Tag Archives: dailyprompt

Favorite Month?

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Daily Prompt

What is my favorite month?

I do like January. It is a bit cold, but it sometimes brings snow. I know many don’t like snow, but here in Desoto County, there is a legal limit to it. It does cause something of a driving problem, but we manage.

I do like February. It is mandatory. My wife was born in February. For years she reminded me of it. Nowadays, she tries to forget but I still remind her. We generally go to a nice restaurant, like Outback.

March is nice. It is when Spring starts getting ready to spring. Some of the flowers start to flower and I need to start getting ready to mow the lawn and pull the weeds.

Of course we all know that April rains bring May flowers. However, it also brings the reminder that the warmth that is on its way. Occasionally we open the windows and allow the fresh air in.

Now may. What a wonderful month this is. This is the month for walks and picnics in the park.

June. Now that’s another wonderful month.

Well, I guess you get the idea. My favorite month is really whichever one is current, though I must admit, each does have its challenges.

At 74, I don’t have many months left. Nowadays they fly by as fast as the weeks used to. I just prize each one of them as the Lord gives them to me.

I guess mostly though, I’ll prize June a little more, not only for the weather, but also, it is the month in which we were married. June 1, 1973.

My Favorite Things

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Daily prompt

Where is my favorite place to go in my city.

Okay. Favorite place, favorite thing; it’s sort of the same. Besides, the word, thing, is more accurate for me anyway. Then too, why not use the song title from Sound of Music if I’m able. By the way, it is also one of my favorite songs. I like it almost as much as the title song.

The thing is, I have always liked parks. When I lived in Orange County, we used to walk nearly 2 miles to a park, play for hours, and then, of course, walk nearly 2 miles home.

Irvine Park was not in walking distance, but all of us loved to go now and then, by car, of course. We always had a picnic lunch and frequently watermelon for desert. The park is quite expansive. We ran all over the place, up and down some sizable hills and did some things that wear me out thinking about it today. Then, of course, when we got home, none of us had the energy to make trouble for any of the adults.

The one park that I really loved though, was Griffith Park. That place had enough there to keep me busy for a week, maybe more. That park is huge.

I also spent time in San Diego, which also has a huge park, which also has a huge zoo. I am sure most people have heard of it.

The city where I live now has a couple of parks, which we visit from time to time. Moreover, there are state and federal parks nearby. As a couple of old folks, we don’t run around so much any more. But it is still nice to visit them for a walk now and then. During the right season we watch Little League games and maybe consume a hot dog. It’s gotten to be more enjoyable than watching the pros.

And so it is that my favorite thing is also my favorite place, the park, no matter where I lived.

The Answer Eludes Me

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Daily writing prompt

What’s the first impression you want to give people?

The other day, a woman needed to go around me, which I was unaware of. She politely said, “Excuse me,” which is the right thing to do.

I replied, “I’ll try,” smiled and quickly stepped out of the way.

She obviously got the joke because she smiled and almost laughed. It just isn’t the thing a polite man should say, not really. After all she was polite. She didn’t try to shove by and her plea was pleasant. It was very impolite of me. Yet, I could tell I did just a little to lighten her day. If I had just said sure or nothing at all, what good would that have done?

My wife always gets angry with me when I do things like that. She rarely fails to scold me. She said, “One day someone is going to get mad and hit you.” I must admit that it is risky. Sometimes people do take such things the wrong way. I guess, in that little instant, I am making a first impression. I must say that usually the gamble works. The vast number of people understand and it does bring a smile to their face. Every now and then though, I catch someone who has had a bad day or something and the little bit of humor is just something they don’t want.

Some have simply given me a scowl instead of a smile. Some have even yelled at me. And yet, in spite of the chances involved, I still do it. I like making people smile. I really like to see them laugh, even if it is at my expense.

Now just how that is put into an answer to the prompt, I don’t know. Still, maybe you can figure it out.

Timing is Everything, Well, Almost Everything

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Daily writing prompt

What part of your routine do you always try to skip if you can?

I say timing because it is something I just fussed about yesterday afternoon. Let me first establish a few things. The wife and I are now the only two in the house. We raised two boys in this little 900 square foot house, as difficult as that might be to believe. However, nowadays, most days, it simply does not seem worth it to fix dinner at home. First it’s work to make it; then there is cleaning up afterward. Worst, a lot of the food gets wasted. We simply don’t eat that much.

Therefore, sometime early afternoon, the two of us get in the car and go somewhere. It gives us a reason to get out of the house for a while. Thankfully, there are dozens of places to go. As explained earlier, I really like Abbay’s. Great food and unbelievably fast. Near Thanksgiving, they start serving turkey and dressing… did I say very good turkey and dressing. We try to go there at least once a week. My wife does not like any dressing, but I do. She just eats the turkey and I deal with the dressing.

Okay, let me return to where I was before I interrupted myself. Yesterday, we were on our way to Abbay’s and, as usual, the traffic was really ridiculous. It wouldn’t nearly be so bad, but there are a bunch of folks who come down here from Memphis. By the way, I have mentioned a time or two those from north of the state line really don’t drive very well.

