“Charlotte’s Web” is a book that I loved as a kid that I also read to my kids when they were little. It’s the story of Wilbur the pig who hopes to avoid the fate of the average pig. The animals in the barnyard talk and plot of way to save Wilber including a talented web spinning spider capable of writing words. Her first “post” is a silken Some Pig. True to form, people come from all over and believe it must be true if it’s in print. When the furor dies down and the promise of bacon becomes tempting, the next web message is Terrific, followed by Radiant, and finally Humble. Wilbur’s life is sp ..read more

No, I’m not talking about West Virginia. The almost I’m referring to is the answer I received to many of the questions I asked our kids when they were younger. Is your room clean? “Almost, Daddy”. Almost tends to be a rather relative term because in fact their room actually resembled a nuclear test missile site. My son, who firmly believed that homework and many other school assignments were merely suggestions, would frequently answer almost when questioned regarding the completion status of school work. Translation: He was going to start it as soon as he finished making the perfect song mix f ..read more

Having survived three teens journey to adulthood, I had very few instances of being lonely. As a matter of fact about the only alone time I could manage when all three were at home was in the bathroom. Now that they have their own homes, it is just my wife and I so the opportunity to be by myself happens much more frequently. During our recent move, I experienced a bout with loneliness. The day we had movers loading up the bulk of our furniture, I was by myself in our former home. We had left my car at our new home about an hour away. We loaded my wife’s SUV and our son’s truck, who had come t ..read more

The title of today’s post is the first part of Popeye the Sailor’s catch phrase if you are unfamiliar with it. The entire quote of “That’s all I can stan and I can’t stands no more” was usually spoken when Popeye was in a bad way where upon he would inhale a can of spinach to make everything right. One week removed from our big move, I am fast approaching the point of I can’t stands no more. Let’s just in other words say that I have pretty much reached my limit. I have muscles aching that I didn’t even know I had. Fortunately our new home has a large barn but it resembles more of a warehouse f ..read more

Each Friday I participate in the FiveMinuteFriday.com challenge to write for five minutes on a prompt word. This week’s word is complicate. I usually try to complete the challenge on Friday but this week has been more than little unusual. We completed our move to be closer to our daughter, to be completely honest closer to our 2 1/2 year old and one month old granddaughters. We had lived in that home for nearly 29 years. We had movers move the vast majority of our furniture on Thursday but spent Friday packing, loading on a U-haul, and cleaning up the old house. I honestly believe someone was ..read more

When my oldest daughter got married, one thing she requested at her reception was Chick-fil-A chicken nuggets. We ordered them and they were to be delivered in plenty of time for the celebration. Like most father of the brides, I was busy running around putting out fires so I was glad to delegate the job of meeting the delivery to my brother. I assured him that everything was already taken care of and all he had to do was sign for it. Unfortunately the delivery was quite late and the reception was nearly over. It didn’t ruin the day but it did put a damper on it. Knowing how much Chick-fil-A v ..read more

With my wife and I having raised three kids, we were very familiar with the blame game. When something got broken or a mess was made, it was some times difficult to deduce who was to blame. The not me or the I don’t know was a common occurrence when something went wrong. Even when it was obvious who was responsible, the kids would look at me with angelic faces making every attempt to shift the blame away from themselves. They really couldn’t help it because even their father has been guilty of shifting blame away from himself. Years ago I had returned home from work. I was in the restroom when ..read more

I have had the distinct privilege of jumping through multiple hoops in attempting to obtain insurance coverage since I have retired. I never had to worry about either mine or my family’s medical insurance since it was obtained through my work. About a month before retirement, I applied on line. The online instructions stated that it would only take 2 to 4 weeks. Needless to say, it did not operate as advertised. I was supposed to be contacted if any further paperwork was required. I began checking the status at the two week period ever the optimist. After four weeks had passed, news whatsoever ..read more

It’s good to be back participating in the FiveMinuteFriday.com again this week. I failed to contribute for last week’s word suffer due to the pain it would cause so I was pleased to discover this week’s word, dedicate. We live in a culture that it is common place to check out if the going gets the least bit tough. I’m from a Christian home with both parents who were dedicated to each other. My wife, however, experienced the pain of divorce and then her step father leaving so she had difficulty trusting me when we were first married. I tried to explain that she was stuck with me no matter what ..read more

I nearly decided not to participate in this week’s FiveMinuteFriday.com’s challenge. The word is respite which of course means a brief rest from something difficult. The problem is that our family has recently and even now has encountered situations that individuals desperately needed a respite but one failed to come. I got too emotional each time I sat down to write and just couldn’t do it. When I relate the situations, I believe you’ll understand my difficulty. I have relayed in a previous post about the complications my youngest daughter had with the delivery of our first grandson in Decemb ..read more