Mark H. submitted this Arlo & Janis, commenting: “I don’t understand the first thing about this one. Arlo retreats to his “man cave” and then what?“
The sign reminded me of this Calvin & Hobbes:
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I’m pretty sure that Janis put up the sign as a joke about Arlo using the garage as a retreat. Both messages are from him to her. He seems to be less than amused.
Did she ask him to leave the house? “If you don’t like watching me water the plants in the house…”
Main reading: she put up that sign as a put-down of the “man cave” idea and this instance of it in practice, by making the sign just like what a little boys’ treehouse sign would be. Subtext: Arlo must not use the space to entertain other girls/women, real or virtual.
Man, I would have never gotten this on my own — I totally discounted the sign as just a bit of decoration, a side joke that even though this cartoon is a little less cartoony than most, it still is a cartoon, and as such, in prone to little in panel jokes like these signs. Milo’s Meadow Patch, a bit of scene setting and silliness.
DemetriosX: With one message being black on white and the other being white on green, I think each is from a different person. My suspicion is that the first is from her, laughing with him over the Calvinesque hideaway. The other, though, puzzles me; it looks like he’s asking her how long he has to be out of the house.
@ Boise Ed (5) – White is the (outgoing) message color on his phone, green is the (incoming) message color on her phone. Both messages went from the garage to the house.
I think both texts are from Arlo about the sign. He went to his man cave and saw the sign. He sends a rather sardonic ‘ha ha’, and the asks how long he is to leave it (the sign).
Janis put the sign up, as a joke.
In the first frame, Arlo notices the sign for the first time.
He is not amused.
He sends two texts:
ha ha (sarcastic, not amused)
how long am I expected to leave it [(the sign) up] ?
He wants to know when Janice has had her fun and he can take the sign down.
They don’t communicate well. Robert and I mostly use the word ok to communicate.
Me (dinner is ready) text “ok”.
Reply from him text “ok”
Out at a store and I managed to lose him for a few minutes on my own – he is the shopper of the two of us – and he is ready to go home –
Him “ok”
Me “ok front door”
Him “ok”
45 years married this past week plus together almost 6 years before that. Sometimes one of us talks about something which happened to them and the other says “no, that’s my story, it happened to me.”
I read an essay a long time ago speculating on whether artificial intelligence could ever understand “married couple” conversations. I forget the author but it may have been Douglas Hofstadter. Here is the kind of conversation he means:
A: OK, where is it? B: Where is what? A: You know. B: Where do you think it is? A: Oh.
Same idea Mark!
But it took a lot of time for the understandings to come about! Between the time we have married and how long we dated and were engaged before we wed – we have been together 50 years – something which shocks both of us.
Comics I Don't Understand 
I’m pretty sure that Janis put up the sign as a joke about Arlo using the garage as a retreat. Both messages are from him to her. He seems to be less than amused.
Did she ask him to leave the house? “If you don’t like watching me water the plants in the house…”
Main reading: she put up that sign as a put-down of the “man cave” idea and this instance of it in practice, by making the sign just like what a little boys’ treehouse sign would be. Subtext: Arlo must not use the space to entertain other girls/women, real or virtual.
Man, I would have never gotten this on my own — I totally discounted the sign as just a bit of decoration, a side joke that even though this cartoon is a little less cartoony than most, it still is a cartoon, and as such, in prone to little in panel jokes like these signs. Milo’s Meadow Patch, a bit of scene setting and silliness.
DemetriosX: With one message being black on white and the other being white on green, I think each is from a different person. My suspicion is that the first is from her, laughing with him over the Calvinesque hideaway. The other, though, puzzles me; it looks like he’s asking her how long he has to be out of the house.
@ Boise Ed (5) – White is the (outgoing) message color on his phone, green is the (incoming) message color on her phone. Both messages went from the garage to the house.
I think both texts are from Arlo about the sign. He went to his man cave and saw the sign. He sends a rather sardonic ‘ha ha’, and the asks how long he is to leave it (the sign).
Janis put the sign up, as a joke.
In the first frame, Arlo notices the sign for the first time.
He is not amused.
He sends two texts:
ha ha (sarcastic, not amused)
how long am I expected to leave it [(the sign) up] ?
He wants to know when Janice has had her fun and he can take the sign down.
They don’t communicate well. Robert and I mostly use the word ok to communicate.
Me (dinner is ready) text “ok”.
Reply from him text “ok”
Out at a store and I managed to lose him for a few minutes on my own – he is the shopper of the two of us – and he is ready to go home –
Him “ok”
Me “ok front door”
Him “ok”
45 years married this past week plus together almost 6 years before that. Sometimes one of us talks about something which happened to them and the other says “no, that’s my story, it happened to me.”
I read an essay a long time ago speculating on whether artificial intelligence could ever understand “married couple” conversations. I forget the author but it may have been Douglas Hofstadter. Here is the kind of conversation he means:
A: OK, where is it?
B: Where is what?
A: You know.
B: Where do you think it is?
A: Oh.
Same idea Mark!
But it took a lot of time for the understandings to come about! Between the time we have married and how long we dated and were engaged before we wed – we have been together 50 years – something which shocks both of us.