A Great Idea (Wordless Wednesday) and Words for Wednesday

(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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Linking up with Wordless Wednesday and Sandee at Comedy Plus.     

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Words for Wednesday was begun by Delores and has become a moveable feast of word or picture or music prompts that encourages us to write stories, poems, or whatever strikes our fancy.    

This month, the prompts are being provided by Margaret Adamson and her friend Sue Fulton, with some pictures by her friend Bill Dodds, and are posted by Elephant's Child.                      

This weeks prompts are:

1. Sully
2. Chagrin
3. Funambulist
4. Heavy
5. Lowering
6. Sand

And/or

1. Ablutions
2. Wasting
3. Saucy
4. Perpetual
5. Moonstruck
6. Cigar

“Will you stop WASTING so much water on that elephant!  You bunch would do better to up the quality of your own ABLUTIONS!”

He didn’t notice one of the workers giving him a SAUCY face, but he didn’t have to.  He knew they would be making fun, and much to his CHAGRIN he knew he deserved it for taking his ire out on them when none of the current trouble was their fault.  As he stalked angrily into his tent,  LOWERING the flap that served as a door with a hard yank was not nearly as satisfactory as slamming a real one closed, but it would have to do.

Being the owner and ringmaster of a small tent circus was what he loved, but on days like this it was a HEAVY load.  His wife, who had been MOONSTRUCK in her tender years and run away with the circus for real, knew his moods and loved him, whether because of or in spite of those PERPETUAL mood swings no one could fathom.

She silently brought him a fresh CIGAR, a match, and the plate of SAND he used as an ashtray.  Without a word, he sat at the table and lit the cigar, taking a puff or two before turning to the woman he knew held him and this outfit together in more ways than anyone ever admitted.

“Why did you ever SULLY yourself and get mixed up in this life?” he asked her, and as she always did she answered, “Because I love you and you love this circus life, and I wouldn’t have you any other way.”

“Where in the world am I going to find a new FUNAMBULIST?  The tightrope act and the elephant are our two biggest draws, and the new touring season starts in a month.  A month!  I’ll never be able to replace that vagabond so quickly.  I should have known he’d bolt to a competitor at the first opportunity.

“Lilly, what in the world am I going to do?”

Rubbing his shoulders to ease his tension, she said, “You are going to have some supper, then you are going to get a good night’s sleep, and starting tomorrow, you are going to use the great talent you have to either train someone here in tightrope walking, or you will come up with another big draw act from the people you have, or you will find some other solution.  You’ve done it before, you can do it again, I have faith in you!”

Looking up at her, he tried to hide the mist in his eyes by asking, “Want to learn to walk a tightrope?” and they both laughed as she pretended to threaten to choke him.  He knew they’d pull through this, too.

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Today is:

Admission Day -- Nevada, US

Allantide -- Cornwall, England

All Hallows Eve -- Christian

Apple and Candle Night -- Wales

Books for Treats Day -- San Jose, CA, US (give gently used books to kids, not candy -- feed their brains, not their cavities!)

Chiang Kai-Shek Day -- Taiwan

Day of the Seven Billion -- day in 2011 the UN declared the world population to have reached 7,000,000,000     

Dias de los Muertos -- Mexico, esp. Michoacan and Oaxaca (through Nov. 2; ceremonies, sand sculptures, decorated altars, and parties through the nights in the cemetaries)

Dookie Apple Night -- Newcastle, England

Duck Apple Night -- Liverpool, England

Feast of Sekhmet Bast Ra -- Ancient Egyptian Calendar (date approximate)

Festival of Inner Worlds -- Pagan (fight between the old and new year)

Fort Lauderdale International Boat Show -- Ft. Lauderdale, FL, US (hosted at the "Yachting Capital of the World"; through Sunday)

Founder's Day -- Girl Scouts of the USA (Juliette Gordon Low's birth anniversary)

Ghostwriter's Day

Hallowe'en or Beggar's Night

Hawaiki Nui Va'a Race -- French Polynesia (spectacular three-day open water outrigger canoe race from Huahine to Raiatea to Tahaa to Bora Bora; through Friday)

Increase Your Psychic Powers Day -- originated in England in the 19th century, some celebrated on the 30th

King Father Nordom Sihanouk's Birthday -- Cambodia

National Candy Apple Day

National Knock-Knock Joke Day

    Knock, Knock

    Who's There?

