bunyon: A Man without His second half!

Hi

About me?
Well I'm not one to really describe who I am but I will try.

I am an honest guy, I usually will speak the truth and accept the truth when it is spoken to me, I appreciate up front people even if they tell me something I don't want to hear as long as it is the truth, I can handle it.

I enjoy all kinds of things, pretty open to trying stuff however being older I'm no so sure I'd be jumping out of a plane or bungie jumping something I'd for sure of done a few years back, I'd consider it but not sure I'd do it now.

I've been alone quite a while, I took care of my father for over 3 years, he had Alzheimer's, I watched him go from being my Dad into this horrible disease, it was quite a journey, had zero help from family did everything myself and I'm glad I did it. My Dad passed in January of 2022, he was relieved of this misery, it was not how he wanted to be, it was hard to watch.

So after he passed I was still taking care of stuff, memorial, again no help and the Trust which I'm still dealing with.

My life was focused on taking care of him and all his affairs over 3 years and I really had no life other than that and I do not regret it at all.

So, I'm still all alone and been through quite a lot, I was a nightly drinker, only drank at night but did it every night and now I am trying to back away from that, I am just tired of it and it just don't really do me much good, it's just not what I want anymore, and I am seeking other alternatives. I drank to occupy myself and now I realize it's not how I want to occupy my time anymore, there's better things to life than drinking every evening. I'd have some drinks, cook, do laundry, fix something, watch some TV, eat and go to bed. When I was helping my Dad I'd be paying his bills, trying to find him a place to stay, looking up his military benefits or other benefits to raise money for a nicer place for him to live or whatever else needed to be done & the way I knew to stop was when I got too buzzed to do anymore, I'd know it's time to stop and I would.

So now I'm ready for a new experience in life. I believe God has given me a new road and it's up to me to find it and I know I won't find it drinking every night. So that is part of my journey walking away from that and discovering what is in front of me and embracing every moment.

I am a pretty damn good cook, I use no recipe's I just know what goes with what, I've been cooking my entire life, since like 12 or 13.
I cook everything, fish, steak, carnitas, enchiladas, great salsa, I can make great Potatoe salad but I'm on a low carb diet so that is off the menu currently.
I've been making a lot of fish and chicken lately, I buy different marinades then add my own extra stuff, usually like garlic, cilantro, beer or wine, whatever I think will work to improve the taste and 9.5 times out of 10 it does.
I can make some pretty good soups as well, just call me the soup Nazi, lol, do you know where that is from?
I make great carnitas, I use a crock pot. I liquify tomatoes, garlic, bell pepper, onion and cilantro in my bullet then pour it into the crock pot with the shoulder and let it cook over night until the meat it nice and tender and it is the bomb!
I make great salsa, several different types, have not made it in like 10 years until just recently. I made the first batch and it was good but not my best, it was first time in over 10 years. I just made some recently and it was much better, I believe it was the tomatoes on the first batch, the tomatoes were not the best.
I use to make homemade refried beans. I can make them 2 ways, the easier way is with canned pinto or black beans and the best way is with raw beans, it takes much longer because you have to soak the beans overnight then cook them. The canned way you just dump the beans into a pan smash them up, but before that I fry up yellow or sweet onions with or without garlic, fry it up in oil, lard is the original way but I use olive oil much healthier.
After you fry this up I put the beans in, mash them up let it cook a little bit and there ya go, refried beans, pretty quick and easy, or you just buy canned refried beans which is not nearly as good.
That unfortunately is also off my menu as well, lots of carbs in beans.

Enough about that, now I'm hungry.

