"Mowing Time Upon Me"

I won a small lot of about a half dozen misc. Gold Key's recently. They are odd titles like Twilight Zone, and Dr. Spektor, but the main reason I bid on this cheap lot was the above pictured comic, Popeye #66 (10/62). It was one of those covers that really impressed me back then, and I've always had a love for various comic book "Giants".

This one, as well as #67, had 80 pages and NO ads, with a thicker-type cardboard cover. As you can see it features most all of the Popeye characters (save maybe, "Bluto"), all on a sinking ship in the middle of a sea storm.

There were only two Popeye Giant-sizers ever published, being #'s 66 & 67, and #66, was in fact, the first Gold Key issue after a lengthly run with Dell Comics. It seems like GK published Popeye a long time, but actually they only did 15 issues before the title was picked up by King Comics in 1966.


And on this day off from my regular job, I went down and got the riding lawnmower out of my mom's shed, aired up that perpectual flat tire, filled it with gas and mowed over her entire yard save for what I had to use my push mower on later on the trim work. I also drove it down to my house and mowed over my own back yard (the first time this year). Then I RE-mowed my front yard for the second time this season, the last time just being this past Saturday, but already it had gotten tall. With the price of gas curently, it'll probably only get a "good" mowing every 3 weeks to a month this year.

Then I changed the right front tire on my car. It'd been riding rough the past week or so, even after balancing out the air pressure and I feared it had a large knot somewhere on the backside that I couldn't see that might lead to a blow-out. After changing the tire to my good spare, I examined it, and although there wasn't a knot, there was a flat place in one area towards the center, and a bulge on the back rim. It'll still make a good enough spare if needed (plus I always keep one of those bicycle spares). I test drove it afterwards and it was smooth as silk. Amazing what a difference just one bad tire can make.


Otherwise my day was filled with mundane chores such as doing laundry, going to the grocery, etc., and I drilled a few holes in the underspace below my kitchen gutters area to allow some ventilation in the other roof (as suggested by the guy that's repairing same).

A pretty busy day for me and I won't have another off until aanother 5 days (next Tuesday), although I begin (hopefully) my vacation the 29th. of this month which will run thru May 2nd. ("Free Comic Book Day"). Wish I had this Saturday off as my local comic shop's having their 20% off sale on everything in the store, but..."that's life".


And, in closing, today had my daughter Alicia lived she would have celebrated her 35th. birthday. I can't imagine "where" the past 5+ years since her death have gone...but lately I've starting to feel pretty old.