Day: February 23, 2021

Truthful Tuesday — Best Laid Plans

Fandango13 Comments

Frank, aka PCGuy, has published another one of his Truthful Tuesday posts. This week Frank wants to know…

When was the last time you had well thought-out plans that got dashed to pieces by circumstances beyond your control? Were you able to “make lemonade” out of the “lemons” life handed you, or did you have to completely step back and regroup?

In 1995 I was on a camping trip with my family to see the sights in South Dakota: the Badlands, Mt. Rushmore, etc. While at a KOA campground near Mt. Rushmore, I tore my Achilles’ tendon in a pick-up basketball game with my son. I ended up going to a hospital emergency room in Rapid City, where they immobilized my ankle. We had to cut our amazing family camping vacation short so that we could head home in order for me to have surgery to repair the torn tendon.

The only lemonade as a result of this “adventure” was some that we got at one of the rest stops on the drive home. Otherwise it was a pretty horrible experience.

And my wife and kids were not happy campers. Literally!

A Month of Love #23

Fandango4 Comments

Paula Light says, “Let’s celebrate the month of lurve (aka love) by posting one thing we love every day throughout February.

Now the truth is that I’m not really a romantic guy, so I might be hard pressed to come up with 28 objects of love, but I think I should be able to come up with 28 things I like a lot.

Where I live now, it’s not unusual for summer temperatures to reach 100+ F degrees for weeks at a time. Our area is also plagued by wildfires due to very dry vegetation and high winds and, according to Republican congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene from Georgia, secret Jewish space lasers.

We had three power outages this past summer, and when it’s 100+ degrees outside and the electricity that powers the air conditioning goes off, it’s not a fun experience. So in the late summer we decided to install a natural gas powered whole house generator. And even though it was too late to keep the lights on for this past summer’s power outages, in November there was a windstorm that toppled a large tree that fell across power wires and caused a power outage to around 3,000 homes in my area. But due to our generator, the power at our house didn’t skip a beat, while most of our neighbors’ homes were dark.

I love my whole house generator.

TWT — Jailbreak

Fandango4 Comments

“Warden, they’re going to try to spring the mafia boss out of prison tomorrow.”

“Don’t worry, we’re ready for it.”

Written for Bulbul’s Twenty Word Tuesday prompt, where this week’s word is “spring.” I think Bulbul’s context was “spring,” as in the season of the year, but I took it in a different direction. Also for the Ragtag Daily Prompt (mafia).

Photo Challenge — Burying the Lede

Fandango10 Comments

They met on an online dating service and, after a few days of exchanging messages and a brief but pleasant phone conversation, they arranged to meet in person at a local coffee shop. Both had high hopes based upon the profiles and the pictures. But after a tedious half hour at the coffee shop, Maria knew that he wasn’t for her. She said that she was leaving and when he asked her why, she said, “You’re such a square, Ronald,” Maria said. “You’re not at all hip. You’re just, well, a square.”

“I’m not a square,” Ronald objected. “I can be hip, Maria.”

“No, you’re too conservative, too old fashioned,” Maria said. “I want a man who is unconventional, unpredictable, surprising, exciting.” Maria stood up and started to exit the coffee shop.

“Wait, Maria,” Ronald protested. “I can be all those things too. Plus, I can be spontaneous and romantic.” He grabbed Maria, pulled her close to him, and kissed her.

Maria immediately pulled away. “Ew, that was uncool,” she said. “Face it, Ronald, you’re stuffy and, frankly, uninteresting. You’re a square. You belong in Squaresville with all of the other strait-laced, boring, fuddy-duddy, traditionalist squares. I want someone enchanting, unique, individualistic, a man who can sweep me off my feet, and who can take me to unparalleled heights.”

“Well, okay, Maria,” a dejected Ronald said. “But consider this. I’m very, very wealthy. I may not be able to take you to unparalleled heights, but I can give you the finest things money can buy and take you to the most beautiful places in the world.

Maria grabbed Ronald’s hand, leaned into him, and whispered in a thick, throaty manner, “Oh, Ronald, way to bury the lede.”

“So I guess it’s all aboard for Squaresville, then,” a now delighted Ronald said.

Written for the Mindlovemisery’s Menagerie Photo Challenge. Photo credit: DeviantArt.com.

FOWC with Fandango — Glow

Fandango22 Comments

FOWCWelcome to February 23, 2021 and to Fandango’s One-Word Challenge (aka, FOWC). It’s designed to fill the void after WordPress bailed on its daily one-word prompt.

I will be posting each day’s word just after midnight Pacific Time (US).

Today’s word is “glow.”

Write a post using that word. It can be prose, poetry, fiction, non-fiction. It can be any length. It can be just a picture or a drawing if you want. No holds barred, so to speak.

Once you are done, tag your post with #FOWC and create a pingback to this post if you are on WordPress. Please check to confirm that your pingback is there. If not, please manually add your link in the comments.

And be sure to read the posts of other bloggers who respond to this prompt. You will marvel at their creativity.