Casquette (Six Sentence Story) and Holding On (Good Fences)

(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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"Why were they called 'casket girls' -- did someone expect most of them to die and they had to bring their own caskets and sleep in them just like some of the old crazy saints did?"

"Good guess, but the word is really derived from 'casquette', which was what the trunks they brought with them that held all their worldly goods were called.  These girls were orphans from convent orphanages, or young ladies being educated at convents, who were poor and were offered the opportunity to go to the New World to be wives for the French settlers, mostly in Mobile, Biloxi, and New Orleans."

"So kind of like the mail-order brides I've read about?"

"Similar idea, but before there was even mail the way we think about it in the Americas, these young ladies were brought over and given to the Ursuline nuns to educate and see to it they married good young men, because the Ursulines believed you couldn't have a good society if you didn't have well educated women."

"No wonder they give me so much homework!"

Linking up with Denise at Girlie On The Edge Blog, where she hosts Six Sentence Stories, and the cue is Trunk.     

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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 other blogs to see what interesting fences there are out in this big world.     

Some people seem to hold on to those Christmas wreaths a bit longer than the rest of us:

Taken 3 days ago!

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Today is:

Backward Day -- no info on the origin, but if you want to do something backward, go ahead

Chiang Mai Flower Festival -- Chiang Mai, Thailand (if you love flowers, go to this one year, the whole city is bedecked and species shown include 1,000 varieties of orchids; through Sunday)

Eat Brussels Sprouts Day --  saute in olive oil with some garlic, they are worth it!

Eve of Brigantia -- Ireland (St. Bridget's Eve, the night when she crosses the countryside and bestows blessings)

Feast of Great Typos -- another that no one will claim inventing, but since we've all made them, we may as well celebrate them

Feast of Isis -- Ancient Egyptian Calendar (date approximate)

H&ll is Freezing Over Day -- internet generated day to review the list of things you said you would do when h*ll freezes over

Independence Day -- Nauru(1968)

Inspire Your Heart With the Arts Day -- begun by Rev Jayne Howard Feldman as a day to use art to feed your soul

National Brandy Alexander Day

National Bug Busting Day -- UK (this is one idea that needs export to the whole world! the aim is to have every child checked for head lice on the same day, and thus get rid of them in one fell swoop, so they don't circulate endlessly)

National Gorilla Suit Day -- Mad Magazine's Maddest Artist, Don Martin, says this is the day to pull that gorilla suit out of the closet and step out in style.

Phlegm-Green, Moldy-Grey, and Gazzard Day -- Fairy Calendar (don't ask what color Gazzard is, it doesn't exist in the human world, and you don't want it to)

Play An Old Game You Haven’t Played in Years Night -- internet generated, and a great idea

Scotch Tape Day -- it hit the market this day in 1928

St. John Bosco's Day (Patron of apprentices, boys, editors, laborers, schoolchildren, students, young people-especially youth of Mexican descent)

Birthdays Today:

Justin Timberlake, 1981

Kerry Washington, 1977

Portia de Rossi, 1973

Minnie Driver, 1971

Kelly Lynch, 1959

Jhn Lydon, 1956

Nolan Ryan, 1947

Charlie Musselwhite, 1944

Richard Gephardt, 1941

Jessica Walter, 1941

Stuart Margolin, 1940

Queen Beatrix, 1938

suzanne Pleshette, 1937

Philip Glass, 1937

James Franciscus, 1934

Ernie Banks, 1931

Jean Simmons, 1929

Carol Channing, 1923

Norman Mailer, 1923

Mario Lanza, 1921

Jackie Robinson, 1919

Thomas Merton, 1915

Garry Moore, 1915

Tallulah Bankhead, 1903

Eddie Cantor, 1892

Zane Grey, 1872

Franz Schubert, 1797

Robert Morris, 1734

Tokugawa Ieyasu, Shogun of Japan, 1543

Debuting/Premiering Today:

"These Are My Children"(TV), 1949 (first daytime TV Soap Opera)

"The Green Hornet"(Radio), 1936

"The Lone Ranger"(Radio), 1933

"Three Sisters"(Chekhov Play), 1901

"Hedda Gabler"(Ibsen Play), 1891

Today in History:

Guy Fawkes is executed for his plotting against Parliament and James I of England, 1606

