Sleeping on the couch

This year was another one that sailed by really quickly for me. Cindy and I are really limited on our little adventures of getting out and doing things, because as you know we are in the midst of a full time caregiving situation with her dad Ray. My computer time is limited most of the time, unless everyone else is sleeping and when everyone else is sleeping that is usually when I should be also.

And speaking of sleeping, have you ever fallen asleep at the most inopportune time?

Photo by Stephen Oliver on Unsplash

I have no problem falling asleep... anywhere or anytime. If you ever have us over for supper and we end up sitting around in your living room chatting, then you want to watch a movie, don't be surprised if I end up with my head flopped back on your sofa with my face looking towards your ceiling and my mouth wide open, no I am not staring at your ceiling in awe, I have fallen asleep... I'm not trying to be rude, but a full belly and the drone of a TV and I'm out like a light, it happens to me every time, I figure that if I am comfortable enough to fall asleep on your couch then it's a compliment saying that you have made me feel so welcome.

Usually before it gets this far along though Miss Cindy gives me a shot in the ribs with her elbow, or "accidentally" kicks my foot, thus saving me from the embarrassment of snoring during the movie you are playing for us.

Watching TV anytime for me is like taking a nighttime cold medicine or some sort of sleeping pill, I rarely make it through any program without my head flopping down with my chin on my chest, or doing the old nod and drop your head side to side routine, you know up and down side to side and then around in a circle kind of like a life sized bobble head doll, Cindy has woke me up laughing at times and given me this description of my actions. Cindy for the most part ignores me unless the snoring begins, and then the rib shots and foot kicking begins, this lasts until I am alert enough to realize that we are now watching an entirely different program.

I'm surprised that Cindy ever continued dating me. Early on in our relationship Cindy wanted to watch the movie Bull Durham starring Kevin Costner and Susan Sarandon, a romantic comedy / sports movie based in North Carolina, it sounded pretty good to me, and being that we were going to be on a date and she wanted to watch a movie, I went ahead and rented it. Cindy came over to my house; we had a nice supper and then sat down on the couch to watch the movie. The previews started rolling and the next thing I see is the faint light coming through the mini blind, I am lying on the couch with a blanket over me, the TV is off, the lights are out, and Cindy is gone...

Source

I didn't see the beginning of the movie, I didn't see the middle, I totally missed the ending, and worst of all I never knew Cindy had left the building. To this day I still haven't seen this movie because every time I mention Bull Durham Cindy laughs and reminds me that she has already seen it and that I missed my chance...

When I woke up, I about panicked right there, I jumped up and turned the lights on, checked the time on the VCR, Bull Durham was lying on the top and my front door was closed and locked. I picked up the telephone and dialed Cindy's number, she answered the phone laughing, said that she enjoyed the movie, but at the end she figured it was time for her to go. I told her not to take it as an insult; if I am comfortable enough to fall asleep around you it's actually a compliment...

Needless to say my explanation was not necessarily a good one and I am reminded of this often, the story does randomly come up when we are in a group of friends reminiscing about old times. I guess that I could say it's a compliment that she remembers, because during the telling of the story there is not much that I can say.

I actually started this post as a look back over 2017 but somehow got off track, so as we all kiss 2017 goodnight, and wake up in a new year called 2018, I want to wish everyone of you a Happy New Year! I have a feeling by the time the ball drops I will most likely have nodded off and Cindy will have to tell me about it next year.

Where would you be?

If I could go back and do it all over again!

How many times have you said this? I know that many times this is the thought process when the results are not exactly as you planned. You think about going back and changing something that you did. But exactly where would you be today if you could go back and change things?

I have often said this about leaving South Carolina when I was 18. "I never should have left home, it was stupid for me to have left like that!"

Me soon after arriving in New Mexico

I drove from South Carolina to New Mexico in 2 days, I spent the night by myself in a motel in Brinkley, Arkansas, feasted on peanut butter and white bread because bringing along enough money to live on never crossed my mind, and I reconnected with my Dad and Grandad which was my intention at the time.

If I had never left, my Dad would have come back home to South Carolina like he did anyway, and my Grandad would have still died when he did, leaving me 1600 miles away from home without the people that I came there to reconnect with. I would have missed out on my failed marriage to my first wife, and nearly starving to death in Texas back in the early eighties. There are a lot of bad things that you go through, we all have serious issues and situations that we have endured, some that you wish had never happened, but happen they did. And you are who you are because of the things you have experienced in life.

There is no telling how my life would have turned out, if I could only go back and change the fact that I drove away from my home over forty years ago. But if I had not taken that little road trip, I most likely would not be in California right now, I would have never met Cindy, and all of our little adventures that I have shared with you would have never happened.

You touch a lot of people along the way, you meet good friends and sometimes you find the love of your life. You are actually right where you are supposed to be in life. If you had the chance to go back and change something you did, how much of your life would actually change?

It would be nice if I had stayed in South Carolina, but had I stayed I know that I wouldn't be the person that I am today. I could speculate on how my life could have been, but what scares me is to think about the good things in my life that would have never happened had I stayed home. What could have been would definitely erase a lot of good memories.

Like I said before you are right where you are supposed to be, the experiences you have had, made you into the person that you are.

Things that happened in the past can't be erased, you have to live through hard times to sometimes appreciate the good things that you have in life, be happy with yourself for who you are, be proud of the fact that hard times in your life actually made you stronger, bad people have taught you to recognize the good people that you now call friends, and that your life has really been filled with a lot of good things...

If you could go back and do it all differently, would you?, I don't think that I would! For me the good things that would be erased far outweigh the bad things or decisions that I made. If I could go back and do it all over again, I think that I would do it all the same.

Would you change anything?

A Special Christmas

The stockings were hung by the chimney with care...

When I was a kid mom always hung stockings for us on the mantle above the fireplace, even though there were never any gifts in our stockings on Christmas morning, there was always an orange in the toe and the rest of the stocking was filled with various fruit, nuts, and candies, I loved those stockings.

We didn't have much when I was growing up, so there were very few gifts underneath our tree, but that was OK Christmas was still special to me.

Cindy and I around Christmas of 2000

When our kids were still at home, Cindy did the same as my Mom, she hung stockings on our mantle above the fireplace. Cindy really loves Christmas, if she were shorter and closer to the North Pole I know she would have a job working for Old Saint Nick, she has so much Christmas spirit that there is no way he could say no to her.

Cindy taming the Bumble

Cindy could tame the abominable snowmonster aka "The Bumble" quicker than Yukon Cornelius and Hermy, and she wouldn't even have to pull his teeth.

