More confusion - at least it's early!

Today's comic is confusing in its simplicity.

Take a look.



It's true.

The Starbucks coffee cup is a sippy cup.

Is he mocking Starbucks? Ooh, edgy.

Apple juice sucks. Give me grape juice any day.

Oh, and just about everyone is a plugger today, because just about everyone goes to Starbucks. I went once and got hot chocolate. Too rich for me, I passed it to my mom and found refuge in ice-cold water.

I will not have time tomorrow to do Thursday's comic, and I won't be able to do Friday's until the evening. But they will get done Friday evening.

Sorry I'm late.

I've been busy and away from the house.

It would have been better to just skip today's strip, honestly.




I just don't get it.

Is this the entire newspaper? The scores in the sports page? The stocks section?

Huh?

Something new!

Today's strip breaks the stereotype that Pluggers are old. Of course, it features old Pluggers.



Shocking thing #1 - Same species lovin'!

Shocking thing #2 - "senior" pluggers? That leads one to believe there are younger pluggers, but there aren't.

It's Memorial Day?

Or is it tomorrow? I've never known, if you have the TV on this weekend, there's plenty of Memorial Day... things... and everything is closed Monday.

"Pluggers" is about 'mercuns, and they love the soldiers, so today's strip should have something about Memorial Day. Opus did! I haven't seen it yet, I know it will have nothing about anything topical or timely.



Oh, it's about the vacation/grilling part of Memorial Day.

We won't do that this weekend, we've been grilling for a couple of months now and it is too hot by the end of May. Though we may grill after the sun goes down.

That is surf and turf, though. I mean, it's seafood and non-seafood meat. I'm confused.

I'm also confused about the shrimp. And nauseated, I love shrimp, but this shrimp po'boy from a non-chain restaurant's been making me sick the last couple of times. I'll have barbecue next time.

I understand grilling shrimp. (Or fish fillets.) But not popcorn shrimp! Isn't already breaded and supposed to be nuked or cooked in an oven?

I don't know, I grill burgers or pork steaks. We sometimes grill keilbasa and hot dogs, but those usually boil on the stove or explode in the microwave.

We have some fish fillets right now, and I know mom won't grill them, she'll cook them in the stove with a great sauce and they'll be great.

Finally... what animal is grilling? Is he making bear burgers?

I'm pretty sure

what today's comic shows is illegal and goes against a cardinal rule about the mail.



In Ray Miller's defense, I've never seen this before, but I've never worked in a post office or as a mail carrier.

Haven't we always been taught to never send money? Send checks or money orders or wire it to your offshore account, don't send real money!

But she's not sending it, he's taping it to the envelope because he's too cheap and lazy to buy one cent stamps, forever stamps, or the new ones!

Which makes some sense. Mailboxes get pretty big the farther you are from a post office.

But like everything else in the world, I'm pretty sure you can buy stamps online.

2 annoying, confusing things - Ray as a first name, spelled that way, screams that the sender is a man. My late grandfather's name was Ray, so my mom's middle name and my middle name are Rae. Same pronunciation, different, more feminine, spelling.

What kind of animal is that? I know it's a female animal, because, despite the inter-species lovin', I'm pretty sure guys don't have pageboy haircuts and earrings in Pluggerville. What is it supposed to be?

My stomach was upset before I got online...

and today's strip didn't help. They never do.



"Cute" license plate.

DOGS CAN'T DRIVE, NO MATTER WHAT THEY SAY!

I'm done.

They're old.

Really old.

I can't imagine a time when any of my relatives were alive ('30s) that a hotel cost that little. Hey, things were cheaper back then, but you got paid $3 a month and you were happy, and uphill in the snow in your gym shorts and snore.

Every strip about old or fat pluggers, I am so tempted to replace with pictures of my puppies, who don't drive or dance with chickens!

A comic about marriage...

with no loathing involved!

How sweet.

Really.

Take a look at today's.



Finally! The gender matches!

Though the species don't, which is just creeping me out more and more because dogs kill chickens!

And chickens lay eggs, and dogs don't, so this couple ain't procreatin', which means that gay marriage is okay in Pluggerville, because that's one of the asinine arguments against gay marriage. (No kids can come of this union.)