    Police.

    Police who?

    Police stop telling knock-knock jokes! 

National Magic Day -- Society of American Magicians (in honor of Harry Houdini, who died on this day in 1926, and who was president of the SoAM)

National UNICEF Day — US

Nut-Crack Night -- England; Scotland

Old Celtic New Year's Eve

Out of the Broom Closet Day -- Pagan, Heathen, and all earth-based and ethnic religions

Reformation Day -- Protestant Christian (trad.)

    Official Holiday -- Germany; Slovenia

Samhain (northern hemisphere) / Beltane (southern hemisphere) -- Druids, Gaels, Welsh peoples, Neopagans, Wiccans (begins at sunset)

Scare a Friend Day -- just not so much that he/she isn't a friend any more

Senior Absurdity Day -- Horace Mann School, Bronx, NY, US (a day the kids look forward to each year)

Sneak Some of the Candy Yourself Before the Kids Start Knocking Day

St. Quentin's Day (Patron against coughs)

St. Wolfgang of Ratisbon's Day (Patron of apoplexics, carpenters, paralysed people, stroke victims; Regensburg, Germany; against apoplexy, paralysis, stomach diseases, strokes)

Thump-the-Door Night -- Isle of Mann

Trick or Treat Night

Vetmaetr -- Norse Calendar (Winter Nights; beginning of winter, the New Year, and the start of Odin leading the Wild Hunt)

Youth Honor Day -- Iowa, US

Anniversaries Today:

Mt. Rushmore is completed, 1941

Nevada becomes the 36th US State, 1864

Birthdays Today:

Robert "Vanilla Ice" Van Winkle, 1967

Adam Horovitz, 1966

Dermot Mulroney, 1963

Rob Schneider, 1963

Peter Jackson, 1961

Larry Mullen, Jr., 1961

John Candy, 1950

Jane Pauley, 1950

Deidre Hall, 1947

Stephen Rea, 1943

David Ogden Stiers, 1942

Ron Rifkin, 1939

Michael Landon, 1936

Dan Rather, 1931

Michael Collins, 1930

Barbara Bel Geddes, 1922

Dale Evans, 1912

Ethel Waters, 1896

Chaing Kai-shek, 1887

Juliette Gordon Low, 1860

John Keats, 1795

William Paca, 1740

Jan Vermeer, 1632

Debuting/Premiering Today:

"Car Talk"(Radio), 1987 (national debut, ten years after their start as a local show in Boston)

"Jamaica"(Musical), 1957

"Capricio Espagnol"(Rimsky-Korsakov Op. 34), 1887

"Tamerlano"(Handel opera, HWV 18), 1724

Today in History:

Ezra reads the Book of the Law to the Israelites after their return to Jerusalem from exile, BC445

First All Hallows Eve observed to honor all the saints, 834

Martin Luther posts his 95 Theses on the Wittenberg church door, marks the beginning of the Protestant Reformation, 1517

Georg Ludwig van Hannover is crowned as the English King George I, 1714

Execution of Girondins at Paris during the Reign of Terror, 1793

Sir Humphrey Davy of London patents the miner's safety lamp, 1815

A standard uniform is approved for US Postal workers, 1868

A tropical cyclone hits Bengal, about 200,000 die, 1876

John Boyd Dunlop patents the pneumatic bicycle tire, 1888

Arthur Conan Doyle publishes "The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes", 1892

Dedication of the Lincoln Highway, the first automobile road across United States, 1913

The Battle of Beersheba of WWI marks the last successful cavalry charge in history, 1917

The first of 160 consecutive days of 100°F + temps at Marble Bar, Australia, 1923

World Savings Day is announced in Milan, Italy by the Members of the Association at the 1st International Savings Bank Congress, 1924

Mt. Rushmore sculptures are completed, 1941

The United Kingdom and France begin bombing Egypt to force the reopening of the Suez Canal, 1956

Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi is assassinated by two security guards, 1984

EgyptAir Flight 990 traveling from New York City to Cairo crashes off the coast of Nantucket, Massachusetts, killing all 217 on-board, 1999

