The Cheetah's enemy

Mad Men Addict or Where have I been??

So, some of you who have been loyally following me have been wondering "Hey what happened to Phil and County Fare?" Well That's me up there. Drink in hand, cigarette, and I don't even smoke ! That's what addiction does to you!

You see, 3 weeks ago my lady friend introduced me to a terrible evil. It was strong, dark, and spell binding. it was delicious and even though I tried to fight it I soon proved too weak. I'm ashamed to admit it dear readers but I'M A MAD MEN ADDICT! I'm not proud of this I want to stop . I sit hour after hour watching episode after episode but I can't seem to get enough

It started innocently enough. Sitting with my Sweetheart on a Sunday afternoon. She offered me an episode to watch. I trusted her, what could one episode hurt. It was mildly enjoyable. Then she asked,"How about another?" "Sure" I said "why not?" Little did I know how its story was affecting me.

All that smoking and drinking, all that womanizing and misogamy, who could resist it I mean come on, I'm a read blooded American male. Who could dream of such a wonderful  time when you could make crass, crude sexual jokes to women or cheating on your wife ( or husband) . It was just a way of American business. Drinking hard liquor at 9 o'clock in the morning, I mean whats not to Love right?

Don gets to sleep with every woman under the sun. Even weaselly Campbell is getting some and lets not forget Peggy. You go girl! I finished The first season in a week . I finished season 2 in a few days. Then I had to have season 3. We searched the internet for free episodes but there were none. If you wanted your Mad Men fix you had to PAY!!!!!!!. What was I going to do ? Where would I go? Blockbuster? Net Flix's?

Then we had an idea, the local Library!  Yes! There they were! Season after season of Mad Men but apparently I wasn't the only one addicted. Copy after copy was checked out until,, there it was season 3! I had to have it and my lady was good enough to get me my fix.

While others did productive work I sat and watched episode after episode, disc after disc. Hour after hour. ignoring all other television, all other activities, even my poor old 85 year old mother. All i cared about was Don, Peggy ,Roger and Betty. Soon I was wearing grey suits and pencil thin ties. I was drink Scotch again and smoking Luck strikes, unfiltered. Yes,yes, more I needed more before Season 5 started I had to see them all! I only have season 4 to watch and soon I'll have that in my shaking hands. M,m,m,m,m, Mad men

I,I Love you.

Mighty Hunter

I love Nascar...

They always turn left...

County Fare: Country Love...

County Fare: Country Love...

Country Love...

Cow pie throwing contest

Our cows do things a little differently here. What can I say I'm a Gary Larson fan.

African American heroes....

I did this cartoon some years ago. It was and is meant to be a pat on the back to all those men out there That understand the importance of their presence as Father's in their children's lives. We give so much to our children on a daily basis simply by being there though we don't quite realize it's importance at times. Being a steady presence coming in that door at the end of the day. Tired ,but glad to be home, with a hug or a little bit of energy left to listen to an excited child's day, or a tired wife's.  Or maybe its coaching a sports team after school. its the little things.

As I was posting this I realized that there are so many single mom's out there doing double duty as Mother and Father to their children. Maybe Dad has a job far away or is serving our country over sea's. She is not always allowed to  enjoy the luxury of being the nurturing parent when she also has to be the strong one as well.

 For many it all comes down to economics and survival and hoping to have enough of yourself  left for your children at the end of the day.  So this is also for all those African American mothers out there who carry the load all by themselves . I wish to acknowledge your hard work and dedication to your children, community and country because it is the strong and smart child that will take the reins and be the guiding forces when we give them the right tools.

My Buddy Beaver Pond Bob.

No cussin' in school

New Diet...

Here's an idea the lovely Terri O'Connor gave me today based on a news item.

Just a few words about Whitney.......

For the next few days the world will be a flood with tributes to the late Whitney Houston. Millions of fans, like myself, will grieve for many different reasons. Each because of how our lives may have been touched by her music or because of the tragedy that had come from the down turn in her career.


As I watched the many news programs, each replaying songs and videos and recounting her bright and brilliant early career, I was struck by something that one commentator said about Miss Houston's attempts at a comeback. That was, that it seemed anyone or everyone that had ever heard her sing truly, wanted to see her make it back to her former glory.


