September 29, 1994 was a very significant date in my life. That was the day that my very first 'pluggerism' was published in newspapers across the USA! It was all about the 'postal rate hike', and it featured two characters - 'Merv Cooney' the raccoon tow-truck driver, and an eagle (representing a post office employee).

Since that time, when it got published in the daily comic "Pluggers", cartoonist/creator Jeff ("Shoe") MacNelly succumbed in the late 1990s, and Gary Brookins took over the strip. And only one other 'pluggerism' of mine got published (a few years ago). So, I'm still sending in newer 'pluggerisms' to Mr. Brookins, in the hope that one of them will appear in the syndicated strip.

Here is one of the few examples that doesn't even have animal characters in it, but is still true to the old 'plugger' spirit...

Over the years, I've been saving calendars (with anthropomorphic characters and other theme), without even marking any of their pages; therefore, they can be reused every few years, when the days of each month are in the proper alignment. (I used a 'perpetual calendar' as my template, so I can be sure which old calendar can be used in a future year.) In the case of this drawing, a 1993 calendar has the exact format as a 1999 calendar AND a 2010 calendar! (And, naturally, I chose the month of March, since the first day marks MY birthday!)

If any of you "FA" members would like to submit a 'pluggerism' (with or without an illustration) to this popular audience participation strip, send it to: PLUGGERS, P.O. Box 29347, Henrico, VA 23242 (and try to avoid any similarity to Jeff Foxworthy's "You Might Be A Redneck..." jokes, when submitting your material).

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