Home » Sunday (Page 5)

Category Archives: Sunday

The Week in Review and the Sunday Nature Chat

Posted on by

You saw them brave wild lions, survive dangerous sea currents, and ignore plot holes in their hunt for a missing movie director (“Lions and Crickets and Caves, oh my!”). Now see them come together again, as they take on the complex and sometimes-brutal forces of Washington, D.C.!

Mark and Rusty are off on another father-and-son adventure: a school field trip to Washington, D.C. While touring, Rusty’s class happened upon a politician giving a stump speech to run for a senate seat in Congress. Mark recognized the speaker as State Senator Sam Smalls, the corrupt Ohio politician in bed with the railroad responsible for a dangerous chemical spill and explosion.

I noted this week that Rivera injected some actual current political content (about NOAA) into Small’s speech. While hearing Smalls talk, Mark became apoplectic at the same time that Rusty became entranced. A parent or teacher (it’s unclear to me) tried to shush Mark, but he was having none of it. Mark began to interrupt Small’s speech and openly challenge him. Readers may recognize the similarity to Mark’s interaction with Senator Smalls at a press conference following the exploding Ohio train crash (2023). That interaction led to violence and a police chase.

Will this aggressive interaction bring about a meaningful debate or just lead to another communications breakdown, followed by a police pursuit and/or arrest?

It’s true that some politicians (including the fictional Senator Smalls) and special interest groups want to split up/cancel NOAA, for political purposes. The Project 2025 report is one such entity.

However, not all Republicans agree. A House bill introduced by a Republican in 2023 (H.R.3980 of the 118th Congress, ‘‘National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Act of 2023’’) aims to split NOAA from its dependent position under the Department of Commerce into its own, independent federal agency. The justification is to remove non-scientific oversight by Commerce and give NOAA its own statutory authority as a federal agency. This sounds commendable.

But it is very different from other, largely-Republican politicians and resources, including Project 2025, which calls for privatizing and splitting up NOAA, while removing its climate change research mandate. I noticed that H.R. 3980 actually supports NOAA’s climate research authority. That might explain why the bill is languishing and may never make it out of committee under the current House makeup. There is more to this than I can get into.

The Week in Review and the Sunday Nature Chat

Posted on by | 1 Comment

Maybe Jules Rivera thinks the soporific dialog and near total lack of movement this past week offer her readers a break from the hard-hitting action of Mark’s latest adventure. Or maybe not. Maybe Rivera is just carrying on her tradition of emphasizing the domestic side of the Trail family, something prior Trail cartoonists usually rushed over. Some of Mark’s newer adventures have been outgrowths of hanging out with Rusty and Cherry. I think that is fine. Mark gets seen as a (somewhat over-the-top) family man, not just an Adventure Hero coming home long enough to wave to Rusty and give Cherry a test drive before heading out to his next assignment.

“But wait!” you say, “those are some of the classic Mark Trail tropes we love to make fun of!” Of course, but Rivera produces her own memes and tropes that we can pillory.

Rivera’s lighter approach to the family-based scenarios (including Cherry’s) should find in Mark’s official assignments a balance that emphasizes more mature plots, action, and danger. Unfortunately, those traits have gone wanting for the most part. For example, we’ve seen Mark in car chases, but they usually look more like The Dukes of Hazzard than Mission Impossible or The Transporter. So c’mon, Rivera! Mark can handle the extra weight. If you can’t spend extra time on the art, spend extra time on the stories.

Back to the review: This past week was mostly about Cherry feeling guilty for not having time to take Rusty on a school trip to Washington, D.C. and having to once again depend on Mark. I think we can understand that concern! At the same time, did we really need to see so much of Cherry’s self-recrimination?  Rivera couldn’t find a better way to pad out the week? Anyway, we ended with Mark and Rusty flying off to our nation’s capital. What could go wrong?

Yikes! More information on how gosh-darned weird and dangerous the world is to all living things.

The Week in Review and the Sunday Nature Chat

Posted on by

Was this a week or what?! Let’s recap: Following Wingit’s rescue the prior week, this past week gave us the story’s epilog, as Mark delivered it on the phone to Bill Ellis. Ellis called Mark a hero. Debatable. Mark said that Wesley Wingit survived several days in the cave on crickets. Unconfirmed. We also discovered that Wesley had actually broken his hip. Not mentioned earlier! And we also learned that Sammy Spotter got a large enough bonus from the movie studio to quit the business and become an international bird watcher. Then Cherry called and interrupted Mark’s debrief to ask him to take Rusty to Washington DC for a school trip. That’s a bit strange, since school trips are usually conducted by the school.