Even though her recent concert tour in Europe had not gone well, (people asking for their money back in some respects), still people bought tickets, they wanted to see her and they wanted her to BE BACK! I did too. I wanted her to succeed, I wanted her to beat her demons. The ones that had shackled that incredible voice and show herself and the world that you can come back, you can be whole again, you can beat an addiction and come out the other side, pick yourself up and walk again, There is only one other Hollywood star and personality I've felt that way about before and that was Robert Downey, Jr.


I had seen her interviewed in just the last few weeks for the new movie she will be in coming out this summer, "Sparkle" and at that time she looked and sounded like the Whitney I came to admire, that made my heart skip a beat when she belted out one of her memorable songs. She looked good, she sounded good and I hoped. I hoped for her.


I think part of my feeling comes from watching others in my life who are suffering like Miss Houston did. I'm sure we all know someone like that, especially in this day and age. We see their potential, we see their strength, we believe that they can overcome the demons they fight but we can only watch from the sidelines. We know that there is nothing we can do, or very little. It is their fight. But we can hope for them. We can hope and when they do find some success we can be there to cheer them on.  We can believe in them.


We have lost so many in this generation with great talent and great potential. We seem to lose them in greater numbers year after year and I hope and pray that we do not become complacent to those kinds of losses. I cannot speak to the next young star or starlet who may leave us before she or he sees his or her full potential but I can say that Miss Houston will be missed, and her all too early passing will not be forgotten for a very long time.


The only bright thought in all this is that I'm sure Miss Houston is singing with a heavenly choir in the same manner that her singing career started, and her voice will still be as dynamic and beautiful as it ever was. And we know she will be happy.

Just try to keep me out!

Too many times the argument about the separation of church and state gets a little muddled. Its not about keeping God out of the educational system, its about keeping religion out of it. Because of that our founding Fathers wanted it to be made clear that everyone had the freedom to practice or follow the religious belief they so chose,BUT that there had to be a neutral ground where the many peoples of this country, with their different beliefs could go and receive an equal education.

Our system also allows for churches to start their own schools where there they can teach subjects in a way that they feel best reflects their understanding of a Supreme being.

You can't keep God or Allah, or Jehovah or Creator out of the lives of kids where it already exists. The trick is to allow everyone the right to carrying with them, into schools, their own understanding of it. By doing so and not letting one interpretation dominate over any other then we guarantee  a greater understanding of the world as we know it.and that takes faith. If that's not a Higher Power I don"t know what is!

it ended amicably.....

Editors note: Yes my marriage ended amicably. no it did not end like this. But it is funny.

T.M.I

Hi every one, Phil Lepel here.  So sorry about the delay in the strips . Here before you is the first new cartoon to County Fare.  There will be more from here on out with a few of the old or original County fare strips sprinkled in. As the strip progress' the skills will improve.  That's the nice thing about this internet thing. I  can work at my own pace and progress to an audience. Read and enjoy and please all comments are welcome.

Same decision making less money...

Isn't it funny how when companies want to save money their first thought is labor cost? Sending jobs overseas to places that pay lots less for the same work done always seems to be a smart and fair market decision when it comes to saving a company money and increasing profits....And yet, when it comes to hiring people for management positions the argument is always, "We need to pay high salaries to get the best and the brightest!"

Well years ago that may have been true. But today the American work force is highly trained and highly educated. More people in fabricating work hold Associate, Bachelor and even Master's degrees's in business, electronics and engineering. Doesn't that stand for something?....Anyway's

 I wondered why the same thinking about labor doesn't apply to executives. After all America corporations pay their executives, 5-10 sometimes 50% more than companies in Europe and Japan,and probably Mexico, China and South Korea. Maybe we should be looking for more talent there and getting a bargain in the process, right? I'm just saying...

Lyre and Thiebs

 One day I was talking with a lawyer about all the frivolous law suits that some people seem  almost obligated to bring to court. Part of the problem are the people out there that use the court system to harass their enemies. They drag them to court and have them spend hundreds of dollars they can ill afford to either defend themselves or pay off their accuser. Of course its a lot more complicate than that. I'm talking about a small percentage of people. But the other part of the problem is expressed here in this cartoon.