Since money was tight when both Cindy and I were growing up, she always filled our kid's stockings to capacity, sometimes to the point that gifts were stacked on the floor below them. (kind of like Benjamin's Santa Box), Cindy and I were never rich by any means but the kids never did without on Christmas, we always did our best to keep Christmas special.

(Source)

Now the kids are grown and have lives of their own, Cindy and I will celebrate our first Christmas this year without at least one of the kids coming home for Christmas. I kind of feel like Bob Cratchit when he thought that his daughter Martha wasn't going to be there on Christmas day. For Cindy's sake I'd like to see the kids jump out from behind the door to surprise us on Christmas morning.

This Christmas we will celebrate with Cindy's Dad Ray, we will open gifts in the morning and save the gifts for those who can't make it for a later date. Cindy's brother and his wife will come over for dinner, our usually large group will only be five people this year.

Our Stockings, Dixie's has something in it already

Cindy hung stockings on a door because we don't have a mantle here, and there is not going to be anything placed into these stockings, not even an orange in the toe (except for Dixie's stocking, she already has a surprise there as you can see), but with all of the blessings that we have had this past year, the fact that we have a safe place to live, food on the table, and each other to lean on, I want you all to know that for me Christmas is still as special as it ever was.

I want to wish everyone a Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, Happy Hanukkah, Seasons Greetings, Merry Xmas, or even Festivas for those who loved Seinfeld. I'm not going to be politically correct no matter what I say, but I love you all and wish for your holidays to be happy, so I'll end this by saying...

Our newest Christmas wreath

Thank you for being part of our little family. And here's wishing each and every one of you a Merry Christmas, and however you celebrate this season I hope you have the Happiest Holidays ever.

Checking it twice

Decorations and ornaments are a big part of the holiday season for a lot of us, I added a few new items to our stack of stuff to store until next year this year, and wanted to share a couple with you.

Our Reindeer and Dollar Store ornaments

Well more than a couple I suppose, we now have semi mechanical reindeer that move their heads while they are shining brightly in the night. I know you remember when we went to the Dollar Store for ornaments at least twice and walked away with no ornaments for my tree outside, once we went inside and I completely forgot them, and another I never made it inside because of the crushing cars situation out in the parking lot.

The third time was a charm, Cindy actually went without me and came home with a bag of ornaments that were exactly what I was looking for. I guess the key was to leave me at home.

Dixie's Doxie and Candy cane

The candy cane and the Dachshund are new this year, they came in a box with "Some Assembly Required", Yes folks that means you have to put them together, the candy cane was easy, just three parts, front, back, and base, run a cord and plug em in...

There was a little more to the Doxie though, there was a bag of ears and a tail, a bag of legs, a body, a head the hat and collar, and of course a bag of zip ties and anchors to hold him down.

Our little Dachshund Dixie watched patiently while I assembled the Doxie, I got everything in place after a couple of trial runs, zip tied them all together, hung the tail on the correct end, and stood him in the yard next to the candy cane.

Then came the running of the power cord and "plugging em in." After making sure everything was in place and checked twice I had to hide the cords. With no grass in the yard it was a really easy cover up. I'll spare you all the details, Cindy says that I am anal about things like this, I just like everything to look good. And speaking of anal...

Dixie checking him twice

After everything was done and the Doxie was in one piece, Dixie walked over and strutted around the Doxie, stood back and wagged her tail, then walked around and sniffed it's butt (that's the same as shaking hands in a dog's world).

Dixie posing with her Doxie

She said that it wasn't like she thought it was a real doxie...but she did check him twice.

Covered in chocolate

Don't you just love Chocolate covered cherries? I have a special relationship with chocolate covered cherries myself. It has become a habit, a habit that I continue to  repeat over and over and probably will continue repeating for quite some time. I can't stop myself, I just have to do it, once I started I simply cannot stop...Now before you consider a covered with chocolate intervention for me, allow me to explain.

I have bought a box of chocolate covered cherries for my mom every Christmas that I can recall, I can't remember one that I didn't get a box for her, well ever since I was old enough to buy gifts that is.

When I left South Carolina and moved to New Mexico I started mailing a box wrapped up as a gift to her every year, just a cheap box that you can buy anywhere, nothing fancy and she always loved them. She said that the grandkids were always happy when she opened the box, because she always shared the chocolate covered cherries with them, needless to say the box didn't last long, so I started sending two boxes, one for her to share and one for herself.

Since Cindy and I are now living in California the tradition continues, the only difference is that a few years back, rather than buy the cheap box of chocolate covered cherries we invested in a pound of assorted milk and dark chocolate covered cherries from See' Candies.

Mom's box of chocolate covered cherries from See's Candies

For a brief history on See's Candies, A Canadian chocolate salesman named Charles See opened a shop in Los Angeles California in 1921, where his mom Mary See made and sold her own chocolate and candy recipes, a successful business bloomed and is still going strong today.

Being raised in South Carolina I knew nothing about See's Candies, but with my Cindy being raised in California, she knew all about them, she talked me into taking her there to get candies for herself.

When you go to See's Candies the first thing they do is offer you a candy sample as you walk through the front doors, Man that candy is good! As you figured it's a little pricey but as they say "it only costs a little more to go first class."

"Can I have a chocolate covered cherry for my husband to sample?" Cindy asked the clerk behind the glass candy case. And after tasting that sample I have never bought another box of .98 cent chocolate covered cherries for my mom, the price has jumped up enough now that one box costs what a quarter of a centuries worth of the cheap cherries would have cost, but that is OK, it's worth it.

As a matter of fact the tasting of that sample is when Mom's first pound of cherries were bought, and of course a box of assorted dark chocolate nuts for Cindy.

After that first See's Candy Christmas for my mom I was talking with her on the phone. "What did you think of that candy Mom?" I asked. "That's some really good candy" she replied. "What did the grand kids think?" "They don't know anything about it" she said. "Really, did you eat it all already?" I asked. "No, I only ate two pieces and then I hid it in my closet, I'm going to make this candy last...it's too good to share."

So now we have a new tradition for mom, no more cheap cherries, but rather a pound of assorted milk and dark chocolate covered cherries from See's that she enjoys for as long as she can make them last from their spot safely hidden in her closet.

Do you have a tradition that you repeat every year? And what is your favorite candy?

And the time is...

When I was growing up if you wanted to know the correct time, there was a telephone number that you could call. You would hear a monotone woman's voice saying something similar to "At the tone the time will be nine thirty six am and the temperature is fifty four degrees." I'm not sure if this service is available now or not, but when I was younger we called this number frequently.

Now everyone has a cell phone with the time and temperature on it, your computer displays the time, your tablet has the time, and there are even those fancy bracelets that monitors your heartbeat, number of steps you have taken, calories burned, fast food joints visited, how well you slept, and yes even the time, oh I almost forgot there is another tool that you also wear on your wrist that tells you the time...your watch.

