I Actually Did Not Write This

Nor did I have input. But I’ve found my spirit author regarding seasons!

Here on Main Street: The “Ber” Months

The next four months are the most wonderful time of the year.

What kind of terrible person hates summer?

It’s me. Hi. I’m the problem, it’s me (to quote a newly engaged woman).

Longtime readers of the Post know that I hate the summer months of June, July, and August with the intense heat of a thousand suns (which is often what those months feel like).

Summer is overrated. I think there’s a secret summer society that has people brainwashed that June, July, and August are the perfect months. The sun! The heat! The beaches! The cookouts! To which I would add: The bugs! The sweltering heat! The sunburns!

Remember those Country Time lemonade mix commercials, the ones that lamented that “summer will be a short 94 days?” I used to think, really, it’s going to be that long?

I bet if you really pinned people down and promised to keep their responses anonymous, they would actually admit that fall is better than summer.

(Kids aren’t factored in that polling because they get out of school in the summer and are carefree for three months (though I bet they love getting new school supplies). I have to do the same exact things I do the other months of the year; the only difference is I sweat more.)

I like the “Ber” months,” the months of fall and early winter: September, October, November, December.

There’s a great argument to be made that the new year should start in September instead of January. I wouldn’t make that argument myself, but I could!

Vacations are over, kids are back in school, adults have a new focus on work, people are making plans, the weather is changing. There’s an energy that happens in the fall that you don’t get in the lazy days of summer. There’s more of a fresh, new-feeling start as the calendar ticks over from August to September than there is when we go from December to January. Labor Day could be the new New Year’s.

There’s also better food in the fall and winter. Comfort foods like hot, hearty soups and chili. Pasta and stews and pies. We can turn on the oven again in the “Ber” months.

What do we eat in the summer? A salad? Yeah, that’s comforting.

Holidays? I’ll take Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Christmas over St. Patrick’s Day, Easter, and the Fourth of July. All of the holidays from March until August put together don’t add up to the three big holidays you get in the fall and winter.

Clothing? In the warm, sticky months you wear shorts and gross flip-flops. I don’t need to see anyone’s feet. In the “Ber” months, there are more clothing options, and I’m actually more comfortable in jeans, a sweatshirt, or a flannel shirt than I am with less clothing in the summer.

You say the “Ber” months are the “Brrr” months? So what? Are you a construction worker? Are you a mail carrier? Then why are you concerned with how cold it is? Go inside your home and turn up the heat. Wrap yourself in a blanket and make yourself a cup of tea.

Tea is the official drink of fall and winter, by the way.

Even arts and entertainment are better in the fall. The movies seem to be of better quality, the big books come out. Sure, fall TV isn’t quite what it used to be (new shows premiere year-round now), but people still look forward to September and October when new seasons of their old favorite shows start.

Every August, local newscasters and meteorologists sigh heavily that the summer is ending. The nice temperatures are going away! Can’t we prolong the summer a little bit longer? They get all upset that instead of it being 90 it’s 68, which apparently is some unbearable temperature.

I submit to you that “nice weather” in the summer is actually pretty rare. I’d rather view the spectacular brown and gold treescape above or snowy winter scenes than a bright sun broiling asphalt.

You say I can just turn on the air conditioner in the summer if it’s too hot and humid? I don’t have an air conditioner, and people who don’t have an air conditioner can’t escape the heat and humidity (I don’t know what it’s like where you live, but here in New England, all homes come with heat but you usually have to add the A/C yourself). You can always put on another piece of clothing if it’s too cold. If you keep taking off an article of clothing when it’s too hot, eventually someone will call the police (and they’ll be filming you on their phone and putting it online).

Of course, a lot of this is a regional thing. There are more warm months in places like Texas and Arizona and Florida, and it’s a regular thing for them. Which is why I would never live in Florida (and the weather is only one of approximately eleven reasons why I would never live in Florida).

So I’m happy that it’s after Labor Day. The next four months are the most wonderful time of the year. And even when the “Ber” months are over, everything is still good because then we get the “Ary” months. As a lover of the cold and snow, I welcome them too.

I own sweaters and I know how to use them.

Clay Jones, For A While-

Roughs, Volume 258 by Clay Jones

Ding-Dong! Roughs are here! Read on Substack

You’re not going to get a new cartoon from me until Sunday. Say what? I’m ahead of schedule with last night’s Charlie Kirk cartoon, dated for September 19. But you will get new content here daily.

I’m in North Bethesda, Maryland for my cartoonist association’s annual convention today, and that’s why I got ahead with work. But I’m going to post stuff about the convention while I’m there. I plan to do at least one Zoom conversation with another cartoonist while at the convention. And today, you’re getting a blog of roughs.

