High Flying Fun, the answer

This weeks Truth or Fiction challenge speaks to two trips we have taken in the past.

Everyone was pretty well split down the middle with both numbers one and two for your answers, you all continue to impress me with your reasoning and explanations for your answers, and I am honored to have each of you involved, so here is the breakdown explaining this weeks answer.

Number one was a trip we took to South Carolina in 2014, Cindy was very nervous about cleanliness and she does absolutely panic when someone is coughing near her, she did wipe down our seats, trays, and the seatbacks in front of us before she sat down, I am sure people were pushing past her and she did aggravate a lot of folks, but this one is True.

Cindy did in fact clean our area with Clorox wipes and panicked to the point of pulling her shirt collar up to cover her face when the lady behind us took a coughing spell.

Number two was a trip we took to California about sixteen years ago, Cindy and I were both smokers then, Cindy bought her smokes at a tobacco store and they always gave her a disposable lighter or two every time she came in,   She evidently hadn't cleaned out her purse before we left, but airport security did.

Fifteen lighters were confiscated and a sarcastic remark about dumping the duffel bag due to insulin needles got it dumped also, I have never witnessed this before or since and did think it strange then, but they were giving her lighters away to passengers and I was given two of them.

And yes believe it or not fifteen is the actual number, we still laugh about that now, even Cindy has a hard time believing she had that many.

Cindy and I have both given up smoking, around twelve years for me and approximately eight for Cindy, so our next air trip will definitely be lighter free..

Number three was this weeks completely made up story, we did fly into Greenville/Spartanburg and did rent from Alamo who treated us very well, we were in and out in a Dodge sedan, the clerk was very professional and didn't work on any machinery or lose our keys, there was never a Kia Soul or a Chevy Captiva involved.

Our involvement with Alamo was a pleasant experience, and the story I told about them was completely False.

This appears to be another example of Truth being stranger than fiction, and I am surprised that I stumped everyone this week, I didn't see that one coming.

Rather than have an empty True Winners section, I think it's fair to let last week's winners ride for one more week.

What have you found in your purse or a coat pocket that you didn't know was there?

High Flying Fun

There have been quite a few Airline stories in the news lately, so this week I thought I'd share some of our airline experiences as part of the Truth or Fiction challenge, as always two of the situations will be true and one completely made up.

Enjoy the stories and let me know which one you believe is False;

We took a trip to South Carolina a couple of years ago, and Cindy was pretty apprehensive about flying because as most of you know, she is germophobic and "those planes are full of germs" but after a lot of discussion and planning I got her on the plane without donning a hazmat suit.

I was ahead of Cindy as we boarded the plane, I found our seats and sat down next to the window, just as I reached for the fold down tray Cindy yelled “Stop! Don’t Touch That!” I about peed myself, I looked up to see Cindy wearing rubber gloves and holding Clorox wipes.

She commenced to wiping down our seats and trays, I'm now standing with my head against the ceiling and my hips pressed forward while she cleans the seat I had already sat upon.

After the whole area  was declared clean Cindy sat down and allowed the remaining passengers to continue down the aisle, I was afraid she was going to pass out Clorox wipes to each passenger, but her attention was diverted when the lady behind us started coughing and hacking, Cindy yanked her shirt collar up over her mouth and nose and jerked around to glare at the lady through the split between the seats, "She's not even covering her mouth!" Cindy said loudly as she pressed her face while looking between our newly cleaned seat backs.

I said “You better turn back around because I bet you had rather her cough on the back of your head than in your face” Cindy turned back around and almost pulled her shirt completely over her face, I tugged the bottom of her shirt back down before the people across the aisle saw more than she wanted them to see.

She yanked away from me and said, “I really wish I had brought a mask”


A few years back we were flying to California to see Cindy's folks, this was obviously before we moved here and were still in New Mexico, we flew out of Lubbock, Texas and had arrived in plenty of time.

I had already cleared the screening area and was retrieving my belongings and shoes from the little baskets, when I hear the metal detector go off behind me, I look back just as Cindy jumps back out of it, the security agent checks her pockets and sends her back into the detector.

Cindy's shoes and pocketbook are riding along the belt with our carry on bag containing our clothes, some snacks, my insulin and syringes, just as the alarm sounded at the metal detector with Cindy standing inside, an alarm also sounded on her pocketbook.

Cindy is suddenly surrounded by all kinds of people, tsa agents, security guards, all kinds of official looking folks, the metal detector is still screaming and now she is being gone over with the wand.

I had already put my shoes back on and was watching that look on Cindy's face, that I'm not happy and somebody's going to be sorry look.

They are still going over Cindy with the wand, while at the same time one of them dumps out her pocketbook and starts counting cigarette lighters, lighters that Cindy always got free when she bought cigarettes and threw into the bottom of her pocketbook, they counted fifteen lighters and the wand had zeroed in on the button of her jeans.

A very large female TSA agent who was not very happy looks Cindy in the eyes and asks:

"Why do you have Fifteen Lighters?"

Cindy replied "I get one free when I buy cigarettes."

Agent: "Why Do You Have Fifteen Lighters In Your Purse?"

Cindy: (throws her arms into the air and yells) "What do you think I am going to do" “Blow Up The Plane?”

This was not her finest hour, but she did go on to say, “Why don’t you dump out the duffle bag too because there are “Needles In It”

I dropped my head because I knew this was going to take a while, more security guards arrived and the duffle bag was dumped, we had a note from my Doctor stating I am a Diabetic and the syringes were necessary, so the needles were allowed.

Cindy was shouting “You better repack it just like I had it”, as they stuffed our belongings back into the bag, they took all of her lighters, and told her that she was free to go, she grabbed her pocketbook and our poorly repacked bag and headed my way.

As I was walking to meet Cindy, I passed the agent who confiscated Cindy's lighters, she smiled at me and asked “Sir do you smoke?” I had no lighters on me so I answered Yes, I figured that I was going to be searched, she then asked if I had a lighter.

Cindy's lighters were piled on the table in front of the agent, she said here take a couple of these, I picked up two lighters and did my best to hold onto Cindy's arm as I pulled her towards our gate. I'm sure we didn't have time for what Cindy had in store for the airport security agent who was giving her lighters away.

The last time we flew to South Carolina rather than borrow a relatives car, we reserved a rental car in advance, Cindy wanted to drive a Kia Soul, you know the cute little car that the hamsters drive in the commercials, Cindy likes these commercials, So I paid up for a "Hamster Car"

After cleaning the plane the rest of our flight had gone fine, we got off the plane at Greenville-Spartanburg Airport, grabbed our bags and headed for Alamo Car Rental, this is a small airport and everything is reasonably close together, this makes it nice, I gave the clerk our reservation number and he confirmed they had a Kia Soul.