Benjamin with his Santa Box

And speaking of watches I want all of you to know, "Benjamin got his box!"

You will remember that after packing and unpacking Benjamin's box, then moving everything into a Bigger Box, that I packed and unpacked two more times before I finally got his new watch packed inside. Now after going through all of the other goodies inside the box Benjamin did in fact find his new watch.

If you want a good and much more accurate replacement for the old time of day telephone number, simply give a watch to a seven year old.

Cindy was on the telephone with Tim and in the background she could hear Benjamin talking, "Hey Dad! Did you know that it is two thirty five pm and thirty seconds...in twenty seconds it will be two thirty six, and nowwww it isss exactlyyyy two thirty six...and ten seconds now, eleven, twelve...

Cindy and I were laughing at Tim's plight with his newly acquired source of time, when I said, "Just wait until Benjamin finds the stopwatch feature," Tim laughed and said "he already has."

Tim said that he and Elisa were sitting on the couch when Benjamin ran into the room and suddenly stopped, looked at his watch and then ran all through the house, Benjamin ran back in and stopped right back where he had started and yelled "Yes thirty two seconds!" Tim asked Benjamin to explain what he was doing and he replied "I'm testing the stopwatch...do you know what time it is now?"

WFW - Doctor visit battle

This months Words for Wednesday prompts are being posted on Elephants Child's blog and provided by Margaret Adamson and her friend Sue Fulton. As always join in by using the prompts in a story, poem, song, or whatever you choose, the idea behind it is for us to write.

When you join in either post your piece in the comments on Elephants Child's blog or leave her a link to the post on your blog. This week the prompts are a couple of phrases:

The show must go on
And /or
The straw that broke the Camel’s back

Doctor visit battle

We have had a really hard time getting Cindy's Dad over his last bout of chest congestion and flu like symptoms, we have had him down to see his doctor several times, and also for tests, x-rays, specialists, and back to his doctor. Yesterday was a repeat performance to go see his doctor again.

"What do you mean that I have a doctors appointment today!" He yelled at Cindy. "Exactly what I said Dad, your appointment is at 2:15" she replied. "Well What if I don't want to go?" He asked. "I can't make you go Dad, all I'm trying to do is keep you out of the hospital!"

Ray's tone was starting to get ugly, and it appeared THE STRAW THAT BROKE THE CAMEL'S BACK was when he said, "When you take me to the doctor you need to keep your mouth shut!"

Cindy stared at him for a long minute and then said "Excuse me, what do you mean by that?" "Just what I said, you always go in there and tell him everything, and here I go having to get all kinds of medicine and tests!" This is when Cindy told him that he was on his own and walked out of the room.

Cindy went outside and drank a coke, Ray watched a little Gunsmoke on TV, and at 1:45 I sat up the wheelchair ramp at the back door and brought in his wheelchair, after all THE SHOW MUST GO ON, he did have a doctors appointment and all of you know Cindy would never leave him without her help.

We got Ray loaded into the car and headed down the road towards the doctors office. Ray looked over to Cindy and said "Now you need to remember to tell the doctor how congested I have been, and short of breath, and also how tired I have been getting." "OK Dad I have it all on my list" she said, and he replied "Good I knew that I could count on you."

Gates, Doorways and Packages

I stopped our mail carrier to talk with him about how he delivers our packages. This time of year a lot of packages are both arriving and being sent from your house, and just how many are being delivered to your satisfaction?

Just this morning I found a box sitting about five foot inside our locked driveway gate. Sitting right there on the concrete just as pretty as you please with the corners all rounded and crunched. Thank goodness the glass scented candles inside were packaged securely by the seller, or else Cindy would have had a box of glass, wax, and wicks.

Also just a few days ago I found two envelopes containing gift cards, sitting just inside the gate sticking into the top of a Gardenia bush. The gate was not locked and was partially opened that day. With the Santa Ana Winds blowing it's a wonder that somebody over in the next county didn't find them, I did double check the name on the envelopes to make sure they were ours and didn't belong to someone up the street.

Cindy has had three different packages arrive that were left at the front door, fairly large packages that arrived very quickly after she had ordered them which was great, all except for the fact that they were sitting right against the front door. At our front door there is a carpeted step with a piece of trim at the edge. With a box sitting against the front door, it will slide into the trim when pushed with the door, basically trapping the door shut. So on three different occasions I have had to go out the back door and around the house to move the boxes, so we could open the door and bring the boxes in, that's the long way around I'd say.

These are just a few package issues we have had in the last few weeks, and every one of these problem deliveries came from the big brown truck or the little book store that sells everything from A to Z who are now making their own deliveries. As for our local mail carrier I wish that these other guys would take a few lessons from him.

Photo by Pope Moysuh on Unsplash

If we have a package delivered from the US Postal Service our mail carrier gets out of his truck and brings that package to our front porch, he sits the box on a chair that is in a corner hidden from view of the street by hedges we have there, but in full view of our front door, but yet far enough away that we can actually open the door. He has always done this since we have lived here, a man who uses his common sense, a rarity now days.

The reason I stopped him was to say how much I appreciated him taking care of our packages, he smiled and said "It's just the right thing to do, just common sense."

You can't argue with logic like that. We did show him our appreciation inside a Christmas card.

We have had no damaged or lost products this year, but common sense tells me that if a gate is locked and you have to leave a package, drop it over at the side of the gate into the grass rather than toss it onto the concrete, and with envelopes when a gate is open, you should at least walk to the door and ring the bell, if no one is home you can leave them on the porch rather than toss them into the shrubs, and as for placing a package against a door, oh come on I don't even have to explain this one...

Have you had any package delivery disasters?

I need a bigger box

Sending goodies to the grandson always turns into quite a project. At Christmas Cindy always sends a big box with gifts for the whole family. This year the box for Tim, Elisa, and Benjamin was packed and mailed off with a postage amount high enough to leave me wondering just what in the heck did we have in that box, the lady at the post office gave me the postage amount for that box and I think I literally grabbed my chest.

Then for Benjamin Cindy sends a separate box, with random things she has bought for him, small toys, candies and such. She actually does this for every holiday. There have been holidays I have never heard of where she sends off a box to Benjamin. I can understand his birthday, Christmas and even Easter, but what about Halloween, Thanksgiving, Veterans Day, National Grandparents Day, National Hotdog Day, and Justcuz Iwanna Day...I'm not so sure about that last one but still Benjamin gets a box.

And when his box arrives he gets to open it immediately, and he is always so excited that he calls Mimi (Cindy) on the phone and talks to her as he opens the box. He oooh's and aahh's  and is always so excited at his newly acquired box of goodies.