Yachtsman Jesse Martin returns to Melbourne after 11 months of circumnavigating the world, solo, non-stop and unassisted, 1999

Soyuz TM-31 launches, carrying the first resident crew to the International Space Station, which has been continually crewed since, 2000

Surfer Bethany Hamilton loses her left arm and 3 liters of blood in a tiger shark attack; within a month she would be back on her board, and competing again within the year, 2003
The NYSE reopens after its first weather related shut down since the late 19th century; the two-day closure was due to Hurricane Sandy, 2012

Adults and Ducks and Running the Roads, a Random and Happy 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 time once again for a random and happy Tuesday, linking up with Stacy's Random Thoughts at Stacy Uncorked and Sandee at Comedy Plus.  

Conversation yesterday: 

Daughter-in-Law Becky:  Your son thinks it’s a good idea to blast death metal at the parents and kids practicing soccer in the park.

Me: (gettin up) okay, i’m on it.

Me: (now outside, where #2 Son is holding Tripod kitty, no music playing) Son, could you do me a favor and not annoy the soccer moms?  They might call the police, and i don’t need that.

#2 Son:  Okay, I won’t, but why are parents so boring?

A friend of our has added ducks to the chickens out on the farm.  It seems someone in the area got a duck for this past Easter, and once it was past the cute stage, looked for a convenient pond at which to set it free.  The next door neighbor’s yard is fenced and locked, so Mr. Cal and Ms. Jan went out one morning and noticed a mostly grown drake feeding with the chickens.

The drake followed them around and Ms. Jan decided it was lonely.  They called around to see if they could find a female duck to adopt, and the farm supply guy told them about the duck guy.

The “duck guy,” who also has horses, is 81, retired, and runs a farm with horses and ducks because it’s his hobby.  He agreed to sell them a female duck for $20 that was about the same age as their drake.

Ms. Jan gushed about how, “They get along beautifully!  They are never more than about a foot away from each other.  And so we now have ducks that follow us around, and it was only $20, and soon we will be getting duck eggs along with the chicken eggs!”

With a bit of an eye-rolls, Mr. Cal replied, “Yeah, it was ‘only’ $20, plus a whole tank of gas to drive out there to the duck guy’s place and back, plus dinner out while we were in the area!”

Dr. D is expecting her daughter to come visit not this Friday but the next.  Instead of legal work or sorting, she's having me concentrate on cleaning next Monday, more than just the usual.

Yesterday, i had to run errands.  It took me going to six places to get everything she needed.  Her list was a lint roller, cat litter, cheese crackers, vanilla cookies, milk, a whole cooked chicken, hair clips for her hair rollers, and her mail.  Each is to be purchased at the lowest price, so i have to go to the dollar store first, then the other dollar store if the first one doesn't have everything, then the MallMart, then the grocery, then the post office to get the mail, and i finally gave up and went to the beauty supply store for the clips because no one else had them.

This is how i felt:

That's about all for now, i hope everyone has a wonderful Tuesday!

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Today is:

Africa Day for Food and Nutrition Security

Anniversary of the Declaration of the Slovak Nation -- Slovakia

Arba'in-e Hosseini -- Iran (40th day after Ashura)

Buy A Doughnut Day -- any wonder who started this one? (insert eye-roll here)

Checklists Day -- prevent tragedy, create great checklists; in honor of the development of the first well known checklist following a B-17 prototype's crash due to pilot error

Create a Great Funeral Day -- don't make your family choose the plans in the midst of grief, plan your sending away party now, it's more fun when it's done -- in advance!

Day of Remembrance of the Victims of Political Repressions -- most former Soviet Republics

Lhabab Duechen -- Buddhism (Descending Day of Lord Buddha)

    a public holiday in Bhutan, although the exact day off may vary

Look in the Back of Your Refrigerator Day / Haunted Refrigerator Night (And hope the old hamburger isn't grazing on the moldy salad.)

