Author Archives: stripfix

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.

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!

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.

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!

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.

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!

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.

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!

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.

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!

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!

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.

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.

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.

Tuesday, July 31, 2012

Lynn's Comments: Beth and Don had a hired man who rarely spoke--but when he did, it was about crops and weather...and nothing else!

Monday, July 30, 2012

Lynn's Comments: One morning, I awoke to a strange noise. I looked out the window to see the wheat field parting like the red sea. In a cloud of dust, smoke, and flying chaff, Freddy Parkinson (Don's brother-in-law and neighbour) was driving towards the house on an old snowmobile. He roared into the yard and then calmly announced that he'd come for coffee.

Saturday, July 28, 2012

Lynn's Comments: The day Aaron was found playing in a grain bin the guys were preparing to empty, was the day my in-laws took him home with them. If we hadn't spotted him in time, he could easily have drowned in the seed or been caught in the auger. I was unprepared for so many dangers. On a farm, you have to be vigilant and prepared for just about anything!

Friday, July 27, 2012

Lynn's Comments: Once the piglets recovered from their ordeal, they quickly lined up for dinner. Teats were evenly spaced, and there was enough milk to go around, but they still scrambled over each other to get into position--the stronger ones shoving the weaker ones aside. Mother pig didn't get involved. She just lay there. One of the piglets had a small hernia and would eventually be mauled by its siblings, so Don decided to hand feed her. I thought this was a sweet gesture until he said she'd make a great roast when she fattened up. Surprisingly, I still like pork!

Thursday, July 26, 2012

Lynn's Comments: There were two pig barns on Donnie and Beth's farm. One was for farrowing and had the "honeymoon suite" at the back. The boar was brought here when his services were needed. The rest of the stalls were like a maternity ward. It, too, was clean and well ventilated. The babies came at all hours of the night and watching a sow give birth was interesting. Her tummy ripples, she lies down and SQUIRT! Out pops a piggie. Don would wipe it off on the straw and put it aside so mom wouldn't step or roll on it and the process would begin again. The thing that struck me was how fast these babies were born. I struggled and snorted for hours to produce my offspring. This "pop 'em out" method just didn't seem fair!

Wednesday, July 25, 2012

Lynn's Comments: The sow in labour walked around the pen, her babies visibly squirming in her belly. When her contractions came, her belly became firm and smooth. She'd lie down and pant for awhile, then get up and wait for the next one. It wasn't the most comfortable place to be--but still, we were waiting for a miracle.

Tuesday, July 24, 2012

Lynn's Comments: I dressed fast, got my boots on, found a flashlight, and followed Don out to the barn. Don was often alone when "farrowing" took place and was glad to have the company. This was a wonderful opportunity to attend an actual birth--my own experience having been clouded by anaesthetic, excitement and pain.

Monday, July 23, 2012

Lynn's Comments: I asked Don to let me know when one of the sows was having her piglets so I could be there to watch. What I learned was babies of all kinds come when they're ready, and it's often very late at night!