Pickles by Brian Crane for October 30, 2018

does Opal even LIKE eating alone, Earl?

Opal, serve the meal as you sit down.

Eating fast only gets one a grumpy stomach. Not much of a win.

Some food is best eaten ere the taste registers.

Perhaps Earl was in the military ….. Sometimes you did not have time to eat slow …if you wanted to eat …. now fast eating is part of his life forever ;-)

She probably took so long piddling preparing the meal that he was very hungry. He could have done the dishes, however.

But what’s the prize, Earl?

Hubby was military and would eat so fast that I felt compelled to check the dining room for snipers.

Maybe Earl isn’t interested in the Evening Neighborhood News update. A nightly feature in these parts.

Used to be an issue around here. Now I bring both meals in at the same time…

Perhaps she isn’t a very good cook and eating fast is the only way he can get it down.

Then he’d have to have a conversation.

It’s the only thing that fuddy old fart can win at.

I remember being served dessert once at a restaurant, there were 3 of us, the server brought in them at the same time, and the first guy had eaten his before the server put mine in front of me. He said he inhaled his food. (One time later he had to be rushed to the hospital and some food had stuck in his throat.)

I think you get into this habit when you have to work and don’t get a full lunch break. I know that when I was working if I didn’t eat fast I didn’t eat.

Loved my Dad for the respect he had for my mother. She would run around saying to the seated family, “Eat, eat, before it gets colds!” But he would allow no one to lift a fork until she was seated at the opposite end of the table. She learned to have everything ready on time.

Eat as fast as you wish, but wait until after we say grace to start.

Amazing how “close to home”this strip feels!

My husband cooks for us. He always serves me first. I wait for him.

When either my husband or I say, “It’s not a race,” we always reply, “Said the loser.”

My husband always eats fast. Going out to eat with him can be a challenge in patience, because when he is finished, he is ready to pay and leave. Meanwhile, the rest of us are still talking and enjoying our time out while having to listen to him tap his fingers on the table and fidget. After 11 years, he is starting to mellow… I have hope for the next 11 years that maybe he will slow down hiz eating a bit more!

Sounds like a win to me.. get to eat it while hot.. and not have to watch Opel chew each mouthful 43 times.

No dessert?

Learned to eat as fast as possible when I was on 15 min alert (24 hrs on 24 hrs off) in the Army in Korea, then on border at Key West and on dividing line between East and West Germany. Always ate fast just in case of alarm sounding while I was eating. Did the same as a Airport firefighter

Allows you to eat too much. Why he is so over weight.

learned to eat fast in the army, only had 30 minutes in basic and it took 15 to get through the chow line.

Hey, what happened to sitting down together and having a blessing on the food first?

Were Earl and Opal ever happy? This strip is beginning to remind me of The Lockhorns. Maybe it’s my mood tonight (I am REALLY tired of the toxic “conservation” in this country right now), but many of the comments here seem such put downs of married life. Opal grouses, Earl grouses or doesn’t listen. If you don’t like each other any more, why stay together? I’m gonna visit Rose is Rose now: even when they’re irritated with each other, they’re not nasty and hurtful.