How bout today, we talk about blind dates. You guys remember them right? Yeah, me too. I don’t know about the rest of ya’ll, but my experience had never been too good in regards to a…blind date. But, at my age you pretty much take what you can get.

Last week I went out on my first date that had been set up by a couple I’ve known for years. They too went along. You know how it works, they took me over to pick this lady up at her home, introduced me to my date and…her seeing-eye dog, “Ray C.”

Yep, here I am goin out on a “blind date” and the woman I’m goin out with WAS…literally blind!

As soon as I could, I cornered my buddy and exclaimed, “For God’s sake man…the woman’s BLIND!”

He quietly said, “Dub, it’s okay, she’s as nice as they come.” I’m like, “Well, that’s all fine and good, but she cain’t see a lick!”

My buddy, by then becoming a little aggravated with me, says, “Look Dub, I know she’s blind, but great day buddy, ya looked in the mirror lately? I mean ya ain’t Brad Pitt, my friend! You’re older than dirt to boot! I mean the options my wife and I had of even FINDIN somebody to go out with you were very limited to say the least! Now just take ole Helen Keller over there and have a nice time, okay?”

Friends…aren’t they great?

Well, after dinner they went back by their house, dropped my date and I off at my vehicle, and I got to take her back to her home.

Well, I got her home, walked her to the door and was asked if I’d like to come in, talk and have a cup of coffee. I felt it the right thing to do and replied that it would be fine.

Honestly, this woman was very nice and I kinda got to enjoyin myself. After 30 minutes or so I asked if she liked to play cards and she said that yes she did, so I went out to the truck and as luck had it…I had a deck of cards in the console.

I asked when I went back in if she’d ever played 5 card draw and she said that no she hadn’t, but if I’d teach her, she’d play. I’m like…okay.

So I explained that when I normally played we’d have a fifty dollar limit, and she agreed to this. So after I explained the rules ,hee-hee-hee, and we’d played a couple “practice hands,” we got down to business.

In my entire life I’d never seen anyone with such luck. It was incredible, the hands just kept fallin her way. I couldn’t believe it.

I mean we’d play the hand, then call and lay out our cards. I’d tell her after each hand the results, and that she’d won, AGAIN!

Well, if you know me at all, you know I’m a pretty conservative guy, though most use the term…tightwad.

Anyway, with the price of gas today, along with I’d bought everyone’s dinner earlier, and with what I was losin to this lady, my evening was becoming very, very costly, very, very, quickly, and it was obvious that her luck…was NOT goin to change.

Then…the light-bulb came on.

I was out a couple hundred at least, and the losses were adding up quickly by now. All I could hear in my head was…Ka-ching, Ka-ching!

Honestly, I kinda hate to admit it, but really, ya do what ya got to do, and the reality that she couldn’t see a lick became too appealing for me to overlook any longer, so…I started lyin!

The next hand, after playing it out, we once again laid our cards on the table. Once more, the dern woman throws down a fullhouse! Well, I’m sittin there with two pair.

She asks, “Hey Dub, did I win again?”

I replied, “No Ma’am, I’ve got three of a kind and you just have a pair of Jacks. Boy, it’s about time my luck changed! PHEW!!”

Well, this continued for the rest of the night, with my letting her win one out of every four or five hands, just enough to keep her interested! Plus the hands she’d win I’d fold or call before the pot started growin too large.

Well, by the time we threw in the towel, I’d paid for my gas, dinner, and was about three hundred and forty five in the black. Not a bad night’s work, huh?

I honestly can’t say that I was too proud of myself, but if you look at my wording I just stated that I wasn’t TOO proud of myself, and not at all, NOT proud of myself! LOL!

Well, none of this actually took place of course, but I was thinkin this past weekend that something like this would be bout par for the course in my regard.

Datin at 56, sure doesn’t have the appeal that it did when I was 26, or, at least it doesn’t seem too.

I don’t know nothin about nothin when it comes to datin anymore, and that thought in itself is kinda uncomfortable. Then there’s the “time frame” equation. When is it time to even start datin again? I mean, I’d never even considered this…didn’t think I’d ever have to??

Deb and my life together was not always “peaches and cream,” but it was filled with love and respect for each other. What I experienced in our regard was absolute, total conviction of two people being in love. It was wonderful.