Now, what did we not learn from Mark’s after-action report?
1. How did the Studio know Wingit disappeared if nobody went in the mansion earlier?
2. Why were the lions so pacified?
3. Where did the actors go who were also supposed to be inside the mansion with the lions?
4. How did Wingit get trapped in the cave in the first place?
5. How did he break his hip?
6. How did they get Wingit out of the cave with his broken hip?
7. What happened to the envelope that was lying on the ground beside Wingit in the cave?
While you view today’s nature topic, feel free to think up some answers and post them in a comment.

Okay, drawing webs is not one of Rivera’s strengths. She could have easily “woven” the strip’s name in the actual webbing in panel 1, if she had taken the time. I think the Joro-spider looks like a bee with eight legs and no wings. If you are interested, look up the Japanese legend of Jorogumo, the shape-shifting, fire-breathing female spider.

The Week in Review and the Sunday Nature Chat

Posted on by

It seems we reached the end of another unfulfilling story. We had a few weeks of strips showing Mark prowling through a mansion filled with indolent, senile lions in search of clues, followed by Mark and Sammy Spotter prowling around a nearby stream to locate a cave where they believed director what’s-his-full-name might be trapped. But first they retrieved Rusty, to give him something to do and brag about back home.

This past week we saw our Gang of Three paddling kayaks into the cave, where they survived a freak wave designed to create some faux drama. At this point, Rusty finally earned his stripes. In this remarkably well-lit cave, Rusty spotted an opening in a cave wall. Using his vaunted tree-climbing expertise, Rusty looked over the cave wall and spotted a man lying in the next chamber. Lo and behold, it was missing movie director, what’s-his-full-name! Somehow, they got him out of the cave and onto dry land where an EMT squad appeared and prepared him for the hospital. Exactly how he was trapped or whether he had any kind of physical injury was never mentioned. Finally, a real mystery!

Mark told director what’s-his-full-name that he was not the only one getting rescued today. Mark condemned his harmful lion exploitation, so he was taking control of the animals. Mark will turn them over to animal rescue services, much to the consternation of director what’s-his-full-name. Still, I’m sad to discover that Sammy Spotter was not a criminal mastermind after all.

Looking ahead, I reckon 24 hours must be up by now, so we’ll soon find out what Cherry and Violet have done with the kittens before Mother Cheshire returns! Until then, lean back and enjoy some nature.

Mark invokes his inner “Batman” in this Rivera Revisit of bats. It seems Jules just can’t get enough of them. Was today’s strip inspired by Mark’s recent Catalina Island foray into a cave, or a homage to his earlier cave adventure under the pen of James Allen? Hard to say, but there’s a whole lot of other animals, plant life, and environmental issues out there to cover. There shouldn’t be any need to recycle Sunday topics at this point, given Rivera’s short turn at bat (did you catch my Rivera-inspired pun?).

The Week in Review and the Sunday Nature Chat

Posted on by

Two hands clapping to commenter Daniel for his clever geographic pun in Saturday’s comments. Moving on to this story’s progress: Mark revealed to Sammy Spotter that he found a camera and a production script in the mansion, both of which might hold clues to Wesley’s whereabouts. Mark said nothing about the lions to Sammy, which is surprising, given their physical and geographical status.

Sammy’s review of camera photos led them to a nearby cave on a nearby waterway, suggesting Wingit might be inside. This hypothesis was reinforced by notes in the production schedule. Whether Sammy should have had his own copy of the production schedule was never brought up. In any event, they discussed the situation while at the cave’s entrance, whereupon Mark found some keys he believed were for the mansion. This was more confirmation for their cave hypothesis. And then crazy set in.

Mark realized it was time to pick up Rusty from his surfing lesson! That’s strange, as earlier in the story, Mark was content to let Rusty stay on his own at the hotel. But he didn’t mind letting Wesley sit/float/sink in his cave while he retrieved Rusty. Sammy thought this was odd. So do I.