There are law schools all over this country pumping out lawyers. These men and women got into law for noble reasons. To defend people and to help those in need. Once out of law school though, the reality of life closes in and keeping a small law practice open is a daunting proposition. Every client that comes through the door is money and whether you win or lose at times becomes unimportant when the office rent or the secretary's salary needs to be paid.  So a case is a case even when the lawyer may know its not winnable.

My characters names came not because I see all lawyers as "Lyre's" or "Thieb's" but because I could not use the names of real lawyers in my town, Villiany and Grow ! Like wow what a name for a law office.

Welcome to Phil lepel's County Fare

Hi everyone my name is Philip Lepel and this is County Fare.  When I was a kid I did a lot of plays in school for years I wanted to be an actor, but life got in the way. Something about working like a dog for ten years and living out of motel rooms waiting to be discovered never sat well with me. Maybe it was cowardice. I chose to believe it just wasn't my calling.

I liked family life. Thought not sure what type of Father I would be I came to like the idea of settling down on my own little piece of this earth, sinking nice deep roots and and becoming a small part of the bigger picture.  I bought an old farm house and tried, with mixed success to make life a little simpler. I got a factory job that paid well and after a while when back to school for Illustration.

   I'd always had a creative side and I expressed it in art. Well, in cartooning. I had many a professor in school that explained that cartoons aren't really art. Yet when you look back at many of the earliest cartoonist they rose from the ranks of fine Illustrators and Painters.

The cartoon was a very unique art and communicative tool. First started in Europe but perfected here in United States, when publishers like Hurst and Pulitzer came to recognize that cartoons were read and more easily understood by America's teaming immigrant masses of the late 19th and early 20th century.

  In high school I did a cartoon for the school newspaper and I in fact doodled and drew my way through factory work getting my self hired to do T-shirt designs and eventually a cartoons and illustrations for my plant and Union newspapers. I'd done cartoons for retirement papers (Retirement is:), a college newspaper
(Adult Ed) and finally for county newspapers where I lived.

The great thing about cartoons is that you get to write, draw and at times be the characters themselves. In fact its a little like acting because you become the character and a little of the character becomes a part of you. Cartoons let you touch on delicate issues either directly or using characters that allow people too look at a situation they might otherwise find distasteful.

Years ago a great cartoonist named Walter Kelly made some incredible social commentary by using a possum and his strange and wonderful friends to comment on many of the aspects of America in the 50's, 60's and into the 70's before his death. Sometimes his subjects were so controversial that editors would refuse to publish his strip. Walt got around this with a group of cute little baby bunnies. Whenever he touched on a subject matter he thought editors might not publish he would give them a bunny cartoon. But in fact the bunnies were always invariably making fun of the editors that Walt felt were to sensitive or cowardly to publish his cartoon.

I became inspired by men like Kelly and many others. I attempted to make my cartoons also about the life and times around me. I was also inspired by the wonderful and silly works of Larson( Far Side) and Watterson (Calvin and Hobbs). Two great cartoonist along with several others that got syndicated and  made it big while I was struggling along, raising a family and going to work everyday.

I dreamed that someday  I'd make it big too. But being a full time Dad, having a full time job AND trying to start a career can be a daunting task. I believed in being an active parent and the bills had to be paid so the dreams were put on the shelf until later. Like after retirement, like now.

Life sometimes gets in the way of dreams,with retirement also came the end of a 30 year marriage and all the adjustments that ensue.  That's done and with a new home and a new life  its time to chase my dreams.
This blog which most days will be in the form of a cartoon will be part of it. My first children's book that I am in the process of finishing the Illustrations for called "The Open Road" will be next and offered for sale here first.

Yes I'm but a tiny voice amongst millions but that's okay. It is here I hope to build a fan base slowly. It will get bigger if I do well, if I touch a heart string or two or put a smile on someone face . I have many friends around this country and I hope to entertain them . I'm open to your ideas comments and criticism to a point and hope you will make them often.Some of  my characters will be based on my town, my friends and those who inspire me. Others will just be silly concoctions of my own making just to be silly.

I'm really doing this for my own pleasure but I hope that you ,dear reader will enjoy it just as much. So here in an encore performance is the very first County Fare. I hope you enjoy it the many to follow!