Then the wheels came off so to speak…I was lost.

Now though, my heart is healing, my life is pretty much back together again, and in all honesty, life is good! Time, I can see already, is a great healer, and I gotta say I truly believe my Deb has and is, a major part of this…she told me would be, and once more, her word was her bond!

I still love her, and that will never change, but I’m beginning to understand life does go on, and I know in my heart she wants, even expects, me to be happy.

THAT, brings us to the set of 38 year old twins down the street a couple miles…with 38 not only being their age, but also their IQ’s. So at the moment…I’m very, very happy!! God IS great, isn’t he?? LOL!

In truth though, our God is a great and a very loving God, and he has blessed me in so many different ways throughout my life.

How I could ever be deserving of the blessings he has bestowed on me through the years is totally unfathomable. So I guess what I’m saying at this point is simply this. You have a problem? Trust in God, he’ll see you through…thick or thin!

I hope each and every one of you guys have a great day, a great week, and a great life. So many of you walked with Deb and I through her ordeal…right alongside of us. I’m forever indebted to you all for you love, concern and prayers…they meant so very, very much to both of us.

One chapter of my life has closed, yet another lies ahead. I now am ready for this one to begin…wish me luck!

God Bless you guys, and remember always…to “Keep a smile on your face, and one in your heart!”

Dub AND Deb

This memory comes from our good friend Gary. He sent this to us, and Deb and I enjoyed it so much we had to share it with you guys. Granny Aggie…and her apple tarts.

This morning around 4:00 a.m. (yes, I do get up pretty early…) I was leaving the bedroom and just stopped and stared. I have walked by it many, many times but for some reason I had Granny Aggie on my mind. Granny died back in 95’. What a true “Southern Lady” my Granny was. She was dirt poor all her life but held vast treasures in her heart. In so many ways she was certainly richer than all the Vanderbilts, Kennedys and Morgans put together.

Now what did I stop and look at? Granny’s old pie safe that my Grandfather built for her just after they got married sometime around 1916. I remember this old pine pie safe in their sharecroppers shack down off Brooklyn Road just out of Andalusia. Granny would bake a pound cake or some fried apple tarts and place them in the pie safe to keep the flies away. If I was real good Granny would take an apple tart out of the safe and I’d sit at the old pine table and slowly taste what seemed the nectar of life. All of us grandchildren knew and loved Granny’s cooking but especially those apple tarts.

I think it’s time to move the old pie safe back into a real kitchen. That also gave me an idea. Why not make some of Granny’s wonderful fried apple tarts? It was still three hours till sunrise so why not?

OK, I got busy. I peeled and cored several apples. Put them in a small saucepan on low heat and added some water and some local honey. Touch of cinnamon…

Got out the flour and other ingredients and made up the dough.

Rolled the dough into 9-10 round balls and started with the rolling pin to flatten them out. Then made sure the apples were cooking just right without getting too hot and scorching.

Then I went to work loading the dough with the apples and started frying the first Granny Aggie apple tart I’d had in many years.

Here’s the whole pile. Guess I better get off this dang computer. Looks like I got some serious eatin’ to do. Granny, I love you and will always cherish your memory. Wish I could share one of these with you…

Thank you Gary…we enjoyed your sharing this with us. Granny Aggie sure must have been one special lady. We’d be willing to bet your frying up those apple tarts this morning was looked upon by your Granny Aggie…with a big smile on her face!

I was telling my Mom about this the other day, of Gary sending us this, and she started telling me about her Mama, Nanny Murphy, whom I’ve talked about before.

She was telling Deb and I about how Nanny would make them, those same types of fried fruit pies in the morning, and how good they tasted when she did. She said her and her brothers and sisters just loved them.

So Gary, by your sharing your memories of Granny Aggie with us, well, it kind of got the ball to rollin, and next thing we knew, Mom, Dad, Deb and I were reliving old times too!

Granddaddy Troy taking me to the camp for the week. This starting when I was just 3. The first time he took me, Mom and Dad came down, it was about an hour ride, right after dark to get me. They thought I’d be squallin by then. Shortly thereafter I was…cause they were haulin me back home!
Dad-gum I loved that man!