He grabbed the keys and laid them on the counter, but when he went to print out the forms something was messed up in the printer, now he and a coworker are working on the printer, so Cindy and I step away from the counter and are looking at the parking garage full of rentals waiting to be driven.

The clerk calls us back saying the printer is ready and we would be ready also in just a couple of minutes, while he is typing in all of our information a Kia Soul drives past, Cindy pokes me and says "that'll be us in a few minutes"

The clerk reached for the keys saying "all I have to do now is type in this number and you are good to go", he starts moving papers around, looking under things, checking his, pockets, he repeated this process, looked on the floor, then yelled "hey guys, any of you see the keys to that Soul?"

Another clerk yelled back:

"yeah, I just rented it",

"you can't do that, I had the keys and promised it to these people!",

"the keys were laying there so I took them"

I got into the mix by saying "hey guys we have no time for this, just get me another Soul", sorry can't do that, it was the last one we had. "Cindy yells at the key stealer, "you better un-rent it because that is my Soul", key stealer replied "sorry they just drove away", Cindy walked down the counter towards him and he went out the back door.

We drove away in a different SUV, a Chevy Captiva Sport, which is the exact same car as our personal car at the time, only a different color, Cindy is so mad she can hardly talk, "This one is a year newer than ours" I said, she replied "yeah but it's not a Hamster Car, I Can't Believe I Lost My Soul at Alamo Rent a Car"

I hope you enjoyed our air travel experiences, the thing is that one is completely False, I would like for you to tell me which one you believe is False:

1 - Cindy cleans the plane and dodges the coughs.

2 - Cindy loses her lighters.

3 - Cindy loses her Soul at Alamo.

For our high flying fun this week, select the answer you believe is False, this is the only place where the False answer is correct, and for those who are right, your blog will land in the True Winners section.

Air travel or Road trips which do you like best?

Save the Soup Jimmy

Wednesday was my three month check in with the Doctor, every three months I do blood work and then go in for him to tell me how marvelous I am doing.

This is all necessary due to my forty plus years of wrestling with Type One Diabetes and all the other things caused by it, frustration is a gentle way to describe it.

A quick example is my insulin, I have been using the exact same long acting insulin for years, then all of a sudden my insurance company placed it on a different list and my insulin price more than doubled, but to save money there is another which they claim works just as good for the lower price I was already paying.

I contacted my Doctor and he prescribed the other insulin, and since I began using this one my blood sugars are out of control, for a couple of months now we have upped the dose, split the dose, changed the amount of my short acting insulin, and adjusted my meal plan to no avail, this insulin is simply not working for me.

After about an hour of discussion on how I am not so marvelous now, my Doctor suggested a new insulin, made by the same company as my original one, and as described by him "an upgraded version of your old insulin" the prescription was faxed over to the pharmacy and now looking at the order guess what?........it costs the more than doubled price, go figure.

We left the medical complex and headed to the shopping center, our son Randy is getting married next month and Momma needs a new outfit, Cindy already has one picked out and saved on her phone, so we go to Pennys who has this outfit according to the net, but not only is the web wrong they hardly have anyone at the store who is willing to help, we did find one young lady but it was only her second day......

Three stores later and I find myself standing in a large department store with Cindy slinging everything the particular color she wanted towards me, some kind of purple, I was trying to be helpful;

"Hey Babe look at this one, it's cute"

"That's ugly!!!"

"Hey Babe how about this one, it's close to the color"

"That's blue, what's wrong with you?"

"Hey Babe would you call this sky blue?"

"You can't see the sky from here!"

I noticed a man standing close by grinning at us and said to him, "looks like you are doing the same thing I am" he looked at his wife and caught the skirt she tossed at him, "it appears so" he said, I replied "it looks like we are doing a good job?" "I'm not so sure, I guess that depends on who you ask"

We agreed that we would only ask each other and spent the next hour pointing and laughing whenever we crossed paths, giving each other the thumbs up, and following our wives around as they shopped, the last time I saw him was outside the dressing rooms, I said "it looks like we are still doing good" he said "you are doing better than me, I don't see you holding a purse"

I'm still not sure how I got out of that one.

Cindy loves the Olive Garden and we haven't been there in a while so needless to say that is where we ended up, on the way in Cindy said to me "now I want you to remember the last time we were here that glass of wine you got was eight bucks"

She was right, last time we came the waiter asked if I would like a wine sample, I said that I would, and then made the mistake of commenting on how good it was, he filled my glass and went about his business, I guess I had inadvertently ordered myself a glass of wine.

This time when asked I said that I would and that Cindy would like one too, the waitress brought two samples for each of us, so here we sat with four wine glasses in front of us, I enjoyed my first sample and slid the empty glass in front of Cindy, she looked as I replaced it with one of her samples, she doesn't drink so I wasn't going to allow them to go to waste, isn't that a form of alcohol abuse?

When all four samples were gone our meals had arrived, I didn't even get my fork picked up before Cindy was cutting off a piece of my chicken, I ordered the shrimp and chicken carbonara, and Cindy ate over half of my chicken and pasta, three quarters of the appetizers and half the salad, I did enjoy my shrimp and two more wine samples that neither of us asked for.

Cindy does love eating here and at the end of the meal my plate was clean and Cindy still had a full chicken breast and over half of her pasta "I can't believe how stuffed I am, and I didn't even finish my plate" she said, I just grinned because I knew why she was stuffed, she got a to go box and ordered a bowl of minestrone soup to take home for her Dad.

On the way to the car Cindy reminds me to pay attention to the soup, getting in the car she reminds me to not spill the soup, I place the bag on the floor between my feet, to go box in the bag, bowl of soup sitting on top, sealed of course, and then I buckle in for the ride home.

The freeway wasn't too crowded, we were laughing and talking about the day, I had just joked that I had somehow drank six glasses of wine (samples of course) and it didn't cost us anything, when suddenly all traffic in front of us stopped.

Cindy hit the brakes hard enough that my seat belt locked holding me to my seat, Cindys arm slapped across my chest, you know like your Momma always did when you were riding on the seat beside her, she would hit the brakes and throw her arm out at the same time to protect you, Cindy does this to me.

While all of this is happening I hear Cindy suddenly yell "Save the Soup Jimmy!!" I couldn't reach the soup, between the seatbelt and Cindy's arm holding me, all I could do was helplessly watch the soup bowl slide off of the to go box.

Later that evening we were sitting with Cindy's Dad telling him how our day went, while slurping on his soup all he said was "Now that's some good minestrone"

Do you talk to fellow shoppers and people you don't know when you are out shopping?