This brings up an important point: Is Mark taking this assignment seriously or maybe just doesn’t know how to set priorities? The situation sounds ludicrous:  Mark investigates a house filled with lions while his son takes a surfing lesson near (I presume) their hotel. In the middle of his assignment, Mark has to leave to get Rusty (But what if the lions ate him!?) and then bring him back to the site of the mansion. Now all three of them are going to explore an unknown water-filled cave to look for Wesley Wingit. What could possibly go wrong with that!?

Today’s nature supplement is straightforward and interesting. The normally customized title panel has a sleek look to it. Heck, Mark even forewent the usual lame-o bad pun ending for an acceptably groaning dad joke. Still, it’s an improvement.

The Week in Review and the Sunday Nature Chat

Posted on by

At least last [!], we have a story with some plausible drama and surprise. And it happens to be one of Cherry’s stories! Rivera could and should do the same for Mark, and do it often.

This week Cherry and Violet met up at the Sunny Soleil Society to confab about the kittens, with Violet exhibiting an allergy to cat fur. Doc Davis then popped in (as they do in family sitcoms) to lend support and pledge birth control services when it is the right time to do so.

Suddenly, an imperious woman also popped into the room with a take-no-prisoners attitude and demanded that Violet and Cherry remove the kittens forthwith. It seems that she owns the Sunny Soleil Society. In Saturday’s strip, Rivera landed a second hit by revealing she is Violet’s mother! Finally, mom gave Violet 24 hours to remove the kittens, or else!

As far as I can recall, there have been a few prior moments of drama in Cherry’s stories:  When she first tangled with Violet regarding the survival of her plantings, and when Violet threatened to terminate a hive of bees stuck to a commemorative statue in the Society’s garden. Yet, these few examples seem to beat Mark’s score.

That’s about it for the week. You’ll have to scroll through the dailies to pick up on my usual critiques of the art and story elements. Otherwise, we should be returning to Mark’s story on Monday. Until then, enjoy today’s Sunday nature outing.

Most people get nervous around any snakes, even harmless green snakes in their back yard. It’s a fear bred into us over the millennia. I’ve known people who moved out of a state because of snake sightings in their yard. But pit vipers (rattlesnakes, water moccasins, cottonmouths) are not to be trifled with.

The information today is good, if obvious. But sometimes, we need to be reminded of the obvious! Maybe focus more on the topic (safety around rattle snakes), itself, and skip the gratuitous “why they are important” stuff. For example, what should you wear when walking in areas where rattlesnakes proliferate? Or how about a tip on what not to do if bitten. Rivera can devote another Sunday sheet on the positive benefits of snakes.

The Week in Review and the Sunday Nature Chat

Posted on by

Leaving editorializing aside, here is what happened the past week in the Trailverse. You’ll have to read my daily posts to see the editorializing parts.

Jules Rivera reprised the scene of Mark Trail entering the “lion mansion” filled with docile lions (mostly female). He saw lions open a chest freezer and eat meat stored in it. In another room he spotted papers on a desk that he discovered was a production schedule. While holding the schedule, some kind of wind blew the paper out of his hands, out of a nearby window that was open, and down into the backyard where it landed at the feet of a recumbent lion. When Mark went outside to get the schedule, it was under the lion’s feet. Mark was able to retrieve the schedule without trouble. Holding both the paper and a video camera he had earlier found, Mark walked around to the front of the house to inform Sammy Spotter about his discoveries.

Interestingly, today we have a Sunday topic that is not related to either the current story or to the locale of the current story. It happens. This bird is widespread across most of North and all of South America, but its year-round status in limited to parts of the United States and all of South America. They don’t seem to be big fans of Canada. Go figure. The turkey vulture apparently has no syrinx (bird vocal chords), but it may hiss, grunt, or cluck. The bird is also a protected species under the Migratory Bird Treaty Act of 1918. Hey! How did I get so smart? The way many of us do, I suspect: Google!

The Week in Review and the Sunday Nature Chat

Posted on by

Mark, Rusty, and Sammy Spotter arrived by ferry on Santa Catalina Island, whereupon they wasted a bit of time debating Rusty’s place in the greater scheme. He wound up at the hotel, in any event. Mark and Sammy arrived at the “Lion Mansion” with little or no gear, save a flashlight that Mark carried inside. Pointedly, Spotter remained outside.

