Yolks On Us

Great. Gladys finally has a story that we want to hear and we're not going to hear it. Why did they buy eggs from the farm by the nuclear plant? Was it to save money? I am so in the weeds for this story.

If you would like to read about another farm affected by radioactive materials, you can read my latest Bobbo story, "Chicken and Waffles".

He's Thrilled About That Idea

As we all know, Brutus is far from being a genius and I'm surprised at Veeblefester's restraint at not making a joke about that and instead focusing on Brutus' body odor. Veeblefester is also wearing a dark gray suit and a purple tie instead of his usual black suit/yellow vest/purple or yellow tie so Veeblefester must've made some kind of New Year resolution to dress more modernly and not aim for low hanging fruit when he insults his employees.

This Is Why You Need More Than One TV

Wait-wait-wait! Hold on! That's a couch!?!!? I've been going years thinking it was a chair. I guess the green piece of furniture is a chair and the red is a couch. I don't understand the logistics of how the room is set up but I guess they are perfectly lined up so you can't see the other piece when looking directly at them from the side. Still better than Dagwood and Blondie's setup.

Chicago Heights

Harris Decatur (H.D.) Booge was born on a farm near Pittsford, Vermont in 1827. He attended school until he was 12 and at 14 worked at a fishery in Albany, New York. Booge bounced around cities along the Great Lakes and Erie Canal until 1854 when he took a train to St. Louis where he dabbled in a Mississippi River steamboat service. He then, according to him, created the first meat packing plant in Sioux City, Iowa and the first steam flour mill. About the time of the Civil War, Booge owned several large groceries and was an investor in the railroad in the Dakotas. The railroad went bankrupt losing Booge up to $3,000,000.

Booge wound up in Topeka where, as he had done throughout his life, he dipped his toe in numerous ventures, mostly real estate. In early 1888, Booge bought a quarter mile section of land and platted a “suburb” of Topeka—Chicago Heights. Located 11 miles north of Topeka and one mile from the depot at Kilmer, Booge advertised his town to prospects in Chicago, New York, Philadelphia, Toronto, London, and Paris. The advertisement described a beautiful and ready-to-move-in suburb of a fast-growing Kansas city along a railroad line. According to the plat, Monroe, Quincy, Kansas, Jackson, and Van Buren streets were “extended” north with cross-streets of 21^st through 25^th streets and bordered by Grant, Sherman, Sheridan, and Garfield Boulevards. Booge managed to convince the King of Saxony, governors of several Mexican states, and a large number of Europeans to invest in the land. Topekans, however, knew that Chicago Heights was nothing more than a pasture. Booge then incorporated the Chicago Heights, Potwin Place, & South Topeka Electric Motor Railway Company to better attract attention of more prospective buyers. Like the suburb, the interurban trolley never materialized either.

Plat of Chicago Heights

Seeing how popular—and lucrative—the Louisiana Lottery was, Booge decided to take the $300,000 he made from Chicago Heights and go down to Mexico where he was able to convince Mexican President Porfirio Diaz to start and run a lottery. Booge would give President Diaz a percentage of monies earned and Booge would take the rest. Eventually, President Diaz wanted more money and when Booge refused, Diaz nationalized the lottery and Booge lost everything. He returned to Topeka a poor man.

But H.D. Booge wouldn’t be kept down. Despite Chicago Heights and even his own mansion being repossessed for delinquent taxes, Booge continued being a jack of all trades. The Booge mansion became the Salvation Army Hospital and Booge, and his wife Jane, moved around the corner to another property that he owned. Some of Booge’s careers were pigeon and squab marketing, chattel mortgage lender, matrimony agent (basically a matchmaker finding women for lonely men), and airship inventor. All these jobs tended to get him into trouble either financially or legally. When a woman wanted to divorce her husband and sue for alimony because he was abusive and had essentially been abandoned by him, the man denied knowing her. Booge initially refused to admit that he had them married but then relented costing the husband thousands of dollars in alimony. As for the airship, for more than a year Booge said that his airship, a dirigible capable of sailing through the air up to 100 miles a minute and carry 100 passengers. He kept the plans secret, never showing them to anyone, and talk of the airship ceases after 1912. But that didn’t stop Booge from writing to Czar Nicholas of Russia telling him to expect him in St. Petersburg.

Jane Winnie Booge died after three years of sickness on March 12, 1904 at the age of 74. Harris Decatur died June 20, 1916 at the age of 89. They had one daughter, Nell. Both Jane and H.D. are buried in Bellefontaine Cemetery in St. Louis, Missouri. As for Chicago Heights, most of the land was later sold to M.L. George. George bought about 1,000 lots in Chicago Heights for about $1,000. The land was originally sold for $100 and $200 and even more if they were centered around the never-built cathedral. Today, the land that was Chicago Heights is owned by five different people in Soldier Township at 70^th & Kincaid.

Illustration of H.D. Booge from an article
on interesting Topeka citizens.

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Can't Take a Yolk

Today's strip is a hate crime. Who do I call to report this? My local police? Andrews McMeel in Kansas City? United Feature Syndicate in New York?

It's only two puns! While I agree that two puns is more than enough at any time of day, she seems to stop them a bit prematurely. "How was my omelet?" "Egg-scellent!" "Eggstraordinary!" "Ok, that's enough! It's too early in the morning for this shit and it stops right now!"

Channel Down

Sitting on the remote just enough to change channels but not enough to block the infrared beam.

How long has Brutus been staring at the TV changing channels before Gladys came up behind him? At least five minutes, right? I'm going to say five minutes.

Is Brutus In a Closet?

Brutus has been dealing with Acme since at least 2011. He's both lost the account and got it back. That they keep coming back means Brutus is doing something right. I wouldn't get too upset. I could see Brutus both not calling them enough (don't want to rock the boat, you see) and calling them too much (Brutus is very needy and needs constant affirmation).

That's a Thick Cookbook

Let me tell you the recipe for my family specialty, Southern Braised Brisket. The origins of his slightly sweet yet still savory delicacy begin in North Carolina where my 6xGreat Grandfather settled on a farm after the American Revolution...

I agree. Stop reading cookbooks. I just need the recipe, I don't need a long story to go with it. I don't care if it is for copyright purposes.

Punxsutawney Phool

The stupid groundhog saw his shadow today so we have six more weeks of winter--whatever that means. I've never understood this groundhog garbage. I'm not poo-pooing the Pennsylvania Dutch but we either get six more weeks of winter or spring comes early? How early? Five weeks and six days is technically early. And spring begins in about six weeks anyway.

I know, it's just a cute little thing a small town in Pennsylvania (and some other places) does to help get some publicity and tourism. I shouldn't let it bother me. Anyway, enjoy your winter.

Just Came Over to Nap

"Wake up, you old cow! Napping again, Mother Gargle?"

Why is Brutus coming in all hot? She's clearly napping and he's coming into the room like an enraged bull, yelling, and maybe kicking the ottoman. I am surprised Brutus went with a "you're lazy and nap too much" joke instead of a "the beauty sleep isn't working you uggo" joke.