Codex’s Birthday takes place at an awkward time of year. It sandwiches itself right between Christmas and our Anniversary. That’s three things to celebrate in a week, and that’s one too many for me to handle. Which of those three would you boot? I guarantee you’d be wrong. Entirely wrong.

So, once Codex’s beloved grandmother passed many years ago, she took her actual birthday – July 4 – and made it her adoptive birthday. Codex’s Mother still calls and sends cards on Codex’s actual birthday, but I suppose she is entitled since she had to go through 897 hours of labor, or whatever it was. I understand her father found out she had been born the day prior to her birth, due to time zone shenanigans and Navy magic.

Meanwhile, Codex makes out BIG TIME every year. We celebrate with fireworks, fire, cake, coffee, presents, and the last day of summer rain almost every year. There may or may not be other libations involved. This year, I got her some new shavings. They were… dubiously sourced. I figured she was down in the basement, sprinkling them about and frolicking or whatever, when she suddenly appeared in the kitchen and asked why I was dressed in a pickle costume and how odd that looked with my signature hat.

“Um…” I said, “I guess you enjoyed those shavings. A lot.”

“Shavings?” she replied. “I thought you got me incense. I’ve been burning them for half an hour. They are realllllly groovy!”

Okay, yeah, so she’ll finish up today’s comic… later today. Or possibly tonight, to be posted first thing Tuesday morning. Meanwhile, we hope you had a wonderful 4th and either blew something up in honor of the country that was, or for practice as our gay, atheist dystopia slowly transforms into America 2.0.

–> Quizzer