Mark walked into the living room, only to find a pride of lions just lounging around. Neither Mark nor the lions made any overt moves against each other, as if the they couldn’t care less. Mark found a video camera on the floor and surmised that it might be an important clue regarding movie director Wingit’s whereabouts. Once again, I’ll point out that at no point has anybody asked about the whereabouts or health of the actors that Wingit coerced to stay in the mansion. But we do have some drama building!

Art Dept. The artwork this week avoided any overt extremism, so that was good. I noticed that Friday’s strip in particular was a bit odd, with heavily-outlined figures in panel 1. This heavy outlining was not continued into panels 2 and 3. Why not? The other notable curiosity was the drawing of the lions, clearly in a different style than the rest of the artwork. The most obvious answer is that they are based on reference art/photography that has been retrofitted into the strip. As I mentioned earlier, cartoonists use reference art and images when it is helpful. And that is not controversial. James Allen, for example, made use of it, especially with cars and planes. But the best standard is blending the reference images to match the rest of the artwork. Saturday’s strip is a clear example of this disparity.

I’m not sure what Cherry is holding in panel 5, but I think it’s now legal in most states. Okay, I couldn’t resist the bad joke. Gah! This strip is rubbing off on me.

Anyway, today’s topic offers good enough advice. It’s a tough call. We found an abandoned kitten in a state park and adopted it. She lived with us for 20 years. With just one kitten, it was fairly easy. Can’t say what we would have done then with an entire litter. I think the expense of spaying & neutering would cause most of us to think twice. Sometimes I wish there were no pets.

The Week in Review and the Sunday Nature Chat

Posted on by | 2 Comments

Cherry called in her dad, Doc Davis the Lost Forest Veterinarian, to consult on dealing with her box o’ kittens found in the bushes of the Sunny Soleil Society. Doc warned against pet shelters, having too few funds or adoptees available. He suggested getting someone to foster the kittens until they get old enough to offer up for adoption. Just who would adopt any of them is another thing. About that time, Violet Cheshire showed up and started gushing over the cute kittens, until she developed a sudden allergic reaction. It should be noted that she did not sneeze around Banjo Cat. So, is that an inconsistency in the story?

Not necessarily, but we’ll have to wait to see if Rivera picks up on this point. Not all cats produce enough allergens to affect people and not all cats affect people the same way. That’s just to say “it depends on the cat (or kitten).” And that’s a common problem with most allergies. I know that, as I went through 20 years suffering indoor/outdoor allergies, including getting weekly shots and inhalants. Not a lot of fun. But most of them disappeared about as suddenly as they came on. We’ll likely be waiting a few weeks before we learn more about Violet’s reaction, as we should now get two weeks of Mark’s current assignment. But first …

Rivera continues to force puns on us, shooting twice for a basket. On the plus side, this another topic germane to Mark’s current assignment on Catalina Island. On the negative side, the artwork looks pretty spartan. Even the title panel is hardly more than an idea.

You know, if Rivera did not put Mark in virtually every panel (and there’s really no need for that), there would be much more room for the subject(s) to shine!

I’ll let you grammarians have fun with the actual text; I don’t wish to hog all of the fun!

The Week in Review and the Sunday Nature Chat

Posted on by

So after landing at LAX, Mark and Rusty met up with Sammy Spotter, the animal wrangler. They spent a lot of time in the airport hashing over the reason why actors and a director are trapped inside a house filled with lions. Apparently, Director Wesley Wingit deliberately makes movie flops so that his studio can write them off as tax losses to save money. Kind of similar to the Mel Brooks movie, The Producers. I don’t imply Rivera took the idea from Brooks; butthatit probably really happens.

In any event, Spotter is given to hysterics (okay, similar to accountant Leo Bloom in the movie), while Rusty cons him into taking an out-of-the-way detour to the so-called meme houses in Santa Monica for a look-see before continuing on to the lion house on Catalina Island.

While I’m on the subject of their ad-hoc visit, it suddenly came to me yesterday afternoon that the reason Mark and Rusty stupidly stared and yakked at us in panel 3 of Saturday’s strip may be because Rusty was taking a selfie video he wanted to post. You can just see his raised right arm. So I think we should interpret that panel either as if we were Rusty’s smart phone, or more properly, if we were viewing Rusty’s video already posted online. If that is correct, Rivera’s panel makes more sense and is a clever (though not original) design. Okay, admit it: You already figured that out!