It's in the bag

Plastic bags can be a big nuisance or really handy depending on who you are talking with. I kind of miss the old paper bags, that is if you carried them correctly otherwise everything was on the ground.

Back in the day when you went grocery shopping everything went into a paper bag, the bags were folded and stacked neatly at the end of the counter where the bag boy, bagger, sacker stood with his upright carry out cart.

He was really efficient, you would hear the swoosh and snapping sound of the bag opening as he swung it in a semicircle by his side, then he began loading the paper bags professionally with your groceries as they were slid towards him by the cashier as she punched in the amounts.

There were no smashed loaves of bread or broken eggs because there was a sense of pride with this job, after the items were sorted and sacked, the paper bags loaded with your groceries were then placed onto the cart, and he delivered the bags to your car and said "thank you, and come back to see us" when he was finished loading the groceries into your car.

Progress came along and the cashier no longer punches in the amounts, now you hear "beep, bleep, beep, beep, beep" as your groceries slide across the scanner and off to the side towards the bags.

"Paper or Plastic?" is the question and the easiest answer is plastic because that is all you see, the paper bags are underneath and out of sight, your groceries are loaded into plastic and placed into the same buggy you used to bring the groceries to the register, sometimes by a bagger and other times the cashier.

You can ask for help taking your groceries to the car, but the normal thing now is pushing your buggy out, unloading it into your car and finding something to do with the buggy, you can either take it back into the store, push it across the lot to the "cart holding area", or park it right where you stand.

It's like a balancing act getting it to sit still, wet your finger and hold it above your head to check the wind direction and speed, twist just a little to the right, turn a little to the left, look for someone passing by on their way into the store, "Would you like a buggy? I have one here", I have had people say "No thanks, don't need one" then grab one as they go in the door.

This is when you kick a piece of gravel under the wheel and try to leave the scene before the buggy rolls.

Now after the election the voters here in California have essentially outlawed plastic bags, the stores can no longer give you a plastic bag for your purchase, we are saving the landfills, the sea life, the desert tortoise, or something, there is an excellent argument for outlawing plastic otherwise  the law wouldn't have passed...Right?

Now for .10 to .15 cents each they can sell you a reusable bag, guess what these bags are made out of......Plastic.

We now have to carry our plastic bag full of plastic bags into the store, you keep moving the bag of bags from one spot to another while you're shopping, and end up holding them in one hand while you unload the shopping cart onto the belt, now the sacker will load your fine reusable bags with your groceries but there is no rhyme nor reason to how they are bagged.

Things are tossed willy nilly into the bags, it's like there is no pride anymore, to hell with the eggs or bread just toss them in.

Or you can go to the self checkout,
beep, "please scan item again",
beep, "please scan item again"
beep, bleep, beep, beep, beep, "please wait for assistance.

I hate the self checkout, if I hear one more "unauthorized item in bagging area" I believe that I will scream, I think I did last time I was in the self checkout.

I sure miss hearing the good old bag boys, baggers, or sackers say, "Thank you, and come back to see us"

Paper or plastic, which do you prefer?

The Elvis Incident, answered

This weeks challenge was taken from a post called Elvis Sightings , originally posted on February 28th 2010, it was part of a series of tales on a vacation trip we took in 2006 with the kids, if you would like to see the original post you can find it here Elvis Sightings

And here is the snippet that reveals this weeks answer:

"Elvis noticed her and here he comes through the dark crowded room with a spotlight following him to pull up a chair and sit right down in front of her, she is still laughing and he is leaning in close singing “Love Me Tender” I was laughing too hard to help her, he finished the song and said “Thankyouverymuch” (yes that is one word) then Elvis left the building."

As for the first answer Elvis did in fact sing to Cindy, and to this day it was still one of the funniest things I ever witnessed, he was so serious coming across the room and when he sat down in front of her, the both of them illuminated by a spotlight in an otherwise darkened room, I about died laughing when he began singing "Love Me Tender"

He finished the song looking directly into Cindys eyes, stood up and said in his best Elvis imitation "Thankyouverymuch" and for answer number three Elvis left the building.

This leaves choice number two as the false situation and our correct answer this week;

Jean at The Misadventures of Widowhood was the first to both comment and to answer correctly, she said "I can't quite picture number two being true. He would have been used to screaming and laughing women at his performances." Her reasoning on this hit the nail on the head.

S.J. Qualls over at Now You See Me was next and completely agreed with Jean, great minds think alike.

Arkansas Patti at The New Sixty even though she is taking a blogging break this week, didn't leave before she joined these ladies in picking the correct answer.

Denise in Va. at An English Girl Rambles stopped by during her amazing travels to also see through my deception and pick answer number two as false.

Valerie over at A Mixed Bag sharpened her sleuthing skills this week, she figured noise for Elvis or impersonator wouldn't be an issue, Valerie is a long time friend who has been with us through thick and thin.

A new friend River, the author of Drifting through life said she believes that any Elvis would be appreciative of any attention, I can't argue with this statement because she is 100% right.

Bijoux at Bytes from the 'Burbs is another friend who has been with me for a number of years, she also has only missed the True Winners section one week since we started this challenge, she said that even though answer number two was the obvious choice she was going to stick with it as being false, I can't argue with reasoning like this, no wonder she continues to get them right.

I don't have a Velvet Elvis to give each of our winners this week, but I have added each one to the True Winners section, stop by and visit each one and if you don't follow them yet I recommend that you consider doing so.

Congratulations everyone and Thank you to everybody who continues to play along, I guess I should have said "Thankyouverymuch"

Do you like peanut and banana sandwiches?

The Elvis Incident

I thought I'd try something a little different for our Truth or Fiction challenge this week, I am going to reach back into my archives and bring a snippet of a post that I had given before.

I will find a stopping point and give you three things that may have happened in the remainder of the story, as always two are True and only one is false.

Music Row was our next stop in Nashville, there is a lot of history there and you just have to see it for yourself, yes Elvis made an appearance for Cindy while we were there and it was getting late in the day so we went to find a motel to which we had better luck than the last one, we found a very nice place with all you could ask for, there was a pool and weight room for the kids, a restaurant and a large room we could all be comfortable in, after supper we could hear music coming from the bar downstairs, we went down to find a group of people who we were told are trying to make it in Nashville, we were allowed to bring the kids inside as long as we were not drinking, I had no problem with this and we all really enjoyed listening to a talented group of people sing for us, after this group there was a karaoke type performance in which there were a few good ones, then out of the blue there he was “Elvis was in the building” he started singing and Cindy started laughing, she was having such a good time at seeing Elvis again she just couldn’t stop laughing after seeing him so much this day, Elvis noticed her.........

photo source clipart.co 

What happened next and Which of these occurrences is not true?

