These early strips seemed to heavily imply that his wife had died. Later on, they had just gotten a divorce. I wonder if it was just too hard to write comics about death and moving on without becoming Funky Winkerbean.
For those who are unaware, there is a whole series of albums called “Pickin’ on” that has banjo and/or country guitars doing rock music covers. Some are actually pretty good.
On a more serious, albeit lesser known point, helium poisoning is a real thing that kills dozens of Americans every year. Heed some of the wisdom of Bill Clinton and don’t inhale.
Are they beached?