Pickles by Brian Crane for July 16, 2020

Opal, “Why yes dear, I made reservations at that new expensive restaurant we (I) have been want wanting to try.”

know of any one-armed cooks?

Well make up your mind Opal!

Earl uses his own methods of diagnosis.

Guess Earl is looking at some serious couch time.

All Earl wants to know is how this is going to affect him.

This makes mt think about my dad’s parents. I never knew them because they both died a few years before I was born. But I heard such wonderful things about my grandma – what a sweet person she was. I wish I could have known her! But I heard terrible stuff about my grandpa who was heartless and cruel in some ways (I’m not saying Earl is heartless or cruel). What reminds me of my grandparents is the story I heard about my grandma being very sick one day and grandpa didn’t care that she was sick – he insisted she had to cook dinner for him. My dad and his brother and sister never really wanted to talk about their dad, but from what little I have heard about him, I don’t think I missed much never knowing him.

Earl is breathtakingly self-centered.

Some men have to be taken care of, I guess Earl is one!

I foresee a ding dinner from the microwave coming up.

We are retired. When I don’t feel like cooking I just announce, “Everybody is on their own today” (everybody means husband). Hey, sometimes I only want a few spoonfuls of peanut butter right out of the jar. That’s enough.

Pizza delivery?

And Earl decides to make it all about himself!

Some days, Earl is the jerk. Some days, Opal is the jerk. I guess it balances out for them.

In fairness, he did offer to take her to the ER and show concern for her for the first three panels, so…three out of four ain’t bad?

With sling on arm I thought she was at the ER ! Earl call for Take – Out .

My Dad would often complain during dinner about the plates not being hot. He ask my Mom why she didn’t heat the plates.

My Mom had several strokes when she was 79, and could not use one side of her body and could usually only answer yes and no. She could repeat something right after you said it to her.

One evening I came over and my Dad was in the process of cooking dinner for the two of them. I could tell he was stressed; trying to make all the things being cooked to come out at the same time. I leaned over to Mom and whispered to her to say, “Hot Plates”. She started laughing, and said in a loud voice, “Hot plates!” She got such a kick out of it, she repeated a few more times. My Dad didn’t do anything, he knew he deserved it.

OY! Earl is clueless….if Opal needs to TELL him to fix dinner….

“No DINNER..??……. OK, then…… can you at LEAST get out of my CHAIR..???”

Easy on Earl there, folks. He’s just trying to find out how “fine” she is. Hospital fine, or cooking dinner fine? There’s a lot of room in between.

“Fine” the male’s clue that something isn’t fine.

Earls just concerned,mainly about his dinner.

If everyone did the right thing at the right time we wouldn’t have any good comics.

I live in a community that has a LOT of older, retired people. Whenever a wife is sick or in the hospital, the other wives cook and clean for those husbands. I know it sounds like a nice thing to do, but can’t these men even make a darn sandwich or heat up a can of soup for themselves? Apparently not. And apparently they don’t know how to use a vacuum or dust rag, either. I used to play a game once a month that was 2-4 PM. We had to change it because these women said their husbands got hungry so they had to get home earlier to fix dinner.If my husband waited for me to fix his dinner, he would have died of starvation 37 yrs ago.

Typical man. He (very mistakenly) thinks the world revolves around him and his needs.

There is a fine line to the degrees of fineness!

Earl you need to learn to cook and help Opal out.I think my dad would could if he had to. I know for BBQ outside he would do the grilling. My own husband knows how to cook, and he also goes by recipe. For me I just try to throw food together.

Geesh, Earl!

Either Opal is “fine” then home cooked meal. Or she is “not fine” in which case, its time for take away

Zeroing in on exactly how fine takes that special Earl touch.

I think Earl is suggesting he take her to the ER, so they can get some takeout food on the way home.

i was driving very slow on the e-way when i hit a patch of ice on an overpass and spun around, eventually hitting a guardrail but nothing to prevent me from going on my way. unfortunately there was a coip and he gave me a ticket for not having control of my vehicle. when i told my husband what happened the first thing that came out of his nouth was….HOW FAST WERE YOU GOING? defiitely a man thing.

why doesn’t he do something once in a while instead of expecting her to do everything. lazy old coot

I get that Crane is playing to a standing joke in “Pickles” that Earl is helpless around the house, but this callousness shows Earl being an insensitive jerk. Also I think this plays better with older folks who grew up with this myth that men don’t cook or do housework but even then it’s irritating; today that behavior doesn’t fly at all in most households and is a source of bitter resentment for a lot of people.

She has spoiled him.