"Woodstove Heat Gauge"

On a more meta-note here this panel illustrates a simple pleasure I have in stubbornly refusing to succumb to the temptation of taking digital shortcuts and simply copying a scene where nothing changes but for a one or two foreground elements between the panels. The most obvious offered excuse for the rampant laziness I see across the industry is that it "saves time" (a similar line over using computer fonts as opposed to hand-lettering). I've got news for you if that's a going concern: as a cartoonist artist there's a very real possibility that a significant portion of your creative life has already been and will continue to be "wasted" (art teacher pro-tip: nothing's ever truly wasted per say, but that a philosophical point left for another time). At the core I draw for the aforementioned simple pleasure - if it's that much of a pain in the artistic ass to spend a little more extra time doing it, than maybe a career in the brave new future of using AI is a direction to explore. Rant aside, cartoonists ought to be the absolute last craftsperson worries about taking shortcuts... my drawings wouldn't look the way they do without me being in such a hurry all the time to get these stupid ideas out and also make the constant deadlines.

There are many times over the course of the winter season that I really, really miss living with a woodstove: aside from the aesthetic aspect of woodsmoke, baking in direct heat (which is the only surefire method of thawing out after an extended cold-snap) and the health benefits - maybe some therapeutic mental help as well - of whacking away with an axe all winter long, there's the existential stress of being dependent on a vulnerable electrical grid for power.
There has been some notable extended outages that required using our propane stove as a temporary backup, and the threat of a blackout when it's forty-below zero for several days in a row is like constantly being on thin ice.

Of course the critters don't really care where it's coming from, they'll just cozy right on up to the source whether it be a stove, heater or a convenient warm body.

MoochieBear as Puss In Boots