1 - Elvis came to our table and sang to Cindy.

2 - Cindy was asked to remain quite during performances.

3 - Elvis "left the building"

Everyone who chooses the False one will be added to the True Winners section for this week, I will add the remainder of the post on Wednesday and reveal our True Winners.

Who cares?

Cindy and I moved to California back in 2009 to help her Mom and Dad, her Mom was diagnosed with Alzheimer's and her Dad (Ray) needed help with her because he had promised to never put her in a facility.

Cindy is a caregiver by nature and by trade also, so it was a perfect fit to have her here for her parents, we went through all the happy and also the hard times with her Moms Alzheimer's, there were times when she could tell us stories of days gone by, and then days when she didn't know any of us, I take that back she always remembered Ray.

Cindys Mom was placed on hospice care and Cindy remained her caregiver to the end, Mom passed away at home with everyone standing at her side while she held Cindys hand, and Ray has been slowing down every since, she died the year following their 50th anniversary, and Ray kept his promise to allow her to stay at home.

Now Cindy gets herself dressed in scrubs and rushes out to a morning shift with a client, while I stay home and help her dad with his needs until she returns, Cindy is an amazing caregiver and juggling taking care of her Dad, working a job caring for a gentleman with advanced ALS or Lou Gehrig's disease, and taking care of me, is more than anyone should be required to do, now I am not helpless by any means but I do require help and Cindy is my lifeline.

Caregivers do not get enough credit, they are definitely underpaid in my opinion, there are good and bad caregivers like in any other occupation, but how many people can you find to work a job that pays minimum wage who will help you out of bed, cook and clean, hand feed, transfer you from a wheelchair to the shower chair, give you a bath, take you to the toilet and even wipe your rear when needed, someone to make sure you take your meds, and then help you back into bed and still care about your feelings.

And how about those who are doing exactly the same thing for a loved one, simply because it's the right thing to do, loved ones who do this for nothing are few and far between, there are those who say "Who Cares" and then you have caregivers who care.

Cindy is one of the caregivers who care, and I am proud of what she does and appreciate the care she gives anyone she comes into contact with, including her Mom, Dad, and I

For all of you caregivers out there working your rear off, caring for a loved one or a client while giving their lives some dignity, I want to say thank you for caring.

Are you a caregiver, or have you had any experiences with caregivers?

Life on the farm

My day starts out with feeding the livestock on our massive farm, I wake before the break of dawn and gaze out over the acreage, I place a hat upon my head as I walk out the back door to begin the struggles of my day.

Anyone who knows me has figured the ranch here is not really more than I can handle, we have one horse "Flash", you may remember him looking a little like Moe in my post Bad Haircuts, one chicken "Stew" she has been around for several years and is now more of a pet than an egg layer, she was once part of the team Stew and Pot who got their names one day when Cindy caught them beating up another chicken.

Stew is a funny hen, she actually tries to crow like a rooster in the morning, she does the strut, flaps her wings, arches the neck and everything, only problem is the sound, the cadence is there but she sounds more like she is being strangled than anything else.

In the afternoon she sometimes lays an egg during her normal hen duties, she pecks on the back door when she is hungry and when it's time to roost for the night she comes to find Cindy and squats down to be picked up and carried to the coop. Why does she crow like a rooster? I really don't know, but if she wants to lay eggs and crow about it, that's Ok with me.

We also have our little dog "Dixie", she is a thirteen year old dachshund that we have had since she was five weeks old, talk about spoiled I suppose that is how it is supposed to be though.

Dixie actually belongs to Cindy and I, but has sure taken up with Cindys Dad since he has slowed down, she keeps an eye on him while I am out feeding the livestock, but joins me when I haul off the garbage, actually she walks with me when I take out the trash, I have to move the containers so she can check for rogue lizards.

According to Dixie you can't be too careful when it comes to rogue lizards.

There is our livestock inventory, one horse, one chicken, and one lizard hearding dog, life is hard folks and I love it.

Now what we are overrun with is rabbits.

This actually began a few years back when Cindy found a small rabbit peeking out from under my shop, a bunny if you will, when they are little I guess they are not a rabbit but a bunny, they are bunnies when they are small or if it's Easter, we have to remember that when it's Easter every rabbit is a bunny.

Cindy began coaxing this bunny out with chicken scratch, a little at a time and suddenly the bunny began waiting on her to bring the chicken scratch.

I know, you are asking "shouldn't you be feeding the bunny carrots?" Well she tried this but the carrots just laid there untouched, Cindy even laid carrots next to the chicken scratch, you know in case the bunnys eyes were bad, this didn't get the carrots eaten either, the bunny sat on the carrots and ate the scratch.

This is now our morning feeding schedule, I bring carrots out for the horse and then give him his alfalfa, the rabbits and birds eat the chicken scratch and when the chicken finally gets up she pecks on the back door and Cindy brings her morning breakfast of Cheerios, everybody likes cheerios.

A few days ago Dixie and I were making our daily walk to the trash cans, Dixie waited patiently while I moved the first can, she pounced on what she thought was a rogue lizard, the fight was on and she completely obliterated the leaf that had been hiding behind the can.

As I moved the second can Dixie had shuffled embarrassed by the big leaf fight back inside the fence, the can was moved and there it was within easy reach if she had only been there, not a rogue lizard but "A Bunny!"

The bunny looked at me, then at Dixie who was barking through the fence, I thought the bunny would make a dash back towards my shop but No, he made a run directly to Dixie, ran through the fence and right through Dixies front legs, the chase was on, circles through the patio chairs with Cindy trying to catch Dixie who was trying to catch the bunny.

Chairs were flying, the table slid with a loud screech and the bunny darted behind a feed barrel I keep on the patio, Cindy caught Dixie who had her nose behind the barrel wheel with her tail going ninety miles an hour.

Which barrel was it you ask? It happened to be the chicken scratch barrel, I guess the bunny was hungry.

How many pets do you have?

When I was young, the answer

Truth is stranger than fiction for sure, and evidently this one wasn't as easy as I thought it was, only easy for me because I knew the answer, but I want you all to know that I am really impressed with the way you go over the facts and reasonably explain your answers.

To begin with is the story that got the most votes by a long shot (OK bad pun here);

Miriam E Allgood had a finance company in my hometown, Mrs. Allgood knew my family and had most likely loaned money to the majority of us at one time or another, she was always serious when it came to money and had in fact told me that she needed collateral before she would loan any money to me.

I did walk into her office with my .22 rifle and she wrote down the serial number and gave me the loan, looking back I know that rifle wasn't worth the money I was asking for, and what surprises me more than her not asking for a cosigner, was she didn't hold the car title for collateral.