Mischief Night, a/k/a Goosey Night, Devil's Night, Cabbage Night -- US

National Candy Corn Day

Practice Winter Snuggling Night -- when it gets really cold, you'll be glad you practiced

St. Dorothy of Montau's Day (Patron of brides, difficult marriages, dying children, parents of large families, widows; Pomerania; Prussia)

St. Marcellus' Day  (as a Roman centurion who threw down his armor and refused to take part in pagan worship, he is Patron of conscientious objectors)

The Rhyne Toll -- Chetwode Manor, UK (through Nov 7) -- the Lord of the Manor may tax any cattle he finds on his Liberty (free pasture) on these days

Try on Your Halloween Costume Early Day -- to see how goofy you look, and make sure you have everything you need

Birthdays Today:

Nastia Liukin, 1989

Matthew Morrison, 1978

Gavin Rossdale, 1967

Diego Armando Maradona, 1960

Kevin Pollack, 1958

Charles Martin Smith, 1953

Harry Hamlin, 1951

Andrea Mitchell, 1946

Henry Winkler, 1945

Ed Lauter, 1940

Grace Slick, 1939

Claude Lelouch, 1937

Dick Gautier, 1937

Dick Vermeil, 1936

Robert Caro, 1935

Louis Malle, 1932

Ruth Gordon, 1896

Charles Atlas, 1893

Ezra Pound, 1885

William "Bull" Halsey, 1882

Emily Post, 1872

Alfred Sisley, 1839

Fyodor Dostoevsky, 1821

Richard Sheridan, 1751

John Adams, 1735

Debuting/Premiering Today:

Symphony No. 11 in G minor(Shostakovich Op. 103), 1957

"Panama Hattie"(Musical), 1940

"War of the Worlds"(Radio), 1938

Today in History:

Antioch surrenders to Rashidun Caliphate and his Muslim forces after the Battle of the Iron Bridge, 637

End of the 8th Crusade, 1270

King Henry VII, Tudor, crowned, 1485

Queen Isabella bans violence against Indians, 1503

The first Methodist church in the US is initiated (Wesley Chapel, NYC), 1768

Dr. Richard Gatling patents the machine gun, 1862

Founding of Helena, Montana (capital city), 1864

John Willis Menard, of Louisiana, becomes the first black elected to the US Congress (by special election, he was challenged by the loser, but was allowed to address Congress from the lectern), 1868

Daniel Cooper patents the time clock, 1894

Martha Hughes Cannon of Utah becomes the first woman US Senator, 1896

The first US Automobile Show opens in Madison Square Garden, NYC, 1900

Czar Nicholas II of Russia grants Russia's first constitution, creating a legislative assembly, 1905

Benito Mussolini is made Prime Minister of Italy, 1922

John Logie Baird creates Britain's first television transmitter, 1925

Orson Welles broadcasts his radio play of H. G. Wells's The War of the Worlds, causing anxiety in some of the audience in the United States, 1938

Anne Frank and sister Margot Frank are deported from Auschwitz to the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp, 1944

Jackie Robinson of the Kansas City Monarchs signs a contract for the Brooklyn Dodgers to break the baseball color barrier, 1945

Michael Woodruff performs the first successful kidney transplant in the United Kingdom at the Edinburgh Royal Infirmary, 1960

The Soviet Union detonates the hydrogen bomb Tsar Bomba over Novaya Zemlya; at 58 megatons of yield, it is still the largest explosive device ever detonated, nuclear or otherwise, 1961

The Bosporus Bridge in Istanbul, Turkey is completed, connecting the continents of Europe and Asia over the Bosporus for the first time, 1973

The Rumble in the Jungle boxing match between Muhammad Ali and George Foreman takes place in Kinshasa, Zaire, 1974

Prince Juan Carlos becomes Spain's acting head of state, taking over for the country's ailing dictator, Gen. Francisco Franco, 1975

In Japan, NEC releases the first 16-bit home entertainment system, the TurboGrafx-16, known as PC Engine, 1987

Quebec sovereignists narrowly lose a referendum for a mandate to negotiate independence from Canada (vote is 50.6% to 49.4%), 1995

The last Multics (Multiplexed Information and Computing Service) early time-sharing operating system is shut down at the Canadian Department of National Defense in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada, 2000

George Lucas sells Lucasfilm, Ltd., to the Walt Disney Company, 2012

Too Much Fun to Pass Up (Awww Monday) and Inspiring Quote of the Week

(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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Awww Monday is hosted by Sandee, of Comedy Plus.

Join us every Monday for Awww...Mondays.  Post a picture that makes you say Awww... and that's it.