I’d get down there in those woods with Granddaddy, just him and I…and it was ON! Suddenly we weren’t Grandfather and grandson any longer…we became equals in those woods together, best friends!

I loved him with all my heart, and he loved me back just the same! He’d light up an ole Chesterfield King, and I’d fire up one right along with him. Cuss? He’d let me cuss like a sailor. I could sling em your way pretty good if you’d aggravate me very much.

Drive? Shoot by the time I was 6, there wasn’t anything down there at the camp I couldn’t drive, including his ole Chevrolet truck. He’d let me sit in his lap, he’d work the gas, clutch, and brake, while I’d be shiftin that ole 3 speed on the column like an ole pro, steerin it this way and that.

I’d of drove it by myself, but my dern feet couldn’t reach the pedals and me see over the dash at the same time! I bet we were a sight!

He pretty much taught me to hunt and fish. I killed my first turkey with him, and coon hunt…that man would rather coon hunt than eat, and I wasn’t much better, but Granny kept me fed pretty good while we were at their house.

I guess that’s why him and I would go off to the camp…there wasn’t any women there to mess up our schedule!

I’ve seen that man just slaughter bass on numerous occasions…BIG BASS! Nothin under 8-9 pound bass, again, several times.

He used an old lure he called a dual spinner. He’d get an ole cane pole, a big un, long and thick, put about 3-4 feet of line on it and tie that dual spinner on.

He’d then have me paddle along the bank of those irrigation canals for the orange groves, and he’d drag that dern spinner back and forth, right up against the shoreline. They were actually big ditches, maybe 60-70 feet across, and deep, real deep, to insure water for the wells to pump and water the trees during dry times.

But he’d drag that thing along, and BAM, they’d just hammer it! EVERY ONE of them at least 8-9 pounds and larger, and that’s the truth! He told me the little bass just wouldn’t bother it. When those ole lunkers would slam it, he’d snatch that cane pole up, and sling that bass straight into the boat. He didn’t mess around.

Really, looking back now, that was one of the most amazing things I’ve witnessed in my entire life…Granddaddy standin in the front of that boat, workin that dual spinner slingin them dudes into that johnboat! I’ve never seen anything like it since.

Then there was Nanny Murphy. She was tight! She had to be. Her husband was killed after movin their family down from N. Alabama to Kissimmee, Fla.

She never had a driver’s license, yet walked to work, or the store daily. She was a nurse, and after Granddaddy Doug was killed, she raised her 4 children, and one other that just came along. A girl that had a rough time of it at her own home, and Nanny just took her in and raised her too!

So you see, Nanny HAD to be tight with her money.

I got in her change purse one time in her kitchen while her and Mom were in her living room. Well, I spilled the change out of that change purse and it hit the floor. Mom said Nanny’s ears went up like antennas, and to the kitchen she went.

Mom said she just knew Nanny was gonna beat me once she got to me, so she said she ran in first, grabbed me, and took off outside. She said Nanny hit that kitchen floor and went to pickin up change, countin it as she was pickin it up.

Mom said she thought everything was gonna be alright till Nanny kicked open that screen door and hollered, “Shake heem down Ruth…there’s a dime missin!”
True story!

But, we’d like to thank you once more Gary, because again buddy, your own memory triggered ours as well, and boy what a big time we had reliving them again!

We hope you guys can do the same!

Until next time, take care and God bless! Deb says to keep a smile on your face, and one in your heart!

Dub and Deb…and Gary too!

Today, I’d like to take the time and share a few thoughts with you guys, and pass along some very sincere thank you’s to some of the great friends Deb and I have met since the inception of this site.

Our reasoning for the thank you’s is simple. Today, April 1, 2012, is our anniversary of Deb’s one year fight with cancer. Yep, 12 months ago today, our whole world was turned upside down by three words… “you have cancer.”

We were then told it was Stage 4 breast cancer, that it had moved to another spot as well, below her tracheal tube. It was terminal…there is no cure. The best we could hope for was 8-9 months without treatment, and MAYBE 4-5 years with treatment, IF they could get it into remission.

Well, you know that Deb took one chemo treatment, and opted for no more. She decided upon the alternative treatments that she’s been doin ever since. These things have been amazing to us both. She feels great, looks great, and in all honesty, is great!