# 1 is true I did use my gun to buy my first car.

Followed by the story with the second highest believers as false;

Mom always loved a Monte Carlo, and the step dad did wreck hers and replaced it with the Gran Torino that was pictured in the previous post.

I did race my Mom in my Monte Carlo against her Gran Torino, I won by tricking her into spinning her tires while I drove away, I traded cars with her and made her happy to get back into a car she loved, while gaining a 73 Gran Torino sport for myself.

# 2 is also true because I raced my Mom to trick her back into her dream car.

Now for the tale that received only one vote;

The last scenario is the false one, I did trade the Torino for a GMC pickup, I had no problem with that trade, ole Dean jumped right on it, he did change out the tires and wheels later on, but it was not my idea nor did this have anything to do with the deal and it did not cost me anything.

# 3 is false because I never had to pay to have my car look normal so I could trade it.

Delores from Mumblings was the first to comment on this and after I was slightly confused with her answer at first, she told me that 1 and 2 were true.

Delores was the only one to answer correctly this week, and she has been added to the True Winners section, stop by and give her a visit, congratulations Delores.

When I was young

For this weeks Truth or Fiction challenge I'm going to tell you a story of my amazing car dealing abilities, really I'm going to give you three situations where I ended up acquiring a vehicle.

Two are completely True and one has completely False details that resulted in the deal being made.

Your job is to point out the False one, here goes;

My first car was a 1966 Pontiac LeMans, I bought it from my step sister for 200 dollars when she was getting ready to trade it in on a new Camaro.

The deal was that they were giving her 200 for a trade in amount and if I would give her this amount then the car was mine, we shook on the deal and I walked away wondering where I was going to get 200 dollars.

I didn't have that kind of money and neither did my mom, so I went downtown and walked into Miriam E Allgoods finance company and asked to borrow the money, Mrs Allgood had me fill out the forms, ran through my work history which was a short conversation, then asked if I had any collateral.

Collateral? what the heck is collateral? "Something of value that you own that I can hold until you pay back your loan" I walked away without a loan and on my way home an idea popped, I had a .22 rifle and I would use it to get the money.

I walked into Mrs. Allgoods with my rifle, she came around her desk and asked me what I was doing, I told her that I was there for my money.

She took my rifle and wrote down the serial number and gave me 200 dollars along with my repayment plan, "I'm going to trust you to keep that gun until you pay me back because I don't want to store it" I was now a car owner and even though I no longer have the car, I still have that gun.

My mom always loved the Chevrolet Monte Carlo, and she had a nice 1970 model, but the step dad totaled it out and had replaced it with a 1973 Ford Gran Torino Sport, this was a nice car but it wasn't a Monte Carlo.

I had about worn out my LeMans and was in the market for an upgrade, Mrs. Allgood had been paid off and I actually had a little money saved, after searching the area for the right car I made a deal with one of the local used car lots for a 1972 Chevy Monte Carlo.

My Mom really fell in love with this car, and I let her drive it once in a while, one day I was sitting next to her at a red light and yelled "Hey Mom, wanna race?" Mom always loved a fast car and you know that Gran Torino had to be fast, she agreed and asked "how do you want to do this" I said "when the light turns green put it to the floor".

The light turned green and the back tires on her Torino began screaming as the tires were spinning, I just slowly drove my Monte Carlo away and waited for her at home, she was furious for being tricked, I laughed as she got out of her car and said "since that old Ford is so slow, how about we just trade cars" she broke into a smile.

That is how I acquired my Gran Torino and Mom got back into the Monte Carlo that she loved.

I drove that Gran Torino to New Mexico when I left South Carolina, and began getting stopped by the police every time I drove through the town I had relocated to, I had replaced the tires and wheels on this car and raised the rear up to accommodate the large tires on the back, this was a fast looking car, it looked like it was speeding when it was sitting still.

It didn't take long to get tired of being pulled over, so I began trying to find another car, none of the car dealers wanted my hot rod, or didn't want to give me what I thought it was worth, and I wasn't going to give it away, a lot of the guys my age wanted it but didn't have the money, and their parents wouldn't invest in a "hot rod"

I was working at Farmers Co-op which is a grain elevator where they take in, store, buy and sell crops like corn, wheat, and milo we also sold animal feed, Dean one of the men I worked with had a truck for sale and I decided that I'd look good in a truck.

I tried to trade my Gran Torino to Dean for his truck, he refused because he said that he had seen me on the side of the road with a police car behind me more than anything else, "I'm too old to be seen driving a hot rod" he told me.

After work I drove down to Big O Tires and made a deal that cost me half my paycheck, my Cragar S/S mags and wide tires to have a regular set of tires and wheels installed and the back of the car lowered to a normal height, the very next day I was driving a 1972 GMC pickup after trading my car to Dean.

I have driven a pickup truck ever since then, but have often wished I still had that Gran Torino.

Ok folks there we have a portion of my teenage years, as always two of these scenarios on how I made car deals are completely true and one although partially true has a completely made up situation included.

Pick the one that is false and have your blog added to the True Winners section

Which is false:

1 - used a gun to buy my first car.
2 - raced my Mom to trick her back into her dream car.
3 - paid to have my car look normal so I could trade it.

What was your first car?

Mom did it

My mom had me when she was very young, I always joke with her that she and I grew up together, when in reality she was forced to grow up the day I was born, I am one of the lucky ones who still have their mother and I don't take this lightly, Happy Mothers day Mom.

Mom had three children when my Dad left her to basically raise us on her own, I didn't realize it then but now I can see how hard life was for her, I could say "hard for us" but she made sure that we never suffered.

I remember fried egg sandwiches for supper or just a pot of grits for breakfast, polk salad, have you ever eaten polk salad? I remember it growing wild in the ditch and on the back of the property we lived on, a lot of times this was supper.

My point is that Moms do what they have to so we won't go hungry.

I clearly remember asking Mom why she wasn't eating with us, she always said that she wasn't hungry and would eat later, looking back now I know she didn't eat so we could, Mom did it, she starved herself so we wouldn't.

All Moms sacrifice in one way or another and most times we don't even know they are doing it.

My Mom raised us all to be respectful and we all grew up just fine, she still takes care of us when needed and we take care of her when she will allow it, I know that I wouldn't be here nor the person I am without her. I Love you Mom.

The first time I met Cindy's Mom, we were in the process of moving in together, we had already discussed marriage but hadn't let the cat out of the bag yet.

The first thing Cindy's Mom ever said to me was "Do you have any intention of making an honest woman of my daughter" I'll never forget the look on her face and I love that she was so forward with the fact that her daughters happiness was very important to her. I Love you Mom.