Ok, 30 minutes later, I just made something to eat!
I made what is called toasty dogs, it's a hot dog put between a piece of bread with cheese. (my bread is low carb, 1 net carb & very good)

I cook the hot dog by itself first, prepare the slice of bread with a slice of cheese, whatever cheese you like, American is the original but I use Munster, provolone or what I just used, Havarti, they are all zero carbs and are great. I also put a 1/2 of slice of American on top then bake it until cheese it melted. You can eat it just like this or add extra stuff as you wish.
I spread Dijon mustard on the bread, put the slice of cheese on top, then the cooked hot dog, 1/2 a slice of American cheese on top of dog, put it into oven let bread get a little crisp and cheese melted, once the cheese is melted it's done then after that I put diced onions and tomatoes on top and mm, mm good.
One important thing you have to do when making these, use toothpicks to hold it together, to keep the bread wrapped upward on dog, I angle the toothpicks so they stay in, I put 2 on each end of T. Dog 4 total.

I just ate 2 and I'm full and happy!

This is not like my best food or anything it's just my fast-food junkie meal that I am able to have on this diet and it's quick and easy to eat.

I have bags of boneless chicken breast I sliced up raw, put in vacuum bags with marinades, each bag has a different marinade flavor and I have several in freezer all vacuum sealed with my vacuum seal machine, I also have some fish, I don't usually like freezing fish I like eating it fresh much more, I usually throw a bunch of flavor in it mix it up good and let it sit over night or at least a few hours then cook it and eat it.
Chicken is 100% good to freeze.

Well there ya go, a little peak into my cooking world, lol...

I usually stay busy, I'm currently remodeling my condo, I had a fire in my kitchen which actually worked out with getting insurance money and doing it myself.
I am planning on doing the entire condo though, repainting, getting a brand new heating and air conditioning unit, remodel bathrooms, bedrooms, new flooring, putting in new sliders on my balconies etc..
Lot of work ahead of me!
Ironically I actually found a room within my condo, it's a 13'x7.5' space above my kitchen, been here close to 15 years and never knew it was there, I plan to convert it to a loft, this adds close to a 100 sq ft to my condo, it was a great find!

Anyway, there's a lot more to me I'm sure but I'm kind of done here, hopefully I meet you and we can know more about each other, maybe I can cook you up a dish someday, we can start with my homemade salsa and chips, pork rinds for me, lol.

I know some beautiful drives along the PV coast, some great places and some breath-taking hikes.

I love going to museums, historical sites, I enjoy history quite a bit, I find religion very fascinating, I know a good amount about it, all 3 major religions, did quite a bit of research on them, they are what helped shaped our societies in very big ways, some good some bad but very interesting and people should know more about this, people should know more about all history in order to avoid repeating some of it as I believe is happening in our world today.

God is good but he gave us free will and if we choose to use this free will to be idiots he is not stopping us, may give us signs that we are being stupid but if we insist, he will step aside and say have at it, enjoy the results.

Anyway
I hope to hear from you, hope we can hit it off and have some fun, I look forward to hearing or reading about you and hopefully meeting you and getting to know you whether we just simply become friends and nothing more or whatever, I'm open and I most certainly could use some friends, after what I went through and at my age it's not easy to get a gang together like I once had.

I wish you well...

Paul.......

Looking for friends.

I do hope to find someone who fits into my life, someone I can trust and who knows they can trust me.
I've been an open book in the past, still am but the book has a lock on it now and I am cautious who I give the key to, the key must be earned as I must earn your key to your book.

I'm too old for anymore dead-end relationships and I hope you feel the same way!

I just want to be who I am and I want you to be who you are, all your garbage included!

We all have some garbage it just depends on how we are dealing with it, are we letting it pile up and letting it get all stinky and gross or are we taking the trash out on a regular basis?

Sometimes we let it pile up but as long as we take the trash out eventually before the ugliness and stench get's real bad I think things will be ok.
Sometimes we need help taking that trash out and that is part of what a relationship should be about helping each other at times and at other times we need to take it out ourselves and clean up the mess we created.
Honesty to thyself and to others is what makes this very possible!

Thank you for reading!

Paul...............

history historical sites breath taking scenery sun sets/sun rises being in star filled skies watching satellites go by simply enjoying the company of someone i love being with