Arlo and Janis by Jimmy Johnson for December 18, 2023

One difference is my Janis is not comfortable wearing socks. ‘Nuff said.

The heat is on!

From hot and bothered to warm and toasty. Things have a way of working out.

I guess Arlo’s hands were too cold for where he and Janis wanted him to put them. And, no, it wasn’t on her feet.

Arlo is soooo sweet!

A pleasant warm cuddle. Nice.

Cuddling up, playing snuggle bunnies is a pleasant way to spend an evening.

Snuggling is better.

When I was first married the wife said “Oh your so warm and cozy.” I told her, “You say that now, but this summer you will be saying ’Get away you are all hot and sweaty.”

You will miss that next year, condos don’t usually have fireplaces.

They could snuggle in a bit better facing the same direction. My wife is in front until she gets warm then makes me rollover to be against my back once she is too warm.

Hot water works even better. It gets both sides of the hands and between the fingers.

Now – for those of us with an evil streak, there is ice water.

The sacrifices Arlo makes…

At our age we’ll take central heating over a fireplace. Fireplaces were nice when I was a kid, but as an adult I had to care for and clean the fire place and gather wood. We had black widow spiders in the woodshed.

That the problem with a bonfire in the snow. You cook on one side while freezing on the other.

I don’t get it. Is Arlo trying to take Crankshaft’s place?

Day family’s farewell storyline? Moving from a single family home to a small condo near the beach?

And the last one was juuuuuuuuust right.

Aaaawwwww.

I worked for a national homebuilder back in the days of Jimmy Carter outside of Tulsa Oklahoma. Part of the job was keeping buyers “interested” in the home they had contracted to build. Deposits were small, contract wasn’t that binding, and it would be stupid to try to legally force a closing on an unwilling buyer. So I was the one who negotiated bribes to keep buyers happy. Washer dryers, lawnmowers, and most popularwas a fancy glass door for a fireplace. These were metal box fireplace inserts, about a $600 extra on a $54,000 house (1,700 sq ft…amazing…and we still made a 20% gross profit). The folding glass doors were about $200. One Sunday evening at church I ran into a friend that was a fireman, he had changed clothes but he still had soot on his forehead. When I asked what was up, he said “it was another one of those Glass Door mantel Fires , one of dozens at that time.” I turned pale. Turns out if you closed the glass doors on a metal fireplace box, you inadverently created a foundry furnce, raising the temperature several hundred degrees over its safe operating numbers. Igniting the wooden decorative mantels. I had given away nearly thirty glass doors in two of our subdivisions. I had to go to each one and trade lawnmowers and washing machines for each door. This was nearly 50 years ago and we’ve lived in at least ten different homes with firepaces. I’ve never lit a fire in one since, in my living room as I write this is an unused elegant old masonry fireplace. With cracks in the flue and chimney that would easily burn the house down if used. Be careful…snuggling under a blanket with Lois is a much better idea.

A nice cozy sleeping bag for two will work also