In case you somehow missed this week’s strips or <sniff!> my postings, you could scroll down and enjoy my barely coherent analyses and grade-school humor. Or you can simply read the following summary and get on with your life.

This is a Cherry Week, so we return to the mysterious animal rash spreading throughout the Lost Forest community. Cherry showed up at Doc’s veterinary office with his prescribed healthy lunch and a bottle of lawn treatment she got from Honest Ernest. Suspicious that it might be the cause of the rash, Doc and Cherry spent the rest of the week evaluating the chemical. Apparently, this lawn treatment has some “corrosive” quality to it, as it quickly cleaned a penny faster than a bottle of soda pop could. Is Honest Ernest’s home brew the cause of the shared rash? It might be difficult to establish a solid link unless Honest Ernest’s lawn business is very popular, or these pets roam free and hang out together.

Now, will we get a second week for Cherry or will we return to Mark and the Tiger Cult? Ponder that mystery as you view the Sunday nature lesson, below.

Close readers of the Sunday strip should notice that Rivera tends to discuss animals and natural events that are related to the area where Mark’s current story is happening. I think that is a really good idea, as it also provides the opportunity to explore more aspects of that area’s ecology. This is an informative topic, though I don’t think the artwork is up to Rivera’s usual “Sunday” standard. For example, she could have drawn the scorpion and its meal options larger, with more detail (panel 4). They look too sketchy to me.

That the only dangerous scorpion exists in Arizona makes me feel queasy. Years ago, I spent a few weeks in Arizona visiting relatives. One morning, as I got dressed, I got STUNG (not bit!) by a scorpion that had gotten into one of my hiking shoes. This happened inside a house, mind you. Happily, it was not the dangerous species. But I was pretty nervous and depressed for a few days. I would add to Mark’s advice to not simply wear proper shoes or boots, but to shake them out each time you prepare to put them on!