He probably snores, and his eyes are probably shut as well as not changing the channel.

So the husband and wife don't hate each other, but we still have a stereotype - guys won't stick to one channel.

In my house, it is kind of true - Wickett, the littlest dog, is very bold, and will sit on or near your face or chest, often near or on the remote when he sits on Mom. He's changed the channel before.

I fell asleep yesterday while Mom and Beck were watching Judge Judy, and the judge said the mother was an unfit mother and I said, "She beats her kid." That was never mentioned in the show, and I don't know why I said it. If I fall asleep around others and a TV, I say odd things, and they rub it in.

They're old - but with a horrifying twist!

Today's strip goes in the scary "this applies to 18-year-old me" pile.

Take a look.



One look at my CD collection and youtube videos shows my love of music older than myself.

When I started listening to oldies, in 2003, there were still stations that played Elvis.

Now, not so much. In Memphis, too!

The station I listen to now has no talking djs, but plenty of commercials. It says it plays "70s, 80s, and whatever" and "whatever" can mean the Beatles or Green Day. It's a nice mix, but I must go to CDs for 50s sound - not even the classic R&B stations go back that far anymore.

You know why?

It's called S-A-T-E-L-L-I-T-E R-A-D-I-O, Phil Mahoney of Ligonier, Pennsylvania.

I myself don't have it, but my dad does, or did, and I've looked at the channel guide.

You can go back farther than the '50s, if you want.

Or hey, if that's too pricey, try an mp3 player and buy CDs or mp3s. I'm sure your grandkids can help.

Another thing - this was sent in by Phil Mahoney. Not "Mrs. Phil Mahoney".

Why does he keep changing the gender? They can't all be talking about people other than themselves!

Also, I'm positive, I've seen his name and location before.

And, final insult, that looks like no car on the road, today, yesterday, or any decade mentioned in today's comic, except for the Pluggerville Roads.

Augh!

WE GET IT.

THEY'RE OLD.

By the way, one will kill the other within five minutes.

My 50th post!

I feel cool.

Today's comic is... well, meh-er than usual.



Though it finally clued me in to the fact that "Plugger" really means "redneck".

I have never seen this done.

And I've been to Georgia numerous times!

What I see done to vehicles that is odd and redneckish is on trucks, between the cab and the bed, there are boots hanging down, with the foot of the boot holding it up. The first time I saw it, I was convinced there was a person stuck there, for whatever reason.

Back to the comic, again with the gender change!

Of course, she could have been talking about a male relative or aquaintance, but still. This happens too much for my comfort.

That car does not look like any on the road, of course. The backseat must be 6 inches wide...

It's the weekend

I slept til 9 am yesterday, than from 12 to 4, than from 5:30 to 7:15, than from 12ish to 4am. Gah. I spent most of yesterday asleep, watching TV, or sleepy. (At 10, my mom and I watched an hour-long thing on History about Cults - part 2, according to the bottom of the screen - Charles Manson, this fucked up German guy in Chile who was Pinochet's buddy, and Waco ended it. It creeped the hell out of me - normally, I fill the dog's food at night, but I couldn't during the commercial, because I can't turn the light on, since the cord broke and it's less than 6 inches long and at the top of the shed, and I'm short.)


So here's the weekend - two at once, you win!

Yes, it's not 5 AM yet, but the Sunday paper's here. And looking at today's strip, I'm glad we still waste comic space on "Classic Peanuts" 7 days a week. Same with yesterday's. And the whole mess.



Pluggers are only hard-working as kids, big opponents of abortion, and supporters of child labor, judging by their laziness as adults.

We had a lot of fun with our wheelbarrow when my dad planted our 3 trees - he let us sift through the dirt - I found a piece of copper in the willow tree dirt.

So this poor little Plugger is going to be dirtier than 'Pigpen' his whole life - the caption leads one to believe he'll be 'driving a dump truck' as an adult, as well.

Truthfully, this applies to most middle-class suburban or rural families, the ones with money for yard work, but without money for a gardener.



And speaking of the suburbs!

The ... after the ! is puzzling.

But what's not puzzling is the choice of species - this is plainly a show that he treats his little laborer like a father treats a son, teaching him how to ride a bike so the neighbors can see how 'normal' they are.