The first venereal diseases clinic opens at London Lock Hospital, 1747

The Corn Laws (tariffs on imported grains) are abolished in Britain, paving the way for more free trade, 1849

The United States orders all Native Americans to move into reservations, 1876

The Bulletin of Sydney is founded, publishes for 128 years, 1880

An automobile exceeds 100 mph (161 kph) for the first time, at Daytona Beach, driven by A. G. MacDonald, 1905

The Soviet Union exiles Leon Trotsky, 1929

Scotch tape is first marketed by the 3M Company, 1930

Ida May Fuller of Ludlow, Vermont, US receives the first US Social Security monthly payment check, for $22.54, 1940

President Harry S. Truman announces a program to develop the hydrogen bomb, 1950

A North Sea flood causes over 1,800 deaths in the Netherlands, 1953

Explorer 1 – The first successful launch of an American satellite into orbit, 1958

James Van Allen discovers the Van Allen radiation belt, 1958

Mercury-Redstone 2 – Ham the Chimp travels into outer space, 1961

The Soviet Union launches the unmanned Luna 9 spacecraft as part of the Luna program, 1966

Astronauts Alan Shepard, Stuart Roosa, and Edgar Mitchell, aboard a Saturn V, lift off for a mission to the Fra Mauro Highlands on the Moon, 1971

The first McDonald's in the Soviet Union opens in Moscow, 1990

Comet Hyakutake is discovered by Japanese amateur astronomer Yuji Hyakutake, 1996

NASA reveals the Regolith Advanced Surface Systems Operations Robot (RASSOR), a lunar mining robot which could be used to produce fuel and water directly on the Moon, 2013

Lydia Ko, 17, becomes the youngest golfer in men's or women's golf history to be ranked No. 1 in the world, 2015

Sergio Matarella is elected President of Italy, 2015

"World's best chef" French-Swiss Benoît Violier is found dead after apparent suicide weeks after being named world's best by La Liste, 2016

Veterinarian Sense of Humor Times Two (Wordless Wednesday), Words for Wednesday, and Would You Rather

(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 lissa at The Memory of Rain. 

This week's prompts are (you may use the whole phrase or the words separately):

1. last day

2. zealot

3. homeward

4. listen

5. midnight

6. always

And/or:

1. start

2. wicked

3. holiday

4. castle

5. infinite

6. goodbye

Like a ZEALOT heading for a religious service he wouldn't miss even if it were his LAST DAY on earth, James headed HOMEWARD at a WICKED speed.

Home, he thought.  His CASTLE, his sanctum sanctorum, his safe harbor in a cruel world.  It was close to MIDNIGHT, no other traffic on the two lane road.  He'd gotten a later START than he wanted, thus he raced along.

As he got near the Brewer place, his headlights picked up the old horse, moseying across the road.  In a split second that seemed INFINITE, he braked and swerved, and the horse shied the other direction.  Another moment and instead of the beginning of a two week HOLIDAY from work and a new assignment that wouldn't require travel any more, his family would have been biding him a final GOODBYE.

He brought the car to a complete stop and got out to see where the horse had run off to.  After all, the Brewers were good neighbors, even if they didn't ALWAYS secure that animal.  It had run back to the barn which was where he found it, and as he walked back to his vehicle, he stopped to LISTEN to the sounds of the country night with a renewed appreciation.

Only another two miles to home, he would take them a bit below the speed limit now.  He had plenty of time.

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Cathy of Curious as a Cathy posted these and i thought i’d take a stab at it.

Her questions:

1. Would you rather drink raw eggs or eat sushi (uncooked)? Why?

2. Would you rather live in a hot or cold climate year-round? Why?

3. Would you rather wear slacks or dresses? Why?

4. Would you rather be single or married? Why?

5. Would you rather be on Facebook or Pinterest all day? Why?

6. Would you rather be unique and thought weird or like everyone else with no personal identity to call your own? Why?

7. Would you rather wear all black or any other color? Why?

8. Would you rather be mute or deaf? Why?

9. Would you rather binge watch your favorite TV show or be outdoors on a cold, snowy weekend? Why?

10. Would you rather be trusting or suspicious of all people? Why?

My answers:

