Nothing about last week's DC trip today, but I still have these banners, so I'll use them up. Besides, there's nothing that really goes with today. It's a bit of a mixed story around here. It's lovely and warm and it's the end of a quick week - too damned quick, they're all too damned quick - but.

Birch has heartworm. Yes, I gave him all his pills. He had it when we got him. We did all the tests, but the vet scheduled another because she couldn't conclusively rule it out when we were going through the early, skinny-dog days. (He's still skinny.) He had it from the start, she said - and he also has a tick-borne disease unique to the South, so this all explains why he's a bit skinny.

It's not fun, but I think he'll be okay. For the time being he's not sick - full of energy when it's time to go for a walk, leash-snappingly strong when he sees a rabbit. But it'll be a while before we get a clean bill of health.

I know this week was a bit screwed up, but I have a bowling alley in my head and it's a wonder this thing gets out at all. Hey: some sites just go silent, and you wonder after a few days if something happened. Or they drop off for a few days, come back with nothing but “sorry, busy,” and then there’s zilch for a month, followed by a flurry that exhausts itself and ends with silence. So it was in the old days of blogging, anyway - so many people started one, had great enthusiasm, plugged away, and finally thought “why, exactly, am I doing this,” and just stopped.

It’s a shame, because some of the blogs had to do with things I enjoyed - dead malls, old grocery stores - and they just died. I’m not saying I will do this until I tumble into the grave, but I have 2019’s updates laid out through March.

An example of dead blogs: while researching something - and yes, I love how “researching” is now just typing and clicking results, as opposed to poring through old tomes or talking to actual humans - I saw a link to an old venerable site I was convinced I knew from the olden times. Well:

I can become a hair of fusafursa? Don't say that if you don't mean it, dude.

Also in the detritus folder: Google's endless inquisitive nature, eager to make sure everything is tailored to my precise needs so I can be marketed to with greater precision.

But - but you said you were

I said a lot of things, schweethart.

This is a repeat, but it's from this week. Happened last year. As I've noted from time to time, the banners in the skyway leading out of the 333 building change with the seasons. They tell you to go outside and enjoy the park, if you have an office in the building. If you don't they tell you to move along - gently, with regret. Anyway, they're Burma-shave type signs, and once again they mixed up the order.

Next one:

Doesn't quite follow. And then:

You've had sun on your face / why leave the Turf club?/ and a breeze at your back. Okay.

and a breeze at your back / It's time to turn back

Back back back

It shoud be: You've had sun on your face / and a breeze at your back / why leave the Turf club?/ It's time to turn back Not the greatest, but it makes sense.

I told the front desk about this on Monday. Nothing changed.

This is a very early Lance - from the second month of its run in 1947.

I don't think I need to post the solution for this one. It's the needless details that trip them up.

I know Friday is Listen, but the Cliffhangers is the only thing that has to be done this week or the next 8 Wednesday layouts will be screwed up. Sorry, but it's a bona fide clipfest, and I hope you find something amusing. Let's get you up to speed:

Here's how we ended, and how it continues:

Fire? Wouldn’t it have been better if the truck had started the fire as a cliffhanger?

Well, they get in the truck and blast out the other side of the barn. The bad guys follow, but the G Men shoot out the tires, and make it back to town.

Oh, and look who’s a stowaway: The Blonde Who Does Such a Good Job of Not Being Suspicious, Not at All:

Because the art shop on the waterfront is on the way to the FBI HQ, of course.

She sees a shadow . . .

. . . and faints. Could it be BRENDA? The G-Men get her inside, leaving the all-important, crucial, invaluable painting with Pidge, who puts it in the car and of course is distracted by the sound of someone letting the air out of his tires. But the picture’s in the car where he left it, so everything’s okay!

Right?

So it’s back to the Art Shop, a place we are all hugely tired of going back to. At this rate we’ll be back to Raymond’s Mansion again.

OH GOD I WAS KIDDING

Then the shady baron gets the receipt for the safe deposit box for the jewels!

Get a load of this.

Well, that is a twist, isn’t it? I always knew she’d turn out to be Good.

X-9 shows up, The Blonde goes in a closet, the Baron hides the receipt, and we cut to the Hench Lair, where the boys are sitting around bitching about working for this Brenda guy - and then they get a call from the Blonde, who tells the bad guys that the Baron has the receipt.

I always knew she’d turn out to be Bad.

So now the Henches go back to the Raymond Mansion to get the Safe-Deposit Box Receipt. Making this the fifth episode about the same damned thing.

Then X-9 pulls a quick trick:

It was Pidge with a smoke pot! X-9 used the old smoke trick to make the Baron go for the receipt. Alas:

I always knew he’d turn out to be Bad.

Wait a minute. If he’s the Chief, and the Blonde is working with the gang, what was that thing where they pretended to be good?

So it’s down to the secret boathouse, where the Baron sees the Blonde hiding in a shed, and writes something in the sand.

And then:

Were we . . . were we supposed to think he was Brenda? Shortly thereafter:

Blonde pulls a gun on Pidge. He disarms her, and locks her back in the shed, then goes up to the mansion and opens up the secret door in the fireplace. It’ll take stealth to get past the henchmen, who are absolutely eagle-eyed:

OH COME ON. Well, he frees X-9, who’d been tied up, and it’s fistfight time. The G-Men are trimphant, and Pidge says the receipt is in the bookcase.

Oh, did I mention the bookcase is booby-trapped?

Hell of a lot going on, and I have the feeling it's about to get more complicated.

That will do - apologies for the rough week. All should be fine come Monday.