The Channel Islands off the coast of Southern California (of which Santa Catalina Island is one) hosts six varied subspecies of island fox. They live nowhere else in the world. But once again, Mark finishes up the Sunday chat with another pun.

The Week in Review and the Sunday Nature Chat

Posted on by | 3 Comments

Mark and Rusty are flying out to LA this week and then boating across to Catalina Island, possibly in Monday’s strip. Rusty—not up on his geography—thought they would be staying right in Los Angeles, so he was greatly disappointed. For some reason, Mark’s promotional chat about possibly sighting some rare species of animals on the Island did not thrill the lad. Perhaps Mark thought he was in James Allen’s Mark Trail universe, where that Rusty would be salivating at the chance to search for the elusive Catalina Shrew.

Well, that’s the story, such as it went this week. I wonder if we’ll get to spend another six days of Mark and Rusty making their way to Catalina Island. Or will Rivera follow tradition and simply time-jump Mark and Rusty right to the lion house?

As she commonly does, Rivera provides a Sunday nature chat linked to the current storyline. Rivera reports the standard public information for this unique shrew, which is not much. As the shrew exists only on Catalina Island, it doesn’t have a high public profile. How can we help save the shrew, you ask? You might be able to help by donating to the Catalina Island Conservancy (https://catalinaconservancy.org/get-involved/ways-to-give/), which is a registered non-profit charity. I don’t know how to designate a donation to any particular program, but the charity could certainly inform you.

The Week in Review and the Sunday Nature Chat

Posted on by | 1 Comment

Rivera started another adventure in Cherry’s World this week. Apparently, Cherry’s only landscaping & gardening client worth a mention is Violet Cheshire and her Sunny Soleil Society. It sure would be interesting if she had some interactions with other clients, sort of like that old British show “Rosemary and Thyme”: two professional gardeners who get involved in solving murders while working for different well-heeled home owners.

In Cherry’s case, the mystery of the week is not a murder, but the discovery of a kitten, followed by the discovery of an entire family of kittens, all nestled in some bushes of the Sunny Soleil Society.

The catch here is that Violet wants Honest Ernest —who seems to have suffered no visible signs of punishment for his behavior in Lost Forest—to spray the property for weeds. The discovery of this large brood has taken Cherry, Violet, and Ernest aback. What to do…!?! But that’s the week, folks!

Well, kind of a mixed-message day. When Banjo Cat was footloose, the point was “outside cats kill birds.” Now, it is “putting a cat in a shelter can kill the cat.” So this T-N-R program returns the cats to the location where they were found, to continue living outdoors, continue hunting prey, and still face threats of vehicles, viruses, and other predators. But at least they are unable to keep reproducing. It’s a leveraged “let nature take its course” approach. On the other hand, it’s not likely agencies are going to find 60 million households to adopt all of those feral cats.

But hey! I noticed Mark made no room or time for a concluding joke or pun. Refreshing!

The Week in Review and the Sunday Nature Chat

Posted on by

Missed this week’s dailies? Boy, they were something! Why, there was fighting, shooting, car chases, abductions and rescues, and all manner of hair-raising cliffhangers! I mean, it was, uh, …uh, hold on. My mistake, I was reading Little Orphan Annie and got confused for a moment…Okay, I’m focused.

So what about the past week in Mark Trail? Well, not much happened, to be truthful. Rivera devoted the week to a “post-Bill Ellis phone call” conversation in which Cherry convinced Mark it was a good idea to take Rusty along with him as the “plus one” allowed by Ellis for Mark’s newest over-the-top adventure. You know the one I mean: The assignment is to find a movie director possibly hiding in a house that the director filled with lions and with actors for his current movie project. It’s a crazy enough concept that I think Rivera must have been rifling through Carl Hiaasen’s recycle bin. Say, do you think one of Mark’s stable of nitwit troublemakers will wind up involved in this story?

We’ll soon see, but don’t pass on today’s nature talk. It’s another story-locality subject.