1. The only sushi i eat is the veggie sushi, and it’s raw!
2. Hot, because cold is very painful for me (capillaries in my hands can break from the cold and cause sores, and breathing in the cold makes my scarred lungs wheeze).
3. Jeans, actually — you can’t get on the floor to clean a tub or toilet in a dress, and slacks are too nice.
4. If i’m with my Sweetie, married, if i were with anyone else, single.
5. Neither, i don’t have an account with either and i never hope to.
6. Since i’m already unique and thought weird, i’ll just stay that way.
7. Purple.  All other colors only exist to show off how beautiful purple is, and i mean every shade of purple/violet except puce.
8. Mute, because i can write what i want to say, but if i can’t hear music i think i will curl into a ball and shrivel.
9. TV, and i don’t own one, so that tells you how much i wouldn’t want to be outdoors longer than a few minutes in the snow.  (On the rare occasion when we get snow down here, i go out to get pictures and that’s about it.)
10. Suspicious, but with a kind demeanor that didn’t let you know i was suspicious, and i’ll let the suspicious go as soon as i know you are okay.

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Today is:

Cash Register Day -- James Ritty and John Birch were granted a patent on this day in 1883 for an early mechanical cash register

Congressional Brawl Day -- marking the first ever all out brawl in the US Congress in 1798

Draw A Dinosaur Day -- and post it to the web site  

Feast of King Charles the Martyr -- Anglican

Fred Korematsu Day -- US (honoring the civil rights activist who protested the internment of Japanese Americans during WWII) 

Inane Answering Message Day -- the day to change those annoying messages, sponsored by Wellcat Holidays

King's Birthday -- Jordan

Martyrs' Day -- India (assassination anniversary of Gandhi)

National Croissant Day

Pax -- Ancient Roman Calendar (Festival of Peace)

Puce and Ochre Day -- Fairy Calendar

School Day of Nonviolence and Peace -- sponsored by DENIP

St. Aldegund's Day (Patron of cancer patients; against cancer, childhood diseases, sudden death, wounds)

St. Bathilde's Day (Patron of children, sick people, widows; against bodily ills and sickness)

St. Martina of Rome's Day (Patron of nursing mothers; Rome, Italy)

Three Archbishops' Day -- Eastern Orthodox (a/k/a Holy Hierarchs' Day)

US National Snow Sculpting Competition and Championships -- Lake Geneva, WI, US (through Sunday)

Yodel For Your Neighbors Day -- Why?  Do you hate your neighbors?

Birthdays Today:

Johnathan Lee Iverson, 1976

Christian Bale, 1974

Brett Butler, 1958

Phil Collins, 1951

Charles Dutton, 1951

Steve Marriott, 1947

Marty Balin, 1942

Dick Cheney, 1941

Vanessa Redgrave, 1937

Boris spassky, 1937

Tammy Grimes, 1934

Louis Ruckeyser, 1933

Gene Hackman, 1930

Dorothy Malone, 1925

Dick Martin, 1922

Barbara W. Tuchman, 1912

Franklin D. Roosevelt, 1882

Isaiah Thomas, 1749

Thomas Rolfe, 1615 (Only child of John Rolfe and Pocahontas.)

Debuting/Premiering Today:

"The Yogi Bear Show"(TV), 1958

"Robert Montgomery Presents"(TV), 1950

"City Lights"(Chaplin Movie), 1931

Today in History:

The Jews of Freilsburg, Germany, are massacred, 1349

King Charles I of England is beheaded, 1649

Oliver Cromwell, Lord Protector of the Commonwealth of England, is ritually executed after having been dead for two years, 1661

The Forty-seven Ronin, under the command of Oishi Kuranosuke, avenge the death of their master, 1703

Henry Greathead tests the first boat intended to be specialized as a lifeboat for rescue purposes, which he invented, on the River Tyne in England, 1790

The burned Library of Congress is reestablished, with Thomas Jefferson contributing, 1815

Edward Bransfield sights the Trinity Peninsula and claims the discovery of Antarctica, 1820

The Menai Suspension Bridge, considered the world's first modern suspension bridge, connecting the Isle of Anglesey to the north West coast of Wales is opened, 1826

A fire destroys two-thirds of Mayagüez, Puerto Rico, 1841

The city of Yerba Buena is renamed San Francisco, for the nearby mission of the same name, 1847