About the last thing Cindys Mom ever said to me was when she was laying on the hospital bed hospice had brought into the house, I was standing next to the bed talking with her when suddenly she closed her eyes and let her head fall to the side, I was startled and said "Mom" she opened her eyes and looked straight at me and yelled "Boo, Gotcha" she laughed about that and I laughed with her.

We lost Cindy's Mom back in 2011, she was actually holding Cindys hand as she took her last breath, but she is not gone, we still celebrate her memory and love her for the determination she had to keep her children safe, I know she made sacrifices for her children and taught them right from wrong because I see her mannerisms in Cindy, and I know Cindy is a wonderful Mom because she was raised right and taught well, I Love Cindys mom for who she was and for passing that down to Cindy, and I Love Cindy for who she is exactly how she is.

For all the Moms out there I want to wish you a Happy Mothers day, for those of us who still have our Moms give them a hug or a call and tell them that you Love them.

This also goes for you who were raised by someone other than your biological Mom.

Grandmothers, Sisters, Aunts, Cousins, Foster, Adoptive, Step or whomever, whether blood relative or not they are still your Mom, they love you like their own otherwise they wouldn't have helped to raise you. Happy Mothers Day to you.

They say it takes a village to raise a child and I believe this wholeheartedly, think of how many children you have come into contact with, no matter how much time you have spent with this child, part of you goes with them, advice, a suggestion, a hug, a smile, or simply the acknowledgement that they are there can be remembered for a lifetime, whether you have children or not, you have helped raise more than you realize. Happy Mothers day to you.

And for those who have lost their Mother, think back and remember the happy times, remember how much she loved you and the things she did to make you laugh, tell her you Love her whether out loud or in thought, as long as you remember her she is never really gone.

Happy Mothers Day Ladies, without your love we would all be lost.

How do you celebrate Mothers Day?

Swimming with sharks

Whenever the kids come to visit we always pick a place to take them, you know how it is, the kids show up and you immediately go into entertainment mode, we can't have them think that we are boring....Right?

You know how it is, we sit around the house, do the yard work, nap in the recliner while watching the TV, play on the computer, read a few books, heck I've gone an entire week without leaving the property, but this is not boring for me. Then the grandson comes for a visit and suddenly we are all over the place.

He was here a couple of years ago for five days and we took him down to Disneyland which should have been enough, but no we left Disney and went straight over to Knott’s Berry Farm and rented a hotel room for the night, swam in the pool until they closed it, then walked to the theme park the next morning and had a full day there.

We got home very late that night, I was hoping for a day of rest, but instead I was suddenly awake in what seemed like just a couple of minutes by little Benjamin's smiling face "what we gonna do today Papa?"

We stayed close to the house that day, we drove up to Oak Glen, which is just up the mountain from us and toured all the shops, went through the zoo, the museum, the walking trail, sampled the apple cider and got me a jar of apple butter, tried all the samples in the candy store and bought a few bags to go, then went for ice cream and drove back down the hill to home, where Benjamin and I dug a crater in our backyard because "there is gold in California, and I want to dig for gold Papa"

The next morning we drove down to our Daughter Melissa's place in LA, so "she could see Benjamin" never mind her Brother Tim (Benjamin's Dad), or us, she had a plan for us to go to Santa Monica Beach and pier, so she took the wheel of our SUV and said "just close your eyes Mom and no screaming, we will be there before you know it".

We were there before I knew it and there was screaming, but we all survived, she parked the car and we made a mad dash across the sand towards the ocean, truthfully they made a mad dash leaving Cindy and I running in slow motion behind.

We had a ball playing in the sand and the surf with Benjamin, we built sand castles, walked and talked and made fun of Auntie Melissa and her friend Shannon swimming in the ocean, they were actually swimming a lot further out than I was comfortable with, just then we spotted three Dolphins jumping and swimming near the girls.

I pointed them out to Benjamin and he really got a kick out of seeing the dolphins playing, we were waving to the girls when Cindy pointed at the dolphins, Melissa glanced over and immediately began swimming our direction, Shannon looked at Melissa then at the Dolphins and began her own mad dash for shore.

We thought the girls were racing one another, and I joked to Cindy that Melissa looked like she thought they were swimming with sharks, Melissa won the race by a long shot, she walked by us out of breath with Shannon just coming out of the water.

I laughed and said "hey Melissa were you trying to out swim the sharks?" She admitted that she saw the fins and wasn't going to take any chances, "I really didn't have to out swim the sharks, I just had to out swim Shannon."

After this we walked down to the pier, which was extremely crowded, Benjamin and Tim headed for the arcade and played what looked like every machine in the place, I tried my hand at skee ball and thought I had done pretty good winning a strip of tickets, I went to give them to Benjamin and with the double handful of tickets he had won he walked out of there with a rubber shark and a small airplane, the prizes weren’t much but he had fun.

We all went through the aquarium where Benjamin got to go hands on with some ocean critters, and see a puppet show that was supposed to teach about ocean life but was a lot of fun for the kids,  Benjamin and Auntie Melissa rode the Historic Carousel at the pier and  we all went from one end of that pier to the other, it was great.

After our tour of the pier Benjamin was getting hungry, so Auntie Melissa walked us to a place she recommended, I can’t remember the name of the place but I know it wasn’t close to the pier and we were still on foot, the food was good and the beer was better, I was about ready for one by then, I knew that we needed to call it a day when I looked over and saw Benjamin asleep with his face actually laying in his Mac and Cheese.

Driving home that night we realized that we had to take Benjamin and Tim to the airport the next morning, the boys were sound asleep in the back seat, the traffic was pretty good, and Mimi was missing her grandbaby already.

We did a lot in four days, two theme parks and a fancy hotel, a trendy little mountain town with all sorts of attractions from real deer to stuffed mountain lions, a talking parrot, a cowboy with a gun and a train ride that we somehow missed, a fast ride with Melissa, swimming with sharks and walking for miles for a face full of Mac and Cheese.

I think it took about a week or better to get rested up from all of this, and it was really hard especially for Mimi to take the grandbaby to the airport (and his daddy too), they have plans to come back to see us later in the summer, and after we did all of this stuff last time…..

I am looking forward to hearing, "what we gonna do today Papa?" because I’d do it all again.

What do you like to do for fun when you have visitors from out of town, especially little ones?

Damned Accidents, the answer

The deer jumping on top of the car gathered the most votes, your reasons were the same reasons I would most likely question, but this one is a true incident that happened to my family.