Nothing says “Feisty Defense Lawyer” like a dude in a cheap suit sporting a five o’clock shadow. After reading up on this interesting issue, there certainly do seem to be various factions involved in this Catalina Island predicament. Still, I wonder why Mark is smiling (panel 6) while discussing another kick-the-can-down-the-road answer from the local government. “Kill our deer!? No way!” exclaim local citizens. It’s no surprise that cute Bambi-faced invasive deer attract more sympathy than actual (but less cute) native animals and flora that are being imperiled by these deer. Cute=Protect. I don’t see anybody protesting the eradication of zebra mussels or spotted lantern flies. Sure, “Stop the slaughter!”, residents chant. Okay, they can watch Bambi stand-ins die by the hundreds from starvation and disease once they have all but exterminated local resources. Hey, at least it’s natural.

The Week in Review and the Sunday Nature Chat

Posted on by

Former Daily Trail blogger and founder, Dennis Williams, sent me a link to an Australian artist (Adam Murphy) who creates mashups of different comics characters and styles, such as Charlie Brown and Calvin & Hobbes; The Phantom and Indiana Jones; and Tin Tin and Indiana Jones. Check out his impressive work on Instagram: @adammurphyart. Mark Trail does not seem to have been one of the inspirations.

The Tin Tin reference is especially significant, as the original Belgium strip proves that adventure comics with good suspense, drama, and even humor do not have to be depicted in what many consider a proper “realistic” style (e.g. Judge Parker, The Phantom, Flash Gordon, and vintage Mark Trail). Having noted this, I do not propose that Rivera’s current interpretation reaches the level of Tin Tin in either style or plotting. Well, I think it did in the beginning (as I have said before); and it could, again, if she wanted.

As for this past week, we have endured days of Bill Ellis on the phone with Mark, convincing him to take on an assignment to help locate a film director who disappeared inside a house, where the house apparently is locked down and filled with lions and actors involved in the director’s current film. Does this sound absurd? Of course it does, in pretty much every which way you can imagine! If you want more details, you’ll have to scan the previous posts; I won’t repeat them here. What I will say is that, unless this house is on scale with the Biltmore mansion in North Carolina, I don’t see how this works. But, we can meditate for now on today’s topic.

Once again, Rivera chooses a topic geographically related to Mark’s current story: California.  And once again, Rivera ends the discussion with a non sequitur (“social climber”).

Art Dept. In the “penultimate” panel (that might sound snooty, but I like the word), Mark is posed in front of an orange oval. This juxtaposition has been a compositional device in Rivera’s work for over a year. In most cases, it works (see panel 1 in Saturday’s strip), because the oval carries across the entire panel, creating a proportionally divided background using a slowly curving line.

But today, we see an oval isolated within a larger panel, unable to reach its sides. Rather than dividing the background, today’s example serves to frame Mark’s figure, like the concentric circles in the opening credits of Warner Brothers cartoons; just not as developed. Was Rivera going after the same aesthetic concept or adapting the device to a different idea? Okay, only art/art history geeks would care one way or another, I suppose. At least I’m not using footnotes.

The Week in Review and the Sunday Nature Chat

Posted on by

Well, this week saw the culmination of both Cherry’s and Mark’s (or Rusty’s) adventures, merged into a week-long epilog. For Cherry, she and Violet were able to launch their “Movies in the Park” night at the same time as Mark met up with Honest Ernest and his “brothers”, who also decided to attend. They immediately formed ranks and started the usual ritualistic chest thumping and evil-eye throwing, until Violet, in an unusual intervention, stopped the impending fight by coming up with a plan to hold a public electronics demolition event on her parking lot, what she referred to as a “Rage Lot” event. Mark seemed puzzled by the reference, but the fight was avoided. The movie played. Later that night on the way home, Bill Ellis called Mark about a crisis:  A movie director has gone missing, and he happens to be the director of the movie the citizens of Lost Forest just watched! Coincidence? And why should Mark be called about a “missing person”? We’ll have to await further events.

Interesting topic. Now the size of prehistoric lions (or any animals) cannot be established by cave wall paintings, which were not drawn “to scale” (panel 4). Perhaps Rivera only refers to the color of the prehistoric lion’s coat. Those cave paintings/drawings that Mark mentions exist only in Europe (not in North America), mostly in Spain and Southern France. The most famous “lion cave” is the Chauvet Cave in Southern France, discovered in 1994.