Benjamin had been wanting a wristwatch, a digital wristwatch he said, so he asked Cindy if she would buy him one, and she promised him that he would have a new wristwatch in his Christmas box.

We ordered a digital watch that is also a stopwatch and some other things that I would never use much less remember, this is a nice looking watch just his size but not a kid's looking watch. I know that he will be pleased when he finds this watch in his box.

I love getting things for our grandson, but I am the one following Cindy around telling her "If you buy anything else you are going to need a bigger box", we try to limit the size to the large flat rate box that the post office provides, and I thought that her sack of goodies was going to fit until she dumped them into the box, I didn't know that you could get that much stuff into one little bag.

Now it was up to me to "make it fit", "come on Jimmy I know you can do it!" She tells me.

Now picture this I have the large flat rate box on one side, and a random pile of toys, candy, crackers, flash lights, and I don't know what else on the other. It was like a three-dimensional jigsaw puzzle, I stacked and twisted, filling in the empty spaces, then added another layer, layer after layer and low and behold I ran out of stuff just in time to close and tape the box shut. I only had to leave out one thing, a box of whoppers in the little milk carton shaped container, they just wouldn't fit and I figured rather than getting a bigger box for one little carton of whoppers, that I would tape this box shut and eat the whoppers myself.

I made out the address label and deemed Benjamin's Box ready for the post office. That is until Cindy came out of our bedroom with a bag. "Jimmy can you fit this stuff into the box for Benjamin?", I told her that nothing else would fit.

"Come on Jimmy I know you can do it." She said, I told her "Cindy, you are just going to have to save that stuff for the next box.", "I can't save it for the next box!", "Yes you can, you can put it in the New Years box", "But this is Christmas stuff, it won't work in the New Year's box, it has to go in this one!!"

I said the only thing that made sense to my health and well being, "I need a bigger box."

I got a bigger box, yes it's bigger than the flat rate box so I have a feeling that the flat rate no longer applies. I packed my new three-dimensional jigsaw puzzle with the layers from the flat rate box, plus the Christmas stuff from the bag that magically appeared, and even added the box of whoppers that Cindy found on my desk, "Hey Jimmy, what are these whoppers doing over here?, I bought these for Benjamin."

Perfect fit, I held the box shut, taped it solidly, added the new address label and again deemed Benjamin's box ready for the post office. And just about the time I was going to carry the box to the car, Cindy found a small box and asked "What's this", I about died when I saw her holding the box that contained Benjamin's new wristwatch...

Living without a home

The number of people we have living without a home is staggering, our communities seem to have more and more homeless people showing up every day, standing on the street corners with their cardboard signs asking for help and saying God Bless You, and being completely ignored by the majority of us.

Homeless Veteran(Source)

We have about 2,400 people living on the street within the same county that Cindy and I live.

There are approximately 10,300 homeless people living in the state of Georgia.

Well over 16,000 are homeless in Detroit, Michigan.

Upwards of 58,000 people are living in Los Angeles County, California without a home.

And on any given night there are well over a half a million people in the United States who are sleeping on the street, and over 100 million homeless people in the world.

The numbers I am using here are examples of homeless people mainly in the United States, I know that our friends who live in outside the U.S. see similar situations, and if you want to share numbers from where you live with your comments I welcome and appreciate your input.

I once saw a man sleeping in the doorway of an office building (before business hours) wrapped in a blanket trying to stay out of the cold wind, another man sitting with his arms wrapped around himself sitting on the side of the road in between shrubs, I swear there was frost on his hat, and people huddled together underneath an underpass trying to stay out of the rain. Scenes like this breaks my heart.

Some of you have seen homeless people showing up on the streets in the early morning hours. I always wonder where did they sleep last night? And what did they have for breakfast?

(Source)

The vast numbers of homeless people need to be fed somehow, they need shelter from the elements, but a whole lot of them never show up at any shelters to receive help.

What can you do to help? I don't have the answer that will fix the whole problem but I think that if each of us provides just one meal for someone living on the street then that will be one less meal that they have to ask for.

Cindy and I have provided meals for people in lieu of giving them money, if you see someone hanging around near a restaurant you are going to, buy an extra burger, fries and a drink, hand it to them on the way out the door.

Just the other day Cindy was at Wienerschnitzel picking up lunch when she saw a young woman and man who were obviously homeless sitting at a table inside counting out change between them, the young woman brought her change to the counter, it was enough to buy one hot dog and a drink, she paid and went back to the table to wait for their food, Cindy told the clerk to add five chili dogs and another drink to their tray, and to not say who paid for it. The looks on the homeless couples faces were priceless when their food arrived, I was really proud of Cindy, and to think that five chili dogs were that valuable to them.

You can feed people without putting yourself into harms way just like Cindy did, or by buying extra food and giving it to someone you see waiting around looking like they need a meal.

Why do we avoid making eye contact with homeless people? The simple answer is they scare you. The aggressive ones especially, but what about the silent ones that just sit and stare, they can be scary also because you don't know what they will do. Put yourself in their shoes for a minute though, sitting there with no home, no food, and no one who cares, I'd stare off into space too.

You have to be choosy, you don't want to approach someone obviously aggressive or high, but for those that you can tell are just down and out, they will gladly accept food in lieu of cash.

If you buy a meal for someone that is a perfect thing to do, if you give someone a little cash don't worry about what they are going to do with it, wouldn't you rather get snookered once than to hold back from someone who is actually hungry?

(Source YouTube) 

I always liked the song, What If Jesus Comes Back Like That by Collin Raye and I think of it often when I see homeless people.

The next time you see a homeless person he most likely won't be Jesus, but I guarantee you this person was born with a name, they have a face, they were once someone's baby, they are somebody's brother or sister, husband or wife, parent, friend, and sad to say a whole lot of them are down and out decorated veterans that we don't recognize anymore, each of them have the same feelings that you do.

These people will be a lot better off if we can give them at least one meal to help curb their hunger, they will also be better off if we simply look them in the eyes and say Hello as we pass by, this means one less person looked down on them today, or even worse refused to look at them at all.

A little bit of compassion goes a long way. If I were in the same situation that they are, homeless and living on the street, I would hope that at least one person looked at me as if I am a human.

Accidental Backspace

I read a post a couple of days ago called 'Tis the Season written by our good friend Susan over at I Think; Therefore, I Yam that got me to thinking about our homeless population.

I sat and wrote down my thoughts, then we had lunch and I did my "wifely duties" as Cindy likes to call my chores, later on I sat back down and edited some of my wording and did a little research on numbers of homeless people in different cities and counties, I came up with a rather shocking list, but I wanted to share some of these numbers with you.