Or that's bitterness about my own childhood, where we weren't used a child labor or physically abused, but we were not normal, in a bad way, but my dad had us look normal.

One thing that points to the two being connected - how tired the adult is. Since he makes the kid do all the work, he gets no exercise besides using the remote.

And... why doesn't that kid have training wheels? My sister and I had training wheels, and then they came off, and we didn't have our mom or our dad holding us, we fell. A lot. I hate edged yards to this day, because, on the base, those military jerks would edge their yards into bike tire catching machines. Bah.

Plus - I don't want to know why this is a 'classic'. Did it run before? Did he just discover this submission and it's 10 years old? Or did he use the idea for a different picture and is re-using it for this one?

And - who's the personal trainer? The kid for making his dad run? Or the dad for helping his kid?

Gripe about the Sunday strips - They'll Do It Every Time is also run by reader's submissions. Monday through Saturday, it's a one panel comic. But Sunday! On Sunday, there are 4 or 5 panels in the Sunday space, not just one huge one.

That's why TDIET is better than Pluggers.

Finally! Something that doesn't point to 'OLD"!!

What a happy day, what a celebration we must have!

Ha!

Today's strip does not revolve around age, but I think it kinda does.

Ooh! Vague! Take that, women's magazines!

See, while the creature pictured is young (or young looking), I think the practive of inserting perfume cards every other page has died down.

The last time my sister had one was a few years ago, and seh subscribes to the teen versions of everything, where you're told, "You don't have to be skinny to be healthy, be yourself," while the ads veature identical stick figures. Whatever, she likes it.

I don't know anything about perfume, big surprise, so I don't know just how cheap the Plugger featured today is, but I know she is.

I wonder why it's credited to initials... maybe it was sent in by Tom and it was about cologne samples and Brookins didn't think that was appropriate... or it could have been perfume!

Or they just signed it T. J.

Probably that one.

Two for Thursday.

I just wrote 'Tue for Thursday'.

It's not Tuesday, that was the other day. I know this.

Yeah, exhausted, woke up late, it was nice outside when I got home (70s, springlike weather in May! Only a fool wouldn't take advantage of that).

That's my excuse.

Let's travel back in time to yesterday, via yesterday's strip.



Ha ha! Parental pluggers don't remember math from when they were in school, proving that their children are right, you don't need math once you're out of school.

Yes, math homework, once you get past 3rd grade, can be tricy for the average parent, because you don't use the skills you learned (or in my mom's case, didn't learn) in your regular life unless you're in one of the few jobs that do.

But "Sudoku" isn't some hoity-toity elitist technological thing...

It's supposedly easy, once you firgure it out. And it's in most daily papers, most magazines, online, it's everywhere but in my MADs.

So I don't buy that the average Plugger doesn't know about Sudoku. They're supposed to be everyfreakycreature, and most everyone does these things. (Not anybody in my house, but some of my relatives do it, and that includes the ones in Nebraska.)

Now, back to the future! Today's strip:



I don't get it.

I don't understand it.

At all.

Not the "joke" or "truth about life", I don't understand one word.

Maybe it means that to turn on high-beams in old cars, you had to use the pedals, and now you don't, and Pluggers are old?

And you don't want a dog near the driver's side floorboard!!!

Hats!

We had a hat yesterday, and a hat stars in today's strip.

It doesn't mean that hats and other accessories will be replacing the freaks of Pluggerville, sadly.



I've never seen that.

The hats I don't keep on a hat rack (hooks in my closet) sit jauntily on stuffed animals.

But I don't wear hats that often, besides the hood of my jacket. The last hat I wore that wasn't attached to a jacket was my graduation mortar board last May. I'm not kidding. I've got awesome hair, and I don't feel like hiding it.

But I see why you'd do this...

If you always wore a hat, and you weren't so picky as to have a hat rack, a doorknob would work, but wouldn't that hat fall off?

I'm confused.

The tag is 'old people' because most of the people that send things in are old, and who has two addresses - one in New England and the other in Florida? Retirees, that's who.

I've been reading too much Hiaasen...

Done before noon today!

Please, your applause is too much. It's the least I can do.

Today's strip is something I'm not used to.