BUT, let me say this, without the Good Lord’s help, everything we do, or have done, would be for naught. Through his grace, our fight continues. I promise you all, he’s walking with Deb daily!

Put your faith in God, don’t accept no as an alternative, BELIEVE that what treatment you decide on IS working, stay positive, keep a good support group around, exercise, and “DON’T SWEAT THE LITTLE THINGS!”

Cancer is a word my friends, not a sentence. Deb read this in one of the books she’s read, and it has played a very crucial role in her fight. She’s something!

Also, I’d like to say that in reality, this past year has been a blessing to us both. It has shown us that life is not to be taken for granted. It’s shown us that all our time together is literally a blessing, and to enjoy it to the very best of our ability.

It’s shown us that God, IS love, and he alone has the power and authority to right all wrongs. If you’ll only listen, he WILL show you the way.

So, in all honesty, what a great year we’ve had. I’m ecstatic over this one year anniversary, and Deb and I will be sharing many more. You guys have no idea what important roles you’ve played too. This post today is merely expressing our thanks to you all!

First, I have to thank Judi and Brian of the Canadian Free Press. Because of those two, you’ve had to listen to me run my mouth for over a year now. If you’d like their e-mail address to voice your concern over having to tolerate me so often, I’m sure I can find it. I believe it would fall under the title of…cruel and unusual punishment! LOL!

Judi, first off, is simply one fantastic lady. She has been so much help to Deb and I, and we are grateful to her for all her kindness, concern, and prayers on our behalf.

She is the Editor of the CFP, and a dern workaholic! Because of Judi, and Brian, their publication is a light in the darkness in regards to helping to keep us, the US citizens, aware of the political agenda we’re faced with in our Country today.

Yes, they are in Canada, but their publication’s banner declares… “Without America, there is no free world.” This banner, and its proclamation, was indeed what caught my eye, and convinced me that I really needed to visit their site on an ongoing basis.

They tell it like it is, and don’t pull any shots in doing so. A fact is a fact, and they take no qualms about putting it out there in their own attempt to wake OUR Country up. Political correctness be damned!

Brian, quoting from the CFP itself, “Brian is the Web/IT guy, SEO and Marketing Manager, Graphics Editor and Research Assistant for Canada Free Press.” On top of Brian’s abilities to be a very important part of the CFP’s success, he too is one great person.

These two are as nice as the day is long, and not unlike other media outlets, are on call 24-7. If news is breaking, they’re on top of it.

Poor Brian is the one who has suffered the most in our dealings. I am a simple guy. I live simply, love simply, and as far as relationships with other people, I follow a simple rule in that regard as well…your word IS your bond. If you break your word with me, I’m through with you.

Your word really is all you have, and if your word means nothing to you, then I don’t need to be around you. Now, how simple is that?

Brian is a technological wizard, while ole Dub, yours truly, is a technological dinosaur, again, just a simple man. Talking about a clash of ideologies??? Brian didn’t know what hit him, when we started our site. I knew NOTHING about any of this computer mumbo jumbo, and Brian would try and work me through it.

He has, and still suffers from my ignorance of this new age of technological communication. At one point he suggested my log in name as…imadummee! Ha-ha-ha…good one Brian. **!$$##*!^^#! No my friend, that outburst WAS NOT directed at you, I stubbed my toe on a towel layin in the floor…by my desk…at this dern computer! LOL!

All joking aside, they’re great people, great patriots, great friends, and great to be associated with! Deb and I love them both! Thanks guys, for everything!

Then we move on to you guys. What a support group you all have been in Deb’s regard in her fight with this cancer. I swear, I don’t know if we could have done it without you guys! To take upon yourselves the burden of putting total strangers into your own hearts, lives, and prayers has been mind boggling to Deb and I.

What an outpouring of love and comraderie we’ve experienced from you all. I have to say that you have shown us the true meaning of goodness and the extent of goodness that people share with each other in tough times. ..from the heart.

We could never, ever, possibly thank you guys enough, although we thank you anyway. HOW important have you guys been? Deb has told me on numerous occasions that she can FEEL your prayers. Honestly. So again, thank you all, and know that you are in our prayers as well!

So, ole Deb and I are off to church this morning to give thanks for such a wonderful blessing he’s bestowed upon us, among all the others he blesses us with. Today is special to us, and thank you all once more, for your own roles in this day!