Speaking of the Charlie Kirk cartoon, I got a death threat today. First, it was a death wish, as in, “I hope you and your family get what Charlie Kirk got,” and then it turned into, “you’re easy to find.” I consider that a death threat. And why is he threatening my family? They’re innocent, and in fact, two of them posted on the cartoon on Facebook to tell me I’m disgusting and an asshole. Anyhoos….

DING-DONG! Roughs are here!

I drew this on August 27 and made it a real cartoon a few days later.

I liked it so much that I nearly roughed it out twice.

This was my first idea, and I roughed it out on August 28. By the way, I’m writing this on a train. Let’s blame today’s typos on that.

Here’s another I roughed out twice. This was drawn on August 28.

I even lettered this version. It grew up to become a real cartoon.

this was drawn on August 29 and became a real cartoon. It got comments.

I roughed this out on August 29, and became a real cartoon for the FXBG Advance.

I drew this on September 1, and it became a two-panel cartoon.

I drew this on September 2, and I might like it more than the version I went with.

I was just goofing around with this on September 9. Why do I keep hearing about pickleball?

I roughed this out for the FXBG Advance on September 5. It became a real cartoon.

I liked naming some of my colleagues here, but I thought it was too many words. I roughed this up on September 9.

This was also drawn on September 9, but I went with something else.

I drew this on September 9, it became a real cartoon, and it got a lot of comments. A LOT of comments. I can’t wait for it to land on GoComics, which will be tomorrow.

I just got my idea for the FXBG Advance’s Sunday cartoon approved, but it wasn’t my first idea.

For context, we have some new public schools in this area. I got this idea and emailed it to my editor early this morning (September 11) with the subject line: “How brave are you feeling this morning?” (snip-MORE, both roughs and commentary)

In My Backyard

there is a little apple tree. The people who lived here before us planted an apple and a pear tree. The pear tree was taken out by wind/lightning several years ago, and DH took out the stump a few years after that. The apple tree has just kept plugging along. We didn’t/still don’t care for spraying chemicals for pests, so the apples are mostly enjoyed by creatures of the air and ground, if I’m clear. But one year in the early aughts, I thought I’d try to collect some of the apples, cook them up, and put them away. I looked up some info on doing such things, and learned from the U of MI that our tree is considered to be a neglected fruit tree, because it isn’t sprayed to keep pests away, nor professionally pruned. The information confirmed that the plan to cook and freeze was the best one for apples from such a tree. I did that for a few years, but then went back to work and the tree continued to produce (except for one year; we got blossoms, but no fruit. It was back the next year, though.)

So, late last Winter, I needed to get some maintenance done on all the trees in the yard. The trimmers were such great help, and it is easier to relax when the wind is harsh, since the trees are nicely trimmed and power lines are not endangered by tree branches. The trimmers discussed the little apple tree with me; the photos below will help explain. We decided to trim the apple tree but let it stay because there were blossoms, and new branches and limbs. Something to do with, if the new branches are growing up, there is life; if the branches are growing downward or outward, it’s a last gasp. The trimmers’s business is a 2d generation family business, with all members having studied tree ag specifically so they can care for people’s trees in the best interests of all. They’re great people. So, anyway:

It appears, from the trunk, that the tree is dead, as seen in the shot above; that’s at the bottom of the tree, and up to the first branch. An entire family of elves could live comfortably in this tree. And yet, there are newer branches, with young limbs. This morning I was out there with Ollie, and there are more baby limbs growing! So I took photos, and thought I’d share. If anyone knows about this, input is welcome; else enjoy my apple tree!

This Looks Like Such Fun!

Explore an Online Archive of 12,700 Vintage Cookbooks

And Now For Something Different-

” … to serve man …”

The Rapture … ?

Reblogging A Reblog-

Yes, it will be 2 more clicks. Trust me, you’ll be better for the clicking!

Reblog

About The Early Bad News Yesterday-

Here’s What to Know About Poland Shooting Down Russian Drones

On Wednesday morning, Poland shot down several Russian drones that entered its airspace—a first since Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine. The incident disrupted air travel and set the region on edge.

Early Wednesday morning, Poland shot down several Russian drones that had violated its airspace during a massive strike against western Ukraine. The Polish military operation, confirmed by Prime Minister Donald Tusk through a social media message in the early morning hours, marks a turning point in Warsaw’s involvement in the conflict that has affected the region for more than two and a half years. The Polish defense agency reported the presence of more than 10 objects coming from Ukrainian airspace and called the violation an “act of aggression.”

Poland Invokes NATO Article 4

In response to the raid, Poland activated Article 4 of NATO, the North Atlantic Treaty, requesting immediate consultations with allies. Tusk urgently convened a meeting of the Council of Ministers at 8 am local time, maintaining constant contact with the alliance’s secretary general, Mark Rutte, to coordinate the political and diplomatic response.