Make sure you get the code from Sandee's site, linked above, and leave a link to your post so we can visit you.  What better way to start the week than with a smile!

Even the kittens like the decorations of the season: 

That looks like so much fun, can I help myself?

No, I can’t help myself!

Substitute tail got attacked, too!

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Sparks, the brainchild of Annie of McGuffy's Reader, is on hiatus, so here's an Inspiring Quote of the Week in her honor.

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Today is:

Candies Day -- they have to be kidding -- this close to Halloween we need another candy day?!

Coronation Day -- Cambodia (anniversary of King Norodom Sihamony, in 2004)

Cumhuriyet Bayrami -- North Cyprus; Turkey (Republic Day)(1923)

Hermit Day / Hide From Everyone Day -- internet generated, for those who would rather have a peaceful day today than celebrate the other holidays listed; look up how to be a hermit on wikihow

Internet Day -- it's predecessor went live today, see Today in History for detail

Laugh Suddenly For No Reason A Lot Today Day (And end up either getting yourself and everyone around you in a good mood, or yourself being observed at the hospital in a padded room.)

Marlborough Provinical Anniversary Day -- Marlborough, New Zealand

Naming Day -- Tanzania

National Cat Day -- US (with the goal of getting 10,000 cats adopted from shelters today)     

National Disgusting Little Pumpkin-Shaped Candies Day

National Oatmeal Day

October Bank Holiday -- Ireland

Second Fiddle of the Month -- Fairy Calendar (a very poorly attended event -- who wants to play second fiddle?)

St. Mary of Edessa's Day (Patron against sexual temptation)

World Psoriasis Day     

Birthdays Today:

Gabrielle Union, 1972

Winona Ryder, 1971

Joely Fisher, 1965

Randy Jackson, 1961

Finona Hughes, 1960

Kate Jackson, 1948

Richard Dreyfuss, 1947

Melba Moore, 1945

Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf, 1938

Dominick Dunne, 1925

Bill Mauldin, 1921

Fanny Brice, 1891

Charles Hercules Ebbets, 1858

Daniel Decatur Emmet, 1815

James Boswell, 1740 (wrote the biography of Samuel Johnson)

Edmund Halley, 1656 (O.S. Date) (yes, that Halley, found the comet)

Debuting/Premiering Today:

The Internet, 1969 (the first connection between computers that would become the Internet someday was made on this date when bits of data flowed between computers at UCLA and Stanford Research Institute; this grew into ARPANET, and is now the Internet we know and yell at.)

"Let's Face It"(Musical), 1941

"Don Giovanni"(Mozart K. 527), 1787

Today in History:

Cyrus the Great entered the city of Babylon, BC539

First trial for witchcraft in Paris, 1390

Sir Walter Raleigh, adventurer, writer, and courtier, is beheaded, 1618

A severe earthquake shakes New England, 1727

Mozart's opera Don Giovanni receives its first performance in Prague, 1787

The first Ohio River steamboat leaves Pittsburgh for New Orleans, 1811

Queen Victoria grants Cecil Rhodes rights to Zambezia, 1889

The first intercity trucking service, from Colorado City to Snyder, Texas, begins running, 1904

Turkey declares its independence as the successor state to the Ottoman Empire, 1923

Israeli forces invade the Sinai Peninsula and push Egyptian forces back toward the Suez Canal, 1956

Cassius Clay wins his first professional fight, 1960

Syria exits from the United Arab Republic, 1961

Montreal's World Fair, Expo 67, closes with over 50 million visitors, 1967

The American Galileo spacecraft makes its closest approach to 951 Gaspra, becoming the first probe to visit an asteroid, 1991

In South Africa, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission presents its report, which condemns both sides for committing atrocities, 1998

Space Shuttle Discovery blasts off on STS-95 with 77-year old John Glenn on board, making him the oldest person to go into space, 1998

In Rome, European heads of state sign the Treaty and Final Act establishing the first European Constitution, 2004

The 3G wireless transmitters at Mt. Everest make coverage available to the summit, 2010

Random House and Penguin merge to become Penguin Random House, the largest publisher in the world, 2012

Turkey opens the first underwater rail tunnel linking Europe to Asia, 2013