The Butter Rum Cartoon

Tuesday, March 17, 2026

TOBO THE SWEDE, CALLING HIS HERD

______

For the complete contents of the Butter Rum Cartoon, click HERE.

POPEYE IN CHESTER, ILLINOIS

Micki and Dale

On our road trip in 2021 to visit the eight states that border Missouri, Micki and I went to Chester, Illinois, to take pictures of all the statues of Popeye characters and to visit the Popeye Museum. While in the Museum and buying a Goon shirt and metal Popeye statue and other fun things, we had an enjoyable visit with its curator, Debbie, who runs the Official Popeye Fanclub.

Back home, and after the tornado hit Chester, I tried to join the Popeye Fanclub online, but was having some trouble in the process. So I emailed Debbie and just hours later she telephoned me, and I became an official member of the Official Popeye Fanclub!

During the call, Debbie asked, "When you were here, did your wife lose a stick out of her phone when she dropped it?" (I still know nothing about smart-phones.)

"A stick?" I asked, wondering. "I don't think so. Just a minute; I'll ask her."

I asked Micki, and she said, "A stylus - yes, I did."

I told Debbie and thanked her, and Debbie said that when she sends the Fanclub packet she'll stick the stylus in the envelope.

I'm so impressed that the curator of the Popeye Museum not only remembered us, but that she found and saved Micki's stylus and that she sent it to us! As Popeye would say, "Well, blow me down!"

Alice the Goon

Bluto

Olive Oyl, Swee'Pea, and Eugene the Jeep

Castor Oyl

Cole Oyl

Nana Oyl

King Blozo

Perennial Pups

Poopdeck Pappy

Popeye's Nephews

Prof. O.G. Wotasnozzle

Rough House

Wimpy

Sea Hag

Toar

Popeye

______

For the complete contents of the Butter Rum Cartoon, click HERE.

PORCUPINE'S WHIMPER

Hiking with my little scruffy dog, Omega, on Mount Higgins near Oso, Washington, Omega suddenly perked up and took off running up the trail. When I saw the reason for it, I hollered "Omega!" and, disciplined as he was, he stopped just before getting to the big porcupine clinging to a tree and only a couple feet from the ground.

I finally caught up to them and, for the first time, got a really good, close-up look at a porcupine. And I was completely surprised when the critter began whimpering like a frightened puppy! I didn't know they even make a sound, let alone cry! I felt so sorry for the poor thing who was obviously terrified, and after gazing at him and admiring him for a bit, Omega and I left him and continued on our way, for the good of all three of us.

______

For the complete contents of the Butter Rum Cartoon, click HERE.

70 AND ABDUCTED

One of my very favorite books is Daniel Pinkwater's "The Snarkout Boys and the Avocado of Death." In it, boys don their hats and "snark out" in the night to go to the Snark Theater, and get in all sorts of wild adventures.

For my 70th birthday in 2019, I was wishing we could just kick back and watch the movie "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid" together, since some of the kids hadn't seen it. But suddenly the guys in the family put on hats and gave me one to put on, and announced that we were snarking out. Before I could get my wallet or wraps, I was led out of the house and into our van by Austin Sanders, my sons, Leif, Samuel and Andrew; and Samuel drove us south, all the way out of Missouri and to Harrison, Arkansas, leaving the womenfolk behind!

There in Harrison, like in the Pinkwater book we stopped at a park and in a gazebo, standing on a platform of two phonebooks, Andrew gave a speech (the speech verbatim that Don Knotts gave in "The Ghost and Mr. Chicken"). I was totally confused.

Then we walked back to the parked van, and I looked at the Lyric Theater and was shocked to see the girls of our family in the ticket booth with big smiles -- My wife Micki and daughters Glory and Julia and Disa! (They had passed us on the highway while we stopped to get gas.) When I walked up to them in disbelief, they said, "Did you see what's playing?" And I walked around and looked at the poster: "NOW SHOWING: HAPPY BIRTHDAY DALE. COMING SOON: 70 AND ABDUCTED."

We went into the theater and there at the concession stand was Richie (Michael Amburn) with tons of free popcorn and candy! We got our treats and went in to take a seat. And on the big screen came a movie that my family had produced -- a "trailer" for "70 AND ABDUCTED," starring my family!

And then came the feature film: "BUTCH CASSIDY AND THE SUNDANCE KID"!

How in the world did they pull this off?! That was worth 70 years!

Here are pictures of the unbelievable Snarkout. Thank you, family and friends, who made all this happen!

Here are the guys leading me to the park in Harrison. I'm the old guy in the red hat.

The girls are watching us from the theater's ticket booth.

Our daughters Glory, Julia and Disa, and my wife Micki in red.

Me noticing the impossible: The girls had stayed home in Branson MO and were now running a ticket booth in the Lyric Theater in Harrison AR.

Then the guys led me over to the poster on the front of the theater.

The concessions were all free! Try to find that at any other theater!

Richie took our orders with a smile.

Richie and Austin behind the counter.

A 70-year-old man snarking out.

Micki is the girl who lived with me in an 8x12-foot cabin in the woods with no utilities for the first year of our marriage in the 1970s. Read our love story.

I meant to show the trailer, "70 AND ABDUCTED," here that the family produced and starred in, but it exceeds the space limit allowed. There are shots of the trailer at the bottom of this post.