William Wells Brown publishes the first Black drama, "Leap to Freedom," 1858

The US Navy's first ironclad warship, the Monitor, is launched, 1862

The pneumatic hammer is patented by Charles King of Detroit, 1894

The Canadian Naval Service becomes the Royal Canadian Navy, 1911

The House of Lords rejects the Irish Home Rule Bill, 1913

"The Lone Ranger" begins a 21 year run on ABC radio, 1933

Indian pacifist and leader Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi is assassinated by Pandit Nathuram Godse, a Hindu extremist, 1948

American civil rights leader Martin Luther King, Jr.'s home is bombed in retaliation for the Montgomery Bus Boycott, 1956

The Beatles' last public performance, on the roof of Apple Records in London. The impromptu concert is broken up by the police, 1969

Carole King's Tapestry album is released, it would become the longest charting album by a female solo artist and sell 24 million copies worldwide, 1971

Pakistan withdraws from the Commonwealth of Nations, 1972

The Monitor National Marine Sanctuary was established as the first United States National Marine Sanctuary, 1975

Richard Skrenta writes the first PC virus code, which is 400 lines long and disguised as an Apple boot program called "Elk Cloner", 1982

Peter Leko of Hungary becomes the world's youngest chess grand master at age 14, 1994

Workers from the National Institutes of Health announce the success of clinical trials testing the first preventive treatment for sickle-cell disease, 1995

Over half a million people participate in the world's largest wildlife survey after extreme cold drives exotic birds into Britain's back gardens, 2011

Scaredy-Cat, Churning Papers, and Gentle Chicken, 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.  

Every time i sit down to write up a Tuesday post, i wonder where in the world to start.

First, how i scared the daylights out of myself on Saturday morning.

Every Saturday, i drop #1 Son off at work at 6am.  He's the opening manager that day, it's the only day of the week he opens.  He always lets me come in and use the restroom before i head to NOLA or go to the laundromat or work.

The Friday night manager, whom we shall call Dan, always leaves the place a wreck and this week was no exception.

There was something more this time, though.  The alarm was not even set, and when i walked in behind #1 Son, i asked him why Dan didn't set the alarm the night before.

Looking at the keypad, he said that there was a zone faulted, so we went looking for it.  It was the side door, an emergency exit that is never opened, and it had been left propped open in such a way that you had to be right up on it to see that it was open.

That was red flag number one.

When i finished in the restroom and went back outside, i noticed a truck in the parking lot, running, and nobody in it.  Red flag number two.

Looking the other direction in the parking lot the restaurant shares with several other businesses in the strip mall, i noticed a man sitting in a running SUV staring at me.  Red flag number three, i decided i was not moving until that guy left.

It looked to me like a set-up where someone left the door propped so that Dan, not the brightest or best manager anyway, wouldn't arm the alarm and someone could walk into the store undetected, make #1 Son open the safe, and make a fast getaway.

Calling #1 Son, i told him my suspicion, and he checked the store to make sure no one had hidden anywhere in the building, then he locked all the doors and set the alarm, something he never does on Saturday morning because it just never seemed necessary.

The guy in the SUV got tired of me sitting there, so he pulled to the back of the building, and i moved my vehicle to where i could watch him.  Then i left, circled the block, and came back.  When he saw me park to watch him, he went back to the front of the building, the whole time on his phone.

Eventually he went to the Circle K in the next parking lot, and then left.  About five minutes later, he passed back by on the street behind the restaurant, slowing to see if i was still there.  Of course i was, i was in mama bear mode!  He drove on and when i thought it was safe, i went on to work.

Nothing happened, of course, but it spooked me like crazy, and from now on Dan is on notice that no matter what, he is to find out which zone is faulted, fix it, and set that alarm!

Dr. D got on a tear yesterday, determined to get every single file and piece of paper sorted and to the office.  Of course, this is just postponing the inevitable, when she will have to deal with all of that paper at the office, but she is convinced she'll have time to do that "later."  Sort of the way i will have time "someday" to do all the stuff on my list, too.

Anyway, we made ourselves loopy looking at almost every piece of paper in the bedroom and the front of the living room.  By next week, if she keeps going at this rate, i'll have a ton more to take over to the office and she can start collecting at the house again.  (As much mail as she gets and as much paperwork as her lawsuits generate, it won't take long to build up again.)

After work yesterday, i got home and Little Girl came in with this:

"Mom, I found a chicken on the side of the road, right here in our neighborhood!  She's so sweet and gentle, she let me pick her right up!  Can I keep it?"

