For several hundred thousand hungry fans of one of America's favorite humorists — indoors or out — here's a hilarious serving of vintage McManus.

​

Readers who sampled Pat's memoir the last time out will remember that he's not above working a litle fiction into his documents from life accounts, if a change of pace is indicated. As Pat puts it, "If I stick to the unblemished truth for too long at a stretch, I tend to tense up, get a headache. . . . ."No fear of that here, and once again the McManus regulars are in attendance, including wife Bun, Eddie Muldoon, Rancid Crabtree (the old woodsman turned skunk trapper, now flushed with the smell of success), even Retch Sweeney, who this time out gets his dog Smarts gobbled up by a garage door, leaving only a surprised yelp in the air. And from Pat himself we learn how and why tough guys bird and the reason the Fourth of July seems more whimper than bang. Pat remembers the time when the Fourth lasted an entire season, beginning in June and fading out in August. As he says, "Most guys didn't even recover from their injuries until Halloween."

​

For do-it-yourselfers Pat's tips unravel the mysteries of premixed cement, which comes in the following quantities and conditions: "too much, too little, too soon, too late, too dry, too wet — the only non-variable is that it's always too heavy." We could go on, but we promised we would not reveal the whereabouts of game warden Sneed or what really happened on that search and—uh—rescue mission.