The Lock (Six Sentence Story) and Out Riding Fences (Good Fences)

“Julia, I hope you realize I loved your grandfather as my music mentor dearly and I don’t mean any offense, but in some ways the man was only half-baked,” Jonathan said as he headed for the corner of the back walls with the conductor’s baton in his hand.

Julia laughed and said, “My mother put it that when they made him they broke the mold.  Then she would add they also threw away the blueprints, retooled the assembly line, and fired the idiots at quality control!”

Using the baton, Jonathan measured up the wall and then across as the instructions seemed to say, and came to a knot in the dark paneling.  It didn’t look much different from the other knots, and he wondered why anyone would use such dark material in an unlit area of a basement.

He felt the knot, pushing at it, and it sprung open, revealing a lock; he reflexively reached to pull the key he’d been sent out of his pocket as Julia and Buddy watched, wide-eyed.

Linking up with Zoe's Uncharted Blog, where she hosts Six Sentence Stories, and the cue is Baked.

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Gosia, of Looking for Identity, has taken over Good Fences, and it's now Good Fences Around The World.  Post a picture of a fence or gate, link back to her blog, and go visit others to see what interesting fences there are out in this big world.

It's been a long time since i've been out riding fences.

Today is:

Allama Iqbal Day -- Pakistan

Chaos Never Dies Day -- internet generated, and just look in my closets if you want proof that we need this one

Couch Beachcombing Day -- internet generated; also called sofa diving, you will be amazed what you will find!

Dia de los Natitas -- La Paz, Bolivia (Day of the Skulls, when skulls are decorated and then offered cigarettes, coca leaves, and other items)

Dedication of the Lateran Basilica

Fiesta de Nuestra Senora de la Almudena -- Madrid, Spain (Feast of the Virgin of the Almudena, Patroness of the City)

Flag Day -- Azerbaijan

Go to an Art Museum Today Day -- it's a good idea, whoever started this one

Independence Day -- Cambodia (1953)

Lord Mayor's Day / Lord Mayor's Show -- London, England (traditional date, celebrated on the nearest Saturday; a traditional Show since 1215, when King John granted the people of London the right to elect their own mayor)

National Nibble Day -- as promoted by Adrienne Sioux Koopersmith

National Scrapple Day

Neon Sign Day -- Georges Claude received a patent for the neon sign on this day in 1911

Night of Nicnevin (Gyre-Carling), Daughter of Frenzy, Banshee -- Scots Pagan (date approximate)

Paul is Dead Day -- Beatle's Conspiracy Theorists, who claim Paul died this day in 1966 and was replaced by Billy Campbell

Pirates Week Festival -- Cayman Islands (mock pirate invasions, old sailing vessels, and lots of good natured fun; the islands take turns hosting events through the 13th)

Schicksalstag -- Germany (Destiny Day or Fateful Day) anniversary of

    the execution of Robert Blum in 1848

    dethroning of Kaiser Wilhelm II in 1918

    The Beer Hall Putsch in 1923

    Kristallnacht (Crystal Night, marks the beginning of the Holocaust), 1938

    the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989

St.Theodore the General's Day (Patron of soldiers; Brindisi, Italy; invoked for the recovery of lost objects)

Tag der Erfinder -- Austria; Germany; Switzerland (Inventor's Day; birth anniversary of Hedy Lamarr, who was an inventor as well as an actress)

Wish-Granting Championships -- Fairy Calendar (Sprites)

World Freedom Day -- US

Birthdays Today:

Nikki Blonsky, 1988

Nick Lachey, 1973

Chris Hericho, 1970

Thomas Quasthoff, 1959

Lou Ferrigno, 1951

Tom Weiskopf, 1942

Tom Fogerty, 1941

Mary Travers, 1936

Bob Gibson, 1935

Carl Sagan, 1934

Dorothy Dandridge, 1923 

Spiro Agnew, 1918

Hedy Lamarr, 1913

James William Fullbright, 1905

Ed Wynn, 1886

Stanford White, 1853

Elijah P. Lovejoy, 1802

Benjamin Banneker, 1731 (first freeborn child of free African American parents)

Debuting/Premiering Today:

"Wizard of Id"(Comic strip), 1964

"Omnibus"(TV), 1952

Today in History:

Egica, a king of the Visigoths of Hispania, accuses Jews of aiding Muslims, sentencing all Jews to slavery, 694

The Family de' Medici were expelled from Florence, 1494

Pilgrims aboard the Mayflower sight land at Cape Cod, Massachusetts, 1620

Hungarian parliament promises Protestants freedom of religion, 1681

The Rabbi Yehuda Hasid synagogue in Jerusalem is set afire by Arabs, 1720

Napoleon becomes dictator of France, 1799

The first US pharmacy college begins classes in Philadelphia, 1821

The NY Symphony Orchestra holds its first public performance, 1858

The first documented Canadian football game is held, at the University of Toronto, 1861

Ulyses Grant issues orders to bar Jews from serving under him, 1862

The Great Boston Fire destroys nearly 1,000 buildings, 1872

Theodore Roosevelt becomes the first US president to visit other countries during his tenure, visiting Puerto Rico and Panama, 1906

The Great Lakes Storm of 1913, the most destructive natural disaster ever to hit the lakes, destroys 19 ships and kills more than 250 people, 1913

Albert Einstein is awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics for his work with the photoelectric effect, 1921

Several U.S. states and parts of Canada are hit by a series of blackouts lasting up to 13 hours in the Northeast Blackout of 1965

First issue of Rolling Stone Magazine is published, 1967

Garry Kasparov 22, of the Soviet Union becomes the youngest World Chess Champion, 1985

The chemical element Darmstadtium is discovered, 1994

The Venus Express mission of the European Space Agency is launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, 2005

The German Bundestag passes the controversial data retention bill mandating storage of citizens' telecommunications traffic data for six months without probable cause, 2007

A World Anti-Doping Agency commission report recommends that the Russian Federation be banned from athletics competitions for running a "state-supported" doping program, 2015