, which we stunk up big time. Several holes where we could not locate a fairway with five or ten shots.

Ha. Same group, same tournament, so it was one of the years in Mobile. It had to be fairly early because the syndicate was still letting me drop references into background.

Now, get this: The tournament was for Cystic Fibrosis. It was to help out dying children, especially one that we all knew, a guy who served as our mascot. So, I would put references in to call attention to it and maybe bring in a few golfers and a few bucks.

Then I was called in by an editor and told to “quit pimping for you private causes.” That’s been around 40 years ago and still pisses me off.

A Christmas series that had to be the Apopka house years — most likely 1996 or 1997. It was the only house we had with a fireplace, the Loretta character has a No. 16 Peyton Manning jersey, and there is a reference to Matthew, a kid who lived next door at that time.

The joke about not knowing what to get wife for Christmas could have been any year because I used it over and over.

Interesting time anomalies that would have to be explained to kids of today. Who is Jane Fonda? Why is her husband making money on old movies? This was when Turner Classic Movies was big and the cinephiles were raising the dickens about Ted colorizing them.

Other questions: Why is the TV so thick and what is a “copy of a video”?

On the right you have to explain why a phone would be hooked to a wall. And what the hell is that curly cord all about?

Apparently went to a costume party, or imagined one. A bit of personal history I cannot confirm. When I worked at the Columbus Ledger in Georgia as a young copy editor, I occasionally got to put one of my drawings in the paper. No pay other than a credit line.

One of the first was to illustrate a Valentine’s Day feature about animal romance. The illustration was intertwined snakes smooching. It was so poorly drawn that some readers weren’t sure what it was.

And finally, the reason this group of cartoons was delayed. I was working on it on a Friday and when I saw the “late for Valentine’s Day” cartoon, I realized I was late for my Valentine’s Day planning this year.

I dropped this project to use the old cartoon for a Valentine’s Day card. The aim was to print the cartoon on the outside with this poem on the inside.

“The eggs in my brain are scrambled for sure and deranged isn’t far from the case,

but while my mind is a mess, you have to confess, my heart’s still in the right place.”

My printer didn’t work, which I knew, so I had to print on Laurie’s. We just figured out how I could use it remotely. But I wanted to use card stock and I couldn’t figure out how to load it.

The upshot is that she got a bottle of wine and I am now early for next year.

Now I have to prep a few more for posting, so that is all until the next time.