I went back to my blog and answered your comments on Don't diss the grits and then read and commented on some of your blogs. early the next morning I went back to the post I was writing for you. I write most of my posts on a notepad that I have on my Kindle, simply because it's easy and it doesn't mess with the formatting when I copy and paste it to my blog.

I answered the new comments on my blog and then had breakfast with Cindy, after breakfast I added some more to the post and then went back and took out all of the irrelevant thoughts I had added. I double checked the numbers and added a closing statement.

This is when I read it a couple of times to make sure it sounded right, all I need to do now it to copy and paste it to my blog, so I went through and deleted everything I wasn't going to use, copy and delete, now all the extra words are gone, copy and delete, now all of my research notes are gone. I read it once again and really liked what I had written.

Select all and copy is all I had to do and then paste it onto my blog...Easy enough right? I selected all and noticed the cursor was about four lines below the ending, so rather than drag the cursor back up to the end, I mistakenly hit Backspace...Noooooooo!

That is when I decided to write this post while I start over on the other one, the other one I liked so well is Gone, sorry folks but I'll do better next time.

I mistakenly told Cindy what I had done and she had the nerve to laugh, she tells me that she doesn't think it's funny but that little grin for no reason and when she breaks into a little giggle when I mention it tells me different.

Have you ever lost an entire post with a simple mistake like this?

Don't diss the grits

Where are you from? I actually get asked this question a lot. People I meet can tell right away that I am not from California, I suppose my accent gives it away the minute I open my mouth.

Just last week Cindy and I were joking back and forth with one another at the post office, while the clerk was weighing the gigantic box filled with goodies for the grandson, the clerk we were dealing with asked me, "Where are you two from?" I told her "We live right here in The Valley", and she said "Yeah, but where are you from?" I told her that I was born and raised in South Carolina, and that Cindy was born right here. She smiled and said "I knew you weren't from here!"

OK I guess it's no secret that I don't sound like a California boy, but on the same token my California girl is beginning to sound like she's not from here either, because over the last 20 years she has evidently picked up some of my accent, we sound like real life Beverly Hillbillies I guess you could say.

But what else other than an accent reveals you as being out of place? Food!

Yes food can give you away in a heartbeat, you just go ahead and order something out of the ordinary for a particular area, or even worse diss a beloved dish and see how fast you get a raised eyebrow, or even worse the old "Chicken eye", Oh come on now, you know what the chicken eye is! That is when someone turns their head slightly away from you and glares at you with one eye, go ahead and look in the mirror and give yourself the "chicken eye", I dare you to do it without smiling.

OK back to food outing you as a foreigner.

Once when Cindy and I were visiting my hometown in South Carolina, we met my sister and brother in law for breakfast at the local Waffle House.

Our waitress brought out our drinks and was taking our orders, my sister and her husband ordered first, then I ordered bacon and eggs with grits, a waffle, and raisin toast, and there had to be a gravy biscuit (biscuits and gravy) involved. Yes I kind of went all out on this order.

Cindy ordered the same thing but when it came down to the grits... First off you really need to know that Grits are a staple in the South, Grits come with nearly every breakfast meal, and rather than simply asking for hash browns my little California girl instead looked the waitress in the eyes and said, “Don’t put grits on my plate, I don’t eat those things!" The waitress slowly leaned down and said “Yall ain't from around here are you honey?”

My sister, brother in law, and I almost in unison said, “I was born right here, see I ordered grits”, while Cindy at the same time said “Not me, I’m from California”, this is when the whole restaurant went silent and everyone slowly turned to look at her, kind of like one of those old EF Hutton commercials where everyone listens. Well when Cindy said "California" everyone was suddenly listening. The waitress just looked at her for a minute and then said "Well bless your heart" and walked away scribbling on her pad. Everyone else turned back around and went back to eating.

Cindy has picked up enough of an accent to blend in when we go to South Carolina, but to this day she still disses the grits and right after always hears, “You ain't from around here are you honey?” and sometimes she even gets a “Bless your heart” thrown in for good measure.

If we lived there she would make South Carolina our home, just as much as California is our home now. But she can't help dissing the grits in South Carolina no more than I can change my accent in California.

Be proud of where you are from, and at the same time wherever you are living do your best to make it your home, be happy where you live because the Good Lord has you there for a reason.

If you speak with an accent, that's OK your accent makes you who you are, and if you like a certain food, enjoy it ever chance you get, and if for some reason you are like Cindy and won't even allow grits on your plate, that's OK too..."Bless your heart."

WFW - Crushing cars at the Dollar Store

Our Words for Wednesday prompts are being provided by Elephants Child this month, she has done a terrific job and I have really enjoyed playing along, if you want to join in simply write a story, poem or whatever ever you want, use some of the words or all of the words, then drop by Elephants Child's blog and let her know.

This weeks prompts are:

invincible, wander, goofy, supreme, purring, pretend
And/or
linen, kick, puny, immense, zoom, sound

Crushing cars at the Dollar Store

After our little Black Friday experience Cindy decided that we should drop by the Dollar store on the way home and pick up a few more Christmas ornaments for our "Outside Decorations".  She was filling me in on this part of her plan while I was loading all the goodies that she had just acquired into the back seat of the truck.

The LINEN bedsheets, my new pillow, a pair of pajamas for someone yet to be determined, and several other items that I honestly don't remember and didn't know that we really needed, call me GOOFY but after the first few items, the rest just don't seem to stick in my memory.

I had to PRETEND that I was excited to be going to the Dollar Store, when I knew for a fact that all I would do was WANDER around and look at all of the goods stuffed into every nook and cranny of the aisles, about the only thing I wanted was a few Christmas ornaments to fill in some bare spots on our tree next to the driveway, not those PUNY little balls but those big honking plastic balls, you know a little bigger than a softball, something that can be seen from the road.

The parking at the Dollar Store was tight due to the narrow parking spaces, and I was standing outside guiding Cindy while she gingerly parked the truck as straight as possible, and far enough into the space to not be sticking out and get the rear end crunched by a rogue shopping cart or another large truck passing by.

Just about the time she was satisfied with her parking and my navigating skills, over the PURRING of the trucks engine, I heard the ZOOM of a truck pass by that was ever bit as big as our Club Cab GMC, the only difference was that it was raised up so far that I would need a step ladder to climb into, and the IMMENSE tires stuck out on each side making it extremely wider than normal.

I watched this truck slow to a crawl as it navigated it's way between parked cars, then it made a right hand turn into the driving lane and that's when I heard a horrible SOUND, a loud crunching noise kind of like crushing an aluminum can.