I was puzzled by the image of the zebra in panel 5, where Mark discusses the extinction of the “American” lion. It turns out that many fossils of prehistoric horses have been found in Idaho, and are commonly known as the Hagerman Horse, or the American Zebra. (FYI: I’m simply summarizing equus information from several scientific/nature websites.) This animal is known as Equus simplicidens, in the taxonomic genus Equus, which is the ancestor of modern horses, donkeys, and zebras.  Several sources claim it is more closely related to modern zebras, though there is no evidence of what their coats looked like. That is, there is no evidence for stripes. In any event, academic/scientific study and debate continues.

The Week in Review and the Sunday Nature Chat

Posted on by | 1 Comment

What exciting events occurred in Mark Trail’s world this past week? Let me look . . .uh, not much. The real action was the week before, when Cherry and Violet faced down a hungry bear rummaging through the new compost bins.

Rivera devoted this past week to closing out the e-waste story with Ranger Shaw and Mark cleaning up the debris in Lost Forest. In reality, the time was largely devoted to Ranger Shaw confessing to his own e-waste offense at this same illegal dump site! The ranger also complained he did not have the manpower to deal with the Grungey Boys, even though he knew of their actions for several weeks. Never mind that he had no problems calling in the local sheriff to haul them away only after Mark had corralled them. Finally, in Saturday’s strip Rusty came home with his A-grade paper on e-waste. Mark got assurances from Rusty that he hadn’t embarrassed Robbie in school. Rivera closed out this story with a pithy moral: “E-waste is not a game.” Get it? “Game”, as in Robbie’s buried game controllers. Yep, those controllers were the story hook that led us to think this adventure was going to be about Rusty and his Revenge Paper. But all that was buried by yet another Mark Trail Storyline Takeover. I wonder what would happen if he crossed strips and took over the current storyline in Mary Worth or Rex Morgan, MD?

This is, from what I can tell, a good summary of the Eastern Kingbird and its behavior. The orange (sometimes red) patch is normally hidden, only being exposed when it is in attack mode or when mating. But who knew Mark was a Shakespeare aficionado? Well, to keep the paraphrase closer to the original, perhaps Mark could have said “Uneven lies the head that wears an orange crown.”

The Week in Review and the Sunday Nature Chat 

Posted on by

This past week started out with the possibility that Cherry and Violet would have a “head-to-head” over Violet’s need to find fault with Cherry’s work at the end of a long work day. Mundane, perhaps, but the possibility of some rethinking of Cherry’s position or employment could have been the focus this week.  

Instead, the compost project resurfaced through the plot device of Violet discovering a bear rummaging through the new compost bins that Cherry just installed. Seems they were not very secure and Violet had secretly dumped her lunchtime chicken bones in the compost. The bear being a bear, it sniffed out the bones and commenced its nighttime snacking.  

While the two gals were standing mere feet away watching the bear, Cherry came up with a from-out-of-nowhere solution of grabbing an airhorn from out of her truck (part of her emergency supplies, she claimed). The sound drove the bear off. Cherry resolved to get better locks for the bins and the two gals resolved that bears were easier to deal with then men. I’m not sure that joke was funny when it used to be told the other way around. 

The lack of any real drama or danger in the storyline was a big disappointment. It is not unique, as Rivera seems to treat every situation as if she is writing for Public Television kid shows. This situation was underscored by some really inconsistent drawing. It was almost a perfect storm of indifference or ineptitude. There is more to this than a mere difference in artistic expression. 

As is common, Jules Rivera links the Sunday nature strip to the current story. But since this topic turned out to be the main draw this week, there is little new. Nevertheless, Rivera did cover some additional bear-discouragement techniques, providing a few more helpful tips.  

The Week in Review and the Sunday Nature Chat

Posted on by

Mark confronted the three so-called “Grungey Boys” (a name never explained) who had dropped off a stolen fax machine in Lost Forest in order to smash it, as they had done to the other electronics. They claimed to be working off steam about work, but Mark was more concerned that they never cleaned up the debris, which was hurting the forest.

Rusty and Andy had actually gotten there earlier, but were spotted by these three stooges.  As they were harassing Rusty, Mark made his surprise entrance in true revenge mode.

Connor (the one who looks like Larry the Stooge) snuck up behind Mark (somehow) and locked Mark’s arms to disable him. Connor’s technique proved faulty and Mark had little problem escaping. The scuffle was brief, as Ranger Shaw and a colleague drove up at that moment to detain the three “Boys” and hand them over to law enforcement. So, another dangerous forest gang has been taken off the trail.