God Bless, and remember to keep a smile on your face, and one in your heart!

Dub and Deb

You’re probably sick of hearing me ask it, but I swear I don’t know where the day goes anymore? The weeks are just rolling by. Shoot, it seems like Christmas wasn’t that far back, and you might as well say its April already.

Maybe it’s just me?…yeah, right! I KNOW I’m not THE ONLY person out there, “getting old,” or maybe I should say, getting older? Sounds better doesn’t it? Almost………nice, huh? Well it ain’t! But you know who you are, so just face it…we’re getting old. Ain’t that right JC?

JC’s a buddy of mine, and a great guy too! I met him while we were going to different schools together. Actually, we DID go to the same school, it’s just that we were like on…different schedules.

His schedule had him AT school, every day of the week, ALL day! Ya believe that??? ALL day, EVERY weekday, the man was IN school! I know, I know, it’s hard for me to believe too…and I WAS there! I saw it! LOL!

I was more like, hmmm…let’s see, what’s today…Monday? You know, I think I just might take a ride out to Rock Springs, which is a State Park that has a large spring flowing out of the ground and is the origin of the Rock Springs River. So it boiled down to school…or Rock Springs? In my eyes, back in “the day,” this was literally a no-brainer! LOL!

Anyway, I’ve know this guy for years and years, not only him, but his entire family. I’ll always remember his Dad, Harry Haskell, hollerin for his son, JC, to, “Hit em a lick,” back when we played football. I mean you could hear his Dad over everybody, “Hit em lick, JC!”

You know, they have PA systems announcing the game, but when Jeff’s Dad went to hollerin, I swear…the man WAS the PA system! Once he yelled out from the stands…it got quiet for a moment or two.
People were like, “WHAT was that?” Then somebody would speak up that had been to the Apopka High school football games before and heard Harry Haskell yell, and they’d say, “Aw, it’s nothing, sit back down and watch the game! It’s just JC’s Dad!”

His Mom and Dad, shoot, when I was over there, they WERE, my Mom and Dad. Same with his brother and sister, Ronnie and Tina, also.

In reality, we were really, just family. Well, cept for JC, he was always like family too, but more like, a Cuzin. Naw, not like your Mom and Dad’s brothers and sisters kids, but something a lot farther removed, kinda like great, great, great, great….great, great, great…great uncle…or aunt’s children!

JC’s one fantastic guy, and I’m just pickin at him this morning. Growin older and thinkin back on “the good times, with friends.”

I remember my Grannie Margaret, Granddaddy, and Nannie Murphy, bless em all. I can only fantasize of them coming back through the door, or goin out to their house and spending the weekend, or Granddaddy taking me down to the camp with him for the week.

Me and him in my eyes we were equals. God I loved that man, and there’s no question that he cherished me…I was the first-born grandson, and that man was proud of that fact.

So there was so much bond or love between us, that it literally exuded out of him at times, so that in itself, to me, was almost as if…we were just buddies…equals! Just being around Granddaddy were some of my most enjoyable times in my whole life. Plus…he taught me to work.

Nannie Murphy, God rest her soul, loved me just as much, but no more, or no less than any of her other children and grandchildren.

She never had a driver’s license, yet worked her entire life as a nurse, and raised 5 children, right by herself. How’d she get back and forth? She walked.

4 of the children were hers, and one she raised on account of the child’s bad home life. Nannie took her in, and raised her as one of her own! That was how Nannie was.

Nannie, till her dying day, NEVER once called and didn’t ask, “Son, are you warm? Do you have enough underwear and socks? Have you got plenty to eat?” Then, after I assured her that I was fine, we’d talk about any other thing that happened into our minds.

Grannie Margaret, for some reason, I was always tryin to aggravate her, and in many cases was successful in my attempt! She was Granddaddy’s wife, and it seems Granddaddy had taken it upon himself to teach me a few things. One of which was…how to cuss!

I have to say that evidently I’d learned how pretty well, because from the time I was 3-4 years old, man, I could sling em out at ya! I guess I talked so dirty around Grannie was that, simply…Granddaddy wouldn’t let her whip me! LOL! I had…a free pass out at their place!