I lived in Iceland before coming to Memphis. Neither place has typical seasons, only one is cold and the other is hot. Guess which one.

Though I usually do wear that in fall and spring. And winter. Summer as well, but shorts instead. I'm the queen of casual. Though I've branched away from jeans lately, I'm still casual.

However, I've been wearing shorts almost every day for too many weeks - it's been in the 80s and 90s and it's muggy and my bedroom is always hotter than outside at night, even though it's got dark walls, dark shades, and I never open the window past Spring Break. However, it is on the western side of the house (or as close as it gets to being on a compass) and there is nothing next to it to block the sun - second story and our neighbors have one level ranches.

But anyway... yeah... I'm a plugger today.

If you don't give damn about fashion except being comfortable, you're a plugger.

It's okay - this isn't a stupid thing. Don't waste money on fashionable clothes to escape the plugger curse, this will pass.

After re-reading this, I can see it's meant for men. One last week was sent in by a man, but a female creature was used. Why not today, huh?

Because the male artist can't wrap his pea-brain around the thought that women wear jeans and tees too?

Grr.

Sorry for not making sense - I got about 3 hours of sleep last night and I've been putting off a nap, because I know I won't be able to sleep tonight, but I am getting SO tired, guess I can't survive on 3 hours of sleep like I used to.

Old age, I guess. I'll be 19 in less than 3 months. Sad.

Sorry it's so late.

I felt good today, but Sunday's are busy for me - sleep late, watch tv, read all but two sections of the paper and then time for Fox's Sunday lineup.

And we had a Mother's Day thing as well. I made my mom a pillow out of one of my old and clean pajama shirts - what did you do?

Today's strip is meant for next month, since it's about fathers.



Apparently, they believe weight is hereditary in Pluggerville - unless you're a woman, as we learned this week, then you fret and worry yourself sick, but never as thin as you want.

That's all I have to say. I am fried from food and scrubbing the bathroom this morning and last night, and this cartoon actually makes me stupider the longer I look at it.

Good night.

*whew* Pluggers are not everybody anymore.

Today's strip confirms that.


I mean, I'm white. I'm one of those pale, pale white people that never tan, only burn. And burn fast.

However, I've never had suspender marks.

Of course, I'm a girl, so I'm wearing more than suspenders above my belly button in the sun.

But I haven't seen any men - even portly (that adjective goes with suspenders) ones - wearing suspenders with their swim trunks. I've never seen anyone period in suspenders!

Outside of Grandpa Simpson and Jughead.

Though I wouldn't mind wearing funky ones over a white t-shirt, I'd never wear one for the intended purpose.

And I can't imagine any reason why you can't find a pear of trunks with an elastic waist big enough to fit, and just snug enough at the waist to stay on.

Bernard?

They're laughing at you, not with you. Trust me. No cute college coeds think you're cute. Unless your suspenders are diamond studded and woven with diamond thread.

Even if you had a nice chest, the suspenders...

I just don't see someone so out of touch as to wear suspenders to the beach or pool!

If we could see his feet, he'd have on black socks with garters and some sort of sandals - hopefully flip-flops.

Sorry I missed yesterday.

I still didn't feel good, and when I felt better, it was storming or threatening to, so I couldn't get online.

I may feel better, but yesterday's strip confuses me.



So... huh? Oh, now I see - Pluggers are cheap.

Plus, it's Florida, and that guy's retired, he doesn't need to own more than one suit. Guys can wear a dark suit to a wedding and a funeral (hopefully not the same day), while women can't.

But we're talking 20+ years out of style... Cheapskate. Don't be surprised if you're not in many photos, Gramps!

But I'm still confused! Maybe it's because I've never been to a wedding?

But today's strip I understand completely.



Except for one thing...

Pluggers have DVD players now????

And they think they're saving money, but they're not. Netflix seems great. You pay $5 a month per DVD you can have out. So if you pay $5, you get one DVD, watch it, send it back, and get another one, and repeat until you're done. You can pay $10 and have 2 DVDs out at once, and there's no monthly limit to how many you can turn in and rent.

Library DVDs have due dates. And you have to pay for each movie and get it back in less than a week. And if you pick up 3 and it's less than $15, well, you can't pick up 3 more.

One monthly payment! No due dates!