Is this the end of the story, as I wondered yesterday? It seems to be, but it leaves Rusty’s part of it entirely unfulfilled. So, I don’t know. We’ll just have to wait and see. If you have the time, check out my Thursday blog wherein I make several suggestions on how Rivera might turn this strip around and give it more respect. I should know, of course, because I post a blog!

A 2016 article at science.org backs up much of this, but points out that stink bugs and earwigs are attracted to yellow lights. “Warm” LEDs may be a better, overall choice.

My friend Lynne Guini, owner of “Lynne’s Light Farm Factory”, told me “Yellow light? Hey, who knows!?! They’re bugs, ya know? Why not just buy one of every kinda bulb and post them around your patio or your deck. Some might work, some might not. Who knows!? At least, you’ll have one heck of a back yard light show! And I can give you a great deal on lights bulbs. Just give me a call. Let me light up your day. Or night!” Lynne can’t resist the urge to make a deal in any situation, at any time of day or night.

The Week in Review and the Sunday Nature Chat

Posted on by

I had a clever metaphor to use in today’s review, but I seem to have misplaced it. If you find it, please let me know.

After being discovered by Honest Ernest at the site of the broken office equipment in Lost Forest, Rusty and Andy had to confront a trio of angry workers holding bats and a sledge hammer. He was rightfully scared. As the trio confessed, they were destroying office equipment in order to work off their anger over their bosses. But they didn’t want anybody to know who they were.

Honest Ernest, Connor (the camper), and an unnamed dude gave Rusty the willies. There was a lot of repetitious dialog throughout the week, as if each day was recreating the previous day’s scene. Honest Ernest ultimately threatened Rusty and his family if he snitched on them. But in true “action movie” fashion, Mark made a timely surprise appearance.

Seems Mark heard Ernest’s threat and countered with his own. Maybe he was channeling Rambo at this point. Lacking only Rambo’s twin machine guns, all Mark could hold against these guys was his “two fists o’ justice.” I commented yesterday about Rivera’s continued use of this phrase, more as parody than anything else. Anyway, can’t wait for Monday? Well, relax today with Sunday!

It is truly amazing how many people foolishly approach wild animals such as moose, bears, and bison for the sake of a photograph or just to pet them. Apparently, the Yellowstone herd are the only bison tracing a pure, direct ancestry back to their prehistoric ancestors. Oh, Rivera accidentally wrote “late 1900s” for the time of their near extinction. It was the late 1800s.

The Week in Review and the Sunday Nature Chat

Posted on by

Having arrived home from school, Rusty found a note from Dad telling him to get the kitchen swept before Cherry gets home. Naturally, Rusty thought he had enough time to go off with Andy and dig up some of Robbie’s broken controllers.  Wait! Didn’t Rusty already dig up the controllers? Pappa Mark said he did, at least to Ranger Shaw. 

Rusty’s adventures—such as they are—seem to transmogrify (to borrow a term from Calvin and Hobbes) into something else; often, something Mark is more concerned about. In this case, it is the discovery of broken electronics dumped on the ground in Lost Forest. And they are now complicating Rusty’s activity.

As Rusty and Andy arrived at the site, Rusty discovered three adults already there, unloading more electronics to smash. They are Honest Ernest, Connor the accident-prone camper, and The Gomer in the Yellow Hat, otherwise collectively known as “The Grungy Boys”, aka “Honest Ernest and the Grungy Boys.”  You’d think they would at least have matching caps.

In spite of his efforts, Rusty and Andy were detected by Honest Ernest, putting Rusty in a tight spot. And that’s where we end this past week’s cliffhanger.  But do hang around for the Sunday nature chat.

Wow, do we need yet another discussion of composting? Didn’t Cherry already lecture Violet and us about it? Don’t get me wrong, I’m totally in favor of composting. Cherry and Mark might want to have a chat with commenter Downpuppy about protecting compost bins from animal attacks.

By the way, Mark (panel 4), personal composting still creates greenhouse gases, just not in the same quantity (and perhaps the same diversity). And food waste that goes into landfills most likely does not exclude meats (panel 4), after it is collected. I don’t know if Rivera got confused between composting and landfilling.