I do remember a few things about this accident, I remember the loud crash and glass being everywhere, I remember seeing the car sitting in the road with the windows broken out, and I clearly remember those shoes sitting in front of us with glass inside of them, they scared me to death to tell the truth because someone said "all that glass put his eyes out"

The main details were told to me by my Mom, she has said that I remember more about that age than I should, my sister does have tiny marks on her face that Mom explains by saying "that wreck when the deer jumped on the car marked Sissy" not sure if that is realistic or not but Mom says it's so.

Next was Cindy hitting the commissioner, this one folks is also true, I didn't make anything up about this one, it scared the hell out of me, I had just been released from the hospital for disc replacement surgery was the reason I wasn't with her when it happened, but Randy drove me to the scene in my truck, and we witnessed the aftermath.

The commissioner was an ass and kept yelling insults towards our van, he was only made to stop when I went to confront him, just imagine a guy on crutches and a neck brace going to confront anyone, but that is true also.

Cindy was injured and it really ticked me off to see her being issued tickets while the paramedics waited their turn behind the officer, I asked if this was necessary and Tim did walk up to lean on the officers shoulder and ask his silly question, while the officer scolded Tim and I the paramedics jumped in and took care of Cindy.

I think the treatment Cindy got at the scene was terrible, and was part of the reason the judge threw out her tickets.

This leaves Sissy hits the mailbox, this one was a figment of my imagination, and false of course.

Joe over at Cranky Old Man hit the nail on the head when he said " I've been in a car when a deer jumped out of a hill and grazed the roof, so not #1. #3 has too many details to be made up. #2 sounds like a sit-com. I suspect it is possible, but I vote #2 the fake."

I can't explain it any better than this, well done Joe. the only other one to guess #2 was Fran over at fishducky, finally! Joe and Fran have been added to the True Winners section for this challenge, go by and visit them if you don't already; a trip to their blogs is well worth it.

Now for an idea I have, how would one of you like to write a Truth or Fiction challenge, we could post it as a guest spot on a Monday and reveal the answer on Wednesday, and make me have to guess the answer with everyone else.

Think about it and let me know if you are interested, because I would be honored to have any of you take over Jimmys Opinion for a guest post.

Damned Accidents

Here is our next installation of Truth or Fiction, again we have three situations but this week two are true and only one is False, tell me which one you believe is totally made up because truthfully one is completely False.

Car wrecks and driving mishaps we have all had, and needless to say there is a lot I can tell you on this subject.

The first one I remember happened when I was about four years old, my Mom was pregnant with the older of my two sisters, and what I remember was sitting in the back seat when all of a sudden there was a loud crash and glass was flying everywhere.

Then we were standing in the dark along side of the road, the top of the car was crunched and the windows were broken out, next we were at a hospital, I was sitting next to Mom and she was holding my little brother Norm, she had cuts and scratches on her arms and someone was saying "all that glass put his eyes out" there were a pair of mens dress shoes sitting on the floor in front of us and I remember looking at the glass inside of them.

That's the memories I have of what happened over fifty three years ago, from the stories I’ve heard since then, we were at a family event and were on our way home late at night, the car was full of relatives and while passing through the mountains a deer jumped off the mountain and landed on the roof of the car, possibly being chased by hunters is but one of the many guesses.

All I know for sure is that a large deer landed on our car, all the glass did blind a friend of the family who was in the front seat, and when Sissy was born she had little marks on her face that looked like she had been cut, Mom said the crash had marked Sissy, and if you look close those marks are still there.

Sissy never was a good driver, just ask anybody, anybody but Sissy that is. Do you remember the My Buddy dolls? She had bought one for her son and laid this doll on top of her car while unloading groceries from the cart, needless to say she forgot the doll and scared most of the people in the Winn-Dixie parking lot as she drove away with the doll still on the roof.

She always worked third shift at the mill, and she never was a slow driver, one morning after taking on a twelve hour shift she was hurrying home for some much needed rest, I don't think there is a straight road where we grew up, and a sleepy person vs. a curvy road doesn't always work.

Sissy was about halfway home when she dozed off entering a curve on Highway 178, a car coming the other direction laid down on the horn and slid off the road, Sissy woke up and regained control of the car, but while looking in the mirror she went off the other side, the road had straightened out but she didn't.

She plowed straight through a row of mailboxes, without completely stopping she got back onto the pavement while it was still raining mailboxes behind her, she made a run for her house never realizing the car she had nearly hit was now turning around and was in pursuit.

She pulled into her driveway and went inside, just as she closed the door a Pickens County Sheriff's deputy pulled into her yard right behind her car, "what the hell is wrong with you!" he said as she opened the door.

You just ran me off the road and took out a row of mailboxes over on 178, I just got home from work, what makes you think I did anything wrong? He pointed to her car at the mailbox sticking out of her grill.

This was a costly mistake for Sis, I never did get the exact list of tickets he wrote her, but I know that she lost several points from her license, and was on the “payment plan” with the county for quite a while, when asked about it now she says “never lie to the police, and don't drive when you are sleepy.”

When the kids were teenagers Tim had gotten into a minor accident that was his fault, the judge gave him the option of taking a defensive driving class and having his ticket dismissed, or paying the ticket and losing points on his license, he chose defensive driving.

The evening before the class Cindy said she would drive Tim out to the college and show him where he was supposed to go, our soon to be daughter in law Elisa went along for the ride.

The speed limit on Norris street is forty five mph, and approaching the intersection where she was supposed to turn, Cindy saw two police cars with their overhead lights flashing behind a car that had been pulled over on the opposite side of the road.

Cindy said it was like all hell broke loose just as she got even with the police cars, the next thing she recalled was the smell of sulfur and everything looking weird, she couldn't feel her legs and three airbags had deployed, Tim was screaming "Mom are you Ok!" while he and Elisa were climbing out of the van.

One of the local County Commissioners had stopped in the road and was talking to one of the officers, they say Cindy hit the back of his Lincoln at about forty five mph, she never saw his car, Elisa said she saw it just as it appeared in the headlights and his lights were not on, of course he said otherwise and Cindy couldn't prove anything because his taillights were now gone.

Cindy was ticketed with "driving too fast for conditions" even though she was driving the speed limit and "failure to yield right of way" the commissioner was not injured but Cindy had injuries to both legs, the paramedics had to wait while the officer wrote her tickets before placing her in the ambulance, Tim walked up, leaned on the officers shoulder and said "It'll probably be alright if I just wait for Mom before I take my defensive driving class"

The same judge Tim saw threw out both of Cindy's tickets, said Cindy had been through enough, our insurance did have to fix both vehicles and we still think the commissioner had no business there in the first place.

Now this week two of the situations are true and one is completely made up, let me know which one you think is False, everyone who picks the false situation will be added to the True Winners section.

