A to Z: Unbelievable and Unusual, a Random Tuesday Post

(Because some people like Blogger and some like WordPress, i am putting the same content at both.  If you would prefer to read this on the other site, it is linked here.)

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It's Tuesday, so it is time to link up with Stacy's Random Thoughts at Stacy Uncorked.  

Dr. Dee is unbelievable.  She is still trying to repair that Chevy Astro van that is about 15 years old.  In order to have her mechanic repair it, it's being taken to another shop for some of the work, then will be brought back for the rest.

That meant yesterday was "get the rest of the junk out of the van" day.

Some of the stuff has been in there so long she forgot she had it.

We all need a brain shaped gelatin mold.

Toys.  And under this are several ink pens and straws, i lost track of how many.

Someone also hit her truck and tore off the front bumper.  She taped it back on:

We finally found the light bulbs she needs for her very odd light fixtures.  They do not screw in, they have two prongs on the back, and they are very hard to get in when you are balancing on a ladder trying to get the prongs to go in the little holes the right way so you can twist it in.

Something a bit unusual happened yesterday, too.  Friends from church who live part time here and part time in Michigan hired me to clean their house after they left to migrate back North.  Sweetie was using their vacuum cleaner when it suddenly quit working.

In trying to figure out what was wrong, i noticed that the filter wasn't seated correctly.  Pulling it out, i could see the housing for the filter was melted and warped!  Sticking my hand up in there very carefully, i could tell you that i have never felt a vacuum cleaner get so hot on the inside in my life, and i have dealt with a lot of vacuum cleaners.

Mr. P, when i called him, said, "Oh, it stops sometimes, usually when I am almost finished vacuuming.  If you leave it alone a while, it will come back on.  I don't know what's wrong with it."

Well, i know, the doggone thing is overheating and he's going to cause a fire!  When i told him what was up, he promised to buy a new one when they come back.  That will probably be cheaper than trying to get it repaired.

Sweetie suggested a vacuum cleaner place he knows that could sell a replacement filter and housing, but as i told him, that won't change the underlying problem that causes it to overheat.  

Here's a hint from a janitor:  No vacuum cleaner should get so hot that it melts some of its parts.  If it does, please go get a new one!

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To enjoy more blogs participating in the A to Z Challenge, click here.

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Today is:

Ambivalence Day -- a holiday to tell your friends about, or not

Concord Day -- Niger

Feast of Eros -- Ancient Greek Calendar (date approximate)

Genocide Remembrance Day / Martyrs' Day-- Armenia

Happenstance and Coincidence Evening -- Fairy Calendar

Kapyong Day -- Australia (Battle of Kapyong, 1951)

Loktantra Diwas -- Nepal (Democracy Day)

Pigs in a Blanket Day

School Bus Driver's Day -- these longsuffering drivers put up with a lot, thank a school bus driver today!

Spring Cat Cleaning Day -- because someone, somewhere, thinks you need to bathe your cat; ask the cat, he will refuse, and if you become insistent, be careful

St. Ives' Day (Patron of St. Ives, Cambridgeshire, England)

St. Mark's Eve*

World Day for Animals in Laboratories      

World Meningitis Day    

*A young lady may eat a boiled dove's egg sprinkled with salt and place a tulip, sacred to St. Mark, in a vase next to her bed, and so she will dream of the man she will marry.

Anniversaries Today:

Mary, Queen of Scots marries Dauphin of France, François, at Notre Dame de Paris, 1558

Birthdays Today:

Courtnee Draper, 1985

Kelly Clarkson, 1982

Eric Balfour, 1977

Chipper Jones, 1972

Cedric the Entertainer, 1964

Djimon Hounsou, 1964

Michael O’Keefe, 1955

Eric Bogosian, 1953

Jean-Paul Gaultier, 1952

Doug Clifford, 1945

Barbra Streisand, 1942

Richard M. Daley, 1942

Sue Grafton, 1940

Jill Ireland, 1936

Shirley MacLaine, 1934

Stanley J. Kauffmann, 1916

Robert Penn Warren, 1905

Michael J. Dady, 1850

George N. Bascom, 1836

Anthony Trollope, 1815

Robert Bailey Thomas, 1766

Edmund Cartwright, 1743

Debuting/Premiering Today:

"Dancing at Lughnasa"(Play), 1990

"Die Jahreszeiten/The Seasons"(Oratorio, Haydn H 21/3), 1801

The Boston News-Letter(Newspaper), 1704 (first successful newspaper in the British colonies)

Today in History:

Thutmose III ascends to the throne of Egypt, although power effectively shifts to Hatshepsut, BC1479

Traditional date for the Greeks entering Troy using the Trojan Horse, BC1184

The appearance of Halley's Comet causes monks in England to predict evil happenings, 1066

"La Marseillaise" is composed by Claude-Joseph Rouget de Lisle, 1792

The Boston "News-Letter" becomes the first successful newspaper in the colonies, 1704

The Library of Congress is established, 1800

A patent is granted for the first soda fountain, 1833

William Price of the Washington Star becomes the first reporter to be specifically assigned to the White House, 1897

The fathometer, which measures underwater depth, is patented, 1928

Winston Churchill is knighted by Queen Elizabeth II, 1953

Cosmonaut  Vladimir Komarov dies in Soyuz 1, the first person to die during a space mission, 1967

Mauritius becomes a member state of the United Nations, 1968

The first Chinese satellite, Dong Fang Hong I, is launched, 1970

Gruinard Island, Scotland, is officially declared free of the anthrax disease after 48 years of quarantine, 1990

Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger is inaugurated as the 265th Pope of the Roman Catholic Church taking the name Pope Benedict XVI, 2005

Snuppy, the world's first cloned dog, is born in South Korea, 2005

Iceland announces that Norway will shoulder the defense of Iceland during peacetime, 2007

Scientists in Kamchatka, Russia, report sighting the first adult white orca to be seen in the wild, 2012