Article 4 allows a NATO member to solicit consultations whenever it believes its security, territorial integrity, or political independence is threatened. Unlike Article 5, which provides for collective military action in the event of an armed attack, Article 4 does not compel immediate military action, but its activation nevertheless constitutes a significant political escalation, as it emphasizes the unity of the alliance in responding to perceived threats against NATO members.

Poland had already been on high alert for possible aircraft overruns since at least November 2022, when a stray Ukrainian missile accidentally hit a village in the south of the country, killing two people. Until now, however, there had been no recorded cases of Polish or allied defense systems shooting down drones on national territory. Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky claimed on Wednesday that “at least eight” Iranian-made Shahed drones were “aimed in the direction of Poland” during the nighttime attack, suggesting the incursion into Polish airspace was intentional.

NATO Defense Activated

Residents of the affected Polish areas reported hearing explosions in the sky during the night, followed by the activation of warning sirens. The alert was triggered precisely during a large-scale Russian attack on Ukraine’s western regions, particularly those in Volyn and Lviv that directly border Poland.

According to information released by the Polish military command, national and NATO air defense systems were activated immediately after radar detected the entry of unmanned aircraft into Polish airspace. The interception operation continued for several hours, with the armed forces neutralizing objects deemed dangerous using air defense systems. The search for the wreckage of the downed drones is still ongoing in the eastern parts of the country as of midday Wednesday.

Airports Temporarily Closed

The intervention led to the temporary closure of four airports, including Warsaw-Chopin and Lublin, as well as the Rzeszów airport, which has become a crucial hub for sending Western military aid to Ukraine in the past two years. The United States Federal Aviation Administration confirmed the temporary closure of the Polish airports for “unplanned military activity related to national security.”

The Russian drone strike also hit eastern Ukraine hard: According to reports by the BBC citing local Ukrainian officials, 24 people were killed and 19 wounded in an air raid on a village in the Donetsk region, where the victims were standing in line to collect their pensions. The incident comes amid a particularly intense phase of the conflict, where Moscow’s troops are carrying out a slow but steady offensive in much of Donetsk, in western Ukraine. Meanwhile, diplomatic attempts to reach a peace agreement have essentially stalled, and contacts between Washington and Moscow in recent months have produced no concrete results.

Rising Tensions

The incident comes at a time of particular tension in the region. Only 24 hours before Poland shot down Russia’s drones, the Polish president warned during a press conference in Helsinki that Russian president Vladimir Putin would be ready to invade other countries after the aggression against Ukraine. The timing of the incursion takes on even greater significance when one considers that on Friday, September 13, Russia and Belarus will kick off joint military exercises dubbed “Zapad,” which have already raised regional security concerns.

Poland had announced Tuesday that it was closing its border with Belarus precisely in response to what Warsaw calls “very aggressive” maneuvers, in addition to the growing number of provocations by Moscow and Minsk. Neighboring Lithuania has also decided to tighten border controls, a sign of widespread alertness among NATO member countries that border Russia and Belarus.

Wednesday’s incident also comes at a delicate time for international diplomacy: US president Donald Trump declared over the weekend that he was ready to move to a second phase of sanctions against Russia after months of unsuccessful negotiations for a peace agreement between Moscow and Kyiv. The downing of drones on Polish territory now risks further complicating any mediation efforts.

This story originally appeared on WIRED Italia and has been translated from Italian.

Josh Johnson’s Set This Week

I don’t know if the Crocs bit is in this; I’m listening now as I’m posting. Enjoy!

PS: The crocs bit is in!

Clay Jones

Cartoonists Conspiracy by Clay Jones

See you in Bethesda Read on Substack

22 years ago, at a convention for the Association of American Editorial Cartoonists (AAEC) (probably in Denver, Sacramento, Washington, DC, or Long Island, who can remember these things?), someone mentioned the president. It was 2003, so of course, the president was George W. Bush.

Someone at the bar (because these things are always in a bar) said, “If you think Shrub is dumb, wait until Donald Trump is president. Another cartoonist, probably someone named Steve, replied, “What? Are you out of your gourd? After this disaster of a presidency, there’s no way America would elect another idiot, especially one as vulgar and gross as Donald Trump.”

Then a cartoonist, probably named Matt, said, “But what if we elect a Black guy as president, and he’s decent, kind, accomplished, intelligent, with an equally intelligent wife, and they both have high morals and beautiful and smart daughters, the presidency is hugely successful?” And then a cartoonist named Dick says, “My God, you’re right, Matt!” Another Matt said, “What?” And Dick said, “Not you, Matt. The other Matt.” Other Matt says, “Huh?” Dick says, “Yes, you. You’re right. If we have a Black president and he’s a great success, Republicans and other racists will lose their minds!” (snip-MORE)