My aunt and uncle in Nebraska should be Pluggers, and they're signed up with Netflix. The library's only open a couple hours 2 days a week (Tuesday and Saturday), and they're nowhere near a Blockbuster.

I've rented movies from the library. (VHS, that's how long ago it was.) It cost less than Blockbuster, but was due in 3 days. Blockbuster lets you have them a bit longer, but Netflix still seems the best of the bunch.


Unless they get movies for free from their libraries...

Pluggers have DVD players????

Eek, I didn't mean to come off as a shill for netflix, we don't even use it, I'm just going by what I see in commercials, their website, the library, and the local Blockbuster.

Everybody's a plugger!

I thought the point of this idiotic endeavor was to show the way of life for a select group of freakish creatures, but no, we're all pluggers.

Today, anyway.



I don't feel good - cold, shaky, threw up last night too many times.

So I won't make much sense, but I'll make more than this.

One - METABOLISM.

Two - You're alone in the bathroom and you're still wrapped in a towel?

Three - What the hell? Does that dog/bear thing have BOOBS?

Four - It was sent in by a MAN and the subject is a woman! Men worry about weight, too, you stereotypical idiot!

Five - Get this - your weight can flucuate up to five pounds on a daily basis, with no relation to activity.

Six - If you want to lose weight, burn more calories than you take in. To lose weight healthily, do not eat tapeworm-riddled food. Exercise is the best thing - you may not lose weight, but you will be better off for it. And if you're going to exercise, don't cut a certain thing out of your diet - you need all the 'bad' things to, I don't know, survive!

Seven - Throwing up sucks. This is the 3rd time I've been sick since April 22nd. And I have a cold sore! And I threw up Thursday! And we're out of B and A from the BRAT diet, and they're the best part.

But I still attacked somebody else's work. I'm a true hero.

Two for one!

Sunday's strip has been posted!

I have no idea why it wasn't there two days ago, or why it's there now, but it is.



Pluggers are lazy - but they're the salt of the earth 80% of America that does the dirty work. What am I missing here?

Also - he's henpecked!

Except she doesn't have a beak...

You know... I have a dog here on the floor, she's lazy, but she's a female of the species. There are guy dogs and girl dogs. Do all these pluggers live together or something?


Today's strip is right on time.

But very sleepy.

I just got my 8 hours, thank you very much. I went to sleep at midnight and woke up at 8 because somebody was calling. I think I was already awake when the phone rang because normally, I can sleep through everything.

My dad's a plugger. He has a set nap time, and he's "always there for [my sister and me]", but not during nap time!

Again, they're lazy or retired. Hard working people have work to do after lunch, we don't have siestas like they do in some countries, because we're Americans and we work hard.

We're also stupid. Naps are really good for you, I may take one, but I'm doing nothing today because that was a call from the director of the volunteer job and she's not going in, so I can sleep! But I shouldn't, because an hour long nap will keep me up until 2 in the morning.

Since that's the same creature from Sunday, no wonder he hasn't touched his 'honey-do' list - he's sleeping all the time.

And what the heck's a 'honey-do' list anyway? I've only seen it in bad comics.

No, I don't know what happened yesterday.

But we have a comic today!



As for todays, I don't get it.

I really should start driving, except the only gasoline not kept in our vehicle is kept in a can for the lawn mower! We depend on the nice people at the dealership to change our oil. And we never kept cans of oil in the trunk.

Are those cans of oil?

I don't know what 'oil investments' are supposed to be - stock in an oil company? Stock in Exxon or something?

But that's not common enough to need twisting - most of us don't own stocks, even us elite-nonpluggers.

And how does it help to have cans of oil in your trunk if your carbreaks down?

I may not drive, but it's my understanding that cars need gasoline to go, and gasoline is refined oil, not a can in your car!

Happy Cinco de Mayo!

Pluggers are ordinary Americans, I'm sure they celebrate Cinco de Mayo the same way everyone else does - getting hammered on something other than beer.

I'm not sure what the point is of today's panel. Are you?



Hi RhinoMan! Long time no see.

I'm not even sure what a 'backup plan' means in this context. Normally when a Plugger plugs a phrase, they give it a different meaning.

But not here - that is a backup plan - if the belt doesn't work, you've got the suspenders.