Grannie told me several times that while I was out at their place she’d be in the kitchen cooking supper. Their living room sat kinda catty-cornered from the kitchen, and although she couldn’t see me physically, she COULD, hear me in there just cussin up a storm.

Well, she said she’d gotten to the point that she figured if she just ignored me, I’d eventually…just shut up. Not me, she said. They had a rocker that if you rocked hard enough, you could bend forward in it, and see into the kitchen.

Grannie claims, and since she’s now gone I consider that all it is, is “a claim,” that I’d get that dern chair rockin as hard as I could, and when it rocked forward far enough, I’d holler out, “Sh..”
She’d be in the kitchen tryin her best to ignore me, hopin I’d get tired of her showing no response, and once again, I’d just shut-up.

She’d say at that point, I’d go to rockin even harder, all the time peerin around the corner, getting louder and louder, just a hollerin, “Sh..!” Once she finally had enough, she’d come flyin into the living room givin me “the what for!”

At that point, I’d stop. Mission accomplished. I’d… “pis… Grannie off, and it showed! Now, on to something else!

My reasoning behind sharing this with you guys today is simple. I used to dread the thought of growing older. That’s no longer the case. I cherish growing older now. It allows me the opportunity to go back in time, and relive my favorite memories.

Yes, these memories are just that…memories, but, my God, at all the wonderful people I’ve known that are no longer here, but still today, they can put a smile on my face, and because of this, I keep one in my heart as well.

I have truly been blessed, by the people our Lord saw fit to put into my life, to share those wonderful times with.

I love them all, and yes, I do miss them!

I also like the opportunity of enjoying the truly simple things in life that age, furnishes us with. I guess a word that while younger didn’t seem to be in my vocabulary ,but has become now, not just a word, but a virtue…it’s called, PATIENCE.

I look at many things today from an entirely different perspective than when I was, “still wet behind the ears!” LOL!

The beauty God put here for us to take note of. 20 years ago, I couldn’t give a hoot about the birds singing, or watching the rain roll off the roof while sitting in the porch swing during an afternoon shower.

Deb and I were in the greenhouse just this past week, and we must have spent 10 to 15 minutes watching a butterfly work. Can you imagine that at age 25? Me either! Yet, what a pleasure it is anymore to take the time and just…observe. Life truly is a wonderful gift, isn’t it? Growing older is a gift as well!

Well, that’s about all I have to say for today, and I hope possibly, it inspired a few of you guys out there to stop, smell the roses, and to give thanks to our creator for blessing us with this truly tremendous gift…the gift of life!

Oh, I almost forgot. Our good friend, Gary, asked for Aunt Ann’s Squash pickle recipe, so this is for you Mr. Gary! Along with an added bonus…her pickled okra recipe too! Enjoy, my friend!

Squash Pickles

• 2 POUNDS YELLOW OR SUMMER SQUASH
• 3 MEDIUM ONIONS
• 1/4 CUP OF SALT
• 2 CUPS WHITE VINEGAR
• 2 CUPS SUGAR
• 1 TEASPOON CELERY SEED
• 1 TEASPOON TUMERIC
• 2 TABLESPOONS MUSTARD SEED

Wash squash and slice thin. Peel onions and slice thin. Cover both with water and add salt. Let stand one to two hours. Drain

Bring vinegar, sugar and seasonings to boil and pour over vegetables. Let stand 3 to 4 minutes. Bring to a boil, stirring and boil 4 minutes.

Pour into hot sterilized jars and seal.

Aunt Ann’s Pickled Okra:
• 2 pounds tender, small, fresh okra
• 5 pods hot red pepper
• 5 cloves garlic, peeled
• 1 quart white vinegar
• 1/2 cup water
• 6 tablespoons salt
• 1 tablespoon celery seed

Wash okra and pack in 5 hot sterilized pint jars. Put one pepper pod and 1 garlic clove in each jar.

Bring remaining ingredients to boil. Pour over okra and seal. Let stand 8 weeks before using.

Serve chilled.

Note: If pepper pods are not available, use 1/4 teaspoon crushed, dried, hot red pepper for each jar.

Yield : 5 pints

We want you guys to have a great day, and God Bless! As always, my better half Deb, advises to keep a smile on your face, and one in your heart!

Dub and Deb