1- The Deer Hits The Car
2- Sissy Hits The Mailboxes
3- Cindy Hits The Commissioner

When was your first car accident?

Bad Haircuts

They say the difference between a good and bad haircut is about two weeks, I swear there have been some for me that lasted longer than that.

My first haircut came when I was six weeks old, evidently my hair stood straight up all over and when combed down folks thought I was a girl, being the first born my Mom of course wanted everyone to get it right when they saw me, or else she got tired of the conversation when someone said;

"Oh what a cute little girl you have there",

"Thank you but, He is a boy, this is my son"

"Looks like a girl, just look at that hair, ain't she cute"

The majority of my early years I wore a crew cut, you know the style as close to having your head shaved without shaving it, drying my hair after getting out of the tub consisted of running the towel across my head, no fuss no muss.

Later on about the time I was moving up to Jr. High school, I was allowed to grow my hair out somewhat, this was good until our step dad took my brother and I down to the barbershop, he laid his fingers on the back of my brothers neck, using finger widths as a unit of measure "three fingers above the collar" then moved to the side "one finger above the ears" then around to the front "and two fingers above the eyebrows"

I wanted to laugh when the barber turned my brother around, his hair was jet black and this haircut looked like a butchered version of Moe Howards hairstyle from The Three Stooges, my desire to laugh quickly faded when the step dad said "looks good, cut his the same"

Two weeks would have been nice but these haircuts stuck with us through my freshman year of High school, at that time I could grow it out because I was now paying the barber, but I had to remember that the Bible says men shouldn't wear long hair, I was happy to remember that, but I was ecstatic to not have the finger width measurements anymore.

When Cindy and I married, she had a grey and white poodle, Blossom was a cool little dog, she loved having her hair trimmed, when Cindy would bring her home from a trip to the groomers, she ran to all the neighbors houses so they could all ooh and ahh over her and tell her how nice she looked.

Once we were short on money and Blossom really needed a trim, Cindy decided she could do as good as the groomer, when Cindy was finished poor old Blossom wouldn't even go outside, she wouldn't visit anyone, the kids laughed at her, and I really felt bad because I knew it would be more than two weeks before she had enough hair for the groomer to fix.

Ever since then whenever it is suggested that we could save money if Cindy would cut my hair, we sum it up with two words "Remember Blossom"

She and I did double team another dog we had, Dutchess stood patiently while we trimmed, we thought she looked pretty good until the neighbor girl came over with a set of electric shears and said, "here let me take care of Dutchess before you do any more damage"

Dutchess wagged her tail while Falon gave her the dogs version of a crew cut, it was a big change in her looks, and being the middle of summer she loved it, we gave the promise to "never do that again"

A few weeks ago while Cindy and I were brushing out Flash, her Dads horse, he asked Cindy to trim up Flashes tail and mane, with that said she retrieved scissors from the house and went to work on the trimming while I brushed....

Kind of reminds you of Moe doesn't he?
Have you had any bad haircuts or hairstyles?

Where are you going?

One night last week Cindy said to me, "I'm going to the mexican restaurant and getting burritos for supper, is that OK with you?" It had been a while since we have had mexican so I agreed and gave her my choice by saying, "Sounds good, but I'd rather have a grilled chicken taco salad."

Cindy's Dad really likes a small restaurant close to us called Flo's Country Cafe, he had mentioned wanting an omelet from Flo's, so Cindy told me that since she was going to be right there she would pick one up for him.

That works, I said, "Flo's food is always good," "So you are saying that you would rather have Flo's?" she asked, "No I still want the taco salad from the mexican restaurant."

She grabbed her pocketbook and keys and said, I'm getting ready to go, set the table for me and I'll be right back, she then went into the living room to tell her dad she was going to pick up our food.

Cindy said: "Hey Dad, I'm going to get our food, be right back."

"Where are you going?" he asked.

"To get our food."

"WHERE are you going?"

"TO Get Our Food."

"No where are you going to get our food from?"

"Oh sorry, going to the mexican restaurant and Flo's."

"What's Jimmy having?"

"Taco salad." she said

"But he likes Flo's, didn't you tell him you were going to Flo's."

I was listening to this exchange when Cindy called me to join in the conversation. Dad wanted me to make sure if you would rather have Flo's instead of mexican? No the taco salad sounds good I assured them, but Dad is having Flo's and he didn't want you to have mexican just because I'm having burritos.

She then hands me a menu from Flo's she happened to have. Look at the menu and tell me what you want.

I started to speak, I want....., she gave me that look and said, Just look at the menu......., but I want the taco salad! I didn't know I changed my mind, Okay I'll get you the taco salad!

Cindy calls in our food and leaves to pick it up, these restaurants are very close to our house so she wasn't gone too long.

Cindy's Dad says "Wow look at this omelet, that's a lot of food."

He takes a bite, "Man this is good."

I'm looking at my taco salad and thinking, I should have gotten Flo's.

What is your favorite restaurant or food when you go out to eat?

We can handle the truth

Truthfulness is something I truly believe in, even though we have been playing around with me throwing false stories at you in the Truth or Fiction challenges I still leave you with the truth in the end.

I have a hard time not being truthful, this is why what you see here are mostly actual events or things Cindy and I have done, a lot of negatives I don't discuss but over the years I most likely have mentioned everything that has ever happened with me at one time or another.

What do we talk about on our blogs? just about anything that comes to mind....right? So let's talk about anything, I read a post Jean at The Misadventures of Widowhood wrote, she did a sort of truth or dare post and I'd like to do something similar here.

First off let me go out on a limb so to say, ask me a question, any reasonable question will be truthfully answered.

I always tell you stories about myself and family, but if there is something you have always wanted to know, or something you wanted to ask, now is your chance, to take a quote directly from Jean " Lurkers, newbies or long-time readers---it doesn’t matter---hit me with your best shot."

Second for the possibility that there is someone who just drops by but never comments, I would like for you to say hi, ask a question, introduce yourself, join in somehow, just let me know you are here, don't be a Lurker, join right in you are welcome here.

Third now tell us something about yourself, tell us where you live and where you are from, or anything else that you would like to share.

There we go just three things, make it as simple or difficult as you want, this will be our Truth or Fiction challenge this week, and everyone who comments, whether you follow my blog or not will be added to the True Winners section this week, I will be happy for you to follow but won't hold you to it.

This is so easy I'll go first:

Jimmy, why are you doing this Truth or Fiction thing to your readers?
Well I just wanted to try something fun, everyone seemed to like it so I have continued with it.

I suppose that I am my first reader so I have been here from the start, most of you already know this but I was born and raised in South Carolina and live in California now.

Just that easy leave a comment, ask a question, and be a True Winner this week.