This truck had caught the front of an SUV and the SUPREME power of this truck was INVINCIBLE as the back tire caught and pulled the front bumper, grill, front wheel well liners and one headlight off of the SUV. It looked like a Monster truck event in the Dollar Store parking lot, leaving the SUV's whole front bumper and grill assembly hanging only by one screw.

The truck slowly finished it's right hand turn and immediately parked out of the way, leaving a trail of parts and pieces behind it. A small woman about my age jumped out and cried "I should have known better than to drive this truck!" It was her husbands truck and they were in town for Thanksgiving, she said this was her first time ever driving her husband's truck, all she was doing was bringing her grandchildren to the Dollar Store.

The police were called and the owner eventually found, he was concerned about how he was going to get home. "This is our only car, I can't drive it like this" he had a friend with him that said "Sure you can, watch this"

His friend reached down and unhooked the turn signal lights, then he began to KICK down on top of the bumper until the whole assembly fell off of the front of the SUV.

As Cindy and I drove away they were trying to stuff the parts into the back of the SUV, the woman was shaking her head and watching, it had been nearly two hours and no police were there yet, but once we got home I realized something that was completely overlooked...

I never went inside the Dollar Store, and I still need those ornaments.

I'm not buying it

Thanksgiving is over for this year and we have all suffered and even struggled through Black Friday, the Christmas decorations are coming out and most likely already in their respective places.

I always say that I'm not going to participate in Black Friday, not going to do it, you aren't going to catch me in a store! No way, no how, don't even ask because it ain't gonna happen. Then every year Cindy tricks me into going somewhere that involves a Black Friday sale...Yes folks she did it again this year.

She is getting pretty good at this, last year I once again thought we were going to Walgreens to pick up prescriptions and the next thing I knew I was standing in a line so long that you couldn't even see the registers holding an arm full of stuff that I didn't know we needed...but "Jimmy just look at these prices!" Hell I was still wondering how I got there.

This year on the Friday after Thanksgiving, Cindy and her dad were going through the grocery store ads, talking about things that we needed, you know things like food, milk, Cindy's Shasta cola, because now she does have a full 12 pack of damaged cans and it is time to restock.

After lunch every day Ray takes a nap, and after all the grocery store talk Cindy says to me. Hey Jimmy, I need to pick up a few things at the store, you want to ride along with me?...innocent enough of a question don't you think.

Next thing I know, we are pulling into the crowded parking lot of a store with Black Friday Sale proudly posted on the doors, I only need to go inside "just for a minute", Cindy explains. Because evidently she has a 10 dollar coupon that expires at 1pm and we just can't let a coupon go to waste.

The plan was to find a 10 dollar item, check out with the coupon before it expires, and be on our way. She even went so far as to tell me. It's not like I'm buying it, I'll be using my coupon so really it'll be like I'm getting it free. "It" would be the unknown 10 dollar item that she was going to find. I can now see that "It" was the coupon, and the coupon was this year's ploy to get me inside a Black Friday sale, and I again fell for it... yes it happened "again".

We didn't get a shopping cart when we first came in because "I'm only getting one thing" One thing turned into two sets of bedsheets, a new pillow, a pair of pajamas, and several other items that I honestly don't remember what she added to the armload of stuff that I didn't know we needed.

Cindy tells me. Just look at these prices Jimmy! You can't find bedsheets for this price. I reply but Cindy we have bedsheets, it's not like we need them! She shoves a partially opened package towards me and proudly states. I say we need them and I like them, just feel how soft these are. I agree they are soft. I mistakenly say. She lays the package on top of my ever increasing armload of stuff that I didn't even know we needed, and adds a second one. I just have to get two at this price!

The next thing I knew I was standing in a line so long that you couldn't even see the registers, still holding an arm full of stuff that I didn't know we needed. We really should have gotten a shopping cart Cindy! It's too bad that you didn't find a ten dollar item over in jewelry so we could have only gone there and left. I say to her, and just like that she walks away.

I have an idea! Cindy says as she is looking through a line of watches marked "Prices lowered, Today only" she holds one up. What do you think of this one? It's nice I say, and she turns and plops it down on the counter. Will that be all? The clerk asks Cindy. to which she points to me and replies, My husband has all of that stuff, can you check that out too? Sure thing the clerk tells her.

Cindy says to me, For nineteen bucks, you are getting a watch for Christmas and you don't even have to stand in that line. Remember to give her your coupon I say.

So for about one hundred and thirty bucks we supposedly saved two hundred and two dollars, Cindy used her coupon, I'm getting a watch for Christmas. Cindy told me. Now remember, you never saw this watch before, OK, and we never made it to a grocery store...I'm thinking that actually going to the grocery store was never part of the plan.

Gone Fishing

Most of you have heard a few of my fishing stories, not fish stories mind you because there is a big difference between the two. Fishing stories are stories about going fishing, and Fish stories are where a fisherman may or may not stretch the truth a little bit about his fishing trips to make them more interesting.

You have heard a few "Whoppers", and also isn't it true that everyone has seen or for some of us even done, the motion of holding his arms spread wide apart showing the size of "the one that got away", or bragging about the stringer full of nice fish he caught, bad thing about this one is that no one ever saw the stringer of fish, and never was invited to the fish fry either.

OK I'll admit that some fishermen can stretch the truth so far as to where you could assume he was lying, but never call a fisherman a liar, we like to say that he is telling a fish story.

A fishing trip always begins with a good old tackle box and a couple of rods and reels. Last week I got a chance to go fishing for the day, I brought out my trusty tackle box that I have used for about 35 years and a couple of my favorite rod and reel setups.

Today could be the day that I could start my post with;

Deep in thought I stood at the waters edge staring into the rolling waves, I was contemplating my approach because the magnificent creature had eluded capture for so long, I could feel it in my bones this would be the day I would outsmart the monster dwelling below the surface.

I used this beginning on you for one of my other fishing trips where I landed the monster, caught a stringer full of fish, ok I actually caught three that day and I have pictures to prove it.

The Super Duper Day I caught three fish.

On that fishing trip I was the man everyone wanted advice from, what lure are you using? Do you think I'd do better with power bait or live worms? Should I use a bobber or fish on the bottom? Do these waders make my butt look big? You know all of the typical fishing questions.

I was the man that day, the one with the correct lure in his tackle box, the master fisherman, and the fact that I only caught three fish just goes to show how good I was, or how bad the fishing was for everyone else.

But to tell you the truth, when I went fishing last week, this fishing trip was one of those empty stringer days for me.

My stringer was empty, but the young oriental man and wife team that continued to march around the lake, pulling fish out left and right all over the place, and once he even casted one right next to where my line had landed, it was like a race reeling them in, my black and yellow spotted Panther Martin with it's gold blade spinning at the speed of sound against his...whatever it was he was fishing with, and whatever it was, it was immediately hidden from view as soon as he pulled it from the water.

