Author: Stephen

Stephen is the saxophone player for Longbow and draws the H.A.T.S. comics and the Between Class Comics.

Announcements! Announcements! I Have Announcements!

That’s what my Mom says whenever she has something to say to all of the children, good, bad, or indifferent.  Actually, she kind of sings it.

For that reason, if for no other, this seemed like the perfect title for today’s post.  Yes, I have news (and I promise I’ll get to it just as soon as I’m done with the preamble…or you can just skip to the next paragraph).  Some of it’s good, I hope none of it’s bad, and I’m certainly not indifferent.  I’m exited.

First things first, the webcomic will no longer be posted on this blog.  Instead it will have it’s own blog and will be available on our site under the webcomic tab.  I will be posting a comic everyday starting with number one.  I do apologize to anyone who has been following the series as they will be ahead of new blog for about a month, but I re-lettered all the comics for ease of reading and I would like all the comics in one place.  Please check out the new blog anyways if you enjoy the comic, as I will be posting a new comic, “Hat and Tie,” every Sunday.

Furthermore if you would like to see the comics on the full note page (along with all my notes) I will be posting the un-cropped versions on my tumblr blog Longbow Comics.  The comics will also be on my Pinterest and Instagram page.

I am really excited about my new webcomic blogs.  I think they will be neater and easier to read.  I hope you all like this new format better too.

 

Please check out the comics and feel free to let me know what you think of the changes!

Mathew Missed Us.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m glad we didn’t have to endure torrential downpours and seventy plus mile per hour winds, but after all the work preparing for the storm I was expecting a little more than the cool breeze and soft drizzle we had yesterday.

All in all, though, I am very pleased.  We didn’t have to listen to the wind howl, board up our windows, or clean up felled tree limbs, we didn’t even lose power! What amuses me is how dramatically the storm veered from it’s projected course. Earlier it looked like the hurricane would sweep across the coast, maybe head straight down the center of the state, but at the last minute it took a turn and missed us.

I just picture Mathew (the hurricane) barreling towards Florida chanting, “I’m gonna get you! I’m gonna get you! I’m gonna get you!…Just kidding!”

There’s Nothing Like Carbon Monoxide in the Morning

I think that I’ve mentioned before that I drive a convertible. This is not a good thing, it’s a great thing.  I love the feel of the sun in my face the wind in my hair (that sounds a little feminine for me, but you get the pic…

It's a pic of a pick!
It’s a pic of a pick!

Get it?! Get ?!…I’ll show myself out again).

The glories of bad puns aside, there is one major problem with driving a roofless car, and no, it is not the sudden Florida gales, and no it is not the cold weather (it’s Florida people).  Sometimes while you’re carefreely cruising in coveted convertible you come across a scent that is less than succulent.  Usually these atrocious aromas pass quickly stemming from a local garbage dump or the carcass of an unfortunate animal.  This is not the major problem.  This problem is minor, trivial even, when compared to the joys of riding the vehicle.

The major problem is when you’re driving along and the noxious smell follows you.  After a few minutes you wonder how that stench of petroleum and exhaust is traveling the road with you?  Has some toxic waste dump gained sentience and started chasing you down the road?  Then you look up and notice the semi ahead of you belching fumes and you think, “That’s gonna be in front of me the whole drive…” and you’re right.

A Polarizing Problem

I was helping Nathaniel with his Algebra today when we came upon a problem about converting from rectangular form to polar form.  Suddenly it occurred to me, why is it called polar form?  I mean rectangular form I get, but Polar Form, how does that work?!?  It doesn’t have any polars.  It doesn’t even look like a polar!  Did they start using this system exclusively in the North or South Pole?  Or maybe some guy named Polar invented it, or perhaps polar bears just really love using this coordinate system.

Yes, we do!
Yes, we do!

Bird Found Alive With One Leg.

I was walking to my convertible from school yesterday  when I spied a large bird loping awkwardly through the grass.  Normally I would have thought nothing of this as I live in Florida and birds half your size are as common as alligators (that’s really common), but something was different about this bird, something was off, something was missing…Oh, it was his right leg.

20160912_192402
Old Peg Leg

Yep, somehow this fellow had broken off this essential appendage just a few inches below the flesh of the drumstick.  Still despite his crippled condition he fights bravely to survive (I mean the only other option is die…so maybe it’s not quite so brave…).

Now you’d think a one legged bird would be limited to a life of perpetual flying punctuated by brief rest on his singular perch, but you would be wrong.  if you think such a creature can walk you would also be wrong (you can’t walk with one leg it’s physically impossible).  Instead of either option such unfortunate avians hop away from danger. Observe…

I like to think that this poor fellow forever forfeited his ability to walk in some gruesome fight for life and limb (well he half won) with some fearsome predator like the Florida panther or a vicious alligator.  Or perhaps he was rock climbing and a rock slide trapped his leg so he had to peck it off.  But I’m afraid that in reality he probably lost his leg in the more common and mundane way, hunting great white whales.

Unfortunately, I’m afraid  we’ll never know the true story behind this bird’s broken off bones.  He flew away before I could ask him.

I would have let him have the book rights.

(These videos can be seen combined on YouTube here).