He sometimes refers to the cloud that surrounds him with pride as the dust of ancient civilizations.[SUP]
[3][/SUP] He cannot seem to rid himself of the dust for more than the briefest of periods — indeed, in spite of his best efforts, it appears that he
cannot stay clean. He is referred to in an early strip as the only person who can get dirty while walking in a snowstorm.[SUP]
[4][/SUP] Nevertheless, on rare occasions he has very briefly appeared clean, and hence unrecognizable. Once this was in order to impress
Violet, of whom he was a bit fond. On another occasion (September 6, 1954), he managed to keep one side of his body clean and presented this clean side to Patty, causing her to believe that he was completely clean.
One notable exception is an earlier strip where he gets caught in a brief but heavy rainfall, and while trying to seek shelter, the storm ends, revealing him to be clean. He responds with disdain, stating that "in one minute the rain has washed away what took me all day to accomplish".