This kid had the nerve to step right into my spot while I was busy changing my lure over to a kastmaster, and he actually landed two, I'm telling you this guy stepped right into my spot and cast his line right into the same waters that I was fishing in and on two consecutive casts he pulled in two really nice trout, I asked him what he was fishing with and while he cupped his bait in his hand hiding it from view, all he said was "jig" as he walked away kindly relinquishing my spot back to me.

I had to pull out the big guns now, I had to know what he was using, and since he wasn't sharing this information with anybody, I sent in Zayah, you remember Isaiah don't you? Cindy's Uncle Larry's grandson, the one who had the Accidental Baptism last time we went fishing.

To make a long story short Zayah went down and talked to this young man, and not only did he tell Zayah what he was using, he gave him one and showed him how to use it.

My little spy, Zayah brought back his newly acquired fishing jig back and showed it to me, Look at what he gave me Jimmy, you want to try it? I grinned because with my fully stocked tackle box, in my mind I could see all of my jigs in the bottom tray, left hand side in at least three assorted colors. No problem thanks Buddy he gave it to you, you go ahead and use it. Zayah ran off and I flipped the lid open on my tackle box, guess what was the only thing that wasn't there...

Jimmy "Gone Fishing"

Kicking back for a while on my chair with my heels propped up on top of my 35 year old tackle box really isn't a bad day, I figure that a bad day fishing is better than a good day doing...most anything else.

And folks this was a bad day for fishing, but it was a really good day to be fishing.

And yes when I got home I placed my jigs right back into their proper place, in the lower tray, left hand side...

I wonder whose bright idea was it to remove all of my jigs to make room for those new Kastmasters that I just had to have anyways...

WFW - Thanksgiving comes first.

This weeks prompts for Words for Wednesday are again being provided by Elephants Child, stop by her blog and let her know if you want to join in. Use all of the words, some of the words or whatever you choose, it is a great way to let the words write a story for you.

Our prompts this week are:

river, dashing, free, shrug, interest, naive
And/or
light, wax, winter, bucket, disillusioned, super

Thanksgiving comes first

Walking in a WINTER wonderland, DASHING through the snow, over the RIVER and through the woods!, Oh my goodness is it Christmas already? I am already hearing a medley of Christmas music everywhere that I turn and the Turkey is not even in the oven yet.

Am I NAIVE to think that Thanksgiving should come first?

We actually went shopping today for a cheap Thanksgiving tablecloth for Thursday, but I guess that we were in the wrong time period. Walking into our Dollar store you would have thought that Thanksgiving was already over with, I was more than a little DISILLUSIONED to find nothing Thanksgivingy at all, instead I saw SUPER sized displays of Christmas trees, ornaments, Santa hats, gift boxes, toothpaste, bobby pins and body WAX...oops that was the wrong aisle.

Needless to say there were no Thanksgiving tablecloths, nothing of INTEREST, nothing even close. Cindy and I looked through all the colors of tablecloths and nothing looked just right for our table, she finally held one up and with my answer being a SHRUG of my shoulders, Cindy opted for a multi colored striped party tablecloth instead of one with a Christmas theme, because it's not Christmas yet.

I zig zagged my way to the front of the store with Cindy's multi colored tablecloths, when all of a sudden it was like a LIGHT bulb went off in her head and she shouted, Wait Jimmy, I need some Scotch tape!

It just so happens that Scotch tape was on sale, being that people use it to wrap Christmas presents. I nearly tripped over a BUCKET of Scotch tape marked at the fantastic sale price of "Buy 1 at twice the price and get one FREE" and since it was on sale Cindy had me grab 2, then she began browsing the Christmas decorations.

It was then and there that I had to put my foot down because it's not time to be buying Christmas goodies yet, we have to keep our holidays in order, come on now everybody knows it's Thanksgiving first, then Black Friday, and then Christmas. OK Black Friday was just a joke but that's a whole other post, right now Thanksgiving comes first.

I held Cindy's hand and we walked towards the front of the store...

The lost cell phone that wasn't

After our last Friday night pizza routine with the kids, we had a little situation that a lot of you can probably relate to. After a meal out there always seems to be something that happens, for us the biggest issue is usually leaving the to-go box behind, but this time Tim lost something a lot more near and dear to his heart...

We pushed Ray out to the car in his wheelchair, and got everybody and everything loaded, Benjamin had his possessions and we even remembered the pizza that was in the "to-go box", everyone was relaxed enjoying the nice feeling of a great evening and a full belly, Cindy put the car in reverse and was backing away from the restaurant when Tim yelled. Wait, wait, wait, has anybody got my phone!

Cindy hit the brakes throwing my head back into the headrest, and Tim is patting all of his pockets, the girls are looking through their purses, and Tim says, Last time I saw my phone it was laying on the table next to the pizza box, did anybody pick it up?

What's the matter? Cindy's dad asks. We are looking for Tim's phone, Cindy tells him. Tim's what? Phone, his what? Phone! Bone? Phone!! Oh where's his phone? We're looking for it Dad! Oh for God's sake can't these kids keep up with anything? He says.

Cindy picks up her phone and makes a call, Who are you calling? Her Dad asks. I'm calling Tim's phone. Why are you doing that, don't you know he lost it?

Elisa (Tim's wife) jumps out of the car and walks back into the restaurant. She notices that our table hasn't been cleared yet, expecting to find Tim's phone right where he left it she makes her way over to the table, the cell phone is not there.

She looks under all the discarded napkins on the table, and also checks the floor in case it was dropped and kicked underneath the table, nothing no cell phone anywhere. Thinking one of the employees may have picked it up she goes up to the counter to ask.

Now she has to wait in line because all of a sudden the New York Pizzeria is busy and there is only one person at the counter, while she waits Elisa is trying to listen for Tim's ringtone behind the counter, she knows that Cindy is calling it, this ain't her first rodeo as they say, she and Cindy have teamed up before looking for someone's lost cell phone.

Elisa has already imagined that someone behind that counter has her husband's phone and is probably going through all of his pictures, Oh No Not Tim's Pictures!, they are probably listening to his music, and ordering stuff off of Amazon on Tim's dime...She is mad now.

Back in the car everyone has settled down and stopped looking for the missing phone, Cindy and her Dad have stopped talking because Ray now understands the situation, Cindy has shut the engine off, and Benjamin has fallen asleep, the noise level in the car drops to nil, nada, zero, nothing, all of a sudden you could hear a pin drop, and guess what...

A "not so lost" cell phone.