After taking a picture, i posted it on the civic association website and an hour later the owner called to claim it (thankfully -- i like chickens, and i will babysit chickens, but we don't need chickens in addition to the cats and the grandcats and the granddogs).

That's about all the crazy for this week i can handle, i hope everyone has a wonderful Tuesday!

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Today is:

Blue and Pink Day -- Fairy Calendar

Bocuse D'Or -- Lyon, France (dating back to 1985, this biennial celebration is France's answer to chef competitions on TV, with the best in the world pitted against each other in front of a jury of their peers; through tomorrow)

Bubblegum Sculpture Day -- commonly listed on ecard sites, and not to be confused with National Bubble Gum Day, coming in February

Carnation Day -- in honor of William McKinley; also on the date of his assassination each year, Sept. 14

Curmudgeons' Day -- W.C. Field's birth anniversary

National Corn Chip Day

National Puzzle Day -- because they are just fun

Sahid Diwash -- Nepal (Martyrs' Day)

St. Constantius of Perugia (Patron of Perugia, Italy)

St. Gildas the Wise's Day (one of the earliest British historians)

Thomas Paine Day/Freethinkers' Day -- birth anniversary of Thomas Paine

Up-Helly-AA Day -- Lerwick, Shetland (the largest fire festival in Europe, with tomorrow as a day off so everyone can recover)

Anniversaries Today:

Establishment of The Seeing Eye, 1929 (first US guide dog school)

Kansas becomes the 34th US state, 1861

Birthdays Today:

Adam Lambert, 1982

Jonny Lang, 1981

Andrew Keegan, 1979

Sara Gilbert, 1975

Heather Graham, 1970

Bobby Phillips, 1968

Nick Turturro, 1962

Greg Louganis, 1960

Oprah Winfrey, 1954

Teresa Teng, 1953

Ann Jillian, 1950

Tom Selleck, 1945

Katharine Ross, 1942

Germaine Greer, 1939

John Forsythe, 1918

Victor Mature, 1913

Huddie William "Leadbelly" Ledbetter, 1885

W.C. Fields, 1880

Anton Chekhov, 1860

William McKinley, 1843

Henry Morton Stanley, 1841

Thomas Paine, 1737

Emanuel Swedenborg, 1688

Debuting/Premiering Today:

Black Panther(Film), 2018

"Sweet Charity"(Musical), 1966

Dr. Strangelove(Film), 1964

Sleeping Beauty(Disney cartoon movie), 1959

"The Potting Shed"(Play), 1957

"All My Sons"(Play), 1947

"The Raven"(publication date), 1845

"Idomeneo"(Mozart Opera), 1781

"The Beggar's Opera"(Gay Ballad Opera), 1728

Today in History:

The first performance of Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, 1595

John Beckley of Virginia is appointed the first Librarian of Congress, 1802

Edgar Allen Poe's "The Raven" is first published, 1845

The Victoria Cross is established to acknowledge bravery, 1856

Karl Benz patents the first successful gasoline-driven automobile, 1886

Liliuokalani is proclaimed Queen of Hawaii, its last monarch, 1891

Walt Disney starts his first job as an artist, earning $40/week with the KC Slide Co, 1920

North America's first guide dog school, The Seeing Eye, is incorporated in Nashville, Tennessee, 1929

The first inductees into the Baseball Hall of Fame are announced, 1936

The first inductees into the Pro Football Hall of Fame are announced, 1963

Hungary establishes diplomatic relations with South Korea, making it the first Eastern Bloc nation to do so, 1989

President Jacques Chirac announces a "definitive end" to French nuclear weapons testing, 1996

La Fenice, Venice's opera house, is destroyed by fire, 1996

The first direct commercial flights from mainland China (from Guangzhou) to Taiwan since 1949 arrived in Taipei. Shortly afterwards, a China Airlines flight lands in Beijing, 2005

Ken Dryden's #29 jersey is retired by the Montreal Canadiens, 2010

American snowboarder Shaun White achieves the first ever SuperPipe perfect score (100) in Winter X Games history, 2012

Archaeologists discover the oldest Roman Temple (6th C BC) at Sant’Omobono, 2014

Scientists announce they have discovered how to convert normal cells into stem cells in mice, 2014

Malaysia officially declares the disappearance of missing flight MH370 an accident, 2015