It’s Charlie Time!

I’m trying a little experiment today. We are going to wait on opening up the house until the last minute. Let’s see if that keeps it a little cooler around here. It is 1 PM, 90°F outside, and my thermostat reads 77°F inside. Mrs. Minnie, dad told me last night, lived here for decades without air conditioning. That little old lady must have been made of sterner stuff than I.

Ugg, Maggie just walked by my computer desk and she smells rank like she got into something dead in the backyard. No cuddles today!

**************************************************

“I put your Cokes and smokes on the back porch,” my father told me earlier in the day. “Charlie is stopping by with some supper and a cold Coke on his way to Horsefly’s matinee.”

“Awesome!” I said to my father. “Where are you? It sounds like you’re in a crowd."

“I am at one of the grandkids volleyball games down in Auburn,” my father replied.

“Your supper last night was delicious!” I told my father over the phone. “You know I always love your pork chops and rice. The homemade strawberry shortcake was the icing on the cake.”

“Well, I am glad you enjoyed them,” he said. “I thought they were pretty good myself.”

I hadn’t hung up the phone for 10 minutes when Charlie called.

“Just what do you want for an early supper?” Charlie asked me.

“Just whatever is easiest on you,” I replied.

“Well, I am getting you a Big Mac value meal along with your monster McCoke,” Charlie told me. “I’ll see you around 4 PM Jon-tom.”

He's Not All That Bad...

I was sitting at the computer this afternoon when Maggie went apeshit bananas barking and whining. This could mean only two things. Charlie or my father were here. Maggie always had a more female reply to my mother's arrival.

"I thought I would surprise you and Maggie," my father said. "Here are you two Cokes already cold, your cigarettes and some lunch."

I had never seen Maggie happier.

"What did you cook?" I asked my father hungrily and eagerly.

"I cooked your favorite thing," he replied. "I cooked my pork chops and rice."

"There goes my diet," I said with a hearty laugh and then I gave my father a big hug.

Dad sat down for a minute as Maggie intently fawned for his affection.

"We go see Dr. Edwards (psychiatrist) Friday," dad told me. "You can get your two steak biscuits, or is that off the diet?"

"I will eat one instead of two," I said smiling at my father. "We can't get too austere."

Just one will be half my calories for the day.

"Can I run over to the Piggly Wiggly and buy some eggs?" I then asked my father.

"You sure can. Bring the receipt by to me on your way home," my father replied.

I am following Glittermom's advice and am going to eat two eggs every morning for my breakfast. The bagels are already in the freezer.

My father took a look at my medications and felt much better. I had taken my noon dose as planned and my nightly dose was awaiting to be taken.

Kroger Tales -- An Eerie Quiet and Calm Greeted Us...

You could've heard a pin drop in Kroger tonight. Dad remarked to me that we had gone at the most opportune time. Not a soul was in sight except for a handful of employees. My father and I both got carts and started to do our shopping.

"I am baking Louise's chocolate pie tomorrow," my father said as we passed each other by the frozen foods aisle.

I am hooked on a brand of pimento cheese called Mrs. Grissom's. I bought an extra container of the delicious spread tonight to give to my father so he could try it.

"It tastes just like homemade," I told him enthusiasically. "The pimento cheese sandwiches taste even better if you butter the bread and toast them until golden and toasty brown. The cheese gets all gooey and scrumptious."

This week was a soup week for me. I bought a lot of canned Campbell's and Progresso soup and I will pay more for the expensive soups as well. The comparison and disparity to the cheap soups is notable. I have just got finished eating some Campbell's crab and corn chowder and it was quite delicious.

"You were judicious with your shopping tonight so thank you," My father said of my $72 dollar total cost.

I also smelled alcohol on my father's breath tonight as well. It makes him much more affectionate than he normally would be. He wasn't drunk by any means, but I am sure he had a good buzz going.

Delectable and Delicious...

I've got to get Papa's pork chop and rice recipe on the blog.

"Come get your meds and your supper," my father said calling me around 6 pm.

I hurriedly got in my car and headed over with much anticipation. The pork chops were wonderful, but I had qualms about taking my medications on such a full stomach. It always seems to reduce their efficacy to me. Sometimes you just have to flirt with disaster and complacency. My father went to a lot of trouble to put supper on the table tonight.

"When are we going to see about my internet?" I asked him cautiously.

"We will go at the end of the week," he replied from the kitchen.

I didn't argue or cajole him into going sooner, but the suspense is killing me.

Pork Chops and Rice Equals Manna From Heaven...

Those of you with better memories than mine might remember I bought my groceries last Sunday night instead of our usual Monday. I found myself without food this afternoon and ravenously hungry so I called my father with the hopes of him fixing me a delicious sandwich. He can fix a mean roasted turkey on wheat. Food always tastes better when someone else fixes it as well.

"I'm not at home, Chuck," he said which disappointed me deeply. "Let me run by the grocery store and we will have your favorite dish, pork chops and saffron rice for supper."

Oh, my stomach grumbled something terribly at the prospect of pork chops and rice. I can eat my weight in the stuff.

"It won't take long to cook," my father said on a hope and a prayer and then we turned our conversation to the weather.

"Only a high of 61° degrees Wednesday," I told him. "I'm actually ready for warm coats and flannel lined blue jeans."

"It is about time that fall arrived," my father replied. "We got a good soaking rain last night."

"Well, let me get busy and I will call you in about an hour to come over," dad said. "We will take your medications as well."

"Sounds like a good plan to me," I said and we got off the phone.

One thing I have noticed lately is my father is calling me "babe" recently. He often ends a sentence talking to me with babe. I don't know where that is coming from, but it is interesting. "Ah yeah, babe," as Emeril Legasse of Food Network fame would say.