Ides of Ewww
Cidu Bill on Aug 15th 2008
This is actually a CIDU — after all, none of these animals is known for smelling daisy-fresh — but I expect any explanation will fall into Ewww Territory
Filed in Bill Bickel, CIDU, Ewww, Reynolds Unwrapped, chickens, comic strips, comics, cows, humor, pigs | 25 responses so far
That's Me Aug 15th 2008 at 12:08 pm 1
Well, I have no explanation for “how” it happened, but if you look closely at the back of the cow there’s a skunk there. Easy to overlook mixed in with the black and white of the cow itself.
Charles Aug 15th 2008 at 01:26 pm 2
Definitely the skunk. But …
I once drove past a factory feed lot in upstate NY, where they had not got the smell under control yet with lagoons or whatever. Then I drove past a road-killed skunk.
The skunk smelled better.
Cidu Bill Aug 15th 2008 at 01:40 pm 3
If I ever want to start a Bad Smells I Don’t Understand page… Just south of New Haven, Connecticut on I-95, there’s a spot that stinks to high hell. I first noticed it when I was driving myself to and from college. Thirty-five years later I drive my so along the same stretch of road to HIS college, and it’s still terrible (now, fortunately, I have a car with air conditioning so — but you can still smell it through closed windows).
There seems to be nothing on either side of the road to account for this.
The Ploughman Aug 15th 2008 at 01:52 pm 4
I thought the joke was “What’s that smell?” Punchline (unsaid): “Us, of course! We’re Barnyard animals for gosh sakes!” Which worked well enough for me, but now I see the skunk. The weird, leech-like skunk.
The Missouri-Iowa border usually has a funky smell to it.
Jim in Phx Aug 15th 2008 at 02:32 pm 5
Definitely the skunk. And I thought that was pretty funny once I spotted it.
Frank Aug 15th 2008 at 04:21 pm 6
I didn’t notice the skunk until I read That’s Me so I was going to make a comment about politics.
Patrick Aug 15th 2008 at 05:12 pm 7
Forgive me if this seems insufferably anal, CIDU Bill, but the Ides of August is the 13th, not the 15th.
CIDU Bill Aug 15th 2008 at 05:15 pm 8
Patrick, I always thought the Ides of a 31-day month was the 15th and the Ides of a 30-day month was the 13th. Not correct?
Patrick Aug 15th 2008 at 05:46 pm 9
That’s the logical way of figuring it out, Bill, since it represents “mid-month.” But, as used by the Romans, the 15th was the ides for 31 day months (most famously, March), but it was the 13th for all the rest. I don’t remember why. I’ll take a stab and guess it had something to do with ten month years, so maybe different lengths for their versions of months (again, that is a guess and likely to be wrong).
See: http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/ides (which defines it but doesn’t give any reasons.)
Dave Van Domelen Aug 15th 2008 at 06:23 pm 10
August probably still had 30 days when its Ides were established, back before it got renamed in honor of Caesar Augustus and stole a day from February.
And I think the cow rolled over on the skunk in her sleep…something cows don’t normally do (roll over in their sleep).
Big Julie Aug 15th 2008 at 07:24 pm 11
The handy mnemonic goes:
“March, May, July, October,
These are they,
Make nones the seventh,
Ides the fifteenth day.”
…I didn’t say it was a good mnemonic.
Keera Aug 16th 2008 at 02:37 am 12
Contrary to popular (?) belief, farm animals do not smell, unless they are not cared for properly. Manure is another matter.
FWIW, I didn’t notice the skunk, either. (And dead skunks smell a lot worse than living ones.)
Elliott Aug 16th 2008 at 08:00 am 13
If you read Dan Reynolds (”I ink, therefore I am”) regularly, you will see that the patterns on the cow are a whole ‘nuther set of ‘eyeball kicks.’
But who remembers The Simpsons episode where the family was looking at a new house next door to a rendering plant, where they were making hog lard. Homer rushed to the window drooling “mmmm, hog lard!” and a worker in a haz-mat suit said “what’s that smell?”
dan reynolds Aug 16th 2008 at 11:09 am 14
I was emailed by a subscriber to my cartoon, REYNOLDS UNWRAPPED, that there was some comment on my cartoon about the cow and skunk. This is one of those “OOOHHH! Now I get it cartoons.”
If you don’t understand one of my cartoons, it’s becaue sometimes I just don’t spoon feed it to you - you have to actually think! That makes the end result better!
Btw, I like the concept of your site.
I ink, therefore, I Dan
Dan Reynolds
LC Aug 16th 2008 at 07:43 pm 15
Bill, that’s just New Jersey. Connecticut has the misfortune of being downwind.
Cidu Bill Aug 16th 2008 at 08:13 pm 16
LC, I’ve driven through the worst of New Jersey, and I can assure you that the worst of New Jersey on its worst day doesn’t approach this one short stretch of Connecticut
Morris Keesan Aug 18th 2008 at 06:08 pm 17
I’ve driven I-95 between New Haven and New York countless times. I’ve never noticed a particularly bad-smelling stretch. I wonder if this is one of those things that some people perceive differently than others, like the taste of cilantro.
dan reynolds Aug 18th 2008 at 08:09 pm 18
seems like everyone gets the cartoon now
Cynthia Aug 20th 2008 at 05:31 am 19
I still can’t figure out how an animal that sleeps standing up could have squashed a skunk on its BACK. There doesn’t seem to be enough left of it for it to be alive. Or is it that the cow is some kind of mutant skunk-cow?
dan reynolds Aug 20th 2008 at 08:22 am 20
It’s a cartoon. Things happen.
Ex~ Aug 20th 2008 at 12:04 pm 21
I assumed it was that the pig and chicken thought the cow stank, and the cow thought the pig and chicken stank. None of them realized that they themselves smelled like shit, but both were willing to criticize each other’s faults.
Anyays, that’s a lot funnier than an invisible skunk.
Mike Jones Aug 20th 2008 at 10:31 pm 22
Ex…
You’re so funny you probably made yourself laugh. Personally, I thought the way the cartoon was was hilarious.
Mike
Jack Aug 21st 2008 at 07:34 pm 23
This comic definitely tests your attention to detail…I missed the skunk in my first view of the comic but quickly found it upon a second perusal.
Mike Jones Aug 21st 2008 at 08:20 pm 24
That’s why this is a great cartoon. When I finally got it it made it all the funnier.
Mark Sep 4th 2008 at 10:51 pm 25
You know, I’ve always loved the smell of dead skunk. Every time I get a wiff of one while driving I slow the car and roll the window down. It’s a smell one only gets to experience by chance, and so I cherish it when I can. Honest. I guess I’m strange.