I don't know what definition of backup plan they're referencing - a safety school? A 'fallback' career? Two copies of a scholarship application, report, or other papers? What?

I hate belts, unless they're on kimonos, robes, or tae kwon do uniforms. And I've never worn suspenders - I probably would have in 6th grade when I enjoyed wearing colorful, odd clothes. (So many vests.)

Most of my jeans are kind of loose, but if I wear a belt and keep it as loose as possible, it's still tight enough to hurt, which has more to do with my abdominal problems than anything. My school made us wear belts if our pants had loops - boys or girls. One day my senior year, I felt good enough to wear jeans, but there was no way in hell I was wearing a belt. So I slashed each loop before leaving.

This is just sad.

I hope ordinary Americans aren't like the DogMan in today's strip.



Our dogs don't wear glasses, but Mikey likes scrambled eggs.

Who says 'striking gold' anymore?

Honestly.

I'm just glad he wasn't digging for gold... you know what I mean...

And yeah, it is interesting when there are 2 or more yolks in an egg, but that's the highlight of your day?

I get it! He gets it! She gets it! My mother and sister, who've never HEARD of pluggers, GET IT!

They're old.

Today's strip breaks new ground in nothing.



Since the DogMan (must be a man, they never ask for directions, according to movies, sitcoms, and, of course, comics - but it was sent in by a woman. Is it too hard for Brookins to match the gender of the contributor to the drawing? Unless she was talking about her husband/boyfriend, brother, or father.) in the strip hasn't bought a new map in 20 years and is driving a Popemobile with a covered roof, I went with cheap, not broke.

A map costs less than a tank of gas, less than an insurance payment, and less than his hideous outfit.

The only way this would happin in real life is if you're visiting your home town after 20 years.

But you'd have to be an idiot to rely on 2 decade old maps! Especially when there's this neat little website that can help you, and printing out directions, or even a little map, costs less than a dollar at your local library.

Cheap, lazy dogman.

Funny thing - my mom and I ended up lost last summer in a place that looked like that - no road, under a bridge. Of course, we weren't looking for Route 66 and we didn't even have an old map with us.

Mom wanted to go into Arkansas using the 'old bridge' from Memphis and we finally did that, and somehow we ended up off the main bridge and doubled back to riverside flatlands owned by the federal government and monitored by cameras even though nothing was there.

That part of our day is funnier than every Pluggers comic ever published.

Pluggers are Old, Take 4.

Again with the old thing. Today's strip makes a lie out of the comic's description - old people can't work as hard as young people, though they have to now that everybody's broke.

Though I guess they were hardworking.



I love dollar stores - they have some of the most unusal things. One had a book on getting rich by Donald Trump.

We're currently looking for a coupon sorter and can't find one at any of the dollar stores in the area.

They also sell candy.

One Christmas, my dad made my sister and I shop (separately) at dollar stores for gifts for our (my sister and I) family and friends. Becky actually found something cool for me - a glow-in-the-dark inflatable ball that I hung from my fanpull for a couple years. She complained that I didn't appreciate her gift, so I blew it up and hung it up. And then she complained that it scared her when it was dark in my room! You can't win.

I don't know where it is now...

Back to the cartoon, maybe it's because I got less than 4 hours of sleep, but jeez! We get it.

They're old.

When was the last time a dime store actually sold things for a dime? Aren't we talking my great-grandmother's time here?

And dollar stores here don't sell things for a dollar - we have almost a ten cent tax! They should sell stuff for 91 cents.

I knew there was a place for these freaks!

I learned something new today, courtesy of today's strip.




The contributions may have cities and states found in America, but they're picked at random.

They all live in Pluggerville!

We are safe.

So, Pluggers live in a town big enough to have its own school buses (Memphis school buses say Laidlaw, Shelby County says Shelby County, and Tipton County says... Tipton County!), but they most likely don't have city buses, because Pluggers are 'small-town folk'.

But if they live in small towns, can't they walk to places like school or work?

Oh wait, these are Pluggers, they're hard workers, they probably live in tiny Pluggerville and work at the factories in Shelbyville.

I'm just glad we won't run into them accidentally.

Who wants to bet Pluggerville is the capital of an island?