I faintly hear a sound, a very quiet version of Tim's ringtone, I look over and see Tim's face frozen in fear as he reaches around into his back pocket and pulls out his cell phone. Oh my God! He yells as he jumps out of the car.

Elisa has just gotten to the counter and has begun asking about Tim's phone that by now she has convinced herself was stolen from the table, the clerk has denied that anyone has been out to retrieve anything from the table yet, and just before Elisa unleashes the wrath of the crazy lady looking for her stolen cell phone the front door bursts open.

Everyone turns to look at the door where Tim is peeking inside motioning for Elisa to come outside, she holds up her finger telling him to wait a minute, Tim holds his cell phone up and points to it. Elisa puts a fake smile on her face and apologizes to the clerk, she then turns back towards Tim and mouths "I hate you!" as she begins walking his way.

Tim did the only smart thing that he could at the time, he turned and ran for the car.

Friday night pizza

When our kids were small, every time we went to visit Cindy's parents in California, on Friday nights Cindy's parents took us out for pizza, and not just any pizza it was always pizza from the New York Pizzeria in Calimesa, California. As a matter of fact when Cindy and I were first married, on Friday night of our first visit to California we met the whole family for pizza at the New York Pizzeria.

Imagine this, the first time I met Cindy's brothers was over a New York Pizzeria pizza and a pitcher of beer. The new husband of their baby sister, and now I'm sitting across the table from, and being looked over by her three brothers, all at once. I find myself staring at three men much bigger than me, I'm out of my element, I'm in California for the first time ever for God's sake, an outsider, the new guy, staring down three guys that I don't know. It could have been pandemonium! We are at The New York Pizzeria with the whole family and I was afraid that no one would notice a little pandemonium, but in my favor Ray (Cindy's Dad) had already given me his blessing.

Two  of her brothers were more interested in the pizza than me, and one wanted to flex his muscles and let me know how his little sister would be treated. He was the smaller of the three and flexing muscles don't impress nor intimidate me anyway. The pizza was good and after a couple of slices and a mug of beer, he stopped strutting around like a bantam rooster and I guess that I passed the test because I'm still here after twenty plus years.

Needless to say Friday night is pizza night, and every visit to California after that included Friday night pizza, with the Family special, of an extra large sausage, pepperoni, and cashew pizza with all the side fixings, a pitcher of beer, and coke for the children and non drinkers.

When the kids were younger, we all sat around visiting and watching while the kids scarfed down the pizza, we always had to order extra because between all the running back and forth between the game machines and the parents for more quarters, the kids were never full of that good ole cashew pizza.

Our kids are all adults, Cindy and I now live in California and take care of her dad Ray. And when our kids come to visit they still want to go out for Friday night pizza. And not just any pizza, it has to be at The New York Pizzeria.

When Tim, Elisa, and Benjamin came out the last time, Tim really wanted to go out for pizza, Tim loves that sausage, pepperoni, and cashew pizza but I think he loves the memories of going out with Cindy's parents for the Friday night pizza routine more than the pizza itself.

Although I have seen Tim order two large pizzas to hide out in an ice chest so he could carry them back home to New Mexico, I have a feeling those pizzas never made it all the way to New Mexico, heck the empty pizza boxes probably landed in a road side rest area trash can somewhere in Arizona.

Now that Cindy's Mom is gone, and her Dad doesn't get around very good, we don't go to Friday night pizza that often anymore. Tim asked his Papa Ray if we could all go out for Friday night pizza and Ray simply told him no, said that we could order pizza and bring it home.

Tim told him that it wouldn't be the same, that he remembered always going to pizza with Nanu and Papa on Friday night's, and now that Benjamin was here that he wanted his son to have the same memories of Big Papa that Tim did.

We pushed Ray to the car in a wheelchair, pushed him into New York Pizzeria in that same chair, ordered the Family special, of an extra large sausage, pepperoni, and cashew pizza with all the side fixings and a pitcher of beer. And of course Cindy and Benjamin got their pitcher of Coke.

Benjamin ran back and forth between the game machines and his parents (and Mimi) asking for more quarters and ate his fill of pizza, Benjamin had a ball and believe it or not Ray had just as much fun as Benjamin did, Ray sat and laughed, he had pizza and a few mugs, but the best time he had was talking with Tim, going over memories and oohing and aahing over the "prized possessions" Benjamin was gaining from the quarter eating machines. Ray didn't really want to leave when it was time to go.

I'm not sure how many more Friday night pizzas we are going to have with Ray, but I do know that this was a great one. Four generations sitting around together eating the same pizza at the same restaurant they have been coming to since Cindy was a little girl.

I have a feeling that one day Benjamin just may walk into the New York Pizzeria with his children, and order a Family special of an extra large sausage, pepperoni, and cashew pizza with all the side fixings and a pitcher of beer. And of course a pitcher of Coke for Mimi.

WFW - My Favorite Author

Elephants Child is providing our prompts this month in the Words for Wednesday writing challenge, this is a fun challenge so please join in and enjoy where the words take you, all you have to do is write a story, poem, or whatever comes to mind. Use some of the words or all of the words, and even the image EC provided, just let your imagination flow.

If you join in leave a comment on Elephant Child's blog so everyone else can enjoy your addition.

This weeks prompts are:
agonizing, murder, sleet, stimulating, flowers, offer
And/or
dramatic, distinct, zany, typical, sip, discovery

My Favorite Author

"It was a dark and stormy night", this was the TYPICAL beginning of ever story he ever wrote. He was known as the World Famous Author and was always AGONIZING over the plots and subject matter of his stories. His stories were STIMULATING and ZANY, and mostly rejected by his publishers, but I still love him and he is my Hero.

I don't recall any dark stories that he ever wrote, nothing about MURDER and Mayhem or anything not really G rated, he did OFFER stories of action and adventure, DRAMATIC tales of his tangling with The Red Baron as the World War I Flying Ace, actually flying through rain, SLEET, and snow to eventually save the day.

My World Famous Author Calendar that sits on my desk

Snoopy is bound to be listed as one of your favorite authors...Right?

Sitting at my desk I look at my World Famous Author calendar that my daughter got me for Christmas, last year, a few years, several years...OK she got this for me a Long time ago.

My mornings begin with a SIP of coffee, a walk out to my little office in the bunkhouse, surrounded by birds, bees, unicorns, and FLOWERS along the way...OK I go out and feed the horse and release the chickens for the day, then I adjust the date on my Snoopy calendar and check my email and blog.

Just like my blog there is nothing DISTINCT about this post other than my love for Snoopy, as I said before he is my hero, and I just wanted for you to smile today...OK I do love my wife more, just don't tell Snoopy, because the DISCOVERY of this just may cause him to reject my next story.