After the driver in the car next to mine decided to occupy the same space we were in, without warning, mind you, I dodged the car and looked at the expression on my wife’s face. Her expression matched the way I felt.

Then, I calmly said to her, “You know, it’s just no fun driving around here anymore. If I didn’t know better, I’d think they are trying to hit us.”

She didn’t laugh. She just gave me a sideways glance and looked forward. Sure enough, the plate on that car, that had the not so courteous driver, had a plate plainly saying it was from Shelby County. What’s more they actually had markings on it showing how proud they were about it.

Well. That’s about it. When people want to hit you, it’s just no fun going out to eat anymore. It has gotten to be something I just just no longer look forward to. Guess it is just about time to start having it delivered. That would be good. I’d not have to charge the car batteries as much. Who knows? It might ever save me a penny or two.

Then again, we just might have to face cabin fever instead.

John Grisham

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His and my son played ball at the same park. It was before he was a writer. My wife actually got to know him well as my work schedule often kept me from seeing the games, which I hated.

I did almost get to meet Barbara Bush. Again I had to work but my wife talked with her a few minutes. Kind of a bummer when I had to bring home the bacon while the wife rubbed shoulders with the first Lady.

As a side note, I might have met some famous LA Dodgers when I was 11. Long story.

Now, That’s an Odd Question

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Daily writing prompt

What is good about having a pet?

The way I would have worded it is what is bad about having a pet? That is easy to answer. There is the expense, the cleaning up. There is all the training, especially dogs. There is the problem of getting someone to watch after them if you have to leave them for a while. And the worse part, of course, saying good bey when it gets time for them to go. I am 73 and I have seen many pets, both dogs and cats, get sick, old or killed. I really don’t like that part.

As for all the rest, that parts good, very good. Now you see, isn’t that easier than having to list all the good stuff, like the companionship, the humor. Then of course, it is nice to have a dog curl up next to you while you watching a sad movie or something. It’s really nice to take them for walks and to play fetch with them.

When we had a border collie. he entertained the neighbors too. More than once, we went in to a restaurant and someone working there said they recognized us. We were the one with a dog that chased bubbles or RC cars. We also had a dog that loved to swim. She really liked water. We scolded my older son many times for turning on the water in the back yard. Then, one day, my wife caught her red pawed. She was turning on the facet between her paws. I guess she got a drink, played in it a while then, of course, on one had told her to turn it off. My guess is she saw one of us doing it.

We had a calico cat that kept stealing the bread and hiding it. The next door neighbors cat was visiting us one morning and stole the last slice of ham my son was going to put on his sandwich. Wouldn’t have been so bad, but my wife had to scramble to find enough change so he could buy lunch.

I really wish we could get another border collie but that would be irresponsible. We would not be able to take proper care of it. They really need a lot of attention and, at our age, he might outlive us, leaving him stranded.

I have a photo which I posted before, but that was a long time ago. In this case it is our first border collie chasing an RC car. He always had to have a stick in his mouth, though I have no idea why. We could tell when he was tired because he’d keep tipping the car over. Then he looked over at me as if proudly saying, “Did you see what I did?”

Then, it seemed overnight, age got to him. He couldn’t hear, see or even smell. Also he had a heart problem. I really think he was the toughest one to lose.

Tough One

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Daily prompt

Name the most expensive thing you bought. (Not a home or car)

This is a good one. It takes away the obvious, doesn’t it? I have, over the years paid a lot for computers. I guess the one that was most expensive was a 2 thousand dollar laptop. I really liked that thing, a 486sx with 4 meg of memory. Most realize that it is a dinosaur by today’s standards, but in the mid eighties, it was about the latest and greatest.

It was what I started writing my books on, “The Secret of the Ring.” My intention was to change the world with it. Only about 25 people ever read it.

Also, I taught myself how to program in Pascal with it.

I have from time to time toyed with the idea of a small boat, but my wife wanted nothing to do with it. I came within an inch of buying a used motor home. I really, really wanted it, but my better senses took hold of me. Good thing, I’d have likely had to sell it before too long.

Mostly though, we just buy what we need. When we buy something big, it’s usually a house or car…Mostly, cars. And those aren’t allowed by the prompt. And, of course, neither are the “almost” purchases.

My Favorite School Subject

Posted in Education, experience, Reading by

Daily prompt:

What was your favorite school subject

I assume this means beside physical education or lunch.

Actually I really liked science a lot, specifically physics. The concepts behind mechanical advantages, I found fascinating.

Invariably, of couse, I spent hours thinking of how I could build the successful perpetual motion machine. I quickly found out I was not alone. History is full of notable scientists who actually tried to build them. Unfortunately, in every case they failed due losses of energy, usually because of friction.

I guess the closest we will ever get to perpetual motion is when we put something in orbit. Even then, I don’t know as that qualifies. I think most satellites eventually fall from the sky.

I have also had an interest in electric motors and generators. I suppose it was somewhat connected with perpetual machines. I mean, we could use the motor to turn the motor and the generator could provide electricity for the motor. I suspect I was not the first to think of that.

The fact is that I should have worked much harder on English and especially reading. I should have worked very hard on polishing my writing. But then like most kids, I was just too smart for wasting time on that.