MORE ABOUT SKEEZIXI mentioned in my

MORE ABOUT SKEEZIX

I mentioned in my Father's Day post about my dad that he had been unnamed and just called Skeezix for the first 6 months of his life. My son J.D. said he had a theory about why, and when I asked him what it was, this was his response:

"During the early 1920s, there was a comic strip called Gasoline Alley. It was mostly just a funny gag strip about cars. The newspaper publisher decided that he wanted a wider audience, though, so he asked the strip's writer (Frank King) to do something to attract women readers. To do this, King deposited a baby on the doorstep of the main character, Walt Wallet.

Walt was a bachelor and had not experience with babies. The strip gradually shifted its focus from cars to the relationship between Walt and Skeezix. The characters aged in real time. (They still do. The strip is still going.) So, readers got to see Skeezix grow up.

Skeezix means "motherless calf", but I don't think that's why your father got that nickname. I think he got that nickname because Gasoline Alley was hugely popular at the time of his birth, and Skeezix must have seemed like a fun nickname to give a boy. Sort of like how some kids might have been nicknamed Calvin when Calvin and Hobbes was at its height.

Anyhow -- that's my theory! :)

--j.d."

I believe he makes some valid points. He sent me the above comic, showing Walt finding Skeezix on his doorstep. (Knowing my Grandpa Mac's sense of humor, and that of other family members, this may have also been a reason for the nickname.) I have a letter ready to go to my Uncle Linc, at 92 the only living sibling, (which I will send after I get a picture that I want to include), in which I am mentioning this and asking a bit more about it. I don't know if I will get an answer as he has difficulty seeing and writing but perhaps one of his DIL's or grandchildren could type out or write an answer for him.

*****

Just a quick note that there is another "down" event coming up in my future, as I will have minor surgery (toenail removal) on my left big toe in 3 weeks. The worst of that is soaking it in Epsom salts afterwards, which stings like h*ll! It must be done, however -- I will not take a picture of my toenail and make you look at it! LOL! At